Four vie for GOP spot in PSC District 1

Four Republicans have filed with the Montana Secretary of State’s office since January to run for the open district one seat on the Montana Public Service Commission.

Mark Wicks of Inverness, Cory Mckinney of Great Falls, state Rep. Rob Cook, R-Shelby, and former state Rep. Randy Pinocci, R-Sun Belt, have all filed to appear on the ballot in June’s Republican primary.

No Democrat, independent or third-party candidates had filed to run as of this morning, the candidate filing list on the Secretary of State’s website says.

Candidates have until March 12 to file to run for the seat.

District 1, now represented by terming-out Commissioner Travis Kavulla, R-Great Falls, is the largest of the PSC’s five districts. A map on the PSC website shows the district spans from the North Dakota border west to Toole County and extends south to Cascade County.

Wicks, a farmer, rancher and contractor with the U.S. Postal Service from Inverness, was the Libertarian Party candidate in last May’s special election for Montana’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wicks said he decided to run as a Republican because as a third-party candidate for the U.S. House his campaign often received little attention from the media.

“As a Republican, I get the news coverage I wouldn’t get as a Libertarian,” he said.

He added that he believes his positions on issues dovetail nicely with those of Republicans.

A former tech education major, Wicks said he has always been interested in the energy, transportation and communication industries and how they relate to one another, and as he has read more on the PSC website his interest in the position has grown.

“It’s a lot of reading but I am enjoying it,” Wicks said.

The campaign is the first for Cory McKinney of Great Falls, who said he is running because he wants to get energy costs down for Montana consumers.

“Every year the energy costs go up and there really isn’t a good reason as to why,” he said.

Mckinney is an operator for Herzog Railroad Service Inc., where he tests BNSF tracks. He has also worked for Cascade County as an animal control officer and with the Cascade County Detention Center.

Mckinney said he sees his status as a political newcomer as an asset.

More people, he said, need to enter the political realm who have not run for office before and who can relate to the average person.

“I think that is what we need in politics nowadays,” he said. “We need to get average people in there to actually start fixing some things.”

After four terms in the Montana House of Representatives state Rep. Rob Cook. R-Shelby is making a bid for the seat.

Cook was first elected to the Montana House in 2010, where he represents Pondera, Glacier and Toole counties. He has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Montana State University and is an operations manager for Intercontinental Trucking Body, where he was a partner.

He said that he sold his interest in Intercontinental in September.

Cook said his background as an engineer and his time in the Legislature, serving on the House Committees on Appropriations and Taxation Committees, will be useful experience on the PSC.

“I think you kind of have to be a math guy to really understand the nuances of the decisions that are made,” he said.

Cook added that it is always good to understand taxes in the job, especially property taxes, in regards to what happens with utilities and consumer bills.

He said the PSC will likely take up rate cases next term and he is interested in determining how much the state’s utilities can pass through to the consumers in the form of bills.

Former state Rep. Randy Pinocci, R-Sun River, cited his tenure on the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee during his term in the state Legislature.

Pinocci served in the Montana House during the 2015 session where he represented House District 19, which consists of part of Cascade County.

Pinocci said he had worked in the print industry on direct mail operations for political campaigns in Montana and across the country, adding that he now works as a property manager.

Having worked with the PSC on legislation as a member of the Energy, Technology and Federal Relations committee, Pinocci said he is more qualified than his opponents.

He said he believes less federal regulation on NorthWestern Energy could allow consumers to get lower rates and the company to be more profitable.

“If we can get the fed to kind of lighten up on their influence, back off the federal government putting regulations on NorthWestern Energy, the result, I think, is that rate payers could have a lower bill, and NorthWestern Energy could do better,” he said.