It's a three-way contest for GOP nod in North Valley

The Senate District 2 Republican primary race features two veteran House legislators and a Whitefish resident whose main focus is advancing pro-life legislation.

In the hunt are Hungry Horse businesswoman Dee Brown, who served in the House for eight years before being term limited; Rep. Bill Beck, who is serving his third term in the House; and Suzanne Brooks of Whitefish.

The seat is currently held by Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, a lieutenant governor candidate. Zinke’s Senate term expires at the end of the year.

The winner of the Republican primary advances to face Democrat Dave Fern in the November general election. Early voting begins Monday, May 7 for the June 5 primary.

Senate District 2 includes Whitefish, Columbia Falls, the Canyon and the North Fork and Middle Fork areas.

Brown said she’s running to put her experience to work in the Senate.

“I have good common sense and I have experience,” she said, noting that because of term limits, legislative experience is even more valuable in Helena. “You already have established relationships ... and I know a lot about each agency of state government.”

Another quality that she’s proud of: “I’m a good communicator and I let people know what’s going on down there in Helena.”

Brown said that during her tenure in the House, she wasn’t known for sponsoring scores of bills like other lawmakers.

“My best work is done in committees rather than sponsoring dozens of bills,” she said. “The real hard work is in committee” where bills can be killed or amended and improved.

For the 2012 legislative session, Brown predicts there will be “a lot of eyes on the surplus” that currently exceeds $400 million.

Brown supports legislation that passed last year that would allow a taxpayer refund of surplus money through an income tax credit — if the measure survives a court challenge and voters approve it in November.

Public sector unions oppose the legislation. “They don’t want to give it back to taxpayers,” Brown said. “Have we forgotten this is the people’s money?”

Even if the challenged legislation does not get on the ballot, Brown said the Legislature could take action for some form of rebate for taxpayers.

Brown is concerned about the $3.4 billion in state pension fund liabilities as a problem that must be addressed.

She favors a “defined contribution” system where new employees can establish a retirement plan similar to the private sector 401(k) model. That would improve the ability for schools to recruit teachers from other states because they can move their retirement plans with them rather starting all over with the state’s pension system, she said.

Another priority for Brown is economic development: “How are we going to make Montana competitive and business-friendly for oil, coal and gas development with surrounding states?”

Brown said she believes that state leaders need to emphasize how economic growth in the natural resource sector will provide economic benefits and increased revenues statewide.

“When the private sector does well, so does the public sector,” she said.

Bill Beck wants to strive for a smaller, more efficient government, to protect individual freedoms and rights and to responsibly develop natural resources.

Like Brown, he says he supports legislation that would return surplus money to taxpayers

“I’ve won three or four awards from the Chamber of Commerce for my voting record. I’m very proud of my voting record,” he said. “Basically, I believe in the Republican philosophy about less government, less spending and I also believe in returning surpluses to the taxpayers.”

Although he acknowledges it has been tried many times, Beck said the Legislature needs to continue working “to come up with a better way to reduce property taxes because it has become very demanding on a number of people.”

However, Beck said he is an ardent supporter of public education, as well as improving vocational training opportunities at the high school level in coordination with community colleges.

He said the Legislature needs to “give small businesses the support they need to create jobs. I think we have to do more with workers compensation and we have to do more with the business equipment tax.”

The Legislature also can do more to make insurance more affordable for small businesses, he said.

“Jobs are always the focus,” he said. “We talk about it every session, but it’s even more important now.”

Developing coal, gas and oil resources in Eastern Montana would benefit the entire state, Beck contends.

“I think we can get it done and we can get it done on a much larger scale” than current resource extraction activity, he said.

Among his accomplishments, Beck touts his leadership in fighting off legislation that was aimed at privatizing services at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls in the same manner that another veterans home in Glendive was privatized.

The two situations were not comparable, he said, and the move to privatize the Columbia Falls home was based on a study that was lacking.

If there are justifications for privatizing the Columbia Falls home, there needs to be a much more thorough study — and there will be one, he said.

He has also taken an interest in helping the Girl Scouts retain their state lease for Camp Westana on Lower Stillwater Lake. Because of reappraisals of state lease properties to derive full market values for school trusts, the Girl Scouts’ annual lease rate was raised from $5,000 to the unaffordable amount of $25,000.

It’s a complicated matter, but Beck said he is looking for solutions, including reassessing the property value that was derived at the height of a real market that has since declined substantially.

Suzanne Brooks made an unsuccessful run for the Senate District 2 seat four years ago, but she is giving it a go again mainly because of her deeply held pro-life values.

She recalls watching children protesting at an abortion clinic in the 1990s and thinking to herself, “What have I done?”

When she moved to the Flathead Valley about 17 years ago, she got involved with Flathead Pro Life and helped organize some events, including a “Hike to Christ for Life” on Big Mountain that raised about $2,000 for pro-life advertising in local media.

She also organized a protest against a “Good Death” seminar on euthanasia  that resulted in the seminar being canceled.

Holding a law degree but never becoming a lawyer, Brooks said she has carefully studied the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that upheld women’s right to abortions.

She said there is language in the decision that she believes would allow states to pass abortion-related legislation if they can show a “compelling interest” for doing so.

She said that the hundreds or thousands of abortions carried out in Montana every year amount to a demographic impacts on schools and the state’s labor force. She said Montana has a growing elderly population that is not being adequately replaced, partly because of abortion — and to Brooks that constitutes a compelling interest for the state.

“I believe I could get a bill passed to ban abortion in Montana,” and the bill could be defended as constitutional in court, she said.

Brooks has interests in other issues.

She would like to support meaningful property tax reform, having seen the value of her Whitefish property appraisal increase threefold.

“The key is (changing) the assessment process,” she says. “Taxes are out of sight, so I really think we need to work on a better system for assessing values.”

Brooks favors granting employers credits or discounts on business equipment taxes when they hire.

That would be an incentive for job creation and improving the economy — two of the most pressing issues in the state, Brooks said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.