Retiree, patrol sergeant face off in House District 8

In the House District 8 race, Republican incumbent Steve Lavin says he’ll focus on lowering taxes and helping businesses, while Democratic challenger Lynn Stanley is focused on expanding Medicaid and working to keep the cost of state universities affordable.

House District 8 is west and south of downtown Kalispell, running from Four Mile Drive south to where the bypass connects with U.S. 93.

Stanley said she will focus on Gov. Steve Bullock’s push to expand the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. She supports the expansion, and believes fairness is the root of the issue.

“The 70,000 low-income people in our community were left out of the reforms,” Stanley said in a phone interview. “They deserve an option as well.”

Stanley believes that if everyone was covered under an “umbrella health care,” costs would go down for hospitals, which would, in turn, decrease costs for patients.

Lavin said he believes the program is a good idea, but he was initially concerned about the Medicaid program.

“It’s a large cost,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m not against it, but we need to figure out how to pay for the expansion.”

Another priority for Stanley is to continue to freeze state university tuition for the next two years. Currently the state is expected to have a large cash reserve going into the next legislative session.

Stanley believes part of this reserve should go to the tuition freeze. Another part of this reserve, she said, should go to the state reserves to make sure they are stable. Lastly, she believes the state should look at infrastructure needs to see if some of the cash reserve could go into improvements.

“This money was paid for by taxpayers,” she said. “We need to look at how we can give back to those taxpayers, and how we can improve.”

In this respect, Lavin and Stanley agree. Lavin believes that the state should put a bit of the reserve into savings, but also find a way to give back to the taxpayers.

One of Lavin’s biggest priorities would be lowing taxes for state residents, and rebuilding businesses.

“That’s priority No. 1,” he said. “We need to build business, and jobs for people. Lowering taxes would help create those jobs.”

Stanley doesn’t support the push to move the management of some federal forest lands to state control. She said this will push the cost of maintenance and firefighting onto the state, which Montana cannot afford.

According to Stanley, this will cause an increase in taxes, and force the state to privatize some of these lands, removing access to fishing, hunting and hiking.

Lavin said the information he heard on the idea of the transfer of lands was not extensive, so he would like to learn more about it. However, he favors the idea because area locals know their land best, and will have firsthand experience on how to manage it.

Lavin also said there was little information presented regarding the proposed water compact involving the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, but he is eager to learn more about it.

“This is a forever-type deal,” he said. “If this is something we choose to go forward with, there need to be no uncertainties, because there could be huge ramifications.”

Stanley said the compact needs to be negotiated in good faith if the state decides to go that way, but believes that water owned by the state should stay state-owned. She foresees the compact coming to a head in July 2015.

“Without it, people may not be sure of their water rights or ownership,” she said. Stanley believes the compact is necessary to create clear communication of who owns what in water disputes.

Reporter Brianna Loper may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at bloper@dailyinterlake.com.