Low-budget campaign with a high-tech message

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

John Driscoll, the Democrat from Helena who is running for the U.S. House, stopped by the Flathead last week.

He was returning from a look at the Rock Creek Mine, in the Cabinet Range near Noxon, which could be a source of much-needed copper ore for a future that will include new energy sources across the nation.

Driscoll's resume is quite impressive, from smokejumper to Speaker of the Montana House to Army War College graduate, but his focus now is re-industrializing the U.S. and getting the nation off oil. A conversation with the House candidate will leave your head spinning — like the rotors on a wind generator.

"We need to focus on the non-carbon idea, " he said. "Wind, pumped-hydro, solar, bulking up our transmission lines. We need to get railroads off diesel and on electricity, which is more efficient in the long view."

Since receiving his political science degree from Gonzaga in 1968, Driscoll has picked up master's degrees from Columbia, Harvard and the University of Montana in economics, energy and the environment, and business. He has worked as an interregional fire crew boss, an Army intelligence officer, a public utility regulator, a writer and historian, and a colonel in the Montana Army National Guard.

With 12 years on Montana's Public Service Commission and seven years as an adviser with the Electric Power Research Institute, Driscoll is well-armed to take on the big challenge he believes the nation faces — finding a new way to power the economy.

Driscoll knows copper — he comes from five generations of Butte miners. Butte copper was essential to the U.S. the first time the nation got electrified in the late 19th century, but a lot more will be needed as the world changes how it creates, stores and distributes energy. The U.S. will also need steel.

"There's not enough steel in the world," he said. "We need it for trains, train tracks, pipelines for natural gas, compressed air and carbon dioxide sequestration, transmission line towers. We will probably have to look at other resources, like carbon fiber."

Combining his military background, including working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with his energy background, Driscoll didn't mince words when the topic turned to Iraq.

"We need to get out of Iraq right away," he said. "It doesn't fit any defense strategy because we don't have an energy policy."

Driscoll said Congress is right to be cautious about how it bails out Wall Street. While he trusts Congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and recognizes how they "scared the hell out of everyone," Driscoll believes in a strong independent legislative branch.

"Congress needs to avoid being railroaded on this," he said. "Paulson will likely get calls from his old friends on Wall Street, so we need to be careful and think this through."

Driscoll is also against earmarks — "the U.S. has a broken budget" — and he wants to see better protection for personal privacy.

"We need to roll back the Patriot Act and the Real ID program, and we need to stop warrantless wiretapping."

Key to re-industrializing the nation will be more education and training. He wants more people cross-trained with liberal arts and blue-collar craftsman skills. And he wants people to earn basic health care through public service. Insurance should be used for elective health care, he said.

After declaring that he would not campaign or raise money, Driscoll surprised everyone by handily defeating Helena attorney Bill Hunt in the Democratic primary, despite all the hard work and money Hunt had expended. But Driscoll has a tough race ahead of him, facing the popular Republican incumbent Denny Rehberg.

"I'm not taking any money from anyone," he said. "Then when I get to Washington, I'm not beholden to anyone. The threshold is credibility — it takes a long time to gain name recognition."

If anyone is looking for a maverick this election cycle, they don't need to look past Montana's borders.