Montana Democratic Party Chair Robyn Driscoll on Talk Back

KGVO hosted Montana Democratic Party Chair Robyn Driscoll on Monday’s Talk Back call-in talk show.

One of the first questions for Driscoll was whether or not Montana’s senior Senator Jon Tester favors the continuation of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Driscoll said Tester does favor the pipeline and even produced a letter from Senator Tester shown here.

“He totally has been supportive of the Keystone pipeline,” said Driscoll.  “He has never ever opposed the Keystone pipeline. In fact, he's written President Biden a letter stating his support and asking for him to change his executive order on that.”

One caller asked Driscoll about the massive surge at the southern border and if those entering illegally will be eligible for government money and services.

“All these folks that are crossing the border are not entitled to any type of government assistance,” she said. “They don't receive Social Security. “You have to be a United States citizen to get Medicaid and or Medicare. Also, we would not be able in Montana to harvest our crops if we did not have immigrants coming here and doing that for us.”

Asked about a lawsuit filed by the state Democratic Party to overturn the newly signed law eliminating same-day voter registration, Driscoll said Montana voters approved that practice several years ago.

“In 2014, Montanans voted overwhelmingly by 57% to make sure that voters have the right to register and vote on Election Day,” she said. “Again, that's57% of voters wanted to keep that in our law. But this legislature has said, ‘Nope, we're not going to do that’. And the governor just said, ‘I don't give a heck what you think or what you said you wanted, so I'm going to just override the decision that Montanans made and that has worked well for seven years’.”

In a related comment, Driscoll said the lawsuit also includes Senate Bill 169, to require college students to have more than just their student ID to register to vote.

“We filed a lawsuit challenging those two bills that silence voters,” she said. “House Bill 176 is a bill that eliminates Election Day registration. We've challenged that, and then the other bill that we've challenged is Senate Bill 169, and being in Missoula, this one would really affect your community. Senate Bill 169 restricts the use of student IDs to register to vote.”

Driscoll expressed her thanks to be able to speak directly with KGVO listeners, and despite their disagreements, for their courtesy over the phone.