Reichner running for house seat

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

Scott Reichner is a big believer that the more someone has to do, the more they get done.

"Someone told me that if you want something done, ask a busy person," he said.

If that's truly the case, then Reichner's bid for a seat in the Montana legislature could yield pothole-less roads, huge budget surpluses and a housecleaning of corruption. Few people are busier than Scott Reichner.

Eight-year veteran of the Bigfork school board, mortgage company owner and patriarch of a family of eight children — aged 19 to one — Reichner is always doing something.

But when he was approached by member of the Republican party to run for the House District 9 seat being vacated by Bill Jones, Reichner figured he could put one more thing on his plate.

"My term is up on the school board this year," he said. "I took the idea to my wife and we thought about it and prayed about it."

Reichner is currently the only candidate who has filed for the seat, but the deadline isn't until March 20.

"My heart was on the school board, but it's time for a little break," he said.

Reichner said one of the things he hopes he can bring to the legislature is a youthful perspective — he is 41 — and a can-do attitude to an increasingly divided group.

"The last few years there's been some contention, some hard-nosed politics," he said. "Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to go down there and work together."

Reichner said there aren't any particular issues he's campaigning on at this point, but that he's a "family man" who is "conservative morally and conservative fiscally."

"I've learned in my short life that politics and government are important but the most important thing is family," he said. "I want to fight for what I think is right."