Lt. governor candidate Zinke discusses plans
Neil Livingstone, Republican candidate for governor, and his running mate for lieutenant governor, Ryan Zinke, visited several businesses through Bigfork last week as part of their campaign.
Zinke, of Whitefish, is currently a member of the Montana Senate and chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
In addition, he is the CEO of Continental Divide International, a business development consulting company, and has 22 years of experience with the US Navy and as mission commander of SEAL Team Six, the unit that later killed Osama bin Laden.
Zinke and Livingstone came to Bigfork in order to discuss how their platform would affect local businesses.
Part of their platform includes improving how Montana does business. To do this, they want to cut corporate taxes and update existing labor laws. According to Zinke, Montana is “held hostage” by out-of-state interests who don’t think Montana’s environment will remain pristine with industrial development.
The second part of their platform is restoring public trust in government. Zinke cited issues of transparency and corruption on both sides.
“As a Seal, I can tell you what happens when people lose faith in government,” Zinke said. “I hunted Taliban, and I will hunt down corruption like I did the Taliban.”
On a more local scale, Zinke would like to see unincorporated towns such as Lakeside or Bigfork benefit from improved technology in schools with programs such as virtual classrooms. These programs could bring educational opportunities from all over the world to students where those resources may not be readily available.
Zinke also noted the need for wider shoulders along the highway near Bigfork for bicyclists and pedestrians.
State funds are part of the issue according to Zinke, who claims there are about 20 state employees who make more than the governor and millions of dollars in bonuses are given out.
According to Zinke the government caters to special interest groups such as pharmaceutical and insurance companies over the interests of the citizens. Conversely, he doesn’t want to change laws on corporations, but hold them accountable if they knowingly violate the law.
“I don’t buy the argument that a company is too big to fail,” Zinke said. “GM hasn’t changed.”
Zinke credits the public hostility toward corporations in Montana as a legacy of the Butte mining days when tensions between corporations and labor were reflected into state laws.
On a statewide scale, their plans include improving infrastructure with increased cell phone signal and wireless Internet to bolster business.
Zinke doesn’t believe there has to be a trade-off between industrial development and environmental protection.
According to Zinke, energy independence is a realistic goal because there is 500 billion barrels of petroleum under Montana, North Dakota, and Canada, more than 20 times the amount in Saudi Arabia.
“Mistakes were made in the past,” Zinke said. “But you can’t be a world of ‘No.’”
He thinks the Keystone Pipeline needs to be implemented for energy independence and doesn’t believe solar or wind energy is suitable for Montana. According to Zinke, looking at a windmill “isn’t as good as an oil derrick.”
“We’re ultimately going to have to get off oil, but want to do it on our own terms,” Zinke said. “It’s going to be a very unpopular first two years. People will be nervous about rapid changes.”