I was born in Norristown PA and will be 67 years old on election day 2024. My wife Linda and I have been living in Yellowstone county since 1991 and in my current house district since 2003. I retired in 2021 after working a variety of jobs throughout the years. I have worked in retail, law enforcement, financial services, custodial and even at the Billings Air Tanker base. Throughout my 52 years of employment I have learned to work with a wide variety of people from varying backgrounds. Being successful requires common sense, reasoning and compromise. Carrying these skills to the legislature I believe I could be an effective representative of my district.
As I have been talking to voters, I have found everyone has their own most pressing issue, as determined by their current situation. While everything can’t be addressed for everyone, I believe the place we start is with public education. Without a quality public education system we have no future. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. Public education needs to be properly and equitably funded to ensure every student has the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential. Whether a student becomes a doctor, an attorney or a mechanic or construction worker, all contribute to a healthy economy and a positive future for Montana.
I would support any reasonable, common sense solution that truly benefits those that need it. State Democrats have a proposal that would lower property taxes for working Montanans and protect against future tax hikes. It includes a $50,000 homestead exemption to Montana residents and a $200,000 exemption for small businesses. It includes a tiered residential property tax rate that would cut taxes for low and middle income Montanans, while making sure those owning mansions pay their fair share. The plan also includes a tax credit to ensure working families and retired people don’t have property taxes rising above their ability to pay.
To answer the question directly, the state needs to provide a streamlined process to allow every individual or guardian to apply for Medicaid quickly and easily.
When the continuous Medicaid coverage requirement ended in 2023, Montana began the redetermination process. As a result of this process, over 125,000 Montanans lost their Medicaid coverage. While the redetermination process may be legitimate, the methods used by the Gianforte administration are not. Many of those removed don’t realize they have been removed until they show up at a clinic and are told they don’t have coverage. The process to regain coverage is made more difficult by the lack of state assistance to those who don’t have internet access, don’t understand the forms,
I fully believe public tax dollars should stay in public schools. While everyone has the right to send their student to a private school, whether religious, a school for disabled or even home school, that should be at their expense. Every education dollar sent to private schools is one less dollar available for public education, which is still required by law to provide an education for every student, not just those it chooses to accept. Rather than creating schemes to funnel tax dollars to private institutions, the legislature should be working on a fair distribution of state funding to all public schools across the state. We need plans to attract and retain qualified educators across the state in both large and small districts.
I was born in Whitefish, MT and will be 58 years old on election day in November 2024. I live in Lockwood, MT and am a self-employed General Contractor, developer and business owner. I have a BS in Computer Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. I have been blessed to be born and raised in Montana. We have a special place in this world, and I appreciate all it has to offer. Growing up, being educated, working and building a business in Montana gives me a great perspective of the true needs, beliefs, and values that Montanans have and appreciate.
The most pressing issue facing us as a society is our financial well-being. Inflation is hurting everyone and is caused primarily by our out-of-control federal government spending. There are many important issues, but if we as individuals, and us as a state and country can’t pay our bills, the rest of the issues don’t rise above that on the priority level. Having said that, I am for tax reduction and reducing the size of the government. This is a freedom issue, because the more money and power we give to our government, the more freedoms we are sacrificing as citizens. Finally, we must work to ensure our safety through stringent enforcement of laws, particularly those that address substance use and its impact on crime in our community.
An issue as complicated as this will not be easily resolved. The fact is that the state portion of our property taxes is a small percentage of our overall tax bill, while the majority are local taxes. The state portion of our property taxes is used to pay for schools. I would not support taking that money away from the schools. Local citizens have more control of the local property taxes, as many of those are voted on levies. The system already set by legislature is working, but the citizens have to be open to alternative ideas to tax revenue to reduce their income and property tax burden. As legislators, being open and honest with the citizens is the best way to communicate the ideas that may come forward.
The Legislature has taken steps and should continue to take steps to encourage mental and physical health care providers to practice in Montana, especially rural Montana. In addition, the new medical schools in Montana are providing opportunities for home grown physicians to stay and practice in Montana, and we need to encourage more of this.
Montana’s school funding formula is unnecessarily complicated and difficult to understand. The entire school funding formula should be simplified to ensure that taxes are allocated in the appropriate manner to uphold Montana’s constitutional mandate “to provide a basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools.” The Montana Constitution further states “The legislature may provide such other educational institutions, public libraries, and educational programs as it deems desirable.” I am a big supporter of Career and Technical Education programs that need to be encouraged and financially supported by both the state and private industry.
