State of the union

Eric Fulton and Taylor Heinecke made a place for themselves June 15 in Flathead High School history books.

That's when the tennis doubles partners and Flathead seniors - they will graduate in 2006 - were elected Montana Boys State governor and lieutenant governor during this year's youth version of city, county and state government sponsored by the American Legion.

It's the first time in 34 years that Flathead High students have been elected to the governor and lieutenant governor posts. It's also the first time Boys State was moved from Western Montana College in Dillon to the campus of Carroll College in Helena, giving them access to the state Capitol building.

And now, both of them are going to Marymount University in Arlington, Va., on July 22 to 30 as the only delegates - elected by their peers - to represent Montana at the 60th annual session of Boys Nation.

With that trip, they will mark the first time the state's two delegates hail from Flathead High.

Kevin Nalty was Flathead's last delegate to Boys Nation when he was chosen in 2003. Before that, it had been since 1977 that Flathead was represented.

"I thought it would be one thing that would instill pride in our state," Fulton said of his ambition to be part of Boys State as he applied this spring. The cost of his tuition, room and board was paid by Eisinger Motors. Glacier Bank sponsored Heinecke.

Also, as a legislative-debate competitor with the Flathead speech and debate team, Fulton just thought it would be fun.

Fun was a motivator for Heinecke, too, but he had more in mind.

"I try to stay on top of government," Heinecke said. His passion is played out through energetic policy discussions with his friends, political awareness and debates.

Fulton, the Boys State 2005 governor, and Heinecke, the lieutenant governor, were among a team of seven from Flathead High. Each achieved well beyond the city government level.

Andy Creighton was named speaker of the House at Boys State and was co-editor of its newspaper. Jared Denton was elected to the House of Representatives.

Evan Scott was a state senator, John Thiebes was elected to the state's public service commission and Logan Hutchins was elected whip and clerk for the House of Representatives.

In addition to being lieutenant governor, Heinecke was elected state chairman of the Frontier Party, political rival of the Pioneer Party. State party chairman is the third-highest position at Boys State.

And besides being governor, Fulton was chairman of the platform committee.

Each of the Kalispell boys was assigned to a different one of the seven towns that served as the foundation of the Boys State structure. Each town was populated by about 40 of the 275 delegates from across Montana.

The towns had names such Last Chance, Granite, and Bow and Arrow.

When they realized they had absolute powers to enact laws, each city's police force was levying 5-cent fines to out-of-city violators for "breathing our air," or requiring another offender in some obscure infraction to wrap himself in Christmas lights and go from room to room singing a song as he was plugged into the room's electrical outlet.

"We found pretty much everyone guilty," said Heinecke, police chief for Bow and Arrow.

But it wasn't all simple fun and games. Working within their political party platforms, the delegates proposed bills targeted at solving problems in Montana today. Methane-extraction mining was a hot topic, as was high-speed Internet delivery to rural Montana and dinosaur tourism.

They also discovered how interpersonal dynamics can influence electoral outcomes.

Heinecke, as political party chairman, was responsible for picking candidates. He figured Fulton was the best pick for governor and had nominated another delegate as his running mate. That nominee, however, changed his mind about being a candidate, so Heinecke acceded to urging from the others and accepted the lieutenant governor's nomination.

Both enjoyed the unified support of their towns, then led a Frontier Party fund-raising effort to counter the Pioneer Party war chest. They ended up with enough to clean out the Helena party store's stash of Silly String, party favors and more for the Wednesday election rally party, then did the same at a local box store - leaving the Pioneers short-handed for rally supplies.

In the final vote, the Pioneer Party was split with a write-in candidate, with many party members throwing their support to the united Frontiers and giving Fulton and Heinecke an overwhelming 150 votes for the gubernatorial win.

The next day, Boys State delegates moved into the House and Senate chambers in the state Capitol.

There, they got a feel for what Montana legislators experience during their biennial sessions. If any of those legislators were paying attention, Fulton said, they could get an idea about the interests of the next generation.

Now, as they prepare to leave for Boys Nation, Fulton and Heinecke each must write two bills to be presented as potential legislation at the national gathering.

Ideas flood into their minds as they consider researched topics - legalization of marijuana, welfare reform or Social Security reform for Heinecke; a North Korean trade embargo, Japanese military repatriation, or high-speed Internet for Fulton.

They will tour national monuments, possibly meet President Bush and, Fulton said, "it would be an honor if we got to use the Capitol."

For the two young men, it's all been a learning experience about how government is run.

"Hopefully, it's run by people who care and want to do a good job," Fulton said. "It was genius by the founding fathers to have citizen lawmakers. That way, (government) can get the view of the people."

"I saw how powerful and influential government is in our lives," Heinecke said, "and how powerful and influential politics is in our lives."