I am a Christian, husband to a beautiful wife, father of two incredible boys, veteran who served in Afghanistan, and I currently teach and coach at St. Regis Middle school/High school. I am a debt free, conservative minded, Constitution supporting critical thinker who wants smaller government, lower taxes and protection of our liberties. I do not like lying, waste or fraud in our government. I am pro-life, pro-family and pro-Montana. 

What’s your plan to keep young people from leaving rural communities?

We need to bring good paying jobs back to our rural communities. Our state is so resource rich (timber and minerals) and we should be cutting regulations that prevent these industries from thriving and providing meaningful jobs for our future generations. 

How would you handle conflicts between agricultural use, conservation and development? 

Ag and development are priorities. Let’s keep growing, processing and selling Montana crops and cattle. We need a balance with development. Conservation is important, but our district is surrounded by public land: Make sure the government is properly managing those lands. Conflicts should be addressed with those priorities in mind. 

Rural hospitals are closing across the country — what would you do to keep facilities open in districts like ours?

Most funding for our rural hospitals comes from the Feds. It’s hard for our district to change this. I don’t support raising taxes or new taxes to fund our hospitals. We live on a strict budget and manage our money and priorities wisely. Our rural hospitals must do the same. 

What role should the state play in addressing provider shortages?

I think the state should stay out of the “free market.” The idea that the state should offer incentives with our tax dollars to bring in providers is not capitalism or conservatism. If there is a demand, let free innovators meet that demand. 

How should the state fund infrastructure without overburdening rural taxpayers? 

The same way we have done it in the past, without new taxes. And our state government should push for local businesses to bid on contacts for that needed infrastructure development. The government is inefficient, but our private citizens are go-getters.

How would you address teacher shortages in rural schools? 

Give parents the right to decide what’s best for their child's education. They pay taxes, and that money should follow the child, be it homeschool, public school or private. Public school shortages result from a broken system. We need to have a hard conversation about the future of public education. 

How can the state better support vocational and trade education?

The state is already promoting the trades. Our school district (along with many others) offers a lot of different avenues for students interested in the trades. 

What changes, if any, would you make to Montana’s tax structure, and how would that impact rural residents?

I would say never to a sales tax, make property taxes a flat low rate across every sector, and place a cap on state income tax. Again, Montana does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. We increased our state budget by almost $2 billion this last session. 

What would be your top three spending priorities — and what would you cut if necessary? 

Our Preamble states: Justice, domestic tranquility, defense, and general welfare. Focus should be: Law Enforcement, fire, EMS and safe communities in one group. Fair courts and justice system in the next. Finally, infrastructure for our state. I would cut any programs that use tax dollars to benefit only select groups.

What role should the state play in managing wildfire risk?

We should be using the Good Neighbor Authority often to allow our state to manage its timber resources and by that, mitigate the wildfire risks to our rural communities. It is a shame what has been allowed to go on with our forests. 

How will you stay accessible to constituents across a large, rural district?

I live here, work here and play here and I love to talk in person, or on the phone. With that, I plan to implement a media outreach platform to keep constituents informed once elected. 

What does representing rural Montana values’ mean to you in practice? 

It means my word is my bond, that promoting self-reliance and self-governance is foundational, and that upholding our conservative, rural values is not just something we say, it's something we do. Finally, it means loving our neighbors as ourselves.

How do you evaluate whether a bill is good or bad for your district?

If it lessens government control, promotes more freedom or liberty, shrinks the size of government, or lowers our taxes, it is good for our district. If it grows the size of government, increases our taxes, or increases regulations, it is bad for our district. 

What’s one issue in this district you think is misunderstood by people in Helena? 

The mismanagement of our forests and the impact of ridiculous environmental litigation that wages war against our resources, local industries, local economies and families.

In your opinion, what are the three most important things government should do? 

Ensure justice/domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense/promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberties to ourselves and our posterity. The government should not be our nanny, raising our kids,or taking our money and redistributing it. Time to come back to our roots.