HELENA - A Billings man who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2005 and now leads a group representing National Guard members said Monday he plans to run as a Republican for the state Public Service Commission seat in southeastern Montana.
Al Garver, 48, said he'll officially start his campaign Thursday in Billings and pay his candidate filing fee that day - the first day candidates can file to run for state office.
Garver is running in PSC District 2, which is now represented by two-term Commissioner Brad Molnar, R- Laurel.
Molnar can't run for re-election because of term limits.
Garver may not be the only Republican in the race for southeast Montana PSC seat. Kirk Bushman, of Billings, who ran in Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2008, has expressed interest in the race.
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Two Democrats also have said they are running for Molnar's seat: State Sen. Lynda Moss, of Billings, and former Billings Mayor Chuck Tooley.
The district covers 10 counties in the southeast corner of the state, although three-fourths of its voters are in Billings and Yellowstone County.
The five-member PSC regulates utilities in Montana, including gas, electric, telephone and water companies.
Garver said he became interested in energy issues while working as a historian for the Air Force Reserves in Washington, D.C., several years ago.
He wrote a chapter in an Air Force history about energy initiatives by the USAF, including its research on renewable power and getting Air Force bases off the usual electric grid.
"That's how I became interested in the energy resources that Montana had and started thinking about the PSC," Garver said Monday.
While the commission is about protecting consumers and determining utility rates, it's really an agency that acts as a steward for Montana's energy resources, he said.
"I think as Montana continues into the future, those natural resources are going to become more and more important, especially economically," Garver said. "I think Montana can benefit because of those resources, but it really does take good stewardship."
Garver currently works as executive director for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, an organization that represents the interests of 412,000 Air and Army guard members. He has testified before Congress on issues important to Guard members.
He has been an active-duty member of the Air Force and the Air National Guard and moved to Montana in 1996 from Oregon, as a divisional manager for the National Federation of Independent Business.
Garver's political experience includes a stint as manager of U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg's 2002 re-election campaign, some political consulting, and his run for mayor in 2005.
He lost the mayoral race to Billings Police Chief Ron Tussing - who later ran for the PSC in 2008, losing the general election to Commissioner Molnar.
