Dear Editor,
When the Public Service Commission was created, generous salaries were set, but without specialized knowledge requirements necessary for the job. I asked about this odd matching and was told it was assumed that by setting the salary high, well qualified individuals would be attracted to the positions. I still can’t follow that thought process, and, unfortunately, it has led to unqualified professional politicians competing for lucrative voter paid jobs without backgrounds to adequately perform the work, plus they have been able to edge out more qualified candidates, and even worse, usurp qualified incumbent commissioners by stating and repeating unverified allegations (Billings Gazette, 3-12-24.) One commissioner caught in this situation is Kirk Bushman. While serving as District 2 Commissioner, he sat in and attended work related meetings and conferences that, at times, conflicted with routine office hours/meetings but gave him specific background Information to improve the commission’s performance. Other commissioners were not interested in expanding their knowledge base.
Bushman was born in Billings, graduated from Billings Central, has a mechanical engineering degree from MSU-Bozeman and years of field experience. We need to elect him as a fully vetted engineer who will perform the important work of the PSC. And it gives us the added advantages of helping to weed out unqualified professional political candidates and elevate the PSC to a higher professional level.
Shirley Girard McDermott
Billings
