Perry looks to attract business

Zac Perry

House District 3

Age: 38

Democrat

Occupation: substitute teacher/ O’Brien’s liquor store

By ANNA ARVIDSON

Hungry Horse News

Having grown up in this community and being a life-long part of it, incumbent Zac Perry says he feels a vested interest in representing Columbia Falls and the Canyon at the state level.

The 38-year-old Columbia Falls native is a product of Columbia Falls High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from Notre Dame University.

“I want to make a positive contribution, but it’s all about the communities,” he said in a recent interview.

Job creation will be his top concern for the upcoming session if he is re-elected, he said.

“We were hit hard with the Weyerhaeuser closure. We need to bring in living-wage jobs, we need to bring in employers, and keep employers that we already have like SmartLam to see jobs and economic development,” Perry said.

Perry wants to create a business environment that is friendly to manufacturing employers, while keeping current employers thriving and in place.

“In order to attract these employers, we need a strong healthcare infrastructure and education system,” he said.

How does Columbia Falls attract employers? Perry said we need to be welcoming.

“We don’t want to be a community against any outsiders. We want to be a welcoming community,” he said.

Access to public lands will be another of Perry’s priorities in the upcoming session.

“I’ll be making sure that we’re able to continue the proud tradition that we have here of recreation, of hunting and fishing. There are movements that would like to transfer ownership and see more of that land gated off. My focus is to make sure that lands that belong to all of us continue to belong to all of us,” Perry said.

Perry anticipates attempts to repeal some of the work done during the last session pertaining to healthcare, so another of his priorities will be to mitigate that.

“We need to keep those federal dollars in Montana for health care,” he said.

But there also needs to be cost control.

“There’s been a huge increase in premiums, so we need to take a hard look at what can be done to drive down those costs and increase competition in the market,” he said.

Another aspect of healthcare that Perry hopes to push is the issue of mental health.

“It’s very personal for me. The whole package needs to become an integral part of healthcare. Preventative care, destigmatization, education,” Perry said.

Further, Perry hopes to tackle drug abuse.

“In this valley, drug abuse, especially of meth and heroin, are truly at epidemic levels. I’m not saying the state government has all the answers. The government and the community need to come together to find ways to address it,” Perry said.

Perry notes he has strong community ties.

“Having been part of this community my whole life, my involvement in community organizations... I feel that I have a better sense of what [the community] is about and what issues and concerns to bring to Helena. As a product of this community, I’m better equipped to represent it,” Perry said.