Brekke discusses replacing Sen. Hansen

Hill County Republican Chair Andrew Brekke said Friday that he hopes someone will be named to fill the Senate District 14 seat vacated by state Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, in time for the coming legislative session.

"My hope is we will have a new candidate in place, hopefully in the next few weeks, so that person can serve the people of Senate District 14," Brekke said Friday at a gathering of the Pachyderm Club in the Vineyard Room of the Duck Inn.

Senate District 14 encompasses western Hill County including Havre, Chouteau and Liberty counties and a part of Cascade County.

Brekke would not release names, but said about eight Republicans have expressed interest in the seat, including current and former lawmakers and county commissioners.

"There are great people on that list people with legislative experience, past legislative experience, who can easily do this job, no question about that," he said.

Hansen resigned the senate seat Dec. 6 to accept the position of chief legal counsel with the state auditor's office offered by auditor-elect Matthew Rosendale. The position is now held by Democrat Jesse Laslovich who Rosendale, a Republican, defeated in the race for state auditor in November.

Hansen's seat was up for re-election in 2018.

The replacement process is one Brekke is very familiar with.

Six years ago, then-state Sen. Rawley Hutton, R-Havre resigned his Senate seat.

Redistricting made that Senate district into one that includes four counties, rather than six years ago when the district consisted of just Blaine and Hill counties.

Brekke said he hopes the process works out better this time.

When the central committees sent their list of nominees to the Blaine and Hill County commissioners, the two Democrats on the Hill County Commission, which had the most weight appointed Havre businessman Craig Tilleman, over the objections of the four other members of the Joint Board of County Commissioners.

Brekke said that the two Hill County commissioners who voted for Tilleman did so even though Tilleman said he did not want the job.

The two county commissioners played partisan politics with the process that time, Brekke said, choosing who they thought was the weakest and least interested nominee, instead of the one who was most qualified and willing to serve.

He said he and other people including Democrats were stunned by the end result.

The role of the commissioners in the replacement process is to consider the qualifications of each candidate and pick the candidate who is most qualified to take office, not overturn the work of the Republican central committees, he said.

"I don't believe they have the right to tell the Republican central committees of the four various counties they don't know what they are talking about and to promote the people they feel should serve. I just feel that is inappropriate," Brekke said.

He said he does not anticipate that the process will be handled in such a manner this time, but urged those who have a preference once the list is released to tell their commissioners.

Brekke said Montana Republican Party bylaws dictate that central committees in Cascade, Chouteau and Hill counties will each confirm three people to sit on a joint central committee to replace Hansen.

Liberty County does not have a central committee and so will not be included in that part of the process, Brekke said.

The Joint Committee will then be tasked with voting to narrow down that list of candidates to three, which will then be presented to commissions of all four counties.

The county commissioners in the four districts will then form a joint committee which will look over the qualifications of each nominee, perhaps interview them and then make a selection from that list.

Because Hansen comes from Hill County, Democratic Hill County Commissioner Mike Wendland, will chair the joint committee, Brekke said.

If no candidate receives a majority or more than half of the vote, another list will be drawn up and presented until a qualified candidate is chosen.

All 12 commissioners from the four counties within the district will have a vote in selecting the final candidate, however not all votes will be equal.

A weighted formula will be used, with a percentage based on how many votes Hansen got in each county when she was elected to the seat in 2014, Brekke said.

Hill County gave Hansen the most support in 2014, with 1,908 votes.

The formula dictates that Hill County's vote will make up 46.76 percent of the vote. Chouteau County will then follow with 32.5 percent of the vote. Liberty and Cascade counties will then make up 14.24 percent and 6.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

"So, if a plurality of Hill County and Chouteau County or a majority of Hill and Chouteau make the decision, it's moot basically for Liberty or Cascade County," Brekke said.