A teacher who spends thirty years in a Montana classroom was promised a secure retirement in exchange. So was the nurse in the county hospital, the snowplow driver, and the clerk at the courthouse. They did their part over a full career. Keeping the state’s end of that bargain is a matter of honor.

Defined-benefit retirement is a promise made to public workers when they take the job, often at pay below what they could earn elsewhere. The security of that pension is part of the deal, and part of how Montana attracts and keeps skilled people in jobs our communities depend on. When we honor it, we keep good teachers in our schools and good workers on our roads and in our offices.

This is one of those issues that reaches across party lines the moment you set the labels down. A deal is a deal. When someone works a lifetime in good faith, the responsible thing, the Montana thing, is to hold up our end.

I will protect the retirement security that Montana’s public workers earned.

Chip in and stand with the workers who keep Montana running at smithformontana.com/donate