Tom Winter - Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives

02/29/20 • 63 min

Tom Winter, incumbent Montana District 96 House member, and candidate for U.S. House of Representatives (whose campaign is the first in Montana history to unionize), talks about what motivated him to jump into politics. After watching a family member with a chronic illness struggle to manage day to day life, and then hearing his local state rep refer to people on Medicaid Expansion as “freeloaders”, he decided to run for office. What followed was a life changing and successful campaign in a Republican district followed by his first legislative session in which he introduced 24 bills and passed 4 of them. He describes his experience in politics as and the hardest thing he’s ever done, yet he finds it truly fulfilling. On his philosophy of public service, he says, “Government can be a force for good, and we don’t need to apologize for that.” In this very personal interview we cover a broad range of issues including a deep dive into health care, the question of why should it be so difficult to pass the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Act (MMIW), the real economy and jobs, and a need to change the way we do things in politics. “Government done well expresses the will of the people and the will of the community, and the will of the community and the will of the people should be their own wellbeing.”

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Raph Graybill - Candidate for Attorney General of Montana

Raph Graybill, Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Steve Bullock and candidate for Attorney General, talks about his experience going from a kid growing up in Great Falls to patrolling the streets of New York City as a volunteer auxiliary police officer while attending Columbia University. On the role of Attorney General, he views it as enforcement focused and a counterbalance to power and says he will protect Montanan’s privacy rights and work to lower prescription drug prices. On the issue of money in politics, dark money, he says, “I think it’s sort of a bottleneck issue that if we don’t figure out, we’re not going to get meaningful change on anything else.” He talks about how in 2013 he helped write the Trace Act which later became the Disclose Act. He also discusses his role in the Espinoza -vs- The Montana Department of Revenue case which recently came before the U.S. Supreme Court. He talks about writing Governor Bullock’s executive order protecting net neutrality in Montana which became a template that other states have used, and his role in helping to pass Montana’s first-in-the-nation statewide ban on foreign influence in elections. On the importance of protecting Montana’s public lands, he talks about winning a recent Montana Supreme Court case to protect “Habitat Montana”, a 30-year-old open space program that benefits landowners, sportsmen, and outdoor recreation through conservation easements on hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the state.

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Whitney Williams - Candidate for Governor

Montana candidate for governor, Whitney Williams sat down with us to talk about why she decided to enter the arena. She talks about her experience as founder and CEO of williamsworks, a strategy and management consultancy where the motto is “We believe anything is possible. And that we can improve countless lives by partnering with extraordinary people to help realize their most ambitious visions.” She says her business experience gives her a unique perspective in management and problem solving. By bringing everyone to the table, including unlikely allies, and asking the right questions while listening to all concerns to find common ground, she says she has what it takes to solve the problems challenging our state. She talks about growing up in a household with a rich history of political service. Her father, former Congressman Pat Williams, was Montana’s longest serving member of congress. And her mother, Carol Williams, was the first female Minority and Majority Leader in the Montana Senate. Whitney says her politically influenced background, her business experience, and her determined commitment to find solutions to the problems Montanans are facing give her a unique perspective to take on these challenges. We discuss several issues including healthcare, transparency in drug pricing, education, moving to a clean energy future, universal pre-K, pathways to better paying jobs, protecting public lands and promoting Montana’s outdoor industry, affordable housing, and money in politics.