House District 4 Republican candidate Shaun Pandina, 47, is a 1997 Columbia Falls High School graduate and small businessowner he said in a recent interview.

Pandina declined to say what his business was and when asked whether he lives in the district he would only say he lives in Flathead County. State law does not require a candidate live in the district they run in, just that they reside in the county of the district.

House District 4 covers the City of Columbia Falls and a portion of the City of Whitefish roughly to Baker Avenue.

Pandina defeated incumbent Republican Lyn Bennett in the primary.

On the subject of repeat DUI offenders, he said he’s like to see laws that address the problem of DUI sooner and the laws need to be stricter than what they are currently, though he said people still need a way to get to work if they’re charged.

He said it was an important issue that he knew too well, as someone close to him was killed by a drunk driver.

On taxation, he said he would like to see a system that provides property tax relief to all property owners, as opposed to the 2025 laws that gave tax breaks to primary residences, but boosted the tax rate to commercial, vacation rentals and secondary home properties.

He said he favored a bill proposed last session by Sen. Carl Glimm that would have taken some bed tax money and used it for property tax relief.

As for Gov. Greg Gianforte’s flat tax, he suggested it could be lowered to 4.5% or even 4%, as it would give lower income people a tax cut as well. 

As a small businessowner, he said that lowering taxes would allow him to boost pay for his employees.

On the subject of Constitutional Initiatives 194 and 132, he said he opposed both of them. 

I-194 limits the ability of “artificial persons” from contributing anything of value to candidate elections, supporting or opposing political parties, or supporting or opposing state or local ballot issues. Artificial persons include non-profits, trusts, partnerships, corporations, trade associations, or unincorporated associations and includes all such entities doing business in Montana, according to the initiative.

I-132 would amend the constitution to assure that Montana’s judicial races remain non-partisan.

Pandina said he thought judges should have the option of affiliating with a party if they so choose.

On public lands, he said he supported measures by the state that assist the National Forests with timber harvests and fuels mitigation and said he supports responsible timber harvest.

Pandina also spoke to the failure of the Columbia Falls School bond in a Facebook post on the Hungry Horse News page.

“I understand why this did not pass the voters are already taxed well beyond what is affordable. I deeply care about solving this for everyone.

“My plan is to get funding for schools that does not put extra burden on the locals.

“I have always believed schools ought to be funded by what the land produces, not by squeezing people who are already stretched thin. I read the Montana Constitution. I understand that’s the whole point of the original school trust idea. Lease the land. Harvest the timber. Develop the minerals and oil the right way. Send those royalties straight into the classroom.

“Environmental activists want to kill that model, and Democrats keep siding with them. They treat working land like it’s a shrine instead of a resource. They sue every lease into oblivion, then act surprised when the school fund comes up short. But when a timber sale gets blocked, a mine gets delayed, or a well never gets permitted, that money doesn’t just vanish. It gets pushed onto the property taxpayer. The rancher. The shop owner down the street. The family just trying to hang onto their house. I don’t call that conservation. I call it a choice, one Democrats and their allies keep making, to hand working people a bill the land was supposed to pay.

“I’m not buying that trade. Responsible development and public access aren’t opposites. A well run trust section can produce timber, oil, or minerals, and still have room for hunters and anglers walking the same ground. Access for hunting and fishing has always been part of the deal out here. Do multiple use honestly, and you can put royalties into the permanent fund and still leave the gate open for a kid with a fishing rod or a family with an elk tag.

“None of this is about a press release to me. It’s about kids in classrooms. Schools need money they can count on, for teachers, for the basics, not another lecture from people who’ve never once had to pass a mill levy. I want to put the trust lands back to work. Require reclamation, sure. Keep the land open for all recreation. 

“Collect the revenue Congress meant for education in the first place. Then judge it by something real. Are student outomes going up? Is graduation up? Not by whether some activist group won another injunction.

“Property taxpayers have carried this long enough. It’s time to make the land earn its keep again,” he said.