US House candidate Kathleen Williams stopped through Broadus last Saturday, during a campaign tour of Eastern Montana, which also featured a stop at the fair in Miles City.
Williams, the Democratic party candidate who faces Greg Gianforte this November, has spent time in this area, having hunted turkeys on the Custer Forest.
Kathleen and her wire haired german pointer, Danni, stopped by the Examiner for a visit. Before spending three terms in the Montana House, Williams worked as the Water Program Manager for Montana FWP, where she worked on improving conditions on streams with low water flows. With that in mind, I asked her what she could do to improve the situation along the Powder, which over the years has seen difficulties in flows from upstream irrigation and water being pulled out of the basin for mining, much of which is occurring in Wyoming. The recently US Supreme Court ruling, which granted Montana a pay out after Wyoming shorted Montana on water in the Tongue River Basin, which was ruled a violation of the 1950 Yellowstone River Compact, did not do much to deal with problems in the Powder River Drainage.
Williams noted that any compacts made between states need to be very clear, and not infringe on senior water rights. Williams commented that during her time as the Statewide Water Manager, she worked for five years on the Salish-Kootenai water compact, as well as serving under the Governor's drought committee in the early-2000s. During this time, she was involved in discussions with issues along the Smith River in Central Montana, where wells were being sunk next to the river, affecting flows. Eventually, this work led to the Supreme Court, where the Supreme Court interpreted that groundwater and surface water are intertwined, which is known as "conjunctive management". Montana is actually fairly forward thinking in this thought process compared to some other states. This "conjunctive management" is not even considered by other
Williams said that any time different groups or states on different sides of an issue can work together to make decisions out of court, and keep from having to pay lawyers for years, then we're all better off.
With the ever-increasing need for water across the West, these questions will continue to come up. Williams summed up the wide-ranging issue: "I find opportunity in water."
I asked Williams what she could do for the local agriculture community.
During her three terms in the legislature, Kathleen served on the agriculture committee, noting she has an absolute commitment to rural Montana.
Kathleen was instrumental in passing the Cottage Food Bill, which created over 170 new businesses and 2000 products in two years, many of which are in rural Montana, according to Kathleen.
Williams says that she will work to stabilize tariffs and make sure the Farm Bill works for Montana. "I have an entrepreneurial streak, and try to meet with economic development folks, whether regarding the Farm Bill, or elsewhere, to try and get us where we need to go." She also noted that if things are going well with an industry, there's no need for government interference.
I asked Kathleen about a personal pet peeve – Robo-Calls. These calls from recorded numbers, which are sometimes predatory in nature, have made the phone, that incredible technological invention, into a bit of a pain.
"Robo-calls are actually illegal in Montana," Kathleen said, which was an interesting bit of knowledge. Williams said that during her time in the legislature, she worked to put more teeth to this law, which is currently enforced by the County Attorney – Wiliams worked to give enforcement duties to the Commissioner of Political Practices. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that Montana's ban on political robocalls is consitiutional, even though there's not much for enforcement, which means we still get the calls.
Williams headed west after the meeting, stopping at Clyde Park before going home to Bozeman. The general election will take place November 6th.
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