Livingstone taps Zinke as running mate
Montana governor candidate Neil
Livingstone has tapped state Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, as his
running mate for the upcoming 2012 election.
Livingstone, a Republican, told the
Pilot he and Zinke are focused on the same goal — job creation —
and that they’ll make a strong team.
“Ryan is intelligent, has a ton of
energy and is a terrific state senator,” he said.
He expects Zinke will lead education
talks during the campaign, and together they will push their
pro-jobs platform.
“Ryan and I will run hard,” Livingstone
said. “We will try and shake every hand we can in Montana.”
Livingstone was raised in Helena. He is
a third-generation Montanan with three master’s degrees, one from
the University of Montana-Missoula, and a Ph.D. from Tufts
University.
Livingstone works in business
management and is the author of nine books. He has made more than
1,500 TV appearances commenting on homeland security, international
business and intelligence.
Zinke was raised in Whitefish and
graduated from Whitefish High School in 1980. He served with the
U.S. Navy from 1985-2008 and was a mission commander of SEAL Team
Six.
Zinke was elected to the Montana Senate
in 2008.
Livingstone says the focus of their
campaign is job creation and the state’s economy, which he says is
falling short of its potential.
He says Whitefish’s economy is an
anomaly in the state and that it hasn’t been hit as hard as other
places.
“Whitefish is still prosperous,” he
said. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t areas for improvement.”
He says Montana has a great “brand” and
that it’s being undersold.
“We don’t sell that brand effectively
enough,” he said. “Especially with Montana beef, and not enough
with tourism.”
He would like to see tourism-based
areas like Whitefish compliment their economy with more high-tech
jobs.
One of his plans, if elected, is to
make Montana the first all wi-fi state, which will help businesses
prosper, he said.
Livingstone and Zinke will be in
Whitefish today for a fundraising event. “Better Jobs, Better
Education, Better Future” is the theme for the event that starts at
6 p.m. at the Whitefish Lake Lodge.
Four other Republicans have filed to
run for governor, while only one Democrat as filed.
Republicans
• Rick Hill, a retired insurance
company executive in Helena, was elected to the U.S. House in 1996,
where he worked on reforming welfare, cutting taxes and balancing
budgets and opposed the Clinton administration’s plan to stop
snowmobiling in Yellowstone Park and the reintroduction of grizzly
bears and wolves in Montana.
• Ken Miller was raised on farms in
Colorado and Montana and started several businesses in Laurel
before being elected to two consecutive terms in the Montana Senate
in 1995. A social conservative who served as Montana Republican
Party chairman from 2001-2003, Miller finished in third place in a
four-way Republican primary race for governor in 2004.
• Corey Stapleton, a fourth-generation
Montanan who grew up in Great Fall and spent a decade with the
Navy’s nuclear program, has a master’s in political science from
Temple University. Elected to the Montana Senate in 2000 and 2004,
Stapleton currently works as a financial advisor in Billings.
• Jim O’Hara is a Fort Benton native
and has been a Chouteau County commissioner for 10 years.
Democrat
• Larry Jent represented Bozeman in the
Montana House from 2001-2006 and has been in the Montana Senate
since 2007. He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House in 1996. He
works as a lawyer in Bozeman.