James Brown for State Auditor
Republican
By Denise Rivette
Montana Independent News posed the same four questions to all candidates in the Montana auditor race. Republican James Brown’s views are presented in their entirety below.
What are the Montana values that will guide your decision-making?
My family came to Montana in the 1880s, and I grew up in rural Southwest Montana. Montana has been good to me and to my family. I am running for public office in order to serve those who make and call Montana home and, as your next state auditor, I will always put Montana first.
What skills, knowledge and experience do you possess that make you the better candidate?
As a fourth generation Montanan, I have a deeply held passion for Montana, my fellow Montanans, and for public service.
When elected, my immediate job focus will be on promoting competition in the marketplace in order to lower customer costs, advancing consumer education efforts, protecting unfettered access to rural health care facilities and providers, and placing the interests of Montanans ahead of out-of-state corporations.
My Montana roots, my extensive educational training, and my 30-plus years of work experience have prepared me to be a highly effective State Auditor from day one. As a long-time attorney, as a licensed insurance producer, and as a current state regulator, I have an extensive background in protecting Montanans from insurance and securities fraud while regulating those who work in these important industries fairly and impartially.
What are your top priorities to address during your term if you are elected?
The role of the State Auditor is far reaching and multi-faceted. I absolutely will focus on key issues such as making Montana a place where people seeking insurance coverage have numerous policy choices and can find insurance at affordable rates due to a healthy regulatory environment and robust competition.
I will also focus on protecting all Montanans from insurance fraud and scams. The underhanded criminals who perpetrate crimes against our seniors and other white-collar criminals will know that there is no place for them to operate in the Treasure State.
What actions will you take to address those priorities?
One of the ways I believe we can increase competition is by cutting red tape and creating a regulatory environment that attracts new companies to do business in the Treasure State. We need to make our state more business friendly so we can improve the cost of living.
Additionally, once elected, I will focus the agency’s investigatory branch on the securities sector in order to protect against bad actors. More needs to be done to shield Montana’s most vulnerable citizens from the pervasive and exploding use of artificial intelligence to commit fraud.