Ronalee Skees enters election for Flathead commission

The 2018 campaign season continues to heat up in the Flathead Valley, with more candidates filing for state and local races in recent weeks.

Flathead County District Three Commissioner Gary Krueger has not yet filed for re-election. On Tuesday, Kalispell’s Ronalee Skees, a nonprofit development and management consultant, joined Randy Brohdel and Gerald “Jay” Scott in the race for his seat.

In an email to the Daily Inter Lake, Skees described her mission as “protect the orphans, advocate for the elderly, and uphold the poor.” She has worked with several local nonprofit groups, and says her work with Leadership Flathead helped her realize that “the way I can really make change (is) to run for local office.”

Skees, a Republican, says her work with this and other organizations, including the Flathead City-County Board of Health, the Kalispell City Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Montana Alzheimer’s Association, have prepared her to help manage Flathead County’s growth and serve residents.

If elected, Skees said her top priorities would be providing the “transparency, accountability and responsiveness that the county deserves from their county leaders,” and finding solutions for the county jail. She’s concerned that “if we build a bigger jail, we will fill a bigger jail,” and believes that “the prevention, recovery, and restitution piece must be in the conversation and part of the planning.”

Skees’s husband, Derek, currently represents Kalispell’s House District 11 in the Montana Legislature.

Also filing this week, for Kalispell’s House District 7, was Republican Robert Welzel. A retired Marine, wide-body international captain for FedEx, and owner of HGAC Machining and Laser Engraving, Welzel said that he aims to oust the district’s current representative, Frank Garner, R-Kalispell.

“He voted for the gas tax, and he also voted for Medicaid expansion. Those kinds of things are frankly more in compliance with a Democratic position than a Republican position,” Welzel argued. “I actually hold to the conservative values that the Republican platform represents.”

Welzel explained that “I’ve spent some time in the business world, some time in the military, and some time as a normal working citizen.” Together, he predicted that these experiences would help him meet his constituents’ needs.

Bill Jones of Bigfork filed as a Libertarian candidate for House District 10, currently held by Rep. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork. He could not be reached for comment.

In the race for Flathead sheriff, current Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Commander Brian Heino officially filed Jan. 16, joining a growing list of Republican candidates vying for the job. Calvin Beringer and Jordan White officially filed on Jan. 11.