Whitney Williams - Candidate for Governor

03/18/20 • 64 min

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.

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

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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Montana Conservation Voters

Editor’s note: When this interview was recorded on 03/12/20 Montana had just reported our first case of Covid-19. Since then we’ve entered a strange new world of school and business closures, social distancing, stay at home orders, hundreds of cases of Covid-19 and sadly, deaths. Please take care of yourselves and others by following Covid-19 public safety protocols and please stay informed.

Montana Conservation Voters (MCV) has been the leading guardian of environmental and conservation values in Montana for over 20 years. Over 70% of Montanans - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents - identify as conservationists who care about public lands, clean water and clean air, and MCV serves as their political voice and advocates on their behalf. We sat down with Executive Director, Aaron Murphy, and Deputy Director, Whitney Tawney, for a lively conversation about the work MCV is doing through their various branches. The MCV Education Fund, a non-profit, non-partisan organization focuses on involving citizens in the democratic process by educating voters about critical conservation and environmental issues, promoting non-partisan civic engagement, and holding elected officials accountable at every level of government from the courthouse to Congress. Their PAC’s, MCV Action Fund and MCV Federal Action Fund work to elect, support, and hold accountable candidates running for and holding elected positions who support protecting the environment and our public lands heritage. We talk about how voters can use their MCV Legislative Score Card to see how their elected officials follow through on their commitment to protecting public lands and the environment before casting their votes. We also discuss the Land and Water Conservation Fund which collects revenue from offshore oil and gas developments and funnels those critical funds into public lands through the Interior Department. While Montana’s federal congressional delegation all refer to themselves as champions of public lands, Senator Tester has worked to insist Congress allocates full funding, while Senator Daines and Congressman Gianforte have failed to stand up for Montana’s public lands. We also discuss MCV’s Montana Engagement Project which beginning in spring of 2020 will be conducting a field program, “The Keystone Canvass”, a boots on the ground operation in Eastern Montana which will focus on the impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline on communities along the route and will work directly with voters to address their concerns and build a conservation voter movement. A Podcast Runs Through It is proud to say we fully endorse Montana Conservation Voters and encourage our listeners to join their organization in the fight to protect Montana’s clean water, clean air, and public lands.

Link to MCV’s Top 10 Projects of 2019- 2020: https://youtu.be/zcguZ3TmCpM