Brown will run for state senate

Dee Brown, a well-known Republican

conservative, has thrown her hat in the ring for the Montana Senate

District 2 race next year. The incumbent senator, Ryan Zinke,

R-Whitefish, is running for lieutenant governor. The senate

district includes Columbia Falls and Whitefish.

A Columbia Falls High School graduate,

Brown has a bachelor’s in elementary education from the University

of Montana-Missoula and a master’s in guidance and counseling from

Montana State University-Northern.

Brown started her 26-year long teaching

career in Columbia Falls before transferring to Canyon Elementary

School in Hungry Horse. She retired in 1998.

An outdoor enthusiast, Brown and her

husband Steve now operate Canyon RV in Coram. Married for 40 years,

they have two grown children and three grandchildren.

Brown is the current president of the

Columbia Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and a past president of the

Montana Tourism Coalition. She was recently picked as this year’s

Columbia Falls Lion’s Club Citizen of the Year.

She has been a member of the Whitefish

Chamber of Commerce, North Valley Hospital Foundation Board, Travel

Industry Association of Montana, Glacier Country, the

Gateway2Glacier business group, National Federation of Independent

Businesses and the Flathead Snowmobile Association.

Brown served four terms in the Montana

House of Representatives. She began her political career by

defeating John Polotto, D-Hungry Horse, in 2000 and 2002 in the

race for the former House District 83.

At that time, HD83 included Columbia

Falls and surrounding rural areas and was part of Senate District

42, which also included House District 84, the LaSalle and

Evergreen areas. Following redistricting, Brown ran for House

District 3, which along with House District 4, urban Whitefish,

make up Senate District 2.

In 2004, Brown defeated Linda Jaquette,

D-Columbia Falls, in the HD3 race. She then lost to Doug Cordier,

D-Columbia Falls, in 2006. The next year, Brown unsuccessfully ran

against Martin City businessman Chris Byrd for a seat on the

Flathead Electric Cooperative board of trustees.

Cordier chose not to run again for HD3

in 2008, and Brown went on to defeat Michael Holm, D-Columbia

Falls, by 2,633-1,970. With four two-year terms in the Montana

House, Brown was term-limited out in 2010.

One other well-known Republican

conservative, Bill Beck, has also declared for the SD2 race next

year. Beck actually doesn’t live in SD2 and has served three terms

as representative for House District 6. According to state law,

Beck can run in any legislative district in Flathead County so long

as the district doesn’t cross county lines.

“Bill and I will have a very civil

primary since we both agreed that it is in everyone’s best

interest,” Brown told the Hungry Horse News. “Just look at the

kooks in Washington, D.C. Both of our voting records are easily

called up on the Internet, so people can judge for themselves.”