Two political newcomers, Republican Steve Gunderson and Democrat Steve Haarstick, are running for House District 1, which covers Libby and Troy in the southwest corner of Lincoln County. The candidates seek the seat retired by four-term Republican Rep. Gerry Bennet, who this year is running for a seat on the Lincoln County commission.

Gunderson defeated his Republican challenger, Bill Clark, with nearly two-thirds of the vote during the primary election. Haarstick faced no challengers in June while garnering 670 votes.

Gunderson owns several businesses in Libby, including a RadioShack store, a bail bondsman service and a storage unit. He’s also a mine contractor with Montanore, a stagnant silver and copper mine near Libby. His natural resource extraction background and the inactive mine led him to co-found the advocacy group Montanore Positive Action Committee.

Gunderson, a Libby resident since 1979, said he decided to run for the House seat as a natural extension of his work with the action committee, which has already brought him to the offices of elected officials at the local, state and federal level.

“Citizen advocacy I think is where I’ve been playing the biggest part for the last 10 years,” Gunderson said. “I’m fully engaged here in the county. If there’s a way to take the solution to Helena, and do it the legislative way, that’s where I’m trying to help out as much as possible.”

A Democrat deep in Republican territory, Haarstick is a 23-year resident of Troy, retired electrician and a self-described union man, participating and organizing unions for most of his career. But the union affiliation doesn’t define his politics as much as his philosophy, Haarstick said.

“I feel I’m a moderate,” he said. “Whether or not I agree personally with your viewpoint I will still work for you. If elected, that’s my responsibility: to work for House District 1.”

Haarstick, 62, said he was initially prompted to run to give voters a choice in November. He considers himself a “blue dog Democrat,” one that aligns closer to the center than very far left. He said he’s tired of seeing elected officials fight in what he called a “grade-school sandlot.”

“I see too much of the 3 o’clock and the 9 o’clock,” Haarstick said. “It needs to come back to the 6 o’clock.”

Whether or not federal lands should be transferred to the state, Gunderson said he believes the western U.S. should have the chance to manage their own lands, like the eastern states.

“The eastern states have all been enabled and the western states have been left out,” Gunderson said. “We’re the ones in worse shape but we’re under federal control.”

Haarstick said he believes the state would not be able to manage the forests on its current budget.

“The rainy day fund would be gone in a heart beat,” he said. “A lot would be sold off and we would lose access.”

On the topic of the state’s budget surplus, which stood at $300 million after the last legislative session, Haarstick said he doesn’t know enough about the state’s ledger, but believes some portion could be used for tax relief, infrastructure or job creation.

Gunderson is also unsure whether that fund should be any higher or lower, but did say it’s important to have in the bank.

“We should have a reserve that we can actually fall back on if something happens that will allow us to balance the budget, which we are mandated to do in the Montana constitution.”

Gunderson attacked Gov. Steve Bullock’s leadership for the failure to pass a $150 million infrastructure bill last session, saying the governor turned down a fiscally responsible version of the bill after his own didn’t pass.

“He was trying to use too much of our money that we didn’t have in the bank,” he said. “We need infrastructure bills to be passed. We need the jobs it’s going to create and we need the infrastructure. If they come up with a good bill, we need a governor that’s going to pass it, not veto it.”

Haarstick agreed that Montana needs the infrastructure, specifically for roads and better internet connectivity, but said the bill needs to support the state at large, not certain areas like the post-Baaken eastern half of the state.

“The bottom line is that you need to look at what’s going to benefit the most people,” he said. “We definitely need the infrastructure.”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at [email protected].