SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
VOTER GUIDE 2016
Several primary races this year have at least 3 candidates to choose from TOM LUTEY tlutey@billingsgazette.com
I
f it’s spring in an election year, there are Republican candidates fighting it out in Montana state legislative primaries. That’s a trend as reliable as spring dandelions in Eastern Montana. This year is no different. There the 11 legislative districts in The Gazette’s print edition of the primary election guide. Five of the races feature at least three candidates. One of those three-candidate races is a Democratic race. To get a better feel for this year’s primary candidates, The Gazette posed five questions to each one. We asked the candidates what, if anything, the 2017 Legislature should do to keep the Colstrip power plant operational. We asked about whether control of federal lands should be turned over to the state government, an especially relevant question following the recent deadly stand-off over public lands in Oregon. We asked whether the candidates would support pre-kindergarten classes in public schools, an issue that didn’t gain much traction in the 2015 Legislature, but will likely resurface. We also asked how far Montana should
go in offering tax breaks to families with children in private schools. The state Supreme Court has ruled religious schools should qualify for that tax break, but should that be the fi nal word?
Finally, we asked candidates whether they support mandatory collection of union dues from state employees. Union issues have been a perennial issues at recent legislative sessions.