Montana Public Radio is gathering information on all statewide primary candidates to publish as a resource for our audience. We asked all the statewide candidates to respond to the following questions via email, limiting their answers to 300 words per question. These are their unedited responses.
U.S. Senate candidate Dennis Daneka:
In response to the list of questions below from Montana Public Radio, Daneke responded with the following two statements, which appear unedited.
- Why are you running for this particular public office?
- What makes you qualified to hold this position?
- What are three policy issues that distinguish you from your opponent(s)?
- What are the greatest issues facing Montana that have gone unsolved by elected officials and how would you address them?
MESSAGE TO ALL MONTANA VOTERS:
Dennis Daneke, Green Party Candidate for Senate from Montana
To all Montana voters: Please do not vote for me. Don’t vote for my Green Party opponent either. Your vote is a precious privilege and should never be wasted on a candidate that cannot possibly win. My opponent was recruited to siphon votes from Democrats and I was recruited to siphon votes from her. Judging from press reports, she feels she was treated unfairly by Governor Bullock and has a grievance. for the Governor. As a life-long union member and organizer I will give her the benefit of the doubt. However, I would also argue that the polling booth is not the place to fight grievances. Apparently, the Republicans do not think they can win elections based on their ideas or the character of their candidates. Consequently, they resort to dirty tricks like voter suppression and running siphon candidates. Don’t let them get away with it.
However, if you feel compelled to vote for a third-party candidate as some sort of protest, you should definitely vote for me. I have read the Green Party platform and whole-heartedly agree with their positions. I am a member of the Green Party. My wife and I live our lives as “green” as possible. Our property is landscaped with native vegetation. Our home is a passive solar design so the boiler infrequently turns on. We grow most of our own food and contribute any surplus to others. Rooftop solar panels provide more electricity than we use to run our home, and charge the our electric vehicle, and lawnmower and operate a drip irrigation system. We try to invest in green business. Hell, we make Kermit the Frog look yellow!
So if you really want to vote green, vote for the green guy.
Dennis Daneke
“Roof top solar for all who want it, and a puppy on every porch”.
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Also,
My name is Dennis Daneke and I am the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. It is time for some straight talk. It is unlikely that any third-party candidate is going to win a statewide race in the near future. None-the-less, some voters prefer to vote for third parties to send a message to the major parties that their platforms don’t go far enough. I am one of those folks. I fully subscribe to the Green Party platform and I encourage you to check it out here https://www.gp.org/platform.
I believe that all public policy should follow the three E’s of sustainability, Environment, Economics, and Equitability. For a policy (or any activity for that matter) to be sustainable, it must be environmentally benign or at least mitigatable, economically feasible, and equitable or fait to all involved. If you agree with that philosophy, you should vote for the Green Party in the primary. If you so choose, I encourage you to vote for me. I live as “green” as possible. Solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle in the garage, native vegetation landscaping with water conservation measures, passive solar home design, and organic gardens to feed my family as well as the less fortunate. I am the Green Party’s green candidate.
Dennis Daneke
Senate Candidate
