Whitefish native Pettinato enters race for congressional seat

Democrat attorney Jared S. Pettinato has announced his plan to run for Montana’s U.S. House of Representatives seat.

Pettinato, who says he splits time between Whitefish and Bozeman, is looking to challenging Republican incumbent Greg Gianforte in the 2018 election. There are now six Democratic challengers who will face a June 5 primary.

Pettinato, 38, was born and raised in Whitefish. His father worked for the railroad and his mother was a substitute teacher. His grandfather Frank Stephens started what would become The Toggery in downtown Whitefish.

“Montana is my home,” Pettinato said when he sat down with the Pilot last week.

“I have experience in the public and private sector,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot and I bring that perspective. I see a lot of opportunities to grow Montana in ways we’re not.”

Pettinato says he sees an opportunity for Montana to make money from wind energy and the management of trees. He calls the idea his “major pitch.”

“We can generate money from thin air in eastern Montana by using wind energy,” he said. “We can use the management of trees to decrease wildfires in the west.”

Pettinato says improved technology will allow for the transmission of electricity from Montana to states that are looking to use renewable energy, like Washington and Oregon. He says a balance can be struck in managing forests by allowing for natural wildfires, but also using logging, to manage the forests and decrease the amount of money spent to fight wildfires.

Pettinato earned his mathematics degree from the University of Montana and his law degree from Stanford. He also worked on Democratic Brian Schweitzer’s failed 2000 campaign to challenge then-incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns.

After clerking for Justice W. William Leaphart on the Montana Supreme Court, Pettinato most recently served at the United States Department of Justice from 2008 to 2017.

There, he said, he defended public lands, wind farms, highways, and public rail projects. He defended the Forest Service’s ability to drop fire retardant out of airplanes, defended $16 billion of public projects, and prevailed in cases on the federal Montana Wilderness Study Act.

He said protecting public lands and keeping them open is an issue that is important to him.

Pettinato also served two years on a federal grand jury. He wrote a book on political science and economics titled “Beyond Party” that he is seeking to publish, and he started a small business.

On campaign finance, Pettinato said he would look to create a system that would equalize the amount of money spent by candidates during political campaigns.

“Officials are spending their time campaigning and raising money, and we want them to be working to do the things we want them to do.”

On heath care, he said he would look for common sense solutions to help everyone have health care. He said he would like to see a way to get more people enrolled saying that would reduce the cost of insurance for everyone.

“Americans all deserve health care,” he said.

Gianforte, who won the seat in a May special election, has said he will seek re-election.

Other Democrats who have said they will run include: former state Sen. Lynda Moss of Billings; Billings attorney John Heenan; Grant Kier, former director of Five Valleys Land Trust; state Rep. Tom Woods of Bozeman and Kathleen Williams, a former Democratic state lawmaker from Bozeman who now works for the conservation group Western Landowners Alliance.