House District 9 race gets crowded

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

A previously uncontested race for the Montana House District 9 seat got crowded on the last week of filing, with four Republicans and one Democrat now in the race for Bill Jones' vacated seat.

Bob Keenan, Roger Daley and Dave Carlson threw their names into the hat on the Republican side along with Scott Reichner, who filed a few weeks ago. Edd Blackler was the lone Democrat to file from the district.

Bob Keenan

Bob Keenan is a familiar face in Bigfork politics, having served in the Montana House and Senate — most recently as Senate President — for the last 12 years. It was rumored from multiple sources up to the filing deadline that Keenan might seek a race against Max Baucus for one of Montana's Senate seats.

Keenan said he decided to run for the House District 9 seat because of his love for Bigfork and his desire to be nearer to his family here.

"I had a break for a year and it really has given me a fresh perspective," he said.

Keenan said that his experience in Helena provides him with a valuable asset, as he said it takes someone new to the government years to get acclimated.

"I feel I can represent this district very well," he said. "I know the people who live in Creston and down the East Shore, this isn't just a main street Bigfork district."

Dave Carlson

Dave Carlson of Swan Lake will run for the House District 9 seat for the third time in six years, focusing on property taxes, funding for education and multiple user access issues.

Carlson, who is serving his third term on the Bigfork School District Board of Trustees, said that funding for schools has got to come "off the shoulders of the taxpayers and go back onto the state." He also said he is concerned over access issues stemming from multiple types of users wanting exclusive access to forests and trails.

Carlson said he will fight to prevent any tax increases and put representing people in his home district above all other priorities.

"My philosophy is that you run for the people in your district so you watch out for them first" he said. "All the other stuff is secondary."

Scott Reichner

Scott Reichner was all alone seeking the House District 9 seat for about a month, but with the influx of candidates he said he feels like voters will have choices and he'll have a chance to distinguish himself.

Reichner said one of the things he hopes he can bring to the legislature is a youthful perspective — he is 41 — and a can-do attitude to an increasingly divided group.

"The last few years there's been some contention, some hard-nosed politics," he said. "Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to go down there and work together."

Reichner said there aren't any particular issues he's campaigning on at this point, but that he's a "family man" who is "conservative morally and conservative fiscally."

"I'm a conservative," he said. "But I feel like we can work together to get things done."

Roger Daley

Roger Daley filed for the position last week, but since then has decided to support Bob Keenan's candidacy. Daley said Keenan filed after he'd already put his own papers in and that had he known the longtime representative would be running, he wouldn't have filed.

Daley said he felt that he would have been more conservative than the other candidates and that Keenan now fits that bill.

"I pledge my support to Bob Keenan," he said.

Edd Blackler

The only Democrat to file, Edd Blackler said he was running in part because of the gridlock between parties during the last legislative session.

"We're facing some real critical times," he said. "We're going to have to see some real elbow work and that means going to have to work together to create legislation to rectify the situation we've gotten ourselves into."

Blackler said he wants to find a better way to fund the education system to relieve the property tax burden on locals who may be on a fixed income and can't afford the tax load. Blackler also stressed his concern for protection of natural resources for their intrinsic value as well as their value as features that drive the tourism economy.

"I want to go to Helena to help solve the problem, not become part of it," he said.