Special session gives preview of 2003 budget challengesGuest column

Special session gives preview of 2003 budget challenges

Guest column

Last week, Montana's 150 legislators met to trim $57 million from the state government's budget. And, just six days after the special session began, they balanced the budget without increasing taxes on hardworking Montanans.

This letter is written first and foremost to say "thank you" to those individuals. Montanans can be proud of their citizen legislators who left their families, farms, jobs and communities to meet in Helena for a week to tackle a budget problem that faces almost every state in the nation.

During this speci...