Varying views at forum: House District 27

Two north-central Montana farmers faced off in a public forum Thursday at Havre High School to tell voters why they are the best candidate in House District 27, which runs from the Canadian border in Hill and Liberty counties south to just outside of Great Falls.

Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, faces Democrat Rob Laas of Chester in the race.

During the forum sponsored by the Havre Daily News, Hollandsorth said he lives below Tiber Reservoir, his mailing address is Brady, his phone number is under east Conrad and he gets his license plate in Fort Benton.

“I’m lost basically, where I’m at, 50 miles from no where,” he said.

He said he had been a farmer his entire life, but retired after his first session serving on the appropriations committee when he realized how time-consuming it is working on that committee.

His work with and for constituents includes spending 12 to 14 hours a day the last three sessions crafting the state budget bill and sending that to the Senate, and working on the next budget in the interim Revenue and Transportation Committee, adding that the state now has an ending fund balance of $400 million and a paid-for fire fund, so it is in better shape than it ever has been.

“So, my experience pretty much tells,” Hollandsworth said.

Laas said he grew up on the family farm his grandparents homesteaded near Chester, went to college and Bozeman then transferred to Montana State University-Northern majoring in ag business, then when his father told him to pick something he loved in case farming goes downhill he switched to history and political science. He didn’t finish, coming back to the farm after his father died, but remained a political junkie.

“When you have as many hours on the tractor and the combine, you have a lot of time to think about politics,” he said.

He said what he has found about the constituents is that more ties them together than takes them apart, in the Republicans, Democrats and independents.

He also said his biggest regret is having to go through Hollandsworth to get elected — he likes both him and his wife, Laas said.

Hollandsworth said he didn’t pay Laas so say that, to laughter from the crowd.

He said he supports the legislative referendum to move the last day for voter registration from election day to the Friday before the election. He said one problem is getting the late registrations back from rural polling places could severely delay the results being counted. He said he believes voting is a privilege, and voters need to be responsible, “and that is what we are not in our society.”

Laas said he opposes the change. He said fear of fraud is overstated, with late registration being much more likely to be due to someone moving than “from shenanigans.”

He said the state should be making it easier for everyone to vote, not more difficult.

He said he supports expanding eligibility for Medicaid, helping the 70,000 people “who fall through the cracks.”

Most everyone knows what it is like to fall on hard times and need some help, he said.

“This gives people more of a chance to have a safety net,” he said.

Hollandsworth said the health care reform was supposed to fix that by making insurance more affordable, but that still hasn’t happened and the health care reform itself still is in turmoil.

It will get fixed, he said, but everyone better pay close attention to what happens while it does.

He added that, on the appropriations committee, federal funding can come with strings attached — the committee may be forced to accept expansion in order to receive other funding, while trying to take care of the hospitals and consumers.

“It will be an interesting session,” he said.

On the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage, Hollandsworth said the law should be kept as is, marriage is between a man and woman.

“You have to not hate alternative life styles and what they do behind closed doors is their business, but the government should not get involved,” he said.

Laas said he was combining same-sex marriage with the question of whether someone is “pro-life or pro-choice.”

“I am a firm believer that, in the end, everybody in this room has to answer for what they’ve done,” he said. “It’s between you and God, and I don’t think you can nor should try to legislate morality of personal choices.”