Schweitzer hits the ground running in gubernatorial bid

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

LIVINGSTON -- Brian Schweitzer has hit the ground running in his bid to be Montana's next governor and the first Democrat to hold that job since 1988.

At an appearance here Thursday, Schweitzer promised to accept no political action committee money, keep himself accessible to the people, list his phone number and get rid of the bodyguards who have followed incumbent Gov. Judy Martz's every step.

"I'm going to take responsibility for all aspects of government," he said. "The buck stops with the governor."

In his administration, he said, there will be no secrecy, but lots of active leadership and possibly some major reorganization of the bureaucracy.

Schweitzer, 47, a farmer and rancher from Whitefish, gained a name for himself in 2000, with an unsuccessful bid against Republican Sen. Conrad Burns.

Since that loss, he's made it a point to keep in touch with politicians, reporters and Democratic party officials, and his name has been frequently touted as a candidate for governor in 2004.

Earlier this month, he made it official and he's making a round of appearances all over the state. Thursday, he was in Bozeman and in Livingston, where he spoke to about 45 people in the lobby of the Murray Hotel.

Refusing to accept PAC money means he is "not beholden to a party, special groups or special interests," he told the crowd, although it means he will have to work harder to raise the funds he needs.

Nobody can "buy" a politician with a big donation, he said, "but you can buy access."

In a Schweitzer administration, he vowed, "nobody sits at the head of the table. This government is going to change and the days of pay to play are over."

Schweitzer, who has an advanced degree is soil sciences and spent seven years working in Saudi Arabia, spent much of his two-hour appearance talking about agriculture and economic development.

He continues to tout ethanol as a key ingredient of economic recovery in Montana. Five or six ethanol plants around the state could turn grain into fuel and then turn the leftover solids into fat cattle, he said.

Higher education must be adequately funded, he said, because wealth tends to be attracted to areas with good schools. He cited the Silicon Valley, Austin, Tex., and Boulder, Colo., as examples.

Wolves need to be managed in Montana, he said, but the concentration of power in the beef packing industry is a bigger threat, one that costs ranchers 20 percent of the value of their animals.

He's proud that both grizzlies and wolves live on his ranch, he said, and he's never lost an animal to a predator.

"It isn't going to be the wolf on four legs, it's the wolves on Wall Street that are going to put us out of business," he said.

Although he offered no specific cures for the state's budget deficit, he blamed much of it on actions by 1990s legislatures that cut business equipment taxes by $300 million. Most of that money went to distant corporate headquarters, he said.

Martz, who has approval ratings of only about 25 percent, has not said whether she will run again. A phone message at Republican Party headquarters in Helena was not returned Thursday.

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