Dried-Out Kyle Waterman Desperate to Distance Himself from National Democratic Party (He Can't!)

Ballots have been mailed out and we are in the final weeks of the election. It is up to the voters now. I am proud of the work we all have done to forward my campaign for Senate District 4. I have taken the summer and walked the neighborhoods of Kalispell – knocking on doors, talking to voters and leaving campaign literature. Yesterday I ran out of literature.

Today in the Daily Inter Lake my opponent wrote a letter accusing anyone voting for a Democrat as responsible for inflation, the immigration crisis, and sexual mutilation of children. All national trends and far-right pundit speaking points. But I haven’t voted on national policy. I’m running for the State Senate because I believe Washington DC can’t fix our Kalispell problems.

From the local level here is what I see. I see a local marketplace that is unfair to small businesses. Our state permitting and controls favor those with teams of lawyers, not the  independent entrepreneur. Locally we have underfunded our County jail and understaffed the Sheriff department. We are behind on building major regional infrastructure – primarily we need to invest in  East to West connectors like Reserve that would promote convenience, commerce and safety. We actually do have a child safety issue, but this is in our foster care system and due to parental neglect, not libraries and youth sports This community has a high drug and alcohol use problem and very few local treatment options. Finally, our State Mental Hospital and Penitentiary fail to provide restorative justice to local adults but rather make hardened criminals out of citizens of the Flathead.

I began serving on Kalispell City Council in 2017. There I learned to listen and work collaboratively to build local solutions here in Kalispell. When I got elected, we passed the Kalispell Downtown plan and, later that year, I called for a work session to discuss surface parking lots on Main Street. I stood up for sidewalk and pedestrian infrastructure because I was tired of seeing kids walk to school in the middle of the street in the winter. 

What I quickly discovered was that Kalispell does a pretty good job. We have hard working public employees who are resourceful at providing superior central services to our town. I also discovered that many of the problems I listed above actually start at the City Limits. Things like homelessness, roads not built with adequate shoulders and our lack of behavioral health services are county-wide issues. This is why I requested to be appointed to Flathead County Committees – the Health Board and Transportation specifically.

On those committees, I have witnessed misappropriation of funds, mismanagement of resources, a failure to keep up with growth, and not supporting staff. I see these problems stemming from the top floor of the County Courthouse because our Commissioners are puppets controlled  by the Party of "NO".  The Commissioners have moved beyond small government – it would be more accurate to describe them as Small-Minded Government. They seem to think their only responsibility is to determine the winners and losers of the Flathead.  And the vast majority of us are losing under their inept leadership.

In Montana, we are fortunate to have small government. We should expect efficient and effective government that delivers freedom and safety. Right now, Flathead County and Montana State government is failing to deliver the bare minimum. We should expect our State government to work as well as Kalispell's does. We are growing and growth can lead to a disaster if mismanaged. Because Kalispell is a growing economic engine, we need to partner with leading communities across the state to ensure that money we depositing in Montana's coffers is reinvested into our County for the benefit of our citizens.

In America, we are fortunate to enjoy liberty and democracy. America has always been great because we have endeavored to create a more perfect union – one that continues to extend our civil liberties to more and more of our citizens – women, African Americans, immigrants, minorities and the poor. In America, Democracy is a promise to grant liberty to all citizens without revolution.

In these final days, please encourage your neighbors who live in Kalispell to research their candidate. To look and see who is locally involved and to see if their priorities reflect working family issues and community challenges. Demand that candidates define Montana Values and what they are actually going to DO to address local issues if elected. The legislature works for us for 90 days every two years in Montana, let’s make sure the important work gets done.

Thank you for supporting my candidacy to be your next State Senator for Kalispell.

Let’s do this!