HD 6: Candidates share health-care background, but differ on political policies

The Griz-Cat rivalry isn’t the only thing that divides Montana House of Representatives District 6 candidates Jerramy Dear-Ruel and Amy Regier. Both candidates vying for the house seat bring a home-grown perspective from their upbringings in the Big Sky state, but each has an individual approach to the ways they would go about improving the quality of life for their fellow Montanans.

House District 6 includes the areas west of Whitefish and Kalispell. The seat has been held by Republican Carl Glimm since 2013, but Glimm is running for Senate District 2 in the Nov. 3 general election.

Democrat Dear-Ruel grew up in Missoula and attended Hellgate High School before earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry Resource Management from the University of Montana.

Regier, his Republican challenger, was born and raised in the Flathead Valley. After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Montana State, Regier has been working as a registered nurse at Kalispell Regional Hospital.

Growing up in the Treasure State has had a major influence on both political hopefuls.

“Old-school Montana values are something that I really live and strive for,” Dear-Ruel. said. He highlighted hard work, independence and an appreciation for public lands as some of the defining characteristics he sees among residents of his home state.

Regier expressed a similar sentiment: “I was born and raised here and I’d like to keep it how we know and love it,” she said. “I think over time as I’ve watched Montana start to change, seeing how some of liberal policy has affected bigger cities elsewhere, I don’t want that here.”

Despite different policy positions, the House District 6 candidates share some unlikely common ground, including backgrounds in the local health-care industry.

As a registered nurse at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, Regier has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dear-Ruel, too, has played an important role combatting the virus as the lead contact tracer for the novel coronavirus with the Flathead City-County Health Department.

Prior to that work, Dear-Ruel was the founding executive director of Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana, a nonprofit that provides housing for unaccompanied high schoolers. He has also worked as a community consultant for municipalities, and as a law enforcement officer in settings including Glacier National Park.

Dear-Ruel believes his work with vulnerable populations and people facing adversity gives him a unique perspective on policy-making.

“I know from my current job…I’m always hearing the struggles people are going through,” he said. “It breaks my heart when people have to sell their house to pay for medical bills, those types of scenarios.”

Based on these experiences, Dear-Ruel favors legislative changes such as Medicaid expansion.

“I really understand what day-to-day life is like for people out there facing these sorts of medical cris[e]s. That’s something that we really need to fix within our communities here,” he said, adding better coordination between different entities such as Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Services would be another area of improvement he’d like to see in the Montana health-care system.

Regier, on the other hand, said she does not support Medicaid expansion, since Montanans voted down the proposal 55% to 45% in November 2018.

“The people of the state voted to not expand Medicaid. I think that should be respected,” she said.

If elected, Regier said she would use feedback like that to inform policy choices on issues like budget spending priorities and state tax structure. In her opinion, it isn’t enough to make these decisions based on individual experiences alone.

“Being new to the policy side of things…you have an opinion of how policy affects you personally,” but that may not translate on a wider scale, Regier explained.

Dear-Ruel, meanwhile, maintained the state’s tax structure and budget priorities should be revisited and potentially revised by the Legislature every year.

“There’s always room for revising the state tax structure,” he said. “It should be done on an annual basis, in my opinion.”

One way he would like to see that addressed would be annual legislative sessions, rather than the current schedule of 90-day sessions in odd-numbered years.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have it…every other year with the way population growth is happening here throughout Montana,” Dear-Ruel pointed out. “I think it’s important to meet those needs as more needs arise.”

Regier doesn’t agree, although she doesn’t necessarily support the existing timeline of legislative sessions, either.

“I don’t know I have a strong opinion either way,” she said, explaining she would have to consider which option makes it easiest for people to attend the sessions and which structure is more cost-effective to the state government.

THE HOUSE District 6 candidates don’t quite see eye-to-eye on how current elected officials—particularly Gov. Steve Bullock—are performing, either.

Dear-Ruel, for his part, praised the governor for his quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic: “I think Bullock did a good job with creating a task force right off the bat, comprised of different people in different areas and different fields.”

Though he acknowledged some people have fallen through the cracks in receiving financial support from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security. Or CARES Act, Dear-Ruel said, “I think given…the urgency of it, I believe they [the task force] did a good job.”

But Regier isn’t totally satisfied with the way that money has been distributed. “From what I’m hearing, it sounds like it’s not all getting dispersed to counties, so that’s concerning,” she said. “I think the people that it was intended for need to get it.”

Despite their differences, both candidates agree they would not support the institution of a state sales tax in Montana.

“I’d support whatever the people I’m representing sa[y],” promised Dear-Ruel, who acknowledged a majority of voters would likely oppose such a tax.

Regier holds a similar opinion, with a slight twist: “If we were willing to do away with state income tax, I’d consider a state sales tax,” she said. “Just as a whole, to create a new sales tax, I’m not for that.”

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.

Name: Jerramy Dear-Ruel

Age: 38

Family: 10-year-old daughter

Occupation: Lead contact tracer for COVID-19 with the Flathead City-County Health Department

Background: Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry Resource Management and Anthropology from the University of Montana; certifications from law enforcement academies including Red Rocks Community College, Montana Law Enforcement Academy and Santa Rosa Ranger Academy; founding member of Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana; member of Board of Directors for Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country; community consultant for entities that develop resources for at-risk youth

Contact: https://www.jerramyisworking4uhd6.com

Name: Amy Regier

Age: 42

Occupation: Registered nurse at Kalispell Regional Healthcare

Background: Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Montana State University

Contact: https://regierforhd6.com