Bigfork leader anticipates next chapter in Legislature

Bob Keenan has been down this road before.

The Swan Highway twists and turns its way to Helena, and Keenan will be making those arduous treks on the highway this winter to the state capitol after winning his third election to the Montana Legislature two weeks ago.

Keenan knows the roads in the state Legislature, too. He served 12 years in the Legislature starting in 1995 but has been away from Capitol politics for eight years after being term-limited.

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 was the Senate president and in 2005 he was the Senate minority leader.

Keenan represents Senate District 5, a large and diverse demographic area, from Swan Lake and Woods Bay, to Bigfork, Evergreen and much of the east side of Kalispell.

He recently won the Republican seat in Senate District 5 over Democrat Dan King. 

Keenan was in Helena last week for orientations to prepare for the 2015 legislative session, which convenes in January. There were plenty of new faces. He had never met 21 of the 50 state senators and 73 of the Montana House members until last week.

“Overall the legislature is green, inexperienced, and overwhelmed,” Keenan said. “But the orientation process is very impressive and the staff has 15 years of experience in getting new legislators up to speed.”

Keenan said he was keeping his ears and eyes open to get a feel for the work ahead.

“Bottom line, it’s an honor and very exciting” he said, “but the duty to represent, to study, to communicate, to listen, to lead and to follow, in a chaotic but organized environment is a challenge.”

Keenan wants to stay focused on issues that affect people locally. “People seem to have confidence in me based upon my years of experience,” he said. “They want to be represented by someone who understands their daily challenges. Someone who is willing to challenge decisions made by government that just don’t make sense at the local level.” 

During his last time in Helena, Keenan went through some challenging times in the Legislature — mainly fiscal. When he entered the Legislature the state had a budget surplus. That dwindled away. In 2002 the state faced a $450 million deficit and a special session was called to address it.

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

There’s a division in the senate caucus between what are called “responsible Republicans” and Tea Party conservatives. 

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

Back in Helena last week it didn’t take long for Keenan to realize his experience would be valuable. “I approached my return as a freshman,” he said, “but I quickly realized that my experiences are valuable to others and perhaps I can give sage advice.”

Keenan is sometimes hard to peg down in the Republican party. He takes on issues like corrections, education and public health that would seem more keen to a Democratic legislator. Keenan usually starts in the budget to find out where issues lie. Gov. Steve Bullock this week released his two-year budget, which pushes for expansion of social services, including Medicaid and mental health services, plus large increases in education and public infrastructure projects. Bullock’s proposed budget would increase state spending by 5.5 percent in 2016 and 2.8 percent in 2017. His proposed budget accounts for a $300 million statewide budget surplus for 2016-17.

Keenan had not dived too deep into the budget yet, but anticipates his priorities will be set by what’s laid out in Bullock’s budget — and the imminent Republican fight against it.

“I have a habit of digging into the budget and opportunities arise from that perspective,” Keenan said. “I do want to check up on the areas of state government that have my fingerprints from 1995 through 2006, such as public health department, the university system, state parks, local government and the corrections department.”

Creating a cohesive legislative team will be a priority. “I understand that state Agencies became very uncooperative during the (Gov. Brian) Schweitzer administration,” Keenan said. “I was used to a joint effort to improve services and outcomes between the Legislature and executive branches. I hope that the Bullock administration is open. I plan on visiting state facilities over the next six weeks. That will be telling.”

With the state sitting on a large cash reserve from oil and gas development in eastern Montana, the proposed water compact between Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes will likely take up a considerable portion of this year’s Legislature. The tribes are seeking an agreement with the state that outlines tribal control of much of the watersheds in western Montana. 

“People know that Montana is in good shape financially, they want property taxes reduced,” Keenan, 62, said. “They do not want to give the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes $55 million and control of our water with the prospect of having to buy it back in the future.”