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Senate District 38, (Bigfork, Somers, Lakeside)
• Republican Bob Keenan:
“After two terms as a state rep, I feel that both parties need the medicinal power of grass roots democracy, because at this time it does not appear that the state legislature has the will to change. Even though CI-75 may be a bitter tasting medicine, it is necessary at this time.”
Senate District 39 (Kalispell, Hwy 93 north to the dump)
• Republican Arnie Mohl:
“I am not in favor of it because I don’t see how it will do any good. If you don’t have faith in the legislature you shouldn’t vote them in. I also think that it will hurt the school district.”
House District 75 (West Kalispell)
• Republican Stanley Fisher:
“The reason I oppose (CI-75) is because it takes the power to tax away from the legislature, where it belongs. I feel it is a backfire issue to how severely they are taxed, due to the fact that the government body won’t listen to the fact that people don’t want any more taxes.”
House District 76 (Somers, Lakeside, Creston)
• Republican Paul Sliter:
“Officially I am not taking a side because (CI-75) is not a legislative issue. If CI-75 is passed then we don’t need a 90-day legislature. It provides a cop out to the legislature to pass on tax increases to the public, and with I-125 in place business won’t be able to protect themselves.”
• Democrat John Schieffer:
“I am running for public office to represent people in my district and CI-75 would nullify that. The whole thing is about lowering taxes and as I read it CI-75 would freeze (them). If you feel you’re paying too much in taxes as it is, why would you want to freeze them?”
House District 39 (Kalispell, Hwy 93 north to the dump)
• Republican Rod Bitney:
“(CI-75) would make all funding elections occur on primary or general elections. By doing so I think it allows more people to turn out to vote; some mill levies pass with only seven percent of voter turnout. Other states that have similar initiatives, Colorado for instance, are basically able to trim through some of the bureaucracy and make their government more efficient.”
• Democrat Susan Christofferson:
“I don’t support (CI-75). It terrifies me what could happen to schools. I think the purpose of state representatives is to come together in the legislature, (and) to have the state body trust them. I think it sort of erodes the system of democracy. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water we need to return to a time when people can trust policy makers rather than take a vigilantly approach.”
House District 78 (Kalispell)
• Republican Roger Somerville
“I am a Republican and I believe in a republican form of government: You elect someone to represent you and if you don’t like them you vote them out of office. I do not want to support the initiative but I don’t think the legislature can control the growth of government. It’s kind of like the way America sent the Army into Vietnam, with one arm tied behind their back. If you try to overcontrol your representative, he may not do a very good job.”
• Democrat Tim Dowell:
“About half of the (legislative) session is spent voting on taxes with the number (of votes) — last session there were over 250 — it would be difficult to inform voters. Some folks would say ‘I’ll vote against taxes’ and by doing that they might remove something they liked. No one expects a legislator to vote unless they have researched it, and yet we are asking the voters to do so.”
House District 79 (Kila, Marion, West Valley)
•Republican Verdell Jackson:
“I’m in favor of (CI-75) because of the property tax problem. I asked people (in my district) why they vote against school levies ‘I am so frustrated with these escalating property taxes and the school levy is the only thing I can vote for,’ they say. I think for education it kind of levels the playing field, right now people only vote on school levies this way they can vote on others. If there is one thing that is very dear to parents and people in the rural area, it is their kids. You can make sure education is adequately funded.”
•Democrat Gordon Hall:
“I oppose it, it’s not the way we run this state. If we are going to have CI-75, what’s the purpose of going to Helena. Some districts have to run a levy more than once because it fails the first time under CI-75 you only get one chance. If your going to get one shot and it fails, where are you going to get funding that you need. Some people say you vote till you get (funding), well thank God you do it that way. Some of these little districts with mostly retired people, they wouldn’t get their funds.”
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