Senate candidate wants to be a listener

Whitefish resident David Fern has declared he’s running for Senate District 2 as a Democrat. The incumbent, Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, is running for lieutenant governor. Rep. Bill Beck, R-Whitefish, and former state representative Dee Brown are running for the seat as Republicans.

Fern hails from Rhode Island and served in the Coast Guard before taking jobs in advertising, bicycle sales and service, and with the National Park Service. He’s lived in Whitefish since 1989 and has been self-employed with Chimney Solutions for the past 12 years.

A 19-year veteran of the Whitefish School Board, including several terms as chairman, Fern was elected president of the Montana School Board Association and served two terms as director of the Montana High School Association, which oversees athletics and other activities for Montana schools.

Fern said he doesn’t want to waste time on “frivolous” issues, like a statewide sales tax or refusing to accept federal money for ideological reasons. Other issues are vital and growing in significance.

“I expect to see lots of oil exploration from the Bakken fields to the Rocky Front in the next 10 years,” he said. “This could help Montana a lot with revenue, like in Wyoming, but we’ll need to address the impacts of rapid growth on local communities that need money for law enforcement and roads. We’ll need to keep an eye on that and do things correctly.”

Fern contrasts himself with Republican Derek Skees, the state representative for Whitefish who is running for state auditor. Whereas Skees introduced bills that “never got out of committee,” Fern considers himself more pragmatic.

“I believe I work well with others, like-minded or not, to find needed solutions,” Fern said. “People have expectations that we, the state, will effectively deliver services uniquely fitted to the public sector. I’m thinking of funding for schools, roads, law enforcement and social services.”

On balancing the state budget, Fern said he’s opposed to raising state income or property taxes. He noted that property taxes could increase anyway if the legislature is unwilling to fund education, and he wanted to see proof that lowering the business-equipment tax any further would attract new businesses.

“Since about 85 percent of taxes goes to paying government workers, it comes down to eliminating people,” he said, adding that he’s not sure the state has the resources or means to sustain current state pension programs.

Finding a fix for recent state property tax appraisals, which left many Flathead residents with skyrocketing taxes at the same time the economy was tanking, won’t be easy, Fern said.

“We need to build consensus across geographical areas,” he said, not just between eastern and western Montana but between lakefront, urban and other areas in the Flathead Valley.

Fern said he’d like to serve on either education or transportation committees. Locally, he’d like to see more state funding for dust control on the North Fork Road. He supports a two-lane U.S. 2 through Bad Rock Canyon that emphasizes safety, which he calls a “challenging” project. He also supports strong DUI laws.

“We have a major drinking problem in Montana,” he said. “People need to drink responsibly. The legal limit is quite high compared to other countries.”

Senate District 2 covers a large area — the towns of Columbia Falls and Whitefish as well as the North Fork and the Canyon all the way up to Marias Pass — and it presents a daunting task for candidates.

“I’m going to knock on every door I can in the district and be a good listener,” Fern said. “I want to craft my legislative priorities to the needs of the actual Senate District 2 residents.”

For more information, visit online at www.davefern.com.