Governor Hopeful Rick Hill Visits Sidney

While Democrats and Republicans sort out who is going to take the lead and run the strongest campaign in the 2012 run for Montana Governor, it appears Republican Rick Hill and Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock are ahead of everyone in funding their campaigns.

Governor hopeful, Rick Hill stopped in Sidney on his campaign trail last week to meet with various business owners and government officials.

Hill’s story includes a humble childhood as one of four children who grew up in a one room apartment in the back of a tire shop. He is one of the first children in his family to attend college and struggled as a single parent running a business in his earlier years.

He was elected as Montana’s Congressional Representative in 1996. Prior to that, he was asked by Governor Marc Racicot to act as Montana State Fund Board of Directors chair. He also served on the Montana Science and Technology Alliance Board of Directors.

“Education is a primary focus issue for Rick Hill. He wants Montana students to have the educational opportunities needed to develop the skills they need to be successful. He is also passionate about streamlining government to alleviate inefficiencies to ensure government works with businesses and not against them” said Jessica Sena, media and scheduling assistant.

According to his website, the underlying cause of many of the state’s problems in the funding of education, low wages and budget shortfalls stem from an under-developed economy. He envisions Montana as an economic powerhouse and wants to remove the barriers to this progress through tax cuts and priority budgeting.

In agriculture, he wants to keep Montana’s producers competitive in the global marketplace and to continue growth in the state’s agricultural arena.

Together with his wife, Betti, he lives in Helena. He has three grown sons.

Some of the candidates Hill is running against include Attorney General Steve Bullock, Ken Miller, former State Senator, Cory Stapleton, former State Senator from 20070-2008, Jim O’Hara, a current Chouteau County Commissioner, Neil Livingston, a relatively unknown Republican candidate and CEO of the crises management company called Executive Action. Livingston has also been an adjunct professor in Washington, DC, at Georgetown University.

The Montana Constitution prohibits two-term incumbent Governor Brian Schweitzer from seeking a third term in office.

The 2012 general elections are taking place on Nov. 6.