Melinda Gopher is seeking the State of Montana's sole Congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Melinda Gopher, 44, an Ojibwe / Blackfeet from Missoula, Montana is seeking the State of Montana's sole Congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While many glass ceilings have been shattered; a Native American woman has yet to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Gopher's running as a progressive Democrat and focusing her campaign on jobs. The current recession has hit Montana's communities hard, even though the state unemployment rate is not as critical as the overall national rate of 10%; it is deceiving. Montana does not count long term unemployed workers who have given up.

Melinda is a civil rights activist, and blogger. She is a Paralegal but decided to run for the U.S. House believing she can make a difference in the nation's capitol. Melinda Gopher believes the nation does not have to choose between cap and trade and carbon taxation as revenue raising; rather, clean energy must be pursued to create jobs no matter what.

Melinda supports the Employee Free Choice Act as a means for keeping American labor strong. She believes corporations have gone unchecked, and have had a negative impact in DC. This has led to the loss of jobs and outsourcing of jobs to artificially inflate corporate profit margins. Gopher believes exploiting labor forces in foreign countries is detrimental to the world economy in the long term. Loss of workers' rights has created unfair trade policies between the U.S., China, India to point to a few examples. Corporate exploitation and economic coercion do not create win/win partnerships: something Gopher wants to create.

Gopher supports overhauling the nation's ailing housing sector. She believes the low-income are mired in HUD programs of the past. Not enough of the nation's low and middle income people are building personal wealth equity--resulting in lost economic power and a declining tax base. She believes there must be revolutionary changes in the national housing policy that will reverse the housing crisis. She would enact laws ending financial apartheid in America, and ban policies mired in the FHA redlining legacy. She vows to "pick up where Bobby Kennedy left off" in ending American poverty.

Melinda is the spouse of a combat disabled veteran and cares about veteran issues. She believes the VA ratings system is broken, she currently supports the efforts of national veterans groups to work with Montana Senator Jon Tester to fix the system so that it works for veterans.

Melinda Gopher is a long time civil rights, tribal sovereignty, and environmental activist. She believes HUD has been a weak institutional home for civil rights and supports the creation of a cabinet level agency for civil rights. She believes state-by-state laws on gay marriage are the wrong approach and unjust. She believes the federal government must beef up the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Amendments to include sweeping protections for gays, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals.

Melinda Gopher points out, "the black codes are a disgraceful part of America's past. The state-by-state approach are the black codes for the LGBT community, why are we tolerating this inequality?" She believes to ensure an end to discrimination against gays and to provide for their full civil rights--will require federal intervention as was done in the 1960s civil rights movement.

Melinda Gopher has been a civil rights practitioner since her early 20s. She was the only Native American panelist in the 1994 National Fair Housing Summit and worked to enact fair housing protections in Montana. Melinda Gopher has worked in the public and private sector on fair housing.

She believes the nation needs another Fair Housing Summit to address the subprime crisis. She points out, "not enough is being done to ensure Americans keep their homes, and participate in the American dream of homeownership."

Melinda Gopher knows her candidacy is improbable; she believes her voice is needed to address the lack of effective Native American leadership in the state Democratic party. She believes the Native Americans advancing in the political party pipeline in the state are tokens and are placed in positions where they are politically neutered.

She is a vocal critic of Senator Max Baucus's mishandling of state tribal issues, his failure to address long term and chronic unemployment in the state's seven Indian reservations and urban areas. She has criticized the Senator over taking single payer off the table in health care reform. Melinda Gopher is likely to challenge Baucus in 2014 when he comes up for re-election."
melinda Gopher
www.MelindaForMontana.com
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MELINDA FOR MONTANA - VOTE FOR HISTORIC CHANGE - Melinda Gopher

Who is Melinda Gopher?

Melinda Gopher is the seventh of eight children born to Robert and Dorothy Gopher, of Great Falls, Montana. She grew up in a two room house on Hill 57. Melinda Gopher is a paralegal, and hopes to at some point in the future, continue toward law school and earn a JD in law.

Melinda Gopher is a candidate for Montana’s sole congressional district in the U.S. House. She is seeking this position as someone who hopes to make progressive laws that better people’s lives. Melinda Gopher believes there is too much grid lock in Washington DC, and that people are often overlooked as a result.

Melinda is taking this time to seek this seat in the U.S. House based upon her personal life experiences. Melinda Gopher believes she is uniquely qualified to navigate the bureaucracy in Washington DC; having continually having dealt with the nation’s oldest bureaucracy; the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Melinda loves and is proud of Big Sky Country, she is proud of her country and proud of this nation’s flag. Her ancestors received one of the earliest treaty flags given to Indian nations at this nation’s founding. She believes oral history and written history verifies her Ojibwe ancestors did in fact; contribute to the early nation building. History seems to bear out the Ojibwe as an influential Great Lakes ally to the U.S. As a tribal person, she is well aware of the need, and has the skills to succeed in representing Montanans of every walk of life.

Melinda Gopher's family and tribal origins are rooted in public service dating back to the founding of this nation. Her late father assisted in gaining state constitutional protection of the “cultural integrity of tribal people “ in the state’s educational mandates.

Melinda Gopher's father founded Opportunities, Inc. in Great Falls during the War on Poverty era. He founded Loud Thunder, Inc. in 1986 and would spearhead an environmental movement that would lead to the successful banning of new cyanide mines in Montana. Robert Gopher galvanized the effort to preserve Montana’s waters.

Melinda Gopher for U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Gopher for Congress
Montana Political News