Wicks says campaign is heating up

Libertarian candidate Mark Wicks said Thursday he has noticed an increase in support for his campaign for Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since taking part in the only televised debate of the campaign April 29.

"People got to see me compared to the other candidates, and I came out pretty strong," Wicks said.

He added that, since then, his campaign has received more contributions and volunteers.

A rancher from Inverness and first-time political candidate, Wicks is running for U.S. Montana's only House seat. The seat was vacated in March when Ryan Zinke resigned from the House to serve as Interior Secretary in President Donald Trump's cabinet. He faces former gubernatorial candidate Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist, in Thursday's special election.

People have grown tired of both major political parties and are realizing that it doesn't matter which they send to D.C. partisan rancor will continue and the nation's problems will not get solved, Wicks said.

"And, really, they are just arguing over who is going to get the biggest slice of the pie, and I am just sitting here saying let's just send them to bed without their supper," Wicks said.

Wicks said all departments and government programs should be checked for any waste.

"We have to get this deficit under control because it's either we make those small cuts now or we are going to make some really big cuts in the future," he said.

In March, Trump released a budget proposal for 2018 that cuts spending by $54 billion to offset a boost in defense spending. If enacted, the budget would have an effect on the Havre area by eliminating Essential Air Services, a 40-year old program under the Department of Transportation that subsidizes commercial airlines serving small airports. Airports in Montana served by the program include the Havre City-County Airport which has one daily commercial flight to Billings.

Other programs that would face cuts or be slated for elimination under the budget proposal include Amtrak, Farm Service Agencies and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Earlier this month, congress passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep the government funded through September and delay any major cuts.

Wicks said he likes programs such as Essential Air and Amtrak, but they need to be run in a more efficient, cost-effective way.

"I don't think the federal government does a good job keeping costs down because they haven't had to, and so all these things need to be looked into," he said.

He said he does not know much about the BIA, and would look at where the money is going. Wicks said he did not know enough about proposed cuts to the Department of Agriculture programs to comment.

He added that, in terms of border security, he thinks there are likely more resources on the northern border than are needed and would support shifting some of them to the southern border.

Wicks said he does not support an increase in spending on defense. He thinks the military budget is already large enough and likely needs to be looked at for waste.

The appointment of a special counsel to look into Russian involvement in last year's election is something Wicks said he supports.

"I think it is something that needs to be done, and If it's true, then I think it is a big problem, but I think it is more smoke than fire," Wicks said.

He said that, if elected, he will hold Trump accountable, adding that he does not believe Trump has been treated fairly by the media.

U.S Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last Thursday appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead the investigation. The appointment came a week after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey who was in charge of the investigation. Comey's termination raised calls by Democrats for a special prosecutor.

Wicks said he supports a review of the status of national monuments, saying many were created without input from the states.

"I think we need to look into that and decide what we want to do with these monuments and that will be up to the people that are reviewing it,," Wicks said.

Earlier this month, Zinke announced the Department of the Interior would hold a formal comment period for people to weigh in on the designation of monuments of 100,000 acres or more established after 1996 to collect from people who live near the monuments.

The Upper Missouri River Breaks is among the 27 monuments under review. President Bill Clinton designated 377,346 acres on the Upper Missouri River Breaks as a national monument in 2001, shortly before he left office.

Wicks said a bill passed by House Republicans that would repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, does not go far enough to get his support.

"I don't think they improved it enough, but I just don't believe the federal government should be in the health care business," Wicks said. "So let's send this back to the states and work on it"

He said that he is fine with the concept of Medicare and Medicaid, but does not think the government should take over the entire healthcare industry.

Wicks said that if elected, he knows that government is more complicated and changes will have to be more gradual.

"We are not going to go just to a pure libertarian form of government where private enterprise does everything," Wicks said. "There is adjustments here and there that slowly we can move into maybe a more logical way of doing things."