HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Republican Mark Wicks, an Inverness-area farmer, rancher and veteran, is campaigning to fill the District 1 Hill County Commission seat that Democrat Mike Wendland is vacating.
Wicks says he has a wide range of experience and education that has prepared him to seek political office.
“I’ve owned several businesses in Hill County, I’m an entrepreneur, I have a pretty wide education, broad education. I studied in Sweden for a semester and went to Montana State University studied technology education, history, and I have an associate degree in aviation maintenance technology.”
This is the third time Wicks has run for political office. In 2017, Wicks was the Libertarian candidate in the special election to replace Ryan Zinke (R) after he was appointed to Trump’s cabinet. That election was won by Republican Greg Gianforte, with Wicks finishing in third with just under six percent of the vote. In 2018, Wicks ran as a Republican to represent District 1 on the Public Service Commission. Wicks finished in third in the four-way primary, with just under 20 percent of the vote. Wicks says the decision to switch political parties was out of practicality.
“It wasn’t a very big jump. The biggest thing was that the Libertarians don’t have any ground game, they don’t have any resources to tap into, and the Republicans have that. Probably 90 percent of the ideas just meshed and it’s been a good fit for me, I still get along with the Libertarians. I have a couple of issues with them that we disagree on, but a lot of the Republicans I talk to in eastern Montana are more Libertarian than Republican. So we get along pretty good.”
Wicks adds that he made the choice to jump into the County Commissioner race because of his knowledge of the area.
“This is my home turf. I know the county pretty well having spent my entire life in it. I just want to be able to do something to give back to the community I grew up in and help make it a better place for the next generation.”
“Infrastructure in the county to me, is no doubt the biggest issue. We’ve got roads that haven’t had a load of gravel dumped on them in 30 years, and we have to start looking at that while we still have roads left to fix. To me, that’s the biggest thing, but I’m not going to be a one issue Commissioner. I’m certainly willing to help everybody with their problems and try to be well rounded and listen.”
Regarding the decision made by the Commission to hold the General Election via mail-in ballot with the option to vote in person, Wicks says he agreed with it, but for reasons that differed from his opponent, Democrat Jake Strissel.
“Personally, I’m going to miss going to the polling place. It seems important to me as an American to go in and vote in person. But I think it was the right decision in the end, simply because when the bigger counties have went to it and there’s going to be more people voting in those counties, we need to have more people voting in our county to try to equal it out. If they wouldn’t have done that, we would have been left at a disadvantage.”
As for his opponent, Wicks says he doesn’t want the campaign to get negative and wants to remain friends with Strissel, but that his life-experience makes him the better candidate.
“I’ve lived in a socialist country, I’ve had a real wide range of education. Business experience, working in the oil fields, so I have an understanding of the oil and gas industry, running businesses. When it comes to things that the Commissioners deal with, I feel like I just have a lot broader knowledge base to draw on. And I have a lot of people that if I don’t know (something), I can pick up the phone and call them, people I respect and are willing to give me a straight answer. I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know everything in the world and I’m willing to ask questions. And I’ll admit when I’m wrong, and I’ll change if I’m proved wrong.”
Wicks also spoke with New Media Broadcasters about whether he’d wear a mask during meetings while Hill County remains above four active COVID-19 cases. Commissioner Diane McLean’s refusal to wear a mask has caused issues at previous meetings.
“I would probably try and social distance myself from other people. To me, masks are a problem, because I’m a little hard of hearing and I need to see people’s lips to hear better. So as long as I’m able to distance myself, I would not wear a mask, but I also feel I need to respect other people when I’m in a closer situation and put on…I don’t like them, I don’t know if they are accomplishing a whole lot but I’m willing to respect other people that think it’s important to them.”
Wicks wrapped up his interview by stating that if elected, he wants to do the best he can to serve his consitutents.
“I want people to know that if I’m on the Commission, I’m working for them. I’m going to try and make sure that the obstacles are out of their way so that they can run their businesses without interference at the county level. That’s important that people not just in the county, but statewide, know Hill County is open for business and we can bring some more business in and build up our tax base and hopefully make this place a little better place to live.”
District 1 stretches from the western portion of Havre north and west to the Liberty County and Canadian lines.
