Newcomer challenges longtime House member for District 2

With Kootenai National Forest land covering approximately 80 percent of Lincoln County, House District 2 candidates are heavily focused on natural resources, public lands and jobs.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Cuffe is running for his fourth term in the House. Cuffe said he’s seeking re-election to continue working on natural resource issues, efforts to secure the state from invasive species and balance the budget.

“There is still work to do,” he said. “It’s going to be a difficult session. Revenues are falling with natural resources and commodity price. Our main sources of revenues are down.”

Cuffe, 69, was first elected in 2009. He was born and raised in Eureka and worked in newspapers until the late 1970s. He then worked at a Libby plywood plant.

In the time since he was elected, Cuffe has served on the Appropriations, Natural Resource and Transportation committees, and became the chair of the Appropriations subcommittee in 2015. In 2013 he was elected whip of the Republican representatives. He also serves as the Montana delegate to the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, a nonprofit focused on international policy along the northwest U.S. and Canada border.

Cuffe’s opponent, Democratic newcomer David McGarry, has been inactive on the campaign trail and said he doesn’t expect to win the race.

“I’m a Democrat living in Lincoln County, which is guaranteed to elect Republican, and they haven’t got a clue,” he said.

McGarry, 71, is a retired architect. He grew up in Connecticut and his career took him around the country. He traveled through Libby on a vacation about 30 years ago, and nine years ago decided to settle there.

McGarry hasn’t raised a dime for his campaign. He said he’s a liberal and “kind of outspoken on Facebook.”

Despite his self-declared odds against winning, he received 569 Democratic votes in the uncontested June primary.

McGarry ended up on the ballot after a 20 minute phone call from the Democratic Party in Helena. On Monday he told the Inter Lake he’s honored to run for the seat.

McGarry is outspoken on some state issues, namely natural resources. He said Montana is ripe for clean energy opportunities like wind and solar.

“What really drives me crazy is the Republicans are running around the state peddling coal,” he said. “Coal is the last thing anyone should be talking about. That needs to end.”

McGarry also believes federal public lands should remain under federal control, although he wouldn’t be opposed to state control if proper management was implemented for timber harvests.

“That [federal land transfer] should never happen,” he said. “The land belongs in the hands it’s in right now... I’m all for logging, believe me. We live in an ocean of timber. It’s staggering. I’m for logging but it has to be done correctly. What you take down, you need to plant. You can’t just clear cut.”

Cuffe said he believes Montana has the capabilities to manage the lands.

“I suggested that many years ago, back when we were still operating a few mills,” he said. “I’m extremely happy to hear Congressman [Ryan] Zinke and Senator [Steve] Daines being at the forefront of this issue.”

Cuffe is also focused on infrastructure. Although a $150 million infrastructure bill didn’t pass in the last legislative session, Cuffe carried and helped pass some infrastructure projects without having to bond for them.

“I’m not totally against bonds,” he added. “I believe in bonding for needed things, but not for pet projects.”

Cuffe criticized Gov. Steve Bullock’s infrastructure bill, saying that it came with a “my way or the highway” stipulation and focused on a few, large expensive projects rather than spread throughout the state.

This session Cuffe said he’d like to see a large scale-back of regulations that he believes choke the private sector’s ability to hire people and pay them living-wage jobs.

“I want to be part of the legislation that gets rid of these job-killing regulations,” he said.

Cuffe said new revenues for the state won’t be found in the obvious places, so he’s looking at a special legislative interim committee’s work to see what new ideas are possible.

“There is a special interim study committee focusing on that. I’m waiting to see what they came up with,” he said. “My answer last term was to take it out of cash. I was told no way, we could not impact the general fund.”

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