Fox, Gianforte, Olszewski square off in GOP governor primary: Tim Fox

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is facing state Sen. Al Olszewski, M.D., of Kalispell and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte in the Republican primary in the Montana governor's race.

"As a lifelong Montanan and someone who has been very blessed with all of the experiences and opportunities I have had in this state, it's public service and service in general, giving back is very important to me and it's been a great honor and blessing to me to be attorney general," Fox said. "I'm term limited so I can't run for attorney general again, so I'm hoping to continue to serve the people of this great state."

He said he thinks Montanans are looking for someone they can relate to and who relates to them, someone who with a track record of uniting Montanans on common goals to get problems solved and things done, adding that he has done that as attorney general.

His track record of success, he said, has been significant.

Early on as attorney general, his office created the Montana Health Care Foundation from the sale proceeds of a nonprofit, Blue Cross Blue Shield Montana, he said.

State law required the proceeds be transferred to a charitable trust for public benefit.

"So my office formed a foundation and I picked the trustees

at that organization, they have about two million in assets and they've been working very hard in this pandemic crisis supporting health care for Montanans and so that's

kind of one of the things I'm most proud of," Fox said. "... My office was the first statewide elected office to lead the charge on bringing awareness of the opioid abuse problem we have in our state and then actually that progressed into substance use crisis program called Resolve Montana."

He said he has worked on the protection of religious freedoms and Second Amendment rights all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

He cited his track record of success in both public and private work experiences.

"I'm hoping to continue to put that to use for the benefit of the people in Montana," he added.

What the next governor needs to do is to work with all Montanans including the Legislature to do an analysis of what was done right during the COVID-19 pandemic and what are things that could've been done better, Fox said.

"I think we also have to understand all of this in the context of our constitutional rights; freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and we've seen governors across who've unfortunately used this opportunity of this emergency to further their political views, things like banning the sale of firearms during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a clear violation of the Constitution," Fox added. "Our office has tried to work very closely with leaders of every level, I do think it's time to start opening up our state gradually and by phases, and making sure that we don't create another wave of the pandemic and just put ourselves into a bad position."

He said he believes the governor should be engaging with local officials, schools, businesses and health care facilities.

"We are doing everything we can at the Montana Department of Justice to support our citizens and government at every level, and we will continue to be committed to do that as long as I'm attorney general," Fox said.

He said he and his running mate, former Bozeman state Rep. Jon Knokey, made a list of key policies that include working with dozens of Montanans to identify the policy areas and challenges ahead that are most important to health and safety of people, the economy and other areas.

He added that he and Knokey have more than 500 Montanans working with them on 15 substititive policy strategies. 

"What we're asking Montanans to do is to give us their ideas, their constructive criticism, their comments, their concerns about what we have prepared," Fox said, "It's a conversation, it's an ongoing process. These are drafts strategies and we will continue to allow them to evolve and revise them as we learn more."

He believes there will be a drop in revenue because of pandemic, he said, and that the next Legislature and governor will have to deal with the aftermath situation.

"The important part there is, is that we need to elect officials who are unifiers, people who will bring Montanans together to solve the tough problems and get over the difficult challenges," he added. "... We have to have statesmen and stateswomen, we have to, I think, identify those areas of which we can agree without comprising our beliefs, our politics, our principles."

Before the pandemic, Fox said, he and Knokey were trying to identify areas where they could be more efficient in government and save money, where they could be less bureaucratic, but save money for businesses and families, and where they might trim the budget without compromising essential services that government should be providing.

As for public lands, he said, Montanans need to expand access to public lands and as attorney general who sits on the land board.

"I've worked very hard to make sure we do that through conservation easements, land swaps and other things that unlock those state lands, for instance that are landlocked because of other ownership around them," Fox said. "... As a governor, I want to make sure that we do everything that we can to make sure that we everything we can to do make as much as that accessible as possible."

With the COVID-19 pandemic, as the state begins to open up again, he said, there needs to be a look for ways to get people back to work, families back on the payroll and getting people back to successfully making a living.

He said if he were governor, he would start with the infrastructure, going forward with construction projects and taking some of the stimulus money to the state to jumpstart projects that were for later down the road, getting low-interest loans and use this situation to get ahead of the infrastructure.

"This is a place where people want to be whether they live here or they come here to visit, again we have a very substantive strategy that we have released and it's on our website," Fox added. "We should leverage the fact that Montana is beautiful and that Montanans are so welcoming, and tourism will be an area that's been heavily impacted by the pandemic that we need to have a strategy right now.

"... The governor needs to have a strategy working with the Legislature and all the businesses and stakeholders to really highlight the fact that Montana is not only a beautiful place to come to that is very fulfilling and spiritual, but it's a safer place to come to than other places," Fox added.

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Tim Fox

Born Aug. 22, 1957, Billings, raised in Hardin

Graduated from University of Montana, geology, 1981, joint degree in public administration and law 1987, finished master's degree in public administration, 2018

Worked in the oil business for awhile

U.S. Marine Corps briefly, then inactive reserves for four years

Worked for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Montana Department of Environmental Quality

Practicing law for 33 years, for state government for five to six years, private sector lawyer before being elected as attorney general

Worked in Helena for Gov. Marc Racicot's campaign, 1993, elected Montana attorney general 2012, 2016 

Married to Karen for 19 years, four children, six grandchildren and one on the way