State candidates talk local issues at City Council forum

Kalispell City Council hosted state legislative candidates Wednesday at a forum focused on local issues, drawing a wide spectrum of answers from the slate of candidates contending to represent Kalispell-area districts. Questioning hit on land management, infrastructure, a local option resort tax and public safety.

The forum lineup included candidates for House District 6, Libertarian Ian Wheeler and Republican Carl Glimm; House District 8, Democrat Paige Rappleye; House District 9, Democrat Brittany MacLean and House District 11, Democrat Eileen Bech and Republican Derek Skees.

Kalispell Mayor Mark Johnson moderated the forum, asking each candidate the same set of questions before a crowd of fewer than 10 people.

Johnson opened the forum with a question about the state’s revenue shortfall, reportedly about $67 million short of its expected amount since the last session.

Wheeler offered one alternative revenue source yet to be exploited in Montana: legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

“Legalize the sale of recreational marijuana and tax it to pay for things such as infrastructure, rather than taxing hard working people,” he said. “I don’t believe there are social ills to legalizing marijuana. It could be used for higher teacher salaries and infrastructure improvements.”

Candidates were then asked if they would support a community’s choice to vote for or against a local option resort tax.

Glimm took a hard stance against the tax, noting that out-of-city residents would not receive the infrastructure benefits generated, but would still have to pay the tax

“The benefit to that is you catch the tourists. The negative effect is that everyone who lives outside the city of Kalispell doesn’t see a reduction in taxes and yet they’re having to pay that,” he said.

Only the Democratic candidates said they would support a local option sales tax.

“I think it’s an excellent idea getting communities involved in making their own decisions,” MacLean said. “In most cases, they know their infrastructure needs ... We should tax people that are coming in. It’s a strong source of revenue and it’s not something we should discredit or remove.”

Rappleye and Bech would support the measure if communities were able to decide where the tax revenues were spent, rather than earmarking all the revenues for infrastructure alone.

On the topic of public safety, several candidates addressed prison overcrowding and some offered more focus on mental health treatment. Wheeler circled back to decriminalizing marijuana to open up room in prison facilities, and Skees suggested an additional in-state prison adding that addressing drug issues would also lighten the load.

“We need to look at why folks are going to prison,” Skees said. “If nine of 10 is for drugs; that’s the problem. We need to not only provide help but treat these folks so they can free themselves from the dependency and horrors of drugs.”

Also in discussing public safety, Johnson asked whether individual communities should have authority to decide about bringing Syrian refugees to the state.

Republican candidates sided that state government should trump local government in making such a decision. Bech, MacLean and Wheeler each said individual communities should have the decision.

“I don’t know that this is a one-community issue, it’s a federal issue,” Rappleye said. “People are being vetted and coming in. The real issue is making sure there is housing and somewhere to go when they’re in.”

When asked if any candidate would vote for a bill they disagreed with in order to receive a vote for a bill they favored, Wheeler, Glimm, MacLean and Skees said they wouldn’t vote for an issue that violated their campaign platforms. Rappleye said it would depend on the bill and its affects. Bech echoed Rappleye and noted promises might be hard to keep when it’s time for policymaking, but trading wouldn’t be her first choice.

“I’m not inclined to do this,” she said. “On the other hand... There is some benefit to collaborating with each other.”

Johnson wrapped up the forum with some comments of his own, underscoring the importance of voter participation in November.

“The election of 2016 is a critical election from the federal level to the state level,” he said. “We need to pay attention to what every candidate is telling us.

If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to question what happens. Please vote.”

A second candidate forum hosted by the City Council is scheduled for 7 p.m., Oct. 12 at City Hall, 201 First Avenue East.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.