Beartooth Elks Lodge Hosts County Commissioner and State Representative Candidates for Forum and Reception
By Denise Rivette
Thursday night at the Beartooth Elks Lodge, candidates for state representative and county commissioner met at the second of two candidate forums held by the Elks to answer questions posed by Elks member Joel Todd and then engage with the public at a reception afterwards. First up in the forum were the candidates in the race to represent District 55 (Carbon County) in the Montana House of Representatives. Democrat Kim Gillan is challenging incumbent Republican Brad Barker for the seat.
Barker, an Army vet who went on to become a school district executive and businessman, has represented the county in the House for the last two years. Gillan worked as the Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and served several years in the legislature representing Billings when she lived there. You can learn more about them from the answers they provided at the Forum (video below) and to Montana Independent News HERE.
Next up was the nonpartisan race for Carbon County commissioner representing the Red Lodge District wherein Norma Shultz is challenging incumbent Bill Bullock.
Bullock has been the commissioner for the Red Lodge District since 2017 after a career with the Montana Highway Patrol. Shultz has 50 years of experience serving the public in diverse areas of the private and government sectors. You can learn more about them and how they plan to serve Carbon County in the video of the Forum below and in their responses to Montana Independent News HERE.
Absentee ballots have been sent out. If you haven’t received yours, please contact Elections Administrator Crystal Roascio by phone at (406) 446-1220 or in person at the County Adminstration office located at 17 West 11th Street in Red Lodge. Election day is November 5.
I encourage readers to watch the commissioner race video. The budget questions begin at video time mark 21:20.
Both videos contain valuable information for voters. Each one is just over 45 minutes.
So if Joe Citizen walks in from the street and asks Mr Bullock to explain a budget item, it's not his job to explain it to them. They should just know it. Not very impressive IMO.