Election 2020: Kyle Waterman, Senate District 2

Editor’s note: This week the Democrats state their case for seats in House District 3 and Senate District 2 in the state Legislature. Both seats cover the North Fork, Columbia Falls and the Canyon. Next week we feature the Republicans for both seats.

Kyle Waterman

Age: 45

Married: husband Steve Hunnell

Occupation: Project manager for World Spice Merchants in Columbia Falls, Kalispell City Councilman, member of the city-county health board and county transportation advisory committee.

Democrat Kyle Waterman says he’s a moderate candidate willing to work with all sides if he’s elected to the state legislature. Waterman said he supports the continuation of Medicaid expansion in the state, which has helped provide low income children and their families with health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

Waterman is a native of Helena and has lived in the valley for the past seven years. While he lives in Kalispell, which is outside the district, he notes that he works in district. World Spice Merchants is just off Highway 2 north of the airport.

“This was an open seat,” he said during a recent interview. “That’s why I ran for it.”

On a statewide sales tax, he said he would be willing to look at it, but only if it provided property tax relief.

He said of greater concern is a tax he said that is quietly proposed by Republicans that would tax online sales, an “Amazon tax,” that he said would hurt businesses, like World Spice Merchants. The spice company does most of its sales online and chose Montana because of its favorable tax environment, he noted.

But there are taxes he said did work well. In the last legislative session the gas tax was raised and it has helped boost local infrastructure projects.

That tax was passed in a joint effort by moderate Republicans and Democrats.

“There has been a return on that tax,” he said.

Another issue being considered by the Legislature is the possibility of having a session every year, rather than bi-annually. Waterman couldn’t support the idea at this point. “I haven’t heard a proposal I’d support,” he said. He said what he’s heard so far would entail a 45-day session, which doesn’t really solve any problems and could just result in bills being rushed through. He noted that interim committees get a lot done while the full Legislature is not in session. On the Cares Act, he said for the most part, the state had done a good job with the $1.25 billion it received from the federal government.

“In general, I think the Cares Act was applied well,” he said.

On the state budget, he said it’s tough to note priorities, with the state and country in a recession.

“It’s hard when we’re going into a recession to say what we’d like to do,” he said, noting state revenue will likely be down due to the coronavirus and higher unemployment.

Having said that, he is an advocate for public transportation, he said and would like to broaden public transportation in the Flathead Valley, particularly to get more tourists to visit Glacier National Park via bus, such as the newly unveiled Mountain Climber bus service, rather than private vehicle.

While the county didn’t have much success working with the Park Service, he said the state, if it got involved, could.

He said the region also needs to look at expanding light industry and other businesses opportunities in the valley. It can’t rely on tourism alone. He said the state could possibly offer business grants and other incentives to improve infrastructure such as broadband service in the valley, possibly working with electric co-ops.

On the coronavirus front, he said he would get vaccinated if a safe vaccine becomes available.

“I hope everyone does,” he said. He said he wears a mask at events and public places.

“I want to stay healthy and do my work,” he said. He said he hopes that when a vaccine becomes available, that it goes through the public health system, rather than private insurance companies.

Despite the challenges of the virus, he commended Gov. Steve Bullock. “We have a governor that passed a budget with a surplus and was able to deal with wildfires,” he noted. In the end, Waterman noted that most Montanans aren’t about partisan politics and it showed during the pandemic.

“We care about neighbors more than ever before,” he said.

He pointed to an emergency shelter that was put together in Kalispell for folks during the first weeks of the pandemic to help the homeless and other folks who need help.

It wasn’t done through government help, but by community members who got together to come up with a quick and effective solution, he noted.