Everyone has experienced the neighborhood barking dog. You know – the poor pup, chained outside, that just barks, barks, barks. At first you may be concerned, then perhaps just irritated. At some point, you realize you’ve stopped paying attention and don’t even hear it anymore.

That’s what’s going on with the Democratic candidates vying for Montana’s new Congressional district. They know they will face Ryan Zinke and they’re afraid. We’ve sent him to Congress twice before and they know if we send him again, he’ll hit the ground running.

So, they bark and bark, and bring up or make up illegitimate allegations of wrong-doing and half-truths from his time as Interior secretary. But they know each of those charges was thoroughly investigated and all were found to be baseless.

A recent op-ed said “Montanans Deserve the Truth” about Ryan Zinke. But, instead of the truth, it was the barking dog again, with false allegations, misrepresentation of fact, and outright fabrications. And, to what purpose? Why, to fool us and try to “cancel” Zinke as a candidate, simply because he answered the call to serve in Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

The truth is that Ryan Zinke was one of the most successful Interior secretaries in recent memory. Having grown up hiking and camping in Glacier, he knew – first-hand – public land issues from fire management and endangered species to aging visitor facilities and needed infrastructure.

Ryan Zinke is ready to be back in Washington, D.C., representing Montana. Zinke is running for Montana’s newly added second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Zinke this week set out on a 1,200-mile tour through the district. He stopped in Thompson Falls on Tuesday, visiting with The Ledger after meeting with the Sanders County Republican Central Committee.

Zinke, a Republican, talked about the tension between federal control and power and having local influence and voice. He said that America needs to function less on red team vs. blue team and more red, white and blue. When asked where he stood on counties taking federal money tied to COVID, he said he determines his stance issue by issue. He said he thinks the recently passed infrastructure bill was “a Trojan horse,” and that states need to judge whether tiebacks are too onerous when accepting federal funds. “Taking federal funds in some cases is taking the bait.”

Zinke has previously served in the Montana Senate and spent two years in the U.S. House before being named to Donald Trump’s cabinet, serving two years as Secretary of the Interior. Zinke, who was raised in Whitefish, says managing public lands should be up to states, not the federal government, and that public lands should be open for multiple-use recreation.

A group of retired Navy SEALs running for office, Ryan Zinke, Eli Crane, Morgan Luttrell, Brady Duke, and Derrick Van Orden discuss the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Five retired Navy SEALs are running for Congress in 2022 to save the America they swore an oath to protect and defend.

They are Republicans Ryan Zinke for Montana’s 2nd District, Derrick Van Orden for Wisconsin’s 3rd District, Eli Crane for Arizona’s 1st District, Morgan Luttrell for Texas’s 8th District, and Brady Duke for Florida’s 7th District.

“It’s exciting because what you have is you have two fire teams of warriors that don’t flinch in the fight for freedom,” said Ryan Zinke, who was the first SEAL to become a cabinet secretary and congressman in Montana’s at large district.

“These guys, you’re not going to be able to intimidate them. You’re not going to be able to harass them. They’ll do the right thing for America and they’ll put America first,” he said.

The five veterans spoke to Breitbart News about what SEAL veterans can uniquely bring to Congress.

Zinke said as a SEAL, you have a small team, dedicate long hours working hard towards one goal. “That’s in this case, to save America,” he said.

The fourth Saturday in September marks a national day of recognition for two things Montanans already value every day: National Public Lands Day and National Hunting and Fishing Day. As Montanans, hunting, fishing and access to public lands is part of who we are. It is the lifeblood of our economy, and public lands are where many of us create the memories we cherish with our families.

As your Congressman and Secretary of the Interior, I led the charge against the sale or transfer of public lands. I was often the lone Republican voice in the House, pushing back against my own party. But in a few short years, Senator Daines and I convinced our colleagues to change their position. We showed them the value of public lands to our economy and way of life. As a result, historic bipartisan conservation policy and legislation was accomplished.

Maintaining public access to public lands is absolutely critical. During my time serving the people of Montana, I have always fought for more access, not less. Examples include:

· Voting against the sale or transfer of public lands;

· Supporting full and permanent authorization of the LWCF;

· Protecting Paradise Valley from mining;

· Rebuilding Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park;

· Expanding access for hunting and fishing on millions of acres of federal land;

· Authorizing the BLM to manage lands as recreational shooting ranges;

· Repealing the ban on affordable lead ammo;

· Saving Montana guides and outfitters from expensive government mandates for federal contractors; and

· Opening up hunting and recreational access to millions of acres of land-locked public lands.

Nowhere is outdoor recreation a more powerful economic engine and way of life than Montana. According to the Governor’s Office on Outdoor Recreation, “Montana’s Outdoor Recreation Industry accounts for $7.1 billion in consumer spending and more than 71,000 jobs.” That doesn’t even take into consideration the tens of thousands of jobs supported in the ranching, timber and energy sectors.

