During October, the Missoulian will take a look at every contested race for the Montana Legislature in western Montana, asking candidates about key issues facing the 2007 session. All stories will be posted on Missoulian.com. Click on "Election 2006."
Today: House District 92 
Robin Hamilton, Democrat
Q: What do you feel is the best use for the state's budget surplus? What, if any, property tax reform needs to happen?
A: Don't call it a surplus, we don't know if it's one-time or ongoing. The best uses are investments in infrastructure, our students, our school buildings, our people - because we don't know how long this economic boom will last.
Gov. Schweitzer proposes to give $400 to every Montana homeowner. That's a good plan. I would definitely like to see some property tax reform. Older Montanans in particular, people living on fixed incomes, can't afford the increases in taxes. But it's got to be part of a comprehensive tax reform package.
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Q: What are the interest groups you answer to? Who are your largest campaign contributors?
A: The people with whom I find myself aligned sometimes are education groups. I have a 100 percent rating from the MEA-MFT. I have a 100 percent rating from the Montana Conservation Voters.
The most common check I get is $25, and I get a lot of those from people who don't have a lot of money. The local Democratic Party, I think they gave me $100 last time. They haven't given me anything yet this time.
Q: What is your area of expertise? What are your specific legislative interests?
A: Education and land use. I'm interested in the natural resource issue, how to maintain the lifestyle we have in Montana that's possible because of the place we live, and access to public lands and rivers.
No investment we make has a greater return down the road than education. People with degrees have higher salaries, much less need of social services and they tend to contribute to society at greater lengths. They tend to raise their children with the benefits of a reasonable salary, and those children go on to be educated. It brings everybody up.
Q: What are the two or three pieces of legislation you intend to introduce during the 2007 session?
A: One of the main things I'm working on is to change the funding formula for K-12 education.
We've got quite a list of possibilities, but we try to communicate so we don't have so darn many bills introduced. There were something like 1,700 bill drafts requested in the last session. We ended up voting on fewer than 1,000, but that's still too many. Sometimes it's a waste of taxpayers' money. The average cost of a bill draft if it goes through the process is around $4,000.
Q: Is there anything that can be done at the state level about energy prices? What, if anything, will you do?
A: In the last session we added alternative energy to the state's portfolio. But alternative or biofuel can only help us a little bit. We have coal and someday it'll be mined, but we have to do it in the safest way possible because we don't want to dump mercury on everybody east of us. The single biggest way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil would be to consume less.
Q: What should the Legislature do to manage or otherwise control the large-scale development of private lands in western Montana?
A: We need to preserve wildlife corridors, critical habitat, access to land and rivers. Using some of the state's coffers to buy this land on a one-time basis is a true investment in Montana. Our kids will be able to use that land and access those rivers, and if it turns out that this (surplus) is one time, or maybe just two or three years long, we won't be stuck with a tax cut that we can't sustain. Instead, we'll have spent the money on something incredibly tangible and long lasting.
Q: Name a state legislator or statewide office holder from the opposite political party who you admire and respect, and why.
A: Bernie Olson and Mark Noennig. They were both brave enough to vote for some legislation in spite of party pressure.
Q: What should the 2007 Legislature do with regard to higher education?
A: Fund it. It's an embarrassment to only pay 39 percent of the cost. If we don't play with that formula, it'll be down to 37 percent. We would like to start by establishing a minimum, a state share of 40 percent, and then improve on that.
And universities are economic engines in their own right. We need to attract more research money to them.
Q: What kind of social welfare issues or social reform do you plan to address in the 2007 Legislature?
A: We want to make sure no child is uninsured. Also, I think we need an additional increase in TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds.
Robin Hamilton
Age: 59
Political affiliation: Democrat
Profession:
State legislator, retired high school teacher.
Years in district: Currently lives in the university neighborhood.
Civic experience: Includes founding a political action committee in 1981, serving as a former board member for MCAT and currently serving as president of the nonprofit Missoula Writing Collaborative.
Education: Three University of Montana degrees - an English degree, a master's in administration and an MFA in creative writing.
