Kalispell general contractor announces bid for PSC

A 45-year-old Kalispell general contractor who attended school in Columbia Falls is back in the political limelight.

Derek Skees, who won election to the state House as a Republican in 2010 and lost a bid for state auditor two years later, has declared his candidacy for the Montana Public Service Commission this year.

All five current members of the PSC are Republicans. With four-year terms, the commissioners regulate private investor-owned electric, gas, telephone and water utilities. Skees served on the House Committee on Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications during the 2011 legislative session.

Skees is running as a Republican for District 5, which includes all or parts of Flathead, Helena, Glacier, Lake, Pondera and Teton counties. He says energy plays a critical role in the state’s economy, and he’d like to see Montana adopt the laissez-faire role seen in North Dakota, which has less burdensome taxes than Montana.

He also says he’s a fan of new energy technologies that could prove to be sustainable, such as wind and solar, but he’s opposed to subsidizing them in any way that might hurt coal and hydropower. He also says he wants Montana to be more open to nuclear power, citing big advancements in liquid thorium reactors that won’t make people sick.

Skees first threw his hat into the political ring in 2010 when he ran for House District 4, which had been a Democratic stronghold in Whitefish for many years. In a race sharply tainted by negative ads, Skees defeated Democrat Will Hammerquist in the general election.

The ascendancy of the Tea Party that year was what set him in motion, Skees explained.

“I was in the Tea Party before it was cool,” he said during the House race.

Democrats went after Skees after he and his family were seen at a Memorial Day parade in Whitefish wearing jackets with Confederate flags on their backs. Skees later explained that the jackets were for a Civil War re-enactment club.

He soon found himself explaining his position on the Civil War, which he called “an unconstitutional war declared by Congress and President Lincoln” that involved “Yankee Trader greed and Southern honor.” Skees also said the Civil War “was not fought over slavery but rather states rights.”

States rights are still important, Skees said, and he tried to use one fundamental states rights tool once he was in Helena — nullification. In particular, Skees wanted to nullify Obamacare.

As a legislator, Skees introduced House Bill 382, the Montana Nullification Reaffirmation Act, which would have given Montana the right to nullify any federal order considered unconstitutional by the state. He also introduced House Joint Resolution 20, which would have declared President Obama’s healthcare reform plan unconstitutional. Both bills failed to pass the House.

In declaring his candidacy for Montana State Auditor in 2012, Skees said his main reason for running was to resist Obamacare. He said the state auditor’s job is to be an advocate for the consumer and to protect Montanans from fraud, but the current state auditor, Monica Lindeen, was not protecting Montanans from Obamacare.

Skees announced his candidacy for the Public Service Commission after chairman Bill Gallagher, who represented District 5, announced he would not seek re-election in 2014 because of health issues. Rep. Galen Hollenbaugh, D-Helena, also announced he’ll run for PSC District 5 this year.