Hometown Helena September 29: Helena area candidate introductions for Montana House and Senate
Hometown Helena -- Thursday, September 29, 7 a.m. @ The Montana Club & Live via ZOOM hosted by AZ Technology Services:
- Helena area candidate introductions for Montana House and Senate
- Recording of candidate introductions:
Greetings Everyone,
We’re starting our 'candidate forums' this Thursday. We’ll meet with legislative candidates this week (9/29); with L&C county and PSC candidates next week (10/6); and with candidates for the Eastern Montana Congressional District the following week (10/13). We’re still waiting for confirmations from some of these folks, but below is who and what we have lined up for the first candidate forum this week. Many thanks to Peter Strauss for leading the Hometown effort to invite these candidates to join us. Really appreciate it Peter.
Peter has stressed to these folks that this is not a ‘debate.’ It is, rather, an opportunity for the people seeking to lead and serve the rest of us in the upcoming legislative session to introduce themselves to Hometown Helena, and share whatever whatever they would like to share with the group this Thursday morning.
Here’s the format we’re going to follow: We’ll divide the hour by the number off individuals we’re expecting, and give each person the same amount of time. We’ll take these races by senate or house district, and go alphabetically candidate by candidate (see below).
This week it looks like 14 people have confirmed with Peter (see below). That works out to approximately four (4) minutes per person. The candidates are welcome to use the time however they would like…to introduce themselves and explain their goals for the session, to take questions and comments from the Hometown audience, or some combination of the two. This ought to work well for everyone.
I’m not aware of any other candidate forums or debates being planned or scheduled. I believe the Independent Record will ask a number of questions of the candidates and publish their answers. I’m not sure whether or not the IR will endorse candidates? This may be one of the few chances we will have to meet these candidates.
I hope you will come to Hometown this week, or Zoom in order to meet these people. They have all been working hard on the campaign trail for months now: going door to door, putting up signs, responding to questions, attending events. I think they will appreciate the chance to see you at Hometown Helena. When you see these folks this Thursday, or out in the community please thank them for being willing to seek elected office, and for all the time and effort they put in trying to earn your vote.
With all that said, here’s the lineup and order of appearance(s) for this week.
[FINAL LIST OF CANDIDATES PRESENT]
SD 41 Janet Ellis
Dave Galt
SD 42 MaryAnn Dunwell (via taped message)
Matt Olson
HD 79 Keith Pigman
Laura Smith
HD 80 Becky Beard (no opponent)
HD 81 Melissa Romano
Jill Sark
HD 82 Mary Caferro
HD 83 Kim Abbott
HD 84 Jill Cohenour
We’re starting our 'candidate forums' this Thursday. We’ll meet with legislative candidates this week (9/29); with L&C county and PSC candidates next week (10/6); and with candidates for the Eastern Montana Congressional District the following week (10/13). We’re still waiting for confirmations from some of these folks, but below is who and what we have lined up for the first candidate forum this week. Many thanks to Peter Strauss for leading the Hometown effort to invite these candidates to join us. Really appreciate it Peter.
Peter has stressed to these folks that this is not a ‘debate.’ It is, rather, an opportunity for the people seeking to lead and serve the rest of us in the upcoming legislative session to introduce themselves to Hometown Helena, and share whatever whatever they would like to share with the group this Thursday morning.
Here’s the format we’re going to follow: We’ll divide the hour by the number off individuals we’re expecting, and give each person the same amount of time. We’ll take these races by senate or house district, and go alphabetically candidate by candidate (see below).
This week it looks like 14 people have confirmed with Peter (see below). That works out to approximately four (4) minutes per person. The candidates are welcome to use the time however they would like…to introduce themselves and explain their goals for the session, to take questions and comments from the Hometown audience, or some combination of the two. This ought to work well for everyone.
I’m not aware of any other candidate forums or debates being planned or scheduled. I believe the Independent Record will ask a number of questions of the candidates and publish their answers. I’m not sure whether or not the IR will endorse candidates? This may be one of the few chances we will have to meet these candidates.
I hope you will come to Hometown this week, or Zoom in order to meet these people. They have all been working hard on the campaign trail for months now: going door to door, putting up signs, responding to questions, attending events. I think they will appreciate the chance to see you at Hometown Helena. When you see these folks this Thursday, or out in the community please thank them for being willing to seek elected office, and for all the time and effort they put in trying to earn your vote.
With all that said, here’s the lineup and order of appearance(s) for this week.
[FINAL LIST OF CANDIDATES PRESENT]
SD 41 Janet Ellis
Dave Galt
SD 42 MaryAnn Dunwell (via taped message)
Matt Olson
HD 79 Keith Pigman
Laura Smith
HD 80 Becky Beard (no opponent)
HD 81 Melissa Romano
Jill Sark
HD 82 Mary Caferro
HD 83 Kim Abbott
HD 84 Jill Cohenour
Kaitlyn Ruch
HB 70 Julie Dooling (represented by husband Joe)
Looking forward to seeing you and to a great Hometown.
Jim Smith
- September 15 -- Hometown Classic -- Forum and Guests
- September 22 -- Helena Affordable Housing Update. Habitat for Humanity and others.
- September 29 -- Local Legislative Races
- October 6 -- Local County Elections
- October 13 -- Eastern Montana House Race
