Pair square off for Whitefish legislative seat

The candidates for Montana House District 5 are both family men, both Whitefish residents and both deeply concerned about Montana’s future.

That’s about where the similarities stop.

Ed Lieser, the 65-year-old Democrat incumbent, is being challenged by 51-year-old Doug Adams, a Republican and former Whitefish city council member.

House District 5 encompasses the Whitefish area, bordered by Montana 40, U.S. 93 and the Whitefish Range. 

The two men vying for the position were asked a series of questions about hot-button issues facing Montana.

On the push to expand Medicaid in Montana (rejected by the last Legislature), the candidates are at odds.

“We absolutely, unequivocally should expand Medicaid,” Lieser said. “We need to find a way to get health insurance to those 70,000 people below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. Right now they are left behind.”

Lieser said he believes options to expand who could sign up in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace also could be exercised and ultimately the cost of providing health care will actually reduce the burden on taxpayers.

Adams, on the other hand, said expanding Medicaid will cause people to be dependent on entitlement programs and will incentivize using taxpayer money as a crutch.

“I’m not in favor of expanding, the reason being is they should be looking at real solutions, not perpetuating the problem,” he said. “Entitlement programs in the U.S. have gotten us in the financial situation we are in.”

As for the possible financial surplus the state of Montana could be looking at during the next legislative session, both candidates agree that fulfilling past obligations, such as teacher retirement funds, should come first.

From there, they diverge. Adams said he believes every unused dime of a “surplus” should go back into the hands of taxpayers. Lieser said the money should bolster the state’s rural school systems and teacher benefits, and anything left should be used on infrastructure.

Lieser and Adams find no common ground on the potential state management of federal forest lands, other than they both want residents to have access.

Lieser, citing his forestry experience, said bringing control of some federal lands to the state of Montana would be a mistake. He fears not only the loss of potential federal money when the next large fire season rolls around, but also the possibility that a future cash-strapped Legislature could sell lands to private interests and the public could lose access.

“If lands are transferred to the state, the onus of that is going to fall on the taxpayers,” Lieser said. “I don’t believe the people pushing for this want the land to be privatized, but it is possible — at least a lot more possible than as it currently stands.”

Adams said the state could do a far better job at managing the land than bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. He said he believes the possibility to harvest timber on newly owned state lands would be better than controlled burns and would help fund rural schools.

“Why manage a forest by burning?” he asked. “Why not log it? The money from those natural resources could be used to help our schools.”

He said the notion the state would restrict access to those potential lands is ludicrous.

Adams’ key issues if elected are varied, but above all he wants to be judicious about the passage of new laws. 

“I think we are regulated to death already,” he said. “I don’t want overkill to fix problems that don’t need solutions.”

He also wants to build consensus with a likely Republican majority and work to keep Montana politics coming from a ground level and not dictated by Washington. He said there will be less fraud and corruption in government if people feel they have a personal stake.

Lieser, who has served one term in the Legislature, wants Whitefish voters to feel he has been an effective legislator who has made friends and allies on both sides of the political aisle. 

His key issues directly impact Whitefish. He believes water degradation in Whitefish Lake is negatively affecting both natural and human life.

He would like to pass a bill regulating sewage leaks in the Whitefish watershed — a measure he believes could protect consumers and water quality.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.