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Given how much Montanans value public lands, it’s reasonable to expect the Montana legislature would elect someone as chair of the House Natural Resources Committee who shares those values. But that didn’t happen with the recent appointment of Rep. Kerry White.

In 2014, more than 200 heavily armed, anti-government militants answered Cliven Bundy’s call to help him fight against federal and local law enforcement officials, who were rounding up Bundy’s cattle as payment for the $1 million in grazing fees he owed – and still owes – American taxpayers. White also answered the call.

“I will be going down to Nevada, leaving tomorrow to stand with Mr. Bundy,” White announced on his Facebook page at a time when Bundy’s militants were threatening the lives of local and federal law enforcement officials and public land managers.

As a supporter of the Bundy clan and as a legislator who has introduced bills aimed at transferring and selling off American public lands, White has repeatedly shown that he’s more aligned with the radical fringe than he is with Montanans. White recently demonstrated this again when he spoke at a conference in Whitefish that featured Cliven Bundy’s son Ammon, who in 2016 led the 44-day armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.