Gubernatiorial race: 'What will Montana be like after your leadership?'

The future of Montana

At the end of the next four years, I hope Montana will be a better place as a result of my leadership. The people of the Whitefish area know me. They know I don't make promises I can't keep, and I keep the promises I make.

My philosophy is to keep the tax and regulatory burdens low so the economy can expand and create jobs. I believe it is better to create more taxpayers than to create more taxes.

Public services are necessary to civilization. To be a good place in which to live, Montana must have a quality school system, good roads and an adequate system of human services. Tax dollars will be managed wisely in a Bob Brown administration. The people are entitled to their money's worth in the use of their tax dollars for the services they require.

Our natural resources can and should be used wisely and responsibly without harming our natural environment. This is particularly true of our renewable timber resource. Managed with foresight, it can provide better wildlife habitat, water and air quality, and recreational and economic opportunity. Our forests should be an ongoing benefit to us, rather than a threat every time a drought cycle occurs.

I have presented a detailed economic plan to create an estimated 13,000 sustainable jobs. My plan has been described by University of Montana economist Paul Polzin as the most comprehensive ever proposed by a candidate for Governor of our state. You can examine it, and my position on other issues, in detail on my web page at www.bobbrown2004.com.

I know a great many of the Whitefish Pilot readers personally as the Whitefish area has been my home since childhood. You know me, my wife, Sue, and my daughters Robin and Kelly. Many of you know me through my involvement in community groups and organizations or through my teaching at area high schools, or FVCC. Whitefish honored me to represent our community eight times in the state legislature. You know I am honest, hardworking, practical and effective. I have earned your trust, and I value your friendships.

I'm uncomfortable making self-serving predictions about how much better off Montana will be after four years of my leadership. But I do know that leadership matters, and that effective leaders have shaped whole epochs of history. I personally know something about leadership because I've been in the arena. I've made the decisions and choices that define what is required of a leader. I have a record that shows real results. The Taxpayers Bill of Rights, The Lakeshore Protection Act, and a variety of pieces of legislation to strengthen and support our school system, are examples of what has come from my leadership. As Secretary of State for the past four years, I have improved and streamlined the administration of my office.

Hopefully, Montanans will look back in years to come and see the time when Bob Brown was governor as one in which there was a good relationship between the people and state government, and a time when constructive progress resulted in a better state.

Montana 2008: My Vision for the Future

By Brian Schweitzer

If you were to ask your friends and neighbors why they chose to live in Montana, I bet you'd hear pretty similar responses. We have safe communities, hardworking people, good schools, and quality of life unmatched anywhere in the world. After four years under a Schweitzer-Bohlinger administration, the qualities that make Montana so special won't change.

But after ten years of business as usual in Helena, there is plenty of room for improvement in our state. Our wages have fallen to 50th in the nation, healthcare costs are skyrocketing, and college tuition has tripled in the last decade. I don't think another career politician is the answer Montana needs. It's time for a fresh approach, new ideas and a business mindset to get our state back on track.

My first priority is economic development. We need to make sure our businesses have access to investment capital, particularly as we seek to expand our high-tech sector. I also support incentives to help small business start and grow. I have proposed developing an ethanol industry in Montana, which will add hundreds of millions of dollars annually to our agricultural economy, and generate new feedlot and meatpacking industries. I also support developing wind power across Montana, and developing new value-added industries from our abundant natural resources: manufacturing fertilizer from natural gas; furniture from our timber; and hydrogen fuel cells using hydrogen from our coal and platinum and palladium from the Stillwater mine. Other states have already been successful in implementing these ideas, and there is no reason why it can't be done in Montana.

Health care is another critical need in Montana. State government has sat by and pretended nothing is wrong with our healthcare system, even as one in five Montanans today do not have any health insurance. As governor, I will work with legislators from both parties to pass legislation allowing small businesses to pool together and negotiate lower-priced insurance for their employees. I will also join Republican and Democratic governors from across the country to help pharmacists import lower-priced FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada. And, I will work with other states to bargain with pharmaceutical companies and negotiate lower prices for our citizens.

On education, we must realize our schools are the magnet that will bring new businesses to our state. Right now, Montana has the highest community college tuition in the nation, preventing many Montanans from receiving higher education. That is why I have proposed renewed investment in K-12 and higher education, particularly in our community colleges and colleges of technology. Investing in community colleges, colleges of technology and worker retraining programs will ensure that all Montanans have the opportunity to live and study in their home state, and we will all benefit from an educated, well-trained work force.

Finally, we must preserve what makes Montana such a unique place: our spectacular public lands that are accessible to everyone for hunting, fishing and recreation. As Governor, I will implement my 9-point plan to make sure that public lands and streams remain open to the public. As an NRA member with an A-rating, I also promise to continue standing up for the 2nd Amendment rights of gun owners.

But perhaps the biggest change I plan to bring to state government is changing the way business is done in the capital building. Over the last year, I have traveled to all 56 counties in Montana, meeting with people from all walks of life to discuss the future of our state. And the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that we need new management in Helena. For too long, state government has been controlled by special interests and career politicians more concerned with retaining their own power than helping Montana achieve its potential. Political parties, meanwhile, have often seemed more concerned with embarrassing the opposition than with working together to move our state forward. At the end of the day, all this political bickering hasn't gotten us anywhere.

That is why as a Democrat, I asked Republican state Senator John Bohlinger to run with me and create the first bipartisan ticket in the history of Montana. We will reach across party lines and use our 60 years of small business experience to get Montana moving again. We will put aside party politics to do what's right for our state.

Four years from now, under the direction of the Schweitzer-Bohlinger team, Montana will still have the greatest quality of life in the world. But added to that will be a healthy, prosperous economy, world-class education, and an affordable healthcare system that works for our state and its people. That is our pledge to Montana.