GOP primary set in Senate District 14 race: State Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester

State Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, is running to keep his seat in the Montana Legislature against fellow Republican Steve Chvilicek of Havre in this year's Republican primary.

Tempel was born and raised on the Hi-Line, graduating from Joplin High School and later Northern Montana College with an Associate of Business and has lived on his grandfather's homestead since. He has been married for more than 50 years, raising four children.

He spent 34 years farming as well as 18 years on the Liberty County Commission before spending the last six years in the Legislature as the area's senator so he's heavily involved in lots of community projects, he said.

He also served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968.

The district he hopes to keep representing, Senate District 14, is one he said he has tremendous enthusiasm for, in part because of its natural beauty, containing the Missouri, Marias, Teton and Milk rivers, along with the Sweet Grass Hills, Highwoods and the Bear Paw Mountains.

"There's fishing and hunting everywhere, and I like to promote that," Tempel said.

He said that is part of the reason he is working with Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel to get as many legislators as possible up to the university and the Northern Agriculture Research Center for an event later this month.

Tempel said public access to public land is a big issue for him, and he wants to keep these areas open to the people of Montana and doesn't want to see any rollbacks of access.

He said he and his colleagues in the Legislature are trying to find ways to improve communication between private landowners and the government, which he believes has been lacking.

He said some legislation has already been passed to promote better communication, but there is still work to be done.

Tempel also expressed concerns about some education issues in the state, particularly the ongoing consolidation of schools, which he said is a big problem he would also like to address.

He said schools across Montana are also facing a teacher shortage, including in his district, which didn't see a single school open fully staffed this past year.

He said the Legislature has implemented some bonus programs to encourage teachers to stick around, and they've been working on similar efforts to address nursing shortages in the state as well.

Tempel said he's been meeting with superintendents across the area so see what other problems their districts face and what he can do to help them as well.

Another issue he talked about was voter integrity, which he said was a huge victory for Republicans in the last session, but four of their bills are being held up in court including one that prevents same-day registration.

He said now that that bill is in limbo a lot of the training County Clerk and Recorders' office staff may not be usable and many are confused as to what is going to happen.

Despite his concern about election integrity, he said he doesn't believe voter fraud is a significant problem in the state and he's always happy to show people how the system works.

He framed the bills passed by his party as preventative and said voter ID laws are especially important.

"There's no reason someone can't come up with an ID to vote," Tempel said. "We have IDs for everything in the world, to get on a train, to get on a plane you have to have an ID. Why should voting be any different? That is a nonissue for me."

He said he doesn't know his opponent that well so he doesn't have any particular issues or criticisms of him, but he does feel his experience, both as a legislator and a county commissioner, are part of what makes him the best person for the job.

He said he's developed an incredible network of people within the Legislature, the government at large and beyond to help him understand issues he's not familiar with and do the same for them.

"If an issue comes up, I pretty much alway know who to go to to get the answers I need," Tempel said.

He said he has an especially good relationship with Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, whom he works with closely on a number of committees and on a number of issues, helping each other with whatever they need, or point each other in the right direction if they can't.

Beyond his relationships within government he said he thinks he is approachable by the public and feels he's receptive to them and their concerns.