Keenan gets to work as Montana Legislature gets moving

Bob Keenan has made a low-key return to the Montana state Senate, and that’s just as it should be, he says.

Long outspoken and active in politics, the Republican from Bigfork is somewhat sheepish these days when it comes to media attention.

“Nobody believes a politician when they say that,” Keenan said in a recent interview from the state Capitol in Helena.

Going into the current legislative session, it wasn’t a stretch for observers to wonder if Keenan would end up in a leadership position, because he concluded his previous life in the Legislature as Senate President.

But Keenan, 62, says he didn’t even consider it.

“I just really felt that there may be a lot of people here who have heard my name, but a lot of them have never met me. It would have been really presumptuous of me to come in here and seek a leadership position when I really don’t know all the players in the game,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to lead strangers.”

Just three weeks into the session, Keenan has made an effort to meet his new colleagues in the House and Senate, and he says his experience is well-regarded. 

“I did not push myself forward but people have reached out to me and they recognize the fact that I have been here. Most are interested in the history,” he said. “They say, ‘I think Sen. Keenan might remember this,’ and sometimes I do.”

Keenan served in the House from 1995 through 1998, and in the Senate from 1999 through 2006, when he left because of term limits. After eight years, he was able to seek re-election. Last fall he defeated his Democratic opponent, Dan King, claiming 74 percent of the vote in Senate District 5, which encompasses a diverse area from Evergreen to Bigfork and into Lake County.

He was appointed to the Senate Energy, Education and Telecommunications and Rules committees, and as vice chairman of Senate Finance and Claims Committee, which handles budget matters — always a main interest for Keenan as a legislator.

So far, the list of bills Keenan has sponsored are mostly of a technical, house keeping nature, rather than the type that are likely to get a lot of attention. Known as “place keepers,” the bills have titles such as, “Generally revise social services and institution laws.” 

“They are there just incase some issue comes up … you don’t want to lack the ability to address something that comes up. It’s something I’ve always done,” he said. “Personally, I’d rather do a lot more repealing than passing of laws.”

Regarding the well-publicized rift between factions of conservative Republicans and moderate Republicans — “the mod squad,” a group that includes Kalispell Sen. Bruce Tutvedt — Keenan says he’s keeping out of it, and it’s an issue that hasn’t reared it’s head so far this session.

“I certainly know it’s there but there haven’t been any flare ups. I can detect that there are some hard feelings from the last session, but so far I can nothing but hard work and cooperation,” he said. “I’m sure there’s going to be some testy moments … I know what the history is but I’m not going there. I’ll let it play itself out.”

Keenan said he’s impressed by legislators, Republicans and Democrats, who dedicate themselves to the process. 

“It’s been great. The place is organized chaos. It’s a lot like the restaurant business. The people are very social, they have great personalities, they have an ability to communicate,” he said. “It’s an exciting place to be.”

For his part, Keenan tries to get back as much as possible to help at home and at the Bigfork Inn, a business that he and his wife Suzie have operated since 1982. In recent years, Keenan has been running the kitchen at the Inn, and going to the Legislature required him to hire a chef to take his place.

But those are the kinds of things that are necessary for the Montana citizens’ Legislature to gather every two years.