Flathead Beacon, Ray Thompson & Verdell Jackson
Ryan Zinke is from Whitefish and has the background and determination to fight against the destruction of our country. On the football team in Whitefish, he was an outstanding leader fighting for his team. He became a Navy Seal Commander and was deployed all over the world to hunt war criminals and terrorists to keep us safe. Then he completed two terms as a Montana state senator. The senators respected him because he is highly intelligent and never rose to speak unless he had something very important to say. His background, knowledge and experience got him elected twice to the U.S. House of Representatives; then President Trump chose him for Secretary of the Interior. Zinke was now in a position to carry out his dream. He increased forest management and wildfire prevention and restored multiple-use management to public lands. He expanded access for hunting and fishing on millions of acres of federal lands. Of great importance to us is that Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park received help from Zinke’s efforts when he helped develop the Great American Outdoors Act, which used federal energy revenues to reinvest in National Parks’ infrastructure. Environmentalists on the other hand were very unhappy with his work and constantly had him investigated. He was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, but this forced him to resign and return to Montana where he now wants to continue his work in Congress.
His priorities are to restore energy independence, close the border, complete construction of the wall, fix the supply chain, bring manufacturing and mineral production back, address the housing crisis and help repair the damage done to this country, which he has spent his entire life serving.