A Service of The Arrow             Friday September 29, 2000

   Brian Schweitzer, a Whitefish farmer fed up with current government policies, is making a big push to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns. Arrow reporter Laura Khor caught up with the Democratic candidate on the Senatorial campaign trail, and asked him about his qualifications, opinions and his new prescription drug policy.

   Q: Why run for U.S. Senate?

   A: We have had a lot of years in Montana where leadership has polarized Montana — pushed people apart and it’s time we had leadership in Montana that pulls people back together again.

   Q: At Flathead High School a lot of us are worried about education – our drop out rate got us national coverage because it was so high. Now other schools in Montana are having the same problems and we are all concerned about dropout rates, teen smoking, and school violence. How would you approach that?

   A: Well, I think we have to have more creative education. We have to make education so that it is exciting and challenging for everyone that goes to school ... Now, I have suggested some pretty major changes for schools. One of the things I have learned in visiting with people who are involved in technology transfer and have some suggestions on how we can build the economy in Montana. In addition to having broad-based Internet access, they’re telling me you have to have the best public schools in the world because as we were talking earlier, Singapore has the best math and science scores in the world. They have the best public schools in the world. We don’t. Well, we’re paying our teachers forty seventh in the nation right now for education. Number one, when someone studies education in Montana, we should have an agreement that for every year that they will stay in Montana to teach we will pay for one year of their college. So, as they build loans up and when you get out of college you’ll have loans for maybe $30,000 or $40,000, like I did, we will have a commitment that we will pay your loans off, one year for one year. Number two, we need to immediately pay our teachers a third more — one third more right across the board. The next thing we need to do is we need to have a commitment so we make bank guarantees from the state to local banks so a bank right here in Kalispell would loan money to a young teacher to buy a house because if a young teacher comes to Kalispell, owns a home, and is paid a reasonable salary, they will stay teaching and those are the people we want to stay teaching. There are other things we need to do. We need to do a better job with distance learning because technology is changing so fast we can’t even train our teachers fast enough, let alone train our students. It means that when you bring technology to Kalispell; you may not have to bring the technologists to Kalispell — you can do it through distance learning so we have to better equipped to do it and those are some of the ways that we can make education more exciting and do a better job.

   Q: Do you feel video cameras are needed at schools?

   A: No. I don’t think so. I think that is through supervision. I don’t want our schools to look like a prison. I think it depends about what ages we are talking about — high school students?

   Q: Yes.High School students.

   A: I don’t think we need to do that. I think by the time kids get to high school they should have the personal responsibility and I guess I couldn’t support that.

   Q:What is the best part of running for office? And, what is the worst part?

   A: The best part of running for office is the ability to meet people all over Montana and hear their concerns and their ideas for the future for Montana. And, that is great because we have some wonderful people in Montana with some great ideas! The worst part of running for office is that I am away from my wife and my kids and my farm so much because I am always on the road.

   Q: One question that is concerning a lot of Montanans and I know especially Montana high school athletes — a lot of kids like to go hunting. What is your position on gun control?

   A: I don’t support any additional gun control. Period.

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