Military service: none
Family: wife Peggy Patrick and a son, Ian Hamilton
Pets: Obsidian, a black lab
Walt Hill, Republican
Q: What do you feel is the best use for the state's budget surplus? What, if any, property tax reform needs to happen?
A: We should definitely give some back to the taxpayers. I'm in favor of permanent property tax relief. That would take maybe $100 million, $150 million. I would like to see 50 percent of the surplus, about $250 million, put into a rainy day fund, and perhaps also utilized for long-range acquisition-type things. And 25 percent or so I would like to see pay off some of our indebtedness, especially in the retirement funds. We don't have to do it all at once, but we can use some to do that.
Q: What are the interest groups you answer to? Who are your largest campaign contributors?
A: I don't know of any interest groups I answer to. I answer to my neighbors and friends. My contributions primarily come from a lot of individuals. The Republican Party, I think they made the maximum contribution.
Q: What is your area of expertise? What are your specific legislative interests?
A: Planning realms. We're presently living part-time in Seeley Lake, and I'm on the water board and I'm an adviser to the sewer board. I'm also sitting in on meetings with the Community Council, which is right in the midst of rural planning and trying to find a way to plan for the future growth that will happen in the Seeley-Swan. That's definitely a high priority.
My specific legislative interests would include the things that would go in the form of energy. We have to address our energy problems. Our land use. Certainly those are very important to me.There needs to be substantial addressing of the way we govern, the state operations. The state increased by 2,000 employees over the last biennium. That's a lot. I'm anxious to look carefully and find out whether we can do more with less.
Q: What are the two or three pieces of legislation you intend to introduce during the 2007 session?
A: One of them's just a pet peeve: I'd like to make driving with cell phones illegal, so that when you're driving you'd have to pull over and stop (to talk on the phone).
But I would like to carry a bill that suggests that we invest, on an annual basis, money into research and development at the university level. Our economy goes up and down, but I am convinced that it can be stabilized to some degree by improving our high-tech-type industries, and this can only come through enhancing our research and development at the university level. So I'm in favor of putting in $10 million to $20 million every year specifically for research so we can develop the necessary infrastructure, facilities needed to make viable research happen.
Q: Is there anything that can be done at the state level about energy prices?
A: Probably not. This is an economic thing. We virtually can't control that at the state level. We can't mandate price.
Some things that we can do: try to make sure that our infrastructure for energy supply is sufficient to meet the future demands. Specifically, pipelines and transmission lines. And I think we need overall energy planning in this state.
Q: What should the Legislature do to manage or otherwise control the large-scale development of private lands in western Montana?
A: This is something I'd like to promote with our rainy day fund - there's some very pristine and beautiful and highly-prized areas of Montana right now owned by Plum Creek Timber, and they're selling. They're either going to go into land-development type things, or houses, or who knows what else? Maybe we should invest a whole lot right now into preserving these unique, beautiful places in Montana for our children, preserving them as state forest lands so they come under the state agencies. Coupled with this, I think it's terribly important to make sure that the people of this state have access to them.
Q: Name a state legislator or statewide office holder from the opposite political party who you admire and respect, and why.
A: Rosie Buzzas. Rosie has good sense, common sense.
Q: What should the 2007 Legislature do with regard to higher education?
A: As the state has reduced its commitment to the university, then this has had to be picked up by students in the form of tuition. I think that should be reversed. I think the state has a mandate to support the university system.
Q: What kind of social welfare issues or social reform do you plan to address in the 2007 Legislature?
A: Somehow I would like to make sure that the lottery monies get into education like they were designed to do. It's not happening, and I'm not sure why.
Walt Hill
Age: 69
Political affiliation: Republican
Profession:
Biochemistry professor at the University of Montana.
Years in district: 36
Civic experience: Former Missoula City Council member, also served on numerous city and county planning boards, councils and economic development groups.
Education: Brigham Young University, Ph.d. from University of Wisconsin, post-doctoral at Oregon State University, law degree from University of Montana in 1996.
Military service: none
Family: wife Annette, and seven grown children.
Pets: none