State senator a veteran of public service

State Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, has a long and prominent history in the Flathead Valley.

A retired senior vice president with D.A. Davidson and Co., Barkus currently is serving in his second term in the Montana Senate, without the possibility of seeking re-election next year because of term limits.

He was first elected in 2002 to represent Senate District 2, covering the Kalispell and Evergreen areas. He was re-elected in 2006 with 62 percent of the vote.

In the 2009 session, he was elected majority whip by the Republican caucus. He also chaired the Senate Fish and Game Committee and served on the Local Government, Long Range Planning, Finance and Claims, Rules, and Business, Labor and Economic Affairs committees.

In the 2009 session, he successfully sponsored Senate Bill 158, which provides for a fourth district judge in Flathead County as well as additional judges in Lewis and Clark and Yellowstone counties.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," Barkus said in January in explaining his support for adding a judge and speeding up the legal process.

Barkus worked with the current three Flathead County District Court judges on the legislation. The judges, partly because of their work with Barkus, have removed themselves from his case involving felony charges for an Aug. 27 boat crash on Flathead Lake.

Barkus, a Havre native, went on to graduate from the University of Montana with a finance degree. He started work with D.A. Davidson in 1981.

He previously was employed by Bank of Montana System in Missoula, Butte and Conrad, where he was president of the Pondera Bank of Montana.

He was vice chairman of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, served on the Montana Trade Advisory Council and Governor's Economic Education Council, was active in the Rotary Club and has served as chairman of the Flathead County Republican Party.

He has represented Montana at Republican National Conventions, serving as an alternate delegate at last year's convention. His wife, Kathy, was one of 25 Montana delegates at the 2008 event in St. Paul, Minn., that nominated Sen. John McCain as the GOP presidential candidate.