6 February 2016
Rosendale goes for state auditor, GOP goes for lands board
State Senator Matt Rosendale (R-Glendive) announced yesterday that he’s running for state auditor. If elected, he would serve as Montana’s commissioner of insurance and securities, and have a seat on the state’s lands board.
Rosendale, a wealthy real estate developer, spent approximately one million dollars of his own money in an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House in 2014. He released a zany campaign video in which he used a deer rifle to shoot down a peeping drone. He also spoke at a Second Amendment Rally in Kalispell that was sponsored by the Oath Keepers.
Former state legislator Jesse Laslovich is running for the Democratic nomination.
Rosendale, no friend of the Affordable Care Act or expanded Medicaid, told the Missoulian he was running to tinker with health insurance and to win a seat on the state’s lands board:
Rosendale said part of the reason he’s running is to bring more health insurance options to Montanans.
“It’s too limited,” he said. “We need to drive down the costs and increase the access. A lot of people having insurance doesn’t translate to good access. Just because you have a stamp saying you have insurance doesn’t mean you have health care.”
He criticized Laslovich’s support of Obamacare as one of the reasons he’s running
Rosendale also said he wants the auditor job because it is one of five voting members on the state Land Board.
“I’ve got extensive background in rural state management,” he said. “I feel that I would be a tremendous asset.”
GOP goes for the lands board
The governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, and superintendent of public instruction comprise the lands board. Democrats currently hold a 4–1 majority, but that could change.
Two other Republican legislators who lost the U.S. House nomination to Ryan Zinke are running for statewide offices that have seats on the board. Former Sen. Corey Stapleton (Billings) is running for secretary of state. His Democratic opponent will be current auditor, and former legislator, Monica Lindeen. Sen. Elsie Arntzen (Billings) is running for chief of the office of public instruction. Her Democratic opponent will be Melissa Romano, currently a fourth grade teacher with no experience running for public office.
Rosendale, Stapleton, and Arntzen are strong candidates with experience running statewide campaigns. Rosendale’s wealth provides the option of self-funding, but that isn’t always enough.
Laslovich, and especially Lindeen, have run statewide campaigns, but Romano is a tyro who will make mistakes.
I give the GOP an even chance of seizing control of the lands board.
Democrats take the low road again
In its press release responding to Rosendale’s announcement, Nancy Keenan, executive director of Montana’s Democratic Party, denounced Rosendale as an “just another out-of-state millionaire” while boasting that “Jesse’s Montana values were instilled in him growing up in Anaconda, and they will always trump Matt Rosendale’s Maryland values.”
Her xenophobic comments didn’t address a single issue related to the auditor’s duties, but they certainly were consistent with her party’s provincial attitude that only poor people born in Butte or Anaconda are Real Montanans.
Laslovich may not survive that kind of help.