Seeking to return to the Legislature after a prior two-year stint, Montana House District 11 candidate Derek Skees touts his familiarity with the legislative process and his outspoken conservative convictions as evidence that he would be an effective Republican legislator if elected.

He’s running against Jean Barragan in his party’s primary for the soon-to-be vacated seat of Rep. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, who represents a district extending north from the Flathead/Lake county border along the west side of Flathead Lake to south Kalispell. It includes Lakeside and Somers, along with part of the Lower Valley west of the Flathead River.

“When you add my experience, my energy, my enthusiasm, my knowledge and relationships, I’m an ideal candidate,” he said.

Having represented the Flathead in the state House during the 2011-13 session, his connections in Helena will enable him to pursue a range of reforms, he said during an interview at his home in Kalispell.

Skees lives outside his district but noted his residence is just a stone’s throw from the district boundary. He said the number one issue facing his would-be constituents is property taxes.

“The district is overtaxed. I couldn’t tell you how many doors I go to where people are on fixed income,” he said. “These guys are getting desperate. They’re looking at either money to pay for medication or food. And that’s unacceptable in Montana.”

As a solution, he wants a revenue-neutral ending fund balance, paying back the more than $300 million surplus currently budgeted in the state’s general fund. The executive branch should have to justify all of its expenses and find money within department budgets to pay unforeseen costs, he said.

He supported the Republican leadership in Helena last session and said he would vote to repeal major initiatives that passed despite the protests of the Republicans’ conservative wing: the tribal water compact, Medicaid expansion and the Disclose Act.

“Why don’t we do a cycle where we reform, repeal, replace,” he asked. “Let’s put a ton of stuff on [Bullock’s] desk to fix all the stuff that’s wrong with Montana and let him have a horrible voting record.”

Skees recommended the mandate of the Legislature’s interim committees — which meet periodically between the body’s 90-day biennial sessions — to an increased oversight role for state departments’ rule-making and spending.

He also views the election process for the Montana Supreme Court as easily manipulated by the state Trial Lawyers Association, and said he previously tried to pass a bill that would trim the number of justices from seven to five while tying them to geographical regions of the state.

“I would love to do that again,” he said.

Noting that Barragan, his primary opponent, entered the race after him, Skees contended that she likely disagrees with his brand of tea-party conservatism.

“Everybody knows how I vote. You can say all sorts of things about me, but everyone knows how I vote,” he said. “So here we have a contrarian opponent against Derek Skees, and no one knows how she’s going to vote.”

Skees said he has softened his previous stance against authorizing a local option sales tax for Kalispell after speaking with the City Council and mayor.

“When the city can’t make enough money, it increases taxes through levies. When you look at it, there are ways we can do it that would benefit the property taxpayer,” he said, suggesting a 25 percent return of the sales tax revenue to local property owners.

Citing the brick-and-mortal projects in last session’s infrastructure bill, Skees said he would have voted against it. But he supports revisiting the issue next year and would permit some level of bonding if cash appropriations were unavailable.

“If we don’t fix it from the state, they have to fix it here, which is property tax increases,” he said.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.