It is testament to the respect accorded to the Montana Tavern Association that every sitting governor--and usually all gubernatorial candidates in election years--in at least the last 13 years has taken time from busy schedules to address the association general assembly at the annual convention.
The 50th annual convention in Helena in 2005 was no exception.
And it is with mutual high regard that association members turn out in force to listen intently to the messages delivered by the top elected state official.
Tavern owners became accustomed to the polished and articulate eight-year Gov. Marc Racicot, and the conversationally informal and charming Gov. Judy Martz.
Now they are settling in to Gov. Brian Schweitzer's laid back style, brimming with sincerity and homey touches such as his trademark bolo tie and the usually well behaved companion border collie, Jag.
MTA attorney and lobbyist Mark Staples introduced the governor to the convention Sept. 21, proclaiming, "His energy is surging through the governor's office"--an energy that never flagged through a long and difficult campaign, then election, then transitions and straight into a legislative session.
After all, Staples said, "when was the last time a Democratic governor stood up to the Montana Environmental Information Center?"
To a standing ovation, Gov. Schweitzer and dog Jag strode confidently to the front of the room; and off came the sport coat.
"When I ran for office, I told you there would be no new business taxes," he began. "And there are none; there are no new gaming taxes. In fact, we eliminated business equipment taxes for 13,000 of our smallest businesses in the state."
"And I told you we wanted the (gaming and liquor) license system to stay status quo and that's what we tried to do. I guess we'll have to try to stay away from the lawyers and blackrobes," he said in reference to a court decision that struck down Montana's prohibition of out-of-state ownership of liquor and gaming licenses.
"We will have to comply with the courts," he said, "but the status quo is working. We police our own.
"I had concerns about a statewide smoking ban. I thought it should be a local matter, but in view of the potential for a statewide initiative--and 70-80 percent popular support for a ban--you could have had your boat in the ocean without any sails. You should be proud of the leadership of this organization for getting your oars in the water with the settlement struck."
Gov. Schweitzer said he understood concerns remain about the rules being drafted to implement the smoking law, which grants four-year exceptions for licensed premises, but he assured MTA members "the rule makers are going to make rules that are acceptable across Montana--in our small towns, everywhere. We're not going to put anyone out of business.
"We're going to do this in the Montana way: respectful of local customs."
As for the state's new open container law, the Governor joked, "Well, we still have a couple of weeks left for a road trip," to the appreciative laughter of MTA members. (The law goes into effect Oct. 1, and Schweitzer spoke Sept. 18).
"What really works for Montana is small business," he said. "I just came from a meeting with U.S. Department of Agriculture officals and I gave them 't he what for.' I told them that just because we're small, it doesn't mean we don't matter. Our business people are part of our communities." (The USDA had recently shut down a Butte meat packing operation, and others across the state were saying they, too, had been mistreated by federal inspectors.)
At one point, the governor's collie began acting up behind the head table, out of sight of the crowd. Schweitzer turned to the left and, shaking his finger, said, "Now you stop that and settle down. Sit."
Staples, also seated left of the governor and apparently near the dog said, "I'm glad there's a dog over here," much to the delight of the membership.
Schweitzer told the licensees, "We invested in