Honored to Speak at Cancer Action Network Forum.

I was glad to have the opportunity to share my views on healthcare policy at the Cancer Action Network Candidate forum on the anniversary of 9/11.
It was a powerful evening as Great Falls Firefighter and IAFF Local 8 representative Dave von Son asked sitting legislators why they did not vote for Senate Bill 72 in the 2017 legislative session. The bill would have allowed the state to fund some medical costs of otherwise healthy firefighters who contracted illnesses during their time of employment.
I believe it is our duty as a society to care for our public servants, especially when the jobs they do for us put them in harm's way
SB72 does just that. 

The reasons given by Great Falls republican lawmakers, including my opponent, for not supporting that bill have been stated at different times as being too expensive, only including firefighters and not police, possibly including police along with firefighters, doing the "job of unions" and not being the job of legislature. 

www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/15/legislative-panel-rejects-firefighter-lung-disease-bill/99221748/
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those arguments not only contradict themselves, but take a good policy hostage in the name of party politics. Our legislature's job is to take care of our state's assets - the most valuable of which is our loyal citizen employees.