Election 2020: Carl Glimm, Senate District 2

Carl Glimm, Republican, Senate District 2

Age: 45

Family: Wife Amy, married for 22 years, son, Matt, 18, daughter, Rylee, 14, daughter Annah, 8

Occupation: Custom Homebuilder, owner Glimm Homes Education: 16 years of Montana Public

Education, bachelor’s degree in construction engineering from Montana State University

Background: I have previously been a volunteer firefighter for 12 years, served on the board for the Nurturing Center, served on the board and past president of the Flathead Building Association, board member and past president of the Montana Building Industry Association, board member and current vice-president of Trinity Lutheran Church. I have served in the Montana House of Representatives for four terms, chairing subcommittee on Natural Resources and Transportation (two sessions), vice chair water policy interim committee, chairman appropriations during the last legislative session. Glimm, of Kila, notes his experience as a lawmaker as one of his main strengths.

On the subject of healthcare, he said he does not support Medicaid expansion in 2021, which was an area of compromise in the last legislative session.

“Less than two months before last session, Montanan voters rejected Medicaid expansion and then the “compromise” of all the Democrats and just a handful of Republicans, ignored that vote and passed Medicaid Expansion anyway. I did not and still don’t support medicaid expansion. The Montana voters rejected this and I agree with them. For example this expansion allows single, able-bodied adults without children to receive free healthcare. The program is experiencing a high degree of fraud and abuse,” he said. “As far as an area of compromise in 2021, it will have to be the budget because revenues are down. I see this as an opportunity, when the budget gets tight, state agencies are willing to work with us legislators on efficiencies. Making state government more efficient with the money (from taxpayers, you and I), is the solution to our budget problems. It’s a spending problem, not a need for more tax money.”

Glimm said he did not support a statewide sales tax.

“We need tax reform, particularly for property tax. Many people are unable to afford their ever increasing property taxes. I do not support a sales tax. The problem with a sales tax, is that, once you start it, it will just get higher and higher. And the taxes for income and property, will still be there. There has been talk about an internet sales tax, which is a sales tax only on Montana citizens, tourists won’t pay it, and that is half the argument for a sales tax. So, if we aren’t getting the tourists, why then would we support an internet sales tax? Not to mention, it is unconstitutional,” he said.

There has been talk about an annual legislative session. Glimm said the idea is intriguing, but stopped short of endorsing it.

“This is ‘inside baseball,’

but I would be interested in seeing what it looked like. It could allow more people to run for office, some may find it easier to take off for two months each year versus four months every other year. One of the other proposals I have heard would have one year dealing with the budget, which would mean all members of the legislature would be involved. As it is now, less than half the legislature focus’s on the budget and the rest focus on policy. I think it would be good for all members to focus on the budget for a set period of time and do policy on the other year. As with all legislation, the devil is in the details, so I will not say for sure yet,” he said.

Glimm had concerns about the CARES Act spending by Gov. Steve Bullock.

“Only a small portion of the CARES money has been spent. Montana was allocated $1.25 billion. The Governor has paid out small amounts of this money. He should have at least made sure that the people most impacted by his shutdown, were made whole with this money, he has not done that,” he said.

As far as state budget priorities, he said efficiency in government is one of his priorities.

“With decreasing revenue, efficiency in government will be my top priority. While Montana, was in relatively good fiscal health before the China virus, if we continue to spend as before, with dwindling revenue, we are asking for a train wreck. This will take lots of cooperation. Hopefully, with a new administration in the governor’s office, we will have that cooperation. Under Gov. Bullock’s administration, the largest state agency with the majority of the state budget (Department of Health and Human Services) was directed to not share any information with the Legislature. Imagine how hard it is to craft a budget without any information from the agency who’s budget you’re working on,” he said.

As far as public lands are concerned, he was supportive of large conservation easements on land proposed west of Kalispell, but expressed some reservations about the Bad Rock Canyon Wildlife Management Area, proposed near Columbia Falls, because it could tax state resources.

“Changed into a WMA, the property becomes state property. FWP will be the owner and they already have a backlog of maintenance … so management of the land could be a problem … and will no longer pay taxes, not great. However, the WMA will continue to provide recreation opportunities on this property and preserve habitat along the river. The conservation easements on the Southern Pine lands will keep those properties accessible and usable as they have been. Without the easements here, Southern Pine will probably market the land for sale, as this is their business model. I haven’t seen the details, but typical conservation easements continue to allow ag production or timber harvest, and the owner retains the title, this seems to be the better situation. At this point I support the conservation easements with Southern Pine and am a little less enthusiastic about the WMA, but still

support it,” he said.

But when asked if there’s a case where public land should be sold or transferred to state or private ownership, he said transferring to the state could be viable.

“This is the gotcha question. I think it’s a great discussion to have, what are people afraid of? The opposition has framed this argument as public land will be sold off. No. I’m not in favor of selling off public land. What I am in favor of, is active management of our timber ground. Because of the ‘Equal Access for Justice’ law, the feds can’t manage the federal timber, because we pay the extremist environmental groups to sue us. That’s right, the extreme environmentalists get paid to sue the Forest Service every time they try to have a timber sale.

“But, state sales don’t get sued. There is no ‘Equal Access for Justice’ at the state level, so they don’t get paid to sue state sales. Now, let’s look at the question again. Am I in favor of transferring federal lands to the state? I would be very interested in looking at this. As it becomes state land, the state can manage the forest for better health and reduce fire danger and pay for the management with timber sales, probably turn a profit, thereby lowering taxes.

“The question should be why are federal lands left unmanaged? And the last time I checked, state lands are public lands, so what’s the difference? Other than they could be better managed,” he said.

The GOP has said it opposes socialism and socialist programs. What programs do you oppose, specifically and what worries you as a member of the Republican Party?

“All of it. socialism has been tried many times in many countries. It always fails. America is the greatest country the world has ever known. We have more freedoms and opportunities than anywhere on the planet,” he said.

When Glimm isn’t working he said he enjoys raising his kids, hunting, camping and shooting.

He said he doesn’t have any social media accounts, but folks can get a hold of him by phone at (406) 751-7334, which is also his cell phone.