Lang, Adolphson face off in race for Senate District 17

He has served two terms in the Montana House of Representatives, but this year state Rep. Mike Lang, R-Malta is making a bid for the seat in Senate District 17.

"I'm an eastern Montana guy and I pretty much know the feelings of northeast Montana," Lang said.

The seat is now occupied by state Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, who is unable to run for re-election due to term limits. The district stretches from northeastern Hill County east to the North Dakota border.

Lang  goes up against Democrat Douglas Adolphson, a plumber and motel owner from Glasgow, in November's general election.

In the last legislative session, Lang was chair of the House Federal Relations, Telecommunications and Energy Committee. He also served on the House Agriculture, Business and Labor and Legislative Administration committees.

Lang said that when the Senate seat opened up, he decided to run for that house rather than for re-election to his House seat.

He said that among the background he would bring to the Senate is his knowledge of agriculture and background as both an employee and business owner.

In the coming legislative session, Lang said he wants to make sure bison are considered domestic livestock in Montana and not reclassified as wildlife that could roam freely outside of Yellowstone National Park and the state's reservations.

Lang said that he will  put forth a bill that would make it easier for rural school districts to rehire retired teachers.

The state should deal with its revenue shortfall through better management of its land and natural resources, Lang said. That includes providing more opportunities for extracting coal, timber and other materials.

On the issue of Montana being toward the bottom of workers' wage levels, Lang said higher-wage jobs can be created by reducing what he called federal overreach on natural resource development and regulations on businesses.

When it comes to financing infrastructure projects, Lang said he would like to see specifics to know if he would support the authorization of state bonding.

During the last legislative session, Lang joined with Democrats and some other Republicans to back a bill that would have paid for improvements to infrastructure using a combination of cash on hand and state bonding. The legislation ultimately passed the Senate but fell one vote shy of the two-thirds needed to authorize state bonding in the House.

The debate over whether control and management of federal public lands within Montana should be transferred to the state is one Lang believes has been misrepresented.

"Nobody wants to be unbiased and study it," he said.  

Lang said he does not believe federal public lands in Montana should be sold off to private interests. However, he does think a transfer of those lands to state control is an issue worthy of consideration.

"I believe there is no reason not to turn the rock over and see what is hiding underneath it," he said.