Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 10.12.16
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ELECTIONS 2016
1. Are infrastructure improvements a major concern for Montana and, if so, what would you do to help pass a comprehensive infrastructure package?
2. Montanans rely on extraction-based industries for jobs, even as demand grows for clean and renewable energy in the region. How would you help employees in the coal, oil
and natural gas industries maintain their livelihood, or pursue training in other  elds in Montana’s changing economic landscape?
3. Given that the Legislative Fiscal Division has projected an ending fund balance that is considerably less than what was anticipated, what would be your budgetary
approach heading into the session?
4. Should the state of Montana push to take more control of some federal land management?
5. What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the 2017 Legislature, and how do you propose dealing with it?
HOUSE DISTRICT 13
Incumbent Republican Bob Brown of Thomp-
son Falls did not provide responses.
NAME: Debra Achatz
RESIDENCE: Trout Creek
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
FAMILY: Married to same per- son for 46 years, 3 children, 6 grandchildren
OCCUPATION: Certi ed Montana Mediator, Sub- stitute Justice Court Judge
EDUCATION: N/A
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: N/A
WEBSITE: None
1. School buildings, roads, bridges, water delivery, and wastewater management
are all areas that need a lot of repair and maintenance.
It is unfortunate that the last Legisla- ture denied nearly $2 million to Sanders
SENATE DISTRICT 47
Democrat Tom France did not provide responses.
NAME: Dan Salomon
RESIDENCE: Ronan
POLITICAL PARTY: GOP
FAMILY: Married to wife Janey for 36 years with three daugh- ters and four grandchildren
OCCUPATION: Farmer
EDUCATION: Graduate of Ronan High School and Montana State University with a degree in Agricultural Production
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Elected to Montana House of Representatives in 2011, 2013, and 2015; elected to Ronan School Board  ve times WEBSITE: DanSalomon.com
1. Infrastructure was the biggest disap- pointment of the 2015 session. It became a political football at the end of the session with all Montanans losing out from the lack of the passage of a bill.
Legislators must deal with infrastruc- ture early in the session. There is a very good chance there will be several bills introduced that will need to be pared down to something acceptable with the budget constraints we will be facing. I would expect several levels of infrastructure projects with a revenue trig- ger. This would start the projects at a base level, and if revenue triggers are met, the next level of projects would be authorized.
County, which would have generated jobs, improved schools, and maintained and/or repaired water and wastewater disposal sys- tems. If a bill came up regarding infrastruc- ture improvements, I would work with other members to see that the contents of the bill were negotiated and the bill passed.
2. The world is moving toward clean and renewable energy sources. Montanans who currently work in the oil, gas and coal indus- tries will clearly have to move forward, through training, into the future of energy.
3. My approach would be to study the bud- get before making any statement regarding an approach to management of same.
4. The state taking control of management of federal lands is preposterous. I would not want to waste any of the taxpayers’ time or resources exploring this notion.
5. I do not think there is only one pressing issue. Education (children and adult), infra- structure, health care, just to name a few, are pressing issues facing all Montanans.
2. We need to be proactive against new regulations and lawsuits that are utilized just to harm our natural resource industries. The Democratic “War on Coal” is trying to not only harm Colstrip but wound Montana’s economy also. The Flathead has just seen the example of shutting down the forests result- ing from no logs to process. The renewable energy industry is not economically viable without government subsidies and o ers very few jobs.
I would expect there are programs in place for retraining of workers as were in place for the workers at Plum Creek’s mill here in Pablo when it closed. The new jobs didn’t o er the same wages and bene ts for the newly trained workers, though. The local economy is still su ering.
3. Caution. There will be very little new spending. State employee wages and statu- tory education increases will make very little money available for use in other areas. This is probably the biggest obstacle for an infra- structure bill.
4. I hope this is an item that has a lot of discussion during the session. I am not in favor of transfer of federal lands to the state. I would like to see not just state input but local input into some of these land manage- ment decisions.
5. The budget and how it impacts all the other issues will be the main issue. Tax cuts will be hard-pressed to be considered when the state’s revenue stream is already frugal.
HOUSE DISTRICT 12
NAME: Susan Evans
RESIDENCE: Polson
POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat
FAMILY: Three grown children — a daughter who served honorably for six years in the Army as a Military Intel- ligence Korean Linguist & Crypto Analyst; a son who
served honorably in the Marine Corps; a son who served honorably
in the Army as a Communications Specialist and Level 2 Combatives Instructor
OCCUPATION: Former school teacher; currently the owner of an engraving and awards business plus gift shop
EDUCATION: B.S. in Education from Eastern Montana College, now MSU Billings, with majors in English and Art, and some post-graduate work at the U of M
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Elected Precinct Committee Woman; Youth at Risk of Homelessness Task Force; Secretary, Lake County Democrats; Alter- nate Committee Woman, Lake County
WEBSITE: None
1. Of course infrastructure improvements are a major concern. It is unfortunate that the previous legislative session failed to pass any- thing to address this. I would work toward a bipartisan solution.
2. In the recent past, a person expected to get a job, work for that company, retire with a decent pension. Now, the average adult has already had at least three major career changes, and the younger gen- erations are expected to have many more changes. Retirement has been disabled, until the average person is required to build their own IRA. I understand that many coal employees came from generations of coal industry workers. I feel that is unreasonable for them to expect to continue those careers, when the industry has known for many years that coal would not be a viable option. We have programs in place to retrain those who have lost their jobs because of plant closures. Plum Creek is an example of that. Many of those employees were given options for retraining. One man who I know personally went back to school at SKC for new employment goals. I watched how the wind farm at Judith Gap, near where my mother lived in Harlowton, was a boost to the local economy during construction, and continues o ering ben- e ts from ongoing service.
3. Sound  scal planning requires a balanced approach. We have done better than almost every other state to keep expenditures in line with income. We could explore closing some tax loopholes that bene t only a small percentage of our residents, while taking the burden o  of the average wage earners.
4. I feel that the movement to take control of some federal land management is a thinly disguised e ort to take over, and then claim that it’s too much to handle, opening the way for private interests to buy up prime recreation properties. We saw that happen in Polson, when prime riverfront park property was sold o  to pay for fairground improvements. As my son said recently, once you sell the land, it’s gone. I would like to create a more cooperative e ort between the fed- eral government, allowing local folks to make more decisions, since we are the ones who live here and understand our own backyards better than somebody in Washington, D.C.
5. I feel that it is important to review our tax structures, keeping the interests of the middle-income people foremost in our planning.
I am determined to protect our natural resources. I am not a “bleed- ing heart liberal,” but since I am part of the Family Table dinners, and cook every month at Soup’s On, I see the need to take care of the little, the least, the lost, the last, and the lonely. We’ve all been one or more of those, and may yet be any of them. We should be giving tax incentives for charitable giving, which would take the burden o  of government, and put it back into the hands of local “boots on the ground” enter- prises, such as the food pantry, and Soup’s On.
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OCTOBER 12, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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