This is a really good article out of Helena on this bonehead Republican move.

As you might have heard, Republicans in Montana have gone categorically INSANE this year, and this is just one insane proposal of theirs out of MANY.

A Republican-sponsored move that would take money away from the state’s anti-tobacco program and divert it to other state programs will be heard in the State House next week. For some mystifying reason (I dunno, campaign contributions, I suspect), Republicans want to take $15 million from the state’s anti-tobacco program, which would pretty much gut it.

Expect litigation if they go through with it. This money was actually set aside speficially for tobacco education by a voter-approved ballot measure. It is just one of several voter-approved or local measures in Montana that state Republicans are looking to subterfuge. (I thought these guys went around calling themselves the party of the people.).

This is such a fucking outrage. The program called ReACT, is one of the most successful in the country, and for $15 million, it’s a bargain. That’s basically $15 for every man, woman and child in the state. And $15 million is not going to make or break the state budget anyway. This is purely a political move by Republicans who apparently see this as a “Nanny State government entering our private lives” program. (I wonder how many of these same Republicans supported a bill that would have required women seeking an abortion to first get an ultrasound?)