Candidate wants to mine, drill and log us out of trouble

I am not a professional politician. Instead, I’m a businessman, and it’s a businessman that Montana needs as governor.

We have real problems in this state, including high unemployment (and underemployment), a $3.5 billion state pension deficit, and a declining tax base. Montana ranks 47th in per capita GDP, down next to Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi.

That’s right, we’re near the bottom of the barrel and soon to be surpassed by Arkansas. Sixty-five percent of all parents in this state need to work, often at two jobs, just to keep food on the table and the children in school. Thousands of struggling Montanans are commuting to the Bakken oil fields every week, far from their families, in search of pay checks.

Most of my opponents have held public office, and none did anything remarkable or even memorable when they had the opportunity. Thus, if you want business-as-usual, then I’m not your candidate. But if you want change, real change, then I promise you I’ll deliver it.

The only way out of our present predicament is to mine, drill and log. Unlike our neighbors — Wyoming, North Dakota and Alberta — we have not made natural resource development our top priority. That’s why there are only 18 oil rigs in Montana at the present time and more than 270 in North Dakota.

I visited the Black Thunder mine near Gillette, Wyo., not long ago. It’s the largest surface coal mine in the world, and 80 coal trains, each averaging 150 cars, leave the mine every day. Every train produces $48,000 in taxes for the state, county and localities. As a result, Wyoming has resurfaced virtually every road in the state, rebuilt every school, and why their teachers earn nearly double what they make in Montana.

I’m the only candidate in this race that has been associated with companies that have produced oil and gas, mined for gold and base metals, and performed grapple logging across the globe. Unlike the politicians who only talk about such things, I’ve rolled up my sleeves and run nine-figure companies, created jobs, and signed the front of checks, not just the back of checks.

I’ve traveled from one end of the state to the other meeting with working men and women, listening to their problems and their hopes for the future. I’ve campaigned with my running mate, Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, in Butte and Anaconda and on tribal lands, places where they’ve seen few, if any, Republicans. That’s because jobs are my top priority, and I will get this state working again. We should be one of the wealthiest states in the nation, not one of the poorest.

Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, recently wrote: “Were Livingstone elected Montana governor, one gets the impression he would kick butt, and that the timid and naysayers would do well to keep out of his way.”

Gary has it right. My running mate and I are blue-collar Republicans with plans that will work for working Montanans, and we’re not afraid to take on any bureaucrats, politicians, judges or interest groups that are killing jobs in Montana. We have the leadership and experience to transform this state and, by God, we’ll do it.

Neil Livingstone, of Helena, is a Republican candidate for Montana governor.