Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says his ability to bring together people of diverse backgrounds to work for a common good separates him from the other candidates in this year’s election for governor.
The Fox campaign argues that without compromising his conservative principles, he can bring together people to solve difficult situations in the state. He points especially to his efforts to combat drug abuse and human trafficking.
“None of the other candidates for governor have any record like mine,” Fox said in an interview with The Havre Herald.
Fox said when he became attorney general, he began an effort to attack opioid abuse head on. He gathered people from all sides of the problem — social workers, police officers, treatment counselors, abuse victims, and others — to work on it.
“We broke down the silos and got different groups working together,” he said.
Fox created the Resolve program that brought attention to the problems that opioid abuse inflicts on Montana’s communities, governmental budgets, and victims and their families. Work sessions were held around the state to prepare plans for dealing with the crisis.
Fox sponsored special bills in the 2015 legislative session that have worked to curb opioid use in the state. Among other things, the law was changed to allow first-time opioid users to get only one seven-day prescription at a time.
He said he used a similar approach in the fight against human trafficking.
Prior to his assuming office in 2013, the state did little to combat the problem, Fox said. He said he began working with nonprofits and families that had been affected.
Shared Hope International, an anti-human trafficking organization, rates states on the work they do to fight the problem. In 2013, Fox said, the state got a D rating. It improved over the years until it received an A, and last year was ranked as one of the top two states in the nation.
In his eight years as attorney general, his office has sponsored 51 pieces of legislation. Forty-nine were adopted by the GOP-dominated Legislature and signed by Bullock, he said.
Republicans in Montana are united in their desire to win back the governorship after 16 years of Democratic control, Fox said. But public opinion polls showing Fox’s chief rival, U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, with high negative ratings indicate Gianforte would have a hard time doing that, he said.
Fox said public polls have shown Gianforte with negative ratings of between 60% and 70%. It is nearly impossible for any candidate to win a general election with those kinds of numbers, he said.
In the Big Sky Poll conducted by the University of Montana and released in February, Gianforte’s job performance in Washington, D.C., was given an excellent or good designation by about 37% of people polled, while 63% gave him fair or poor marks.
A Montana State Billings Poll conducted in October showed 33% of voters favored Gianforte in the Republican primary for governor, with Fox at 25% and the third candidate, state Sen. Al Olszewski of Kalispell, at 9%. Thirty-two percent of those polled were undecided.
Tim Fox speaks to those in attendance during the Feb. 16 Lincoln Reagan Dinner in Havre. (Paul Dragu, Herald file photo)
Gianforte has promoted results from what Fox called “push polls” that show he leads Fox 54% to 17% among Republicans, with Olszewski at 9%. Push polls are surveys where the questions tend to lead people into supporting a particular candidate.
But Fox said even if those polls were accurate, they do not say much about Gianforte’s chances of winning.
He said Gianforte has spent $20 million, much of it from his personal fortune, in three previous elections over the last four years — a failed attempt at governor and two successful congressional elections. With the nearly 100% name recognition that he has gained, Gianforte should be able to garner more financial support than that, Fox said.
In his 2016 run against Gov. Steve Bullock, Gianforte started losing ground in the polls when he began putting his personal fortune into television commercials, Fox said.
The latest campaign finance report shows Fox significantly behind Gianforte in cash on hand for the primary. Fox has over $32,000, while Gianforte has $372,000.
Fox said he is the best candidate to oppose the Democratic nominee, who will be the winner of the primary between Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney and businesswoman Whitney Williams.
Paul Dragu contributed to this report.
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