A key to public access on public lands is infrastructure. People need passable roads and trails, working campsites, and safe boat ramps and bridges to use the land. Unfortunately when I took office the National Park Service infrastructure backlog was more than $10 billion and access in many places was limited.

As Secretary of the Interior one of my greatest accomplishments was getting overwhelming bipartisan support to rebuild National Parks and U.S. Forest Service infrastructure by using federal energy revenues. I also led the charge on permanent and full reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Those policies were combined and became the backbone of the Great American Outdoors Act, which created the greatest investment in our parks and public lands in a century. The bill invests revenues generated from federal energy revenues back into public lands. It was truly an honor to stand with the President of the United States as he signed the historic bill into law.

We know that public access and traditional mixed-use of these lands makes our state great. But radical activists infiltrating D.C. policy positions would rather restrict the public’s use of our lands and resources, benefitting their narrow ideological goals but not we, the people. We must reject these ideas and focus on the important balance that has been working in Montana for decades.

Access to public lands is important for our souls and our economy. It’s our birthright as Americans and heritage as Montanans. Whomever you choose to represent Montana in Congress must understand that. You can trust that I will NEVER sell or transfer your public lands. Never have, never will. Learn more about my record at www.ryanzinke.com/issues.

Ryan Zinke is the former Montana Congressman (2015-2017) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (2017-2019) who is running for Montana’s new U.S. House seat.

As the sun began to set on Saturday in Missoula, the somber notes of “Taps” floated out over thousands of tiny American flags planted in the ground at Memorial Rose Garden Park to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Organized by Susan Campbell Reneau, the 19th annual “Never Forget” service drew a crowd of well over 200 people to honor all those who died that day and the sacrifices made by first responders.

Captain Bill Burt, a deputy with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department, dedicated his remarks to the police officers who died in the attacks.

“The terrorist attacks on September 11 resulted in more law enforcement line-of-duty deaths than any other single incident in our nation’s history,” Burt said.

“Seventy-one officers were killed when the twin towers collapsed,” he added. “Dozens more passed away in the years following 9/11 as a direct result of illnesses contracted while working in hazardous conditions conducting rescues and recoveries.”

Those men and women are “true American heroes,” Burt said.

“Now perhaps more than ever, it’s important we stand together as a community and as a nation to make sure that we never forget the events of 9/11 and the sacrifices so many have made,” Burt said.

Tom Zeigler, a retired Missoula Rural Fire Department firefighter, told the crowd how he had befriended members of a New York City-based fire crew during a training operation in Montana. Many of them later died on 9/11.

Zeigler read their names, noting that he and other firefighters had helped find their bodies amid the wreckage. Some, however, were never found.

Ryan Zinke, a retired Navy Seal commander who is running for Congress, read the names of the 13 U.S. military personnel who were killed in a bombing in Afghanistan in August of this year.

Retired SEALs Brady Duke (R-Fla.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas), and Ryan Zinke (R-Mt.) join ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss why they’re running for Congress amid the Afghanistan withdrawal.

After listening to President Biden speak this afternoon, I want to be very clear about a few things.

Americans overwhelmingly agreed that it was time to end the war in Afghanistan. Despite the White House’s best efforts to make the media and American people believe President Biden was dutifully fulfilling his promise, the reality could not be further from the truth. It was President Biden and his entire administration who shamefully abandoned U.S. citizens, abandoned our allies, and abandoned our core principles that as a nation we will “support any friend and oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.”

The criticism is not whether the United States should have ended the war, it is how the U.S. failed in ending it. The White House is trying to distract you.

The failures are many:

President Biden is responsible for the decision to give away Bagram air base that forced us to operate out of Hamid Karzai International Airport, where our military forces were surrounded, outnumbered, and out gunned by our own American-made equipment.

President Biden is responsible for the decision to retreat on a Taliban imposed timeline and trust the benevolence of the Taliban to give free passage to the airport. In doing so, he abandoned U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of the same allies that fought and sacrificed alongside us.

President Biden is responsible for the conditions that allowed a radical Islamic ISIS-K terrorist attack that killed 13 of our troops and wounded many more. An attack on a virtually un-defendable position was both predictable and preventable.

KALISPELL, Montana — Ryan Zinke says Kabul is now in danger of becoming a new killing field.

“President Biden’s ineptitude has enabled the Taliban the capacity to shut down the small Kabul airport and hold hostage or slaughter every troop and citizen,” said Zinke.

The former Navy SEAL said he has long favored withdrawal from Afghanistan, but not the way it was done by the Biden administration.

The former Republican Montana congressman, who is now running for a yet-to-be-created new congressional seat in his home state, said his deepest concern for those Americans currently left behind in Afghanistan is that anyone who is sheltering in place is just waiting to be killed.

Montana lost a congressional seat decades ago, leaving the state represented by one member in Congress for over 30 years; partisans on both sides of the aisle once despaired that the state would ever regain the second one. But that all changed when the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau from the 2020 count showed a nearly 10% increase in population. This gave Montana the 434th seat in the coming Congress.