Heenan stumps in Havre for U.S. House seat

Democratic congressional candidate John Heenan said at a fundraiser in Havre Friday that if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he will be a fighter for everyday Montanans.

Heenan was in Havre Friday for a fundraiser at the home of Renelle Braaten and Wayne Koepke, after holding a meet and greet at Vine 19. The visit is Heenan's third to Havre since kicking off his campaign in August.

"If you want somebody to reach across the aisle and try and work with people who want to destroy things we hold dear ... I am not your guy," he said. "If you want somebody who is going to fight like hell to protect those programs and to protect your family, I am your guy."

"I want to have the fighting spirit, sticking up for people against lobbyists, corporations, people that have their way in Washington, D.C.," Heenan added

Heenan, a consumer protection attorney and restaurant owner from Billings, is one of five Democratic candidates competing in June's primary to be the party's nominee. The winner will take on Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., for the state's lone seat in the U.S. House.

The other Democrats are former state Sen. Lynda Moss, D-Billings, former state Rep. Kathleen Williams, D-Bozeman, Jared Pettinato, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney from Whitefish, and Grant Kier of Missoula, the executive director of the Five Valleys Land Trust.

Heenan, 40, said his record as a consumer protection attorney shows he can take on Gianforte and what Heenan called special interests.

"In my line of work, I deal with people like Greg Gianforte all the time," he said, "people who are arrogant CEOs, Wall Street executives, people who think that the rules don't apply to them and they don't have to follow the same rules that each of us have to follow."

He said Gianforte does not represent Montanans, but instead represents himself and the interests of wealthy friends, by voting in favor of protecting banks like Wells Fargo and Equifax, which has come under fire for selling customer's private data, and for Gianforte's support of the Jobs and Tax Cut Act.

The economy, Heenan said, needs to work for everyone, not just billionaires. Tax breaks should go to working Montanans, he added.

Heenan also spoke out against school vouchers, which he said would hurt public education, especially in rural places like Hill County, and called for universal health care.

"I represent people when insurance companies won't pay the bill," he said. "So I look at a broken health care system and I wonder ... I get angry. Why can't we have a health care system that works for people, and puts people ahead of insurance companies and pharmaceutical company profits?"

Heenan said he is the strongest candidate to take on Gianforte. In addition to his work as an attorney, he is also the owner of The Local Kitchen and Bar, a restaurant in Billings.

Too often, he said, Democrats have forgotten small business owners, and being one himself, Heenan said, he can draw them away from Gianforte, RightNow Technologies founder and millionaire.

"My small restaurant is more in line with most Montana small business owners than his." he said.

Heenan said his campaign is picking up steam as he travels across Montana speaking to voters.

Candidates in the past, he said, downplayed the importance of retail politics and instead opted to just campaign through television ads, something Heenan said is a losing formula.

"I'm traveling the state, I am talking to people," he said. "I am having conversations. I am doing retail politics, I am doing old-school politics. We are going to test it, but I think it's the winner."

Heenan said he has received the backing of progressive groups such as Montanans for Bernie Sanders and is building a campaign operation that includes well-known Democratic strategists such as pollster Celinda Lake and Joe Trippi.

Trippi, is best known as the national campaign manager of the 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign of former Gov. Howard Dean, D-VT. Recently he worked on the campaign of Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala, who last month won a special election for the Senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions resigned to become U.S. Attorney General.

"We're building a team to win in November, and I think that is important for all of you to know," Heenan said.