Key coverage in the race for Governor
Race profile: The statesman and the mogul
Montana Lowdown: Mike Cooney
Montana Lowdown: Greg Gianforte
Shared State: Ep. 6 — Desiring to improve the quality of life
Shared State: Ep. 5 — The grandeur of our mountains and the vastness of our rolling plains
Shared State: Ep. 3 — Grateful to God
Fundraising and campaign spending
Contributions by zip code: Al Olszewski (R)
Media coverage
On the issues
Particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, what policies would you propose to help provide Montana workers with access to good jobs?
As your next governor, I will ensure our agencies will work with a sense of urgency to open our state for all business. We will reduce unnecessary regulations. We will invest and encourage the development in all of our natural resources. We will retool our education system so high school graduates are ready to enter the workforce. I will personally promote the development of critical manufacturing such as pharmaceuticals and personal protective equipment here in our state. I will be Montana agriculture's and Montana tourism's best salesman to rebuild our markets across the state, our country and the world.
If the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic causes a state budget crisis, how would you propose to address it? If you support tax increases, who specifically should pay more? If you support budget cuts, where specifically would you look to make cuts? (We assume that working to minimize waste, fraud and abuse is a given.)
Montana will experience a fiscal crisis in 2021 far worse than the one we experienced in 2017. We should learn from the mistakes made by the governor's budget cuts that nearly destroyed Montana's behavioral health and our disability services provided in our state. As governor, I will work with the Legislature to rank and prioritize all government services similar to the way the Legislature evaluates and ranks infrastructure projects. Next, we will determine if we have a way to pay for them based on our revenues. I propose making up revenue shortfalls by opening up the Coal Tax Trust Fund. This fund was created to provide a perpetual source of state funding and to be an emergency financial parachute if Montana finds itself in a dire financial situation. Coronavirus may be the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. If it is, I say we use the Coal Tax Trust Fund to cure our economic woes.
If elected governor, how would you attempt to bridge partisan divides to work with Montanans who don't share your political orientation in order to ensure their concerns are considered by your administration?
I will continue to build on the relationships I have developed over the last six years with my Democrat colleagues in the state House and Senate. Governing our state and our people requires it.
Should Montana’s minimum wage of $8.65 an hour be raised to $15 an hour, as some advocate?
No. Even with the coronavirus pandemic, one can find starting wages for new hires above $12 an hour. In Seeley Lake, Pyramid Lumber has been offering a starting wage of over $16 an hour. Allow the free market to determine what is a fair wage for the job to be performed.
Do you favor legalizing marijuana use in Montana beyond the state’s existing medical marijuana program? If so, what sideboards would be appropriate?
No, no, and no!
What steps would you support as governor to reduce the number of missing and murdered indigenous people in Montana?
It is outrageous that the current governor's administration and the attorney general did not proactively address this issue over the last eight years. Out of honor and respect to all Native American mothers, sisters and daughters, I supported the MMIP legislation passed in the 2019 Legislature. It is not enough. It is time that the tribes and federal and state governments truly coordinate, finance and empower one agency to provide law enforcement on the reservations. That way we can hold that one agency accountable to act with a sense of urgency to protect the health, safety and welfare of all Native and non-Natives living inside the reservations.
Do you support state-funded pre-K education? If so, should pre-K schools run by churches or private entities be eligible for funding?
Yes and yes. As a state legislator, I have supported Montana's very successful "Stars to Quality" program. This long standing program does financially support public, private and parochial pre-K and day care programs through grants. In addition to this program, many public school districts fund and provide public pre-K education by calling it "two-year kindergarten." As your next governor, I am open to the discussion on how Montana assists our parents to provide early development education to their children through public, private, parochial and home-based solutions.
Should the state incarcerate fewer people? If so, are there specific criminal justice reform measures you support?
The state should incarcerate those people that have violated Montana law and are a danger to the health, welfare and safety of the people of Montana. As a state senator, I have worked in a bipartisan manner to pass common sense criminal justice reform in the past two legislative sessions. As your next governor, I will be open to the continued dialogue of criminal justice reform.
As governor, how would you ensure that journalists who cover your administration on citizens’ behalf have ample opportunity to understand how you are governing the state? Specifically, would you pledge to 1) Conduct weekly press briefings? And 2) Provide the public with comprehensive daily calendars detailing whom you have met with in your official capacity as governor?
Montanans have the constitutional "right to know" and should expect that their governor will run a transparent government. As an experienced state legislator I am frustrated by the lack of transparency exhibited by our current governor's administration. As your next governor I will engage the public openly through regular press briefings and open town hall meetings across the state. My daily schedule, including who I have met with, will be available to the citizens of Montana. As a state legislator for six years, I have always been honest, open and available to the media. I will continue to do so as your next governor.
Montana political candidates often tout their Montana roots and face criticism if they were born and raised elsewhere. Is it important for the governor to be a lifelong Montanan?
No. Rather, it is truly important that our governor understands Montana and is able to engage and interact with all the people who live in our great state. As a man born and raised in Montana, I appreciate my non-native friends and neighbors who love Montana's heritage, our state's rugged splendor, and actively participate in making Montana great.
Stay tuned for more
We'll be updating this page with new information through Election Day in November 2020.
Have ideas about additional coverage that would be helpful as you consider your vote? Tell us at edietrich@montanafreepress.org.