Ask Dick

While an important part of this campaign is to get Dick's message out to you, it's equally important to hear back from you about what your questions and concerns are. So please, if you have any questions about the campaign, or the candidate's qualifications or stands on the issues (or just about anything, really), please post them in the space below. You'll get an answer as soon as possible, and both the question and the answer will appear on this page. Feel free to provide your name along with the question, unless you prefer not to.

Even if you don't want to post a question, you might find what other people have asked of interest. If so, please browse on this page through the questions and answers that have already been posted. You might find some exchange you'd like to follow up on. Your interest is more than welcome.

 

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Streamside Setbacks
03/10/2008

What's your position on streamside setbacks, meaning that land along river banks can't be built on or developed?

In the last two legislative sessions, streamside setback legislation has been introduced and killed, so it’s a tough go, but I think we need it badly and should try again in 2009. Setbacks serve to protect wildlife habitat and the rural or wild character of river corridors. Montana's rivers and lakes are great public treasures, but development threatens both their wild character and accessibility. Americans haven't done well at keeping our ocean, river and lake shores from being subdivided or turned into industrial zones. In Montana we still have the opportunity to keep that from happening, and we should make the best of it.

 

Real State Funding
08/12/2008

Do you have a real state funding historic graphic?

I am not exactly sure what kind of funding you are referring to here. Do you mean funding of a particular program, such as higher education, or corrections, or highways? Or do you mean total state spending or revenues?  You can get this kind of information from the Montana Department of Revenue, the Legislative Fiscal Analyst and the Census Bureau.  Here's just an example: between 1990 and and 2007, real state general fund spending went from $1.098 billion to $1.701 billion (both figures are in 2007 dollars); that amounts to average annual growth of about 2.6%.  Real general fund spending per person went from about $1,373 to $1,790 (again, those figures are in 2007 dollars), so the annual growth rate was about 1.6%. Real per capita income in Montana grew at about that same rate.