Hess, Bachmeier square off in candidate forum

With 26 days remaining until Election Day, state Rep. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, and her Democratic challenger, Jacob Bachmeier, engaged in a public debate Thursday night during a campaign forum in Hensler Auditorium in Montana State University-Northern's Applied Technology Center .

The two candidates are running for the seat in House District 28, which comprises the city of Havre.

It was the only one of five area legislative races for which both candidates showed up. Other candidates in attendance were offered the chance to make a five-minute statement introducing themselves and explaining their platforms.

But the highlight of the night was the 18-minute long debate between Hess and Bachmeier.

Both candidates were asked questions and each allotted two minutes to respond.    

The first questions asked was what the candidates would do to promote higher wage jobs in the state.

Bachmeier said the key to encouraging wage growth is to keep taxes low on small and medium-sized businesses. He said there also needs to be a focus on creating a living wage, adding that everyone who works for a living should have an opportunity to afford the basic necessities.

Hess said that high-wage jobs would come when government gets out of the way.

"The government needs to get off the backs of our small businesses. They are overtaxed, overregulated and overburdened, and we need to get out of the way," she said.

Hess said there needs to be more development of the state's natural resources.

The candidates agreed that more should be done to attract business to the state. Bachmeier said it was crucial to keep Colstrip open and protect the coal industry. However, he said, the state should also work to encourage the development of solar and wind power.

Hess said that further development of the state's natural resources is the key and that the state's business equipment tax should be repealed.

The use of tax credits for private was a topic on which the candidates differed sharply. Hess said she backs the use of state tax credits for private schools.

Hess said tax credits are used for a variety of things. She said that credits are not public money until they are sent into the state as taxes.

"I think it's your money," she said. "So I have no problem with tax credits for private schools."

Bachmeier said such a tax credit would have little benefit for someone in a family the size of his, with six children. Credits would do little to put him and his siblings through private schools, he said.

He said such credits would siphon off money from public schools, which Bachmeier called "the great equalizer".

Bachmeier said Hess received low marks from state education groups.

When asked about transferring control of federal land to the state, Hess said the issue is complicated. She said what she advocates is the state having more management over the public land in its borders, citing an example of fire prevention in public forests, which  she said the federal government has taken too long to address and has led to severe fires.

Bachmeier said he is strongly opposed to transferring federal land to the state, calling those lands the pride of Montana.

He also  said  Hess voted in the last legislative session for such a transfer. Hess denied ever having done so, saying she did not recall the exact bill Bachmeier was citing - House Joint Resolution 19 - but that it was a resolution not a bill proposing action by the state.

HJ 19, which Hess voted against, would have stated that the Montana government would oppose efforts to claim, take over or sell federal lands in Montana.