Bennion, Knudsen square off in attorney general Republican primary: Austin Knudsen

Editor's note: Watch for profiles of the the Democratic attorney general candidates in Wednesday's edition of the Havre Daily News.

The race to take Tim Fox's place as attorney general has former speaker of the Montana House of Representatives and current Roosevelt County Attorney Austin Knudsen and Chief Deputy Attorney General Jon Bennion facing off in the Republican primary.

"I am the most-qualified person," Knudsen said. "Honestly, it wasn't something that I sought out, I took a look at who was running and really it didn't pop into my head seriously until I started prosecuting, to be honest with you. Started dealing with the meth problem and seeing what was really happening with law enforcement, and just how bad the methamphetamine problem was in this state and that's what really motivated me to throw in."

Fox has termed out of the attorney general office and is facing U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte and state Sen. Al Olszewski, M.D., of Kalispell in the Republican primary in the Montana governor's race.

Knudsen said the state has a tremendous methamphetamine problem and no one on the state level is talking about it and he thinks that is wrong.

Violent crime is up, he said, at least a 36 percent increase in the last five to six years in the state.

"I think we got to have a prosecutor in there, someone who's got a proven record of being tough on crime and dealing with criminals, so that's why I'm running,' he added. 

Knudsen said he's the best candidate because of experience. He has more than a decade of practicing law in Montana - most of that time in the private sector in rural eastern Montana, 10 years with a small law firm and five years in his own firm - dealing with farmers and ranchers, small businesses, neighbors.

"With just about every kind of legal problem you can think of, I've dealt with it," Knudsen said. "On top of that, now I'm a prosecutor, I'm the only prosecutor in the race, this is what I do full-time I deal with criminals, I prosecute criminals, I do jury trials, I put bad guys in jail, so I think just from a resume standpoint I'm the best candidate.

He said he also has leadership background as two-time speaker of the House Montana before he termed out of the House.

Chief law enforcement officer is what he sees as the job and role of the attorney general, he said.

"The role of the attorney general is to enforce laws that are put in place by the Legislature and that's what I'm going to look to do, so from a conservative standpoint, obviously, I'm going to look to be really an asset to local enforcement because that's the background I'm from," Knudsen said. "As the county attorney, I'm dealing with hands-on every day with local police department, my local sheriff's department and what I've learned is really that's the tip of the spear when you're talking about the drug problem in Montana, and so that's what I really want to focus on my energies as county attorney."

The only way to get a handle on the methamphetamine problem in the state is getting aggressive with it at the county and local level, he added.

He said the Montana Department of Justice budget has grown tremendously under Fox, by 25 percent, and he wants to redirect a lot of that funding out to the county levels.

"What I would like to do is work with the Legislature, reduce the size of the budget in Helena, in the DOJ, and redirect that out to the counties, whether it's to the county attorneys so that they can get themselves a full-time prosecutor or maybe hire another prosecutor, or whether it's the sheriff's department for some resources to them - drug dogs are a great resource, but the only who's got really in the state are the highway patrol, I want to keep that up too," he added.

A primary role of the attorney general is defending or prosecuting lawsuits that go before the state and U.S. Supreme Court, he said.

He said being in court, being in front of a jury and being in front of a judge making arguments that's something he would look forward to doing as attorney general.

"I think we could be more aggressive about what kinds of litigation we're getting involved in," Knudsen said.

In Roosevelt County where he lives, he said, a large portion is tribal and deals with the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women.

He said it's a hard issue because the state of Montana has no jurisdiction on reservations and, by and large, the Indian reservations are sovereign nations who have their Constitution, own set of laws.

"Legally, speaking there is not a whole lot of tools in our toolbox to do with that," he added. "... It's absolutely a problem, I think the best thing we can try to do is cooperate more local tribal enforcement, that's something we've done in Roosevelt County, we had one of the first cross-deputization agreements in the country where tribal officers can enforce state law and our local sheriff's officers, deputies they can enforce tribal law."

Land access and public lands is important, Knudsen said, and he would work for that as a member of the state land board.

"Access is absolutely important. I want to keep that up and protect public access to public lands, but the land board has got a lot more to do with, honestly, funding for the state of Montana and funding K-12 education," Knudsen said. "... The more resource development we have on state lands, the more revenue generates to fund our schools. I would definitely look forward to get on the land board and be an asset there, frankly."

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Born April 5, 1981, Williston, N.D. 

Earned Bachelor of Arts in political science and Bachelor of Science in sociology, 2004, Montana State University, 2004; law degree from University of Montana, 2008

Owner, Knudsen Law, Culbertson, 2013-2019; associate attorney, O'Toole Law Firm, Plentywood, 2008-2013.

State representative, 2010-2018; speaker of the House, 2015-2018; Roosevelt County Attorney, 2019-present.

Married to Christie since 2003; three children, 13, 11, 9.