Fox says building strategies to improve the state if elected governor

Since he announced his candidacy for governor last year, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said he has been working to develop a number of plans for the state and bring changes that benefit everyone within the state.

"It's important, I think, that we engage all Montanans and put things out there for people to know not only who we are, what we stand for and what we are suggesting, but allow them the opportunity to chime in, too," he said.

Fox was in Havre Sunday for the annual Hill County Reagan-Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser. He and his lieutenant governor candidate, former state Rep. Jon Knokey, R-Bozeman, came into The Havre Daily News to speak about their campaign

On the Republican side of the ticket, state Sen. Al Olszewski, R-Kalispell, and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., have also announced their candidacy. 

Fox and Olszewski, who is running with lieutenant governor candidate Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City, are the only gubernatorial candidates who had filed in the race as of this morning.

Olszewski and Gianforte also were at the Reagan-Lincoln Day Dinner Sunday in Havre.

Fox said that in addition to going to the Reagan-Lincoln Dinner, he and Knokey went to the Northern Agricultural Research Center to meet with scientists and producers to learn about the problems they see facing the state. He added that this is something he is doing to help create a plan for what the state needs if he is elected governor.

"John and I, as we are running for governor, we have a vision," Fox said. "We need to start a conversation with Montanans on various policy areas that are important to our state and get the best experts to come around us and visit with us about the challenges ahead and what we need to be thinking about and ultimately what we need to do when we are in office."

Creating a policy strategy for agriculture is only the first of his 15 strategy plans he expects to make, he said. Others include health care, infrastructure and public education. He added that the policies are a work in process and anyone is able to review them and leave feedback.

His plan for agriculture can be found online at https://foxforgovernor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Fox-Strategy-Paper_Montana-Agriculture.pdf .

Knokey said these are not strategies made by Fox, but through a collaboration with a number of Montanans working in different fields across the state.

"This is a strategic vision for Montana built by Montanans," he said.

He added that a governor needs to lead people, but also needs to know when to listen and consider different ideas.

Fox said that as governor he would be in the office to serve and represent the state.

"We work for them and not vice versa," Fox said. "It's meeting the needs of our citizens and advocating for our state whether it be here locally, nationally or internationally."

He said he decided to run for governor because he is terming out of the attorney general's office and he still wants to be able to serve the people in Montana in some way. He added that he is very proud of the work he has done as attorney general and the improvements to the state, such as improvements made to the department of justice system, he has worked on since he was elected into office.

"This state and her people are important to me and public service, I think, is one of the higher callings and I just hope I get another opportunity to serve," he said.

Knokey said he has had a number of in-depth conversations with Fox since Fox asked him to be his running mate in the election. He said that growing up in a manufacturing family he learned the importance of hard work and people following through with their word. He added that he and Fox also discussed the importance of family and the importance of making the state better for future generations.

He said he has worked in various roles for John Deere Corp., including deputy chief economist and manager of corporate strategy. He said he has had a good career at John Deere and was not eager to get involved with politics again. But after speaking with Fox and seeing his vision, he knew he wanted to be involved.

Knokey said he served in the Legislature in 2017 and worked on the appropriations committee, balancing the state's budget. He added that after working for John Deere and working on the corporate budget he noticed a number of differences between the state budget and the private corporation budget.

"You have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and make sure that we put together the strategies so that the Montana that my kids inherit is better than the one we have today, always improving," he said.

Fox has a strong strategy as governor and is committed to making improvements to the state and bringing people together, Knokey said. He added that the reason he agreed to run as lieutenant governor was because he believes Fox can be a great leader for the state. 

"We need to be a united Montana and be in this for the Montana family," he said.

Fox said he has a proven track record for fighting for Montana and doing what he said he would do. He said that in his 13 years of public service he has stayed in the offices he was appointed to until his term limits were completed. He added that as attorney general he has made a number of improvements combating the drug and human trafficking issues in the state.

The first year Fox was elected, Montana was ranked one of the lowest in the country for its efforts combating human trafficking, but through working with the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2019 Montana was ranked one of the top two in the country, he said. He added that he has also made strides in combating issues revolving around missing and murdered indigeinous women, appointing two special agents to specifically look into the issue of MMIW last year.

Fox said that since he was first elected as the attorney general he has also submitted 51 agency bills, with all of them passing.

"I'm a unifier," he said. "I have very strong conservative values, but I believe strongly that the people of Montana can find things we can agree on without compromising our ideals, our morals, our faith or our politics."

He added that he has a number of plans and ideas, but the most important thing to him is to promote the state and work for the people. He said he wants to bring people together regardless of party or background, the state needs to be unified and work together to make the best possible future for future generations.

"At its core, the governor of Montana has to be an advocate for this state and her people," Fox said. "Sometimes that means being in charge of things that the governor's office can change or make happen, other times it's just a matter of messaging and being out on that soap box and speaking out on behalf of Montana.

"You can't do that if you're looking to whatever's next and if you're not focusing on the job at hand," he continued. "Far too often, we have politicians who tell us they want to be one thing, they want to run for this office, say Congress, and then as soon as they have that office and we've all spent time, money and effort getting them elected, they decide, 'No, I guess I want to be something else like governor.'"

Fox said Montana doesn't need a governor who is going to use the office as a stepping stone in a political career.

"That's very disingenuous," he said. "It doesn't give us any time to get something done in the office in which they said they wanted, we don't get seniority, like in Congress. 

"I think the people need to pay attention to who are the candidates who are in this for themselves and the candidates who are in this for the rest of us," Fox added.