7 October 2019 — 0612 mdt
Moderate Republican legislators are financially backing
a primary challenge to Derek Skees in House District 11
Republican Rep. Derek Skees has represented HD-11 (map), the high income, deep red, district that sprawls southwest of Kalispell and along the northwest shore of Flathead Lake since the election of 2016, handily defeating his Democratic opponents. Now he faces a potentially far greater obstacle to continuing his legislative career: a group of Republican legislators — his colleagues — who want him gone, and are throwing their financial support behind his primary challenger, Dee Kirk-Boon.
Among the legislators supporting Kirk-Boon is Rep. Frank Garner (R Kalispell, HD-7), the highly respected and popular former Kalispell chief of police. Garner contributed $150 to Dee Kirk Boon’s campaign (list of contributors below).
Skees hasn’t filed a C-1 form with Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices yet, but on 19 July announced via Facebook that he’s running for re-election:
Kirk-Boon’s filing for HD-11 sets up what could be a contentious and expensive primary battle in a district that a Republican will win on 2 November 2020. It also provides evidence that the ideological split in the Flathead Republican is as alive and cutthroat as ever.
Who is Dee Kirk-Boon?
Boon, a former chair of the Flathead Republicans, filed her C-1 on 14 June, approximately six weeks after the 2019 session of the Montana Legislature adjourned sine die. She doesn't seem to have a campaign website yet, but she does have a Twitter account and a YouTube channel.
And she has a history of hard right activity, especially on social issues.
Kirk-Boon and Dinesh D’Souza
When far right rabble rouser Dinesh D’Souza spoke at a Republican fundraiser in Bigfork last year, NPR’s Nicky Ouellet reported:
I made it a few steps inside before Dee Kirk-Boon, who chairs the Flathead County Republican Central Committee, told me, “I’m sorry, no press inside,” before escorting me out.
Back outside, Derek Skees, a Republican state representative from Kalispell who’s running for re-election this year, was greeting people at the door. He told me and a reporter from the Missoulian:
“We made a deal with our committee, and we decided to allow one press person into the event.”
That one press person was a reporter from the Kalispell Daily Interlake.
“And it’s simple,” Skees said, “because the press slants the news so bad to the left, that we’re almost positive we wouldn’t get a good story from the left. So why would we want to encourage that?”
Kirk-Boon and Islamophobia
In its November, 2017, report, ACTing for Islamophobia, the Montana Human Rights Network reported Kirk-Boon “… played an important role in gathering and submitting written testimony in support of an anti-Muslim bill….” That, in the 2017 legislative session, was SB-97 (short title: Prohibit the application of foreign law in state courts), carried by Sen. Keith Regier (R Kalispell, SD-3) and intended to keep all mention of sharia law out of Montana’s statutes, regulations, and courts. It passed by narrow margins, but was vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock. The written testimonies submitted by Kirk-Boon are available online.
Kirk-Boon’s contributors
Her full list of contributors, compiled from her C-5 reports on file with COPP (June C-5, October C-5) reads like a who’s who of moderate Republicans, the dozen or so Republicans who describe themselves as problem solvers, not unyielding ideologues, and who sometimes join with Democrats to pass legislation such as the extension of expanded Medicare.
Bruce Tutvedt served two terms in the Montana Senate, raising the ire of his party’s conservative wing with his support for Medicaid and approval of the Flathead water compact. At one point was publicly censured — vilified more accurately describes what happened — by the Flathead County Republican Party for not kowtowing to the party’s radical libertarians and reactionaries who hate government.
Vondene Kopetski, a veteran Republican activist in Missoula, is suing a faction of the Federation of Republican Women for defamation and libel
One of Gauthier’s passions is nuclear energy. He introduced Senate Joint Resolution 33 calling for an interim study of the PRIZM nuclear reactor, a proposed apparatus fueled by a combination of uranium and plutonium. It died in standing committe. The resolution is worth reading for the insight it provides into the way Montana’s Republicans think about energy.
Skees probably should be favored at this point
Taking out an incumbent in a primary election always is hard. Skees has won election to the legislature twice in HD-11 (once in HD-4 in 2010). He’ll have no trouble raising tens of thousands of dollars if necessary. His primary opponent may have a much harder time raising big money. So far, Kirk-Boon’s contributors all have axes to grind. But holders of grudges generally comprise a small slice of the electorate. Depending on the intensity of the campaign, third party money and political propaganda could have a significant impact on the outcome.
Kirk-Boon also may be counting on Democratic crossover votes. If the Democratic primaries for governor and other statewide offices are competitive, the crossover vote probably won’t amount to much.
Put HD-11 on your districts to watch list. It promises to be an interesting primary.