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MONTANA HOUSE DISTRICT 25

State House Representative – the office of state representative serves in the Montana legislature’s lower house. There are 100 representatives who are elected from districts. Representatives are elected to 2-year terms. Representatives propose and vote on proposed laws during the legislative sessions that meet for 90 days in odd-numbered years, and provide oversight of state agencies and study issues through interim committees that meet between sessions. Representatives are limited to four consecutive 2-year terms.

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  • Candidate picture

    STEVE GIST
    (Rep)

  • Candidate picture

    JAMES RICKLEY
    (Dem)

Biographical Information

Question 1: Please briefly provide the following information: place (town or county and state) of birth, age as of election day 2024, place (town or county) of permanent residency, occupation/employer, and education. How do these things and your other life experiences qualify you to be an effective legislator?

Question 2: What do you consider to be the most pressing issues facing Montana heading into the 2025 session and what legislation would you propose and/or support to address these issues?

Question 3: Many Montanans are concerned about rising residential property taxes, which primarily fund local government services such as schools, counties and city/town programs but are calculated through a system set by the Legislature. What changes to the state tax system, if any, would you support to provide property tax relief while maintaining sufficient revenue for essential services?

Question 4: Considering the state’s role in mental and physical health care services, especially in helping cover the costs of services available to lower-income Montanans, what additional steps, if any, do you believe the Legislature should take to enhance health care access and promote Montanans’ health?

Question 5: Many education leaders are concerned that the state’s existing school funding formula isn’t keeping up with the costs of educating students. What proposals, if any, would you support to ensure adequate and sustainable long-term funding is available for public pre-K–12, college/university, and vocational education programs?

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I am from urban Philadelphia, suburban Bucks County, studies as draftsman, mathematics, architecture, piano, music composition from Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and University of Nevada-Reno. I taught in rural depressed Pennsylvania, farm-orchard lands, suburban Philadelphia near military bases. I a school administrator northeast Pennsylvania, frontier Nevada and superintendent for Poplar Schools. I've learned how to build consensus.
Our population increase since 2010 has placed us 10th in the nation at 16.85%. We need balance with economic responsibility. Ranches and farms are unable to compete and maintain solvency. We find many residents here in their vacation homes. We have a burgeoning tourist industry that needs resources. Our land usage demands that we are respectful of our heritage and history while maintaining our responsibilities to the resident tribes. We must foster our wildlife with safety and freedom. All of this leads to the entrance of a more diversified citizenry.
Taxes are essential to the maintenance of community and state services: water, communication, roads, fire, protection, health and more. The assessment and collection of monies must be completed fairly and appropriately. All must pay their share for the benefit of the common good. To receive these services without commitment is a show of a lack of stewardship to the state environment we need to maintain and create.
Montana has a marked lack of mental health services. This investment must also be tied to creating communities that are stimulating to maintain the necessary personnel. Transportation to receive these services calls for a pooling of specialties and blending them into a meaningful access directory. Our social services and childcare services need codification and stabilization. As a member of the retired community, the state through the legislature must address developing a continuum of care assisting in defining services, facilities and decision-making processes. We must address and confront the horrifying fact that we are the state with the highest suicide rate in the nation.
I was brought into the state of Nevada by its governor to prove to his legislature that you can get a quality education from any place in that state. This was accomplished that with increased, seamless connectivity to state and nationwide resources. With our fully articulated mapped curriculum, project-based learning is possible. We must address all of our instructional domains: cognitive, affective, psycho-motor, emotional and social. We need to explore and allow solutions within the classroom: a master teacher model, learning style instruction, 4MAT, dual credit programs.
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