Susan Geise Shows Up for Our Community

By Betty Bay, Augusta

I'm 96 years old. I was born and raised right here in this district. I've lived long enough to have voted in more elections than most people can count. I've seen good candidates and not-so-good ones. I've seen folks who talk a big game and folks who quietly get things done. After all those years, you learn to tell the difference pretty fast.

Susan is my friend here in Augusta. I've watched her serve this community up close. She was our town librarian. She served on the Augusta school board. And when a seat opened up on the Lewis and Clark County Commission, she stepped up and served there for years, bringing accountability to a commission that frankly needed it.

But what impresses me most about Susan is the sheer range of what she's done. She served in the Montana Legislature back in 1989. She chaired the Montana Republican Party. She was a policy advisor at the Public Service Commission during a time when the state was dealing with utility deregulation and billion-dollar decisions. She even went to Poland to help a young democracy get on its feet.

Through all of it, Susan has stayed the same person. She's direct, she's tough, and she doesn't put on airs. When she tells you she's going to do something, she does it. That's what I've seen from her as a friend, and that's what I've seen from her in public life.

At my age, I don't have much patience for mudslinging. I've watched too many campaigns turn ugly, with candidates tearing each other apart instead of talking about what they'd actually do for the people they want to represent. Susan isn't running that kind of campaign. She's talking about the real problems we face out here: housing that working people can afford, jobs for young people who want to stay in their communities, making sure our volunteer fire departments and EMTs have the support they need. Those are the things that matter to the people of Lewis and Clark and Teton counties, and Susan knows it because she's lived it.

I've seen a lot of elections, and what I've learned over the years is that the people who do the best job in office are the ones who've already been doing the work in the community long before they got there. That's Susan. She's spent more than 30 years showing up for this community in every way she's been asked to, and I believe she'll do the same in Helena. I hope you'll join me in voting for her on June 2nd.

Betty Bay, Augusta