Republicans call Lincoln-Reagan Dinner a success

The Mineral County Republican Party gathered together at the Rockin’ Rodeo Thursday for an evening of dinner, auctions and political commentary.

Thursday was the Mineral County Republican Party’s first Lincoln-Reagan Dinner and party chairperson Bob Mahon said it was a huge success.

“I haven’t heard a bad word about it. Nobody was unhappy,” Mahon said.

Republican candidates for many government offices spoke Thursday night on why they should be elected. Many of the candidates that evening spoke about taking back Montana government from the Democratic Party.

The keynote speaker of the evening, former Montana Governor Judy Martz, had to cancel because of a family emergency. Therefore, Roy Brown, who is running for governor this year, stepped in to take her place.

Brown spent much of the evening attacking the policies of Governor Brian Schweitzer.

“We need real leadership, not leadership that’s molded on San Francisco fundraisers and cameras. We need leadership that will do something and not just talk about it,” Brown said.

Brown called for long-term property tax relief for Montanans, pointing to a $400 check many Montana property owners received in the mail with a note from Schweitzer and the ensuing letter from the Internal Revenue Service reminding people to pay taxes on that money.

“For some reason Brian Schweitzer’s name was not on that letter,” Brown joked.

Brown said he wants to see the government allow the development of natural resources, like lumber and coal, pointing out that Montana has not seen a single coal burning power plant or coal mine open recently. He also pointed to Wyoming as an example of a state that takes advantage of their natural resources and reaps the benefits through higher quality education and other services.

Brown said he also wanted to see government toned down and called for “better government, not bigger government.”

He also spent time addressing the fact that Schweitzer will be an incumbent in this race and discussed the governor’s high approval ratings. “I had somebody ask me this today, ‘Do you really think that you can beat Brian Schweitzer?’” Brown said.

He said that even though Schweitzer was high in the polls right now, he had already dropped from a 68 percent approval rating to 54 percent and claimed that he would not give up in the coming race.

“Why would a person like me run against a sitting governor in this situation? Well, I have a belief that we in Montana can do better. We can do much, much better,” Brown said about facing a firmly entrenched incumbent.

“Now it would have been easier for me to wait four more years, when it was an open governor seat. It would have been easier, but it would not have been right,” Brown said.

Four Republican candidates for the United States Senate also spoke at the event, all vying for a seat occupied by Sen. Max Baucus, an incumbent who has held the seat for 30 years.

Kirk Bushman said his international experience from traveling the world as an engineer would serve him well in office. He also said that his top priorities come from his newborn son and his mother and that he plans to work with Social Security and education.

Patty Lovaas, a CPA, said she wants to be elected so she can help implement responsible fiscal management in the government. She added that she is a gun owner and wants to defend the right to bear arms.

Anton Pearson, a local candidate from Superior, said that he wants to see the United States out of the United Nations and to stop liberal politicians from pushing the nation toward socialism.

The final speaker vying for U.S. Senate was Mike Lange. Lange told the audience that he was running to beat Baucus. He is the State House Majority Leader and he said that his experiences there have prepared him for U.S. Senate.

Other speakers included Brad Johnson, an incumbent running for state auditor, Duane Grimes for state auditor, Tim Fox for attorney general, Lee Bruner for attorney general, Doug Mood for public service commission, Curtis Cochran for Mineral County commissioner, Gordon Hendrick, an incumbent for Montana House of Representatives District 14, Sylvia Bookout-Reinicke for Montana State Senate District 7, and Elaine Herman for the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Hendrick spoke to the crowd about a project the Mineral County Republican Party is near finishing, a project to honor John Anderson, a party member who passed away last year. “He was not just a party man, he did good for everybody in town,” Mahon said.

Mahon recalled that Anderson used to drive a young man, who happened to be a Democrat, to work every day at a job Anderson helped him get at the Diamond Match Company.

Mahon said in Anderson’s honor, the Mineral County Republican Party is installing a custom granite bench outside the Mineral County Courthouse in Superior alongside a flagpole that the commissioners plan on installing by Memorial Day.

To help raise money for the party, there was a silent auction and a live auction for prizes varying from a year-long supply of maple bars to hand crafted paintings. All of the items were donated from local Republicans.