NEW VOICES: Conservatives Seek to Repeal the Death Penalty in Montana

In Montana, a conservative political group is calling for an end to the death penalty after a recent court ruling held the state’s execution protocol unconstitutional. Former Republican state Senator Roy Brown said, “Conservatives dislike waste and inefficiency. That is why we should cast a critical eye when the state is involved with the business of executing people…. When it takes over 20 years and hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars for extra legal fees and court costs, it is obvious that the process is full of waste and inefficiency.” Steve Dogiakos, a member of Montana Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, said the court ruling “shines a bright light on the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies associated with capital punishment.”

Republican Representative Christy Clark (pictured) plans to sponsor a bill to replace the death penalty with life without parole. She said, “It is time for conservatives to do what they do best and insist that a wasteful inefficient government program gets off the books. Small government and the death penalty don’t go together. We should not trust the state to get this right.”