Gubernatorial candidate Fox unveils public-safety plan

Montana Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Fox introduced his plan for a “safer Montana” and brought out former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot during a campaign stop in Kalispell on Thursday.

In front of the Flathead County Courthouse, Fox introduced the public-safety portion of his Montana United platform. He called it “our strategic vision to make Montana safer.”

“Montana United is about planning for our future, because you deserve a governor with a plan,” Fox said.

Fox is battling U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte and State Sen. Al Olszewski of Kalispell for the Republican nomination.

He explained the “key pillars” of his public-safety plan include tackling Montana’s substance-abuse epidemic, enhancing protections against sexual assault and abuse, reforming the criminal justice system, improving how Montana helps those with mental-health disorders and “making our schools the safest in the country.”

Despite the breadth of the plan, Fox’s comments focused more on substance abuse and law enforcement’s efforts to tackle illegal drugs in the state.

“The biggest threat to preserving our Montana values is the poison coming through the southern border and flooding our streets,” he said. “Unfortunately this issue is so much larger than something Montana can fix alone.”

He called on U.S. Congress to address the issue of illegal immigration, particularly on the U.S.-Mexico border, and said the U.S. Border Patrol is “stretched.”

“Fighting the cartels will be one of the top priorities as your next governor,” he said, adding that Mexican cartels have “extensive, sophisticated distribution networks” that extend across the state.

Racicot, former chair of the Republican National Committee and Montana’s governor from 1993 to 2001, said “this initiative … is a perfect illustration of why I support Tim Fox and his campaign to serve as our next governor.

“There is literally no other candidate in the race for governor on either side of the aisle that can match Tim’s law-enforcement relationships. His record and experience are second-to-none,” Racicot said.

He added he believes Fox would be the “strongest Republican candidate” in the general election.

“In my humble view,” Racicot said, “we need a leader in Montana, presently, and the nation needs leaders like Tim Fox.”

He said Fox is in the race for the “right reasons” and would offer “principled and humbled leadership” as governor, adding “his service to our state is needed now more than ever.”

Fox’s running mate, former state representative Jon Knokey of Bozeman, said the conversation about the new plan should focus on “family safety.” He said extended families across the state are deeply affected by meth use, mental-health crises and suicide attempts.

“For me it’s very personal. For me it’s all about family safety,” Knokey said.

“Let’s not have political sound bites, let’s not run down our opponents,” he said. “Let’s talk specifically about the strategy that you have to keep Montana safe.”

Fox was asked about a different topic, public lands, when talking to the press following official remarks. He said he did not know a lot about Weyerhaeuser’s pending sale of 630,000 acres to Georgia-based Southern Pine Plantations, but emphasized he would “work with anyone” to develop plans for additional or continued public access.

“Particularly as our population grows in areas that are so wonderful, like this area ... we need to have more public access and more ability to get into the great outdoors,” Fox said.

He discussed the issue of forest health and said he was “the first attorney general who has intervened in these lawsuits in federal courts that are designed to stop logging projects.” He added that U.S. Forest Service employees in Montana “do a great job with what they have,” but are “stymied” because of legal battles in court and a lack of resources from Washington, D.C.

He said he understood “there are overuse issues” that can arise from public-land use as well as conflicts between different types of users, but said his history of “bringing Montanans together” over controversial issues would help him solve some of these problems.

Fox moved away from the topic of public lands to explain he would be a “unifier” as governor.

“In this day and age, politics has become so polarized that people step back, they feel offended,” he said. “We’re not looking for things that we can agree on, we’re looking for things we can disagree on. And we need to turn it around.”

“I don’t compromise my principles, my morals for anyone, but I do believe that there are more things we can agree on than we disagree on,” Fox said.

Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com