Bob Keenan enters state senate race

Politics, as Bob Keenan says, is local.

So Keenan, frustrated over eight years of not having the Bigfork area well represented in the Legislature, has entered the Republican race for Senate District 5.

The district includes a large and diverse demographic area, from Swan Lake and Woods Bay, to Bigfork, Evergreen and much of the east side of Kalispell.

Keenan said Tuesday he had been considering a run at the Legislature after taking the last eight years off after being term-limited. He served 12 years in the Legislature starting in 1995.

Keenan served as a legislator in the House, where he spent four years, then went to the Senate where he served eight years. In 2001 he was chairman of the finance and claims committee. In 2003 he became the Senate president and in 2005 he was the Senate minority leader.

Keenan went through some difficult times in the Legislature, mainly fiscal. When he entered the Legislature the state had a budget surplus. In 2002 the state faced a $450 million deficit and a special session was called to address it.

Oil and gas development in the last several years has helped pad Montana’s budget. “The budget picture for Montana has been stable for the last eight years since I’ve been gone,” he said.

Divisions within the state Republican party will have to be addressed, he said.

There’s a division in the senate caucus between “responsible Republicans” and Tea Party conservatives, Keenan said. “Things got all balled up between those two factions” in the last Legislature, he said.

Keenan said he dealt with ideological differences in the party as Senate president but he helped pull things together. “As a leader you have to work through all those issues,” he said.

Keenan has helped Bigfork navigate through many challenges recently. He’s challenging the way the Flathead County solid waste district is run because of how it affects Bigfork. He’s spoken out against the Flathead County proposal to close Sliter Park unless the county receives maintenance fees from Bigfork; and he’s become frustrated most recently at a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks proposal to alter Harry Horn day use area and Wayfarers State Park in Bigfork.

The only other person who has filed for the Senate District 5 seat is incumbent Republican Scott Reichner.

No democrats have filed for the seat. Filing closes March 10.

Senate District 5 represents a constituency that could be influential in the Legislature. With what he called a “fascinating district” including Bigfork, Kalispell Regional Medical Center, the east side of Kalispell and Evergreen, Keenan said he’s looking forward to being back in the hunt for a voice in the Legislature. “I like building things,” he said.