29 October 2019 — 0839 mdt
Plastics, political speechifying in the Flathead, and
turnout expert to address MT’s redistricting commission
Three major events, two in the Flathead, kick off November in Montana.
Plastics symposium in Kalispell
Plastic is a wonderful material with many uses that isn’t going away. In some cases, however, it’s going everywhere it shouldn’t, ending up, for example, as tiny white pellets that pollute streams and litter beaches. Even worse are the plastic microspheres once found in toothpaste and now found in surface water. Uncontained plastic trash is an especially acute problem in many Third World nations, such as Guatemala. In response, some communities are banning, or trying to ban, some consumer convenience plastics, such as straws and the foamed containers that keep fast food hamburgers warm.
The Flathead is not immune to these problems, which is why Climate Smart Glacier is sponsoring a free daylong symposium, The State of Flathead’s Plastics, at Flathead Valley Community, on Saturday, 2 November. I’m planning to attend several sessions and look forward to Skye Borden’s presentation on microplastics.
Bills to ban plastic straws, disposable plastic shopping bags, and foamed polystyrene clamshell containers died in the 2019 session of Montana’s legislature. Flathead Memo (18 January post) opposed the straw ban, took no position on single-use plastic bags, and supported phasing out fast-food plastic clamshells. Last month, I cautioned Democrats that coming across as greener than thou and trying to shame people into using less plastic is not the most effective approach for persuading people to embrace environmentally friendly policies, especially when those policies may result in personal sacrifices.
Political speechifying in the Flathead
The Flathead’s Democratic Party is holding its annual Harvest Dinner — a fundraiser for which tickets are $65; no more $12 beanfeeds that low income Democrats can afford — at the Hilton in Kalispell on Saturday, 2 November, starting at 1630. Jorge Quintana, “Jorge Quintana, Vice Chair, Hispanic Caucus, and Montana Democratic Party’s National Committeeman on the DNC,” is the keynote speaker. Also bending the attendees’ ears: Mike Cooney, Wilmot Collins, Kathleen Williams, Tom Winter, and “many more.” A lot of people enjoy these events, and a subset of those people can afford them. You won’t see me there. I’d rather kiss someone with Ebola than attend a sitdown political dinner.
Montana redistricting and Dr. Michael McDonald
Montana’s 2020 redistricting commission meets in Helena on Friday, 1 November (agenda). I’m not sure whether the meeting will be live streamed, but the commission’s website reports audio and visual will be posted after the meeting.
At 1115, Dr. Michael McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida, head of the United States Elections Project, and arguably America’s leading expert on voter turnout, will speak for 30 minutes on public participation in the mapping process.
All candidates for MT SecST should attend this session. They should also try to arrange a meeting with McDonald so that he can impress on them the importance of a state’s publishing both registered voter and voting eligible population turnout statistics. Some states do, but Montana does not. Here’s why:
Not all who are eligible to vote register. Imagine there is a Corncob County, with a VAP of 110,000, a VEP of 100,000 and 10,000 registered voters. If 9,000 Corncobbers vote, the registered voter turnout is 90 percent — but the VEP turnout is only nine percent. Flathead Memo.
States that publish only registered voter turnout deprive the public and policy makers of valuable information.