by Travis Mateer

Yesterday I acquired a copy of Bill Burt’s letter to potential voters and, after reading its lengthy content, I decided it needed something to give it some PUNCH, so I grabbed my guitar and got to work.

If listening to me perform Bill’s letter is too much to ask on a Friday, here are a few of my favorite quotes from the letter, like this one about Bill’s “intimate knowledge” of people:

Being a Butte, Montana native, coming from a very large family, and working as a front-line law enforcement officer, I have intimate knowledge of people who most often will appear in court–many being first time non-violent offenders who may suffer from mental illness, addiction, or other afflictions that have landed them within the criminal justice system.

And here’s Bill claiming familiarity with shit going down ‘on the street’.

As a compassionate judge and knowing conditions ‘on the street’, I promise to diligently find the balance between those who want help to get back on their feet versus those offenders who need more traditional corrections.

I added the emphasis where Bill is able to actually FIND something (unlike his efforts to help Rebekah Barsotti’s family). The other point of emphasis is where Bill uses strategically sanitary language to describe kicking some bad-guy ass, cop-style. At least that’s how I interpret the meaning of TRADITIONAL CORRECTIONS.

For the rest of my interpretive engagement of this content, here’s my performance. Have a GREAT weekend!