O'Hara stumps with Pachyderms in Havre

Though he spent more than a decade in local government, once launched a bid to be his party's nominee as governor and is now running for state legislature, Republican Jim O'Hara said he does not have an ambitious policy proposal.

"I am not a visionary, just a farmer who wants smaller government and less bureaucracy," O'Hara said Friday during the Pachyderm Club meeting in the Duck Inn Vineyard Room.

A Fort Benton native, O'Hara is the party's candidate in House District 27. The district, now represented by the termed-out Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, includes western Hill County as well as Liberty and Chouteau counties and a northern portion of Cascade County.

In June's primary, O'Hara defeated Darrold Hutchison, a farmer and aviator from north of Hingham, for the nomination. O'Hara faces Democrat Ryan Rominger of Floweree in the general election.

The farmer-turned-county-office-holder said he hopes his time in county government will inform him on the issues that are taken up.

He said during his time as a commissioner, he has seen what he calls examples of bad government.

O'Hara said one example is just how cumbersome it can be to legally fire people.

He said there was an instance when he had a  man who worked on a county road crew in Chouteau County who was convicted of an unspecified crime and sent to prison. Knowing the crew member would not be able to work during that time, the county sought to terminate his employment.

O'Hara said that he had called the Montana Association of County Attorneys to notify them of the firing but was told he could not fire the worker. Instead, he was told, the county would have to go through a process where rather than end his employment outright, they would have to write him up for not showing up for work. A hearing would then have to be scheduled, so the worker could have a chance to defend himself against any charges.

"And this, to me, is like fantasy land," O'Hara said.  

He said the attorney told him that if he didn't come to the hearing he could write him up several more times and then if that pattern persisted, the crew member could be laid off.

O'Hara said that the county eventually went to the county jail and asked for the crew member's resignation. It was granted.

"This is the kind of nonsense that just drives me crazy," O'Hara said.

As someone who has both worked for and employed people, O'Hara said, he believes employers should be able to terminate the employment of someone if they see fit.

In 2012, O'Hara was one of five people seeking to be the Republican Party's nominee for governor. He later went on to lose to former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill.

"To say that I was a long shot would have been an understatement," O'Hara said.

In his campaign, he said, he had three issues he advocated: tort reform, campaign finance reform and tax reform. O'Hara said he would look to champion them if elected to the legislature.

In particular, he said he supports loser-pay tort reform.

O'Hara said that as county commissioner, he saw how often people sued the county for small things.

"And we would go to court and we would win in court but it would cost us $20,000 dollars, so everybody lost," O'Hara said.

He said environmental groups often use the legal system to delay projects, while others can use the legal system as a weapon against those they oppose.

O'Hara said that if those who lost cases had to cover the legal cost of both the winner and themselves in court cases it could reduce the number of such lawsuits.

Though he said it should be reformed, O'Hara said he does not support doing away with the office of the Commissioner of Political Practices. The office's duties include ensuring  that the state's campaign finance, ethics and lobbying laws are followed.

"You have to have the supervision, I believe, but you can have reform," he said.

Many Republicans, such as state Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, and conservative-leaning groups have accused current Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl of unfairly going after them for ethics for perceived campaign finance violations.

O'Hara said he would support a number of additional reforms to the political practices commission. Possible changes, he said, could include making some positions on the commission volunteer positions, increasing the number of those who sit on the commission and having the legislature rather than the governor appoint the commissioner.

When he was campaigning to be his party's nominee for governor, O'Hara said, he was asked what could be done to invigorate Montana's economy.

He said building projects, which could also add to the state's infrastructure, would benefit the economy.

O'Hara said that as a lawmaker he would support construction projects such as dams and refineries that would create jobs.

Too often though, government agencies and environmental groups make the permitting process too cumbersome, he said.

"Everything gets stopped before it gets started," O'Hara said, adding that he hopes that mindset changes.