HELENA — With less than 40 days until Election Day, candidates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats are pushing policy agendas and gearing up for debates and forums. Here’s a look at the week’s most interesting and important developments in Montana’s election campaigns.
CURTIS ANNOUNCES PUBLIC LANDS PLATFORM
Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Amanda Curtis announced a plan this week to “keep public lands public” including support for ideas generated by the state to strengthen the timber industry. Curtis said she supports the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, an act that would prevent new oil and gas development and mining, while allowing continued forest management in the area. Her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep Steve Daines, is a sponsor of the bill.
Curtis also supports the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, which would designate 208,000 acres as a conservation management area and add nearly 70,000 acres to the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wilderness. She supports the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, which sets aside Montana land for public use and designates land for timber harvest. She is a supporter of legislation that would keep national parks and other federal managed lands open during government shutdowns and opposes attempts to hand federal land to the state for management. Curtis also supports expanding public access and protecting critical habitat through a fund with money from offshore oil and gas development. Daines said he’s also committed to preserving and protecting access to the state’s public lands and introduced legislation last week to protect East Rosebud Creek in Carbon County, which would designate a 13-mile segment as part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
LEWIS SEEKS QUESTIONS FOR SEPT. 29 FORUM
Democratic U.S. House candidate John Lewis will fly solo during a debate turned a voters’ forum on Monday Sept. 29 after opponent Ryan Zinke declined to participate. Lewis is inviting people statewide to submit questions for him by emailing Billings Gazette editor Darrell Ehrlick at [email protected] or Yellowstone Public Radio News Director Jackie Yamanaka at [email protected]. People can also ask questions of Lewis through Facebook.com/billingsgazette or by using #MontanaDebates on Twitter. The forum is hosted by the Billings Gazette and Yellowstone Public Radio and will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at Petro Theatre in Billings. The event is open to the public and will be available for Montanans to view via webcast.
REGULAR VOTER REGISTRATION IN MONTANA ENDS OCT. 6
Montanans who haven’t registered to vote have until Oct. 6 to do so without registering in person. Voters can register and vote up through the close of polls on Election Day. But after Oct. 6, they must register in person at a county election office or location designated by the county election administrator. Voter registration applications are online at sos.mt.gov and can be dropped off or mailed to a designated county election office. Additionally, absentee ballots will be mailed to eligible voters on Oct. 6.