GOP cast set for Law-n-Order Kalispell legislative reality show
First there were the Charlie Stenvig and Frank Rizzo reality shows in Minneapolis and Philadelphia, featuring mayors who were ex-cops without a liberal bone in their bodies.
Now the Flathead’s Republicans are reprising the theme for three house and one senate legislative districts in and around Kalispell. Here’s the cast:
- The former police chief. Set in House District 7, old downtown Kalispell. Played by Frank Garner, now head of security for Kalispell’s hospital conglomerate, and, appropriately, a former police chief of Kalispell. Well liked by many Democrats, he’s nonetheless running as a Republican in a Republican Party that’s not trying all that hard not to fall off the right edge of the Earth. This is Garner’s first political campaign, but probably not his last.
- The former fireman. Set in House District 9, in the Evergreen and NE Kalispell chainsaw precincts. Played by Rep. Randy Brodehl, a former Kalispell fireman who retired under circumstances that were not without controversy. Metaphorically, his secret role model may be Rep. Alcyee Hastings of Florida. Now in his second term, Brodehl is a solid tea party vote who can be counted on not to overwhelm legislative bill drafting staff with requests for new bills.
- The highway bull. Set in House District 8 in northwestern Kalispell, the locus of the city’s big box stores. Played by Rep. Steve Lavin, now in his second term representing old HD-8, most of which becomes HD-7 in 2014. Lavin’s a big, affable sergeant in the Montana Highway Patrol, and a member of a political family with ties to former GOP governor Marc Racicot. Some believe Lavin’s moving to the new HD-8 so he can recycle his old HD-8 yard signs and save some money and trouble. Like Brodehl, he’s a reliable tea party vote. Unlike Brodehl, he’s thought to have both ambitions for higher office, and the ability to achieve them.
- The ex-prosecutor. Set in Senate District 4, which comprises HDs 7 and 8. Played by current Kalispell mayor, Tammi Fisher. Now an attorney in private practice, she once worked as a prosecutor in Flathead County. As mayor, Fisher burnished her law-n-order credentials by helping lead the successful campaign to enact an anti-panhandling ordinance in Kalispell to solve a panhandling problem that existed in the minds of self-righteous conservatives but not on the streets of Kalispell. This is her first campaign for the legislature. She is not thought to be constrained by modest political ambitions.
If enough Democrats vote in November, 2014, the GOP show won’t become a reality in the legislature.
