Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 4.2.14

22 | APRIL 2, 2014
NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Ryan Zinke, a
candidate for the
U.S. House from
Whiteish, speaks
to a group at the
VFW Post 2252 in
Kalispell.

GREG LINDSTROM
FLATHEAD BEACON

Zinke Conident in Bid for House Seat

Whiteish Congressional is possible in ive years with heavy ex- and Montana could use a whole lot less or $83,700 in itemized donations, has
pansion of domestic oil production; and of Washington.”
come from Montanans, a igure he says
candidate decries Obamacare should be repealed.
overreaching federal Zinke admits that calling Hillary will even out as he ramps up the next
He singles out the Internal Revenue Clinton the “anti-Christ” during a cam- phase of fundraising.
government, calls for Service’s scrutinizing of political groups paign stop in Bigfork wasn’t an appropri- Two Washington advocacy groups
and the National Security Agency’s sur- ate comparison, but he remains hyper- concerned with clean elections iled a
energy independence
veillance of U.S. citizens as examples of critical of her time as secretary of state complaint against Zinke with the Fed-
an instrusive government, as well as an due to the deaths of four Americans in a eral Election Commission, alleging he
overregulated business climate that sty- terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
coordinated with Special Operations
mies entrepreneurship.
He characterized the statement as for America (SOFA) – the super PAC he
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
“I thank God the strength of Amer- harsh, but recently lirted with the as- formed in 2012 to support presidential
After six months on the hunt for ica is not in the government, it’s in the sessment at a Pachyderm lunch in Ka- candidate Mitt Romney – to inance his
Montana’s lone U.S. House seat, Ryan people and their resolve,” he said. “The lispell, wryly telling the audience that campaign.
Zinke has mounted a formidable cam- regulatory burden and overreach is just “I’ve got to be nice to Hillary.”
Democratic-leaning blogs have also
paign war chest, tweaked his Republi- too excessive. It squashes innovation. He places heavy emphasis on his mil- attacked Zinke for what they character-
can platform to a ine point and, despite We’ve got to grow. And the only way to itary career. His vitae includes 23 years ized as unethical coordinating with the
treading hot water in the wake of an un- grow is to get government out of busi- as a Navy SEAL, during which he served super PAC, which is now backing Zinke
bridled barb aimed at Hillary Clinton ness.”
as deputy commander of Special Forces and other candidates who are veterans.

and amid allegations of an illegal fund- Still, Zinke doesn’t strictly toe the in Iraq, commander of Joint Task Forces The groups allege SOFA spent more
raising channel, has demonstrated an party line, calling himself a “blue-col- in Kosovo and Bosnia and mission com- than $50,000 distributing pro-Zinke
air of profuse conidence.
lar” Republican who believes that gov- mander at SEAL Team Six.
ads since he launched his campaign last
“The far left says I’m too conserva- ernment “stops at the mailbox” regard- In 2008, he was elected to the Mon- October.
tive and the far right says I’m too mod- ing social issues.
tana Senate, where he served as chair- Meanwhile, his campaign has col-
erate,” the former state legislator and He commends some federal environ- man of the Senate Education Commit- lected nearly 26 percent of its total cam-
career Navy SEAL from Whiteish said mental protections while criticizing fed- tee, and in 2012 he lost a race for lieuten- paign funds, or nearly $116,000, from

last week. “For Montana, I think I’m just eral forest mismanagement for failing ant governor while running alongside executives and employees of Florida-
right.”
to log, and says a fractured Republican gubernatorial candidate Neil Living- based Fidelity National Financial Inc.,
The main tenets of his campaign Party has created a glut of bad blood and stone.
a business created by part-time White-
don’t stray far from the GOP boilerplate internal bickering, making it diicult This election cycle, Zinke has raised ish resident William B. Foley II, who is
– an overreaching federal government to accomplish anything in Washington, nearly $448,000 from individuals and the majority shareholder of Whiteish
has thrown the nation into crisis; free, D.C.
political action committees, or PACS, Mountain Resort.
untethered enterprise is the only path to “The Republican party is circling through Dec. 31 – more money than Zinke dismissed the claims that he’s
private-sector job creation and a strong the wagons and then shooting in. It’s any other Montana House candidate, done anything unethical, describing the

economy; the United States must be- confused,” he said. “I think Washing- excepting personal donations by can- attacks as “blog warfare” from the far
come energy independent, which he says
ton could use a little bit more Montana,
didates. Only 18.7 percent of his total,
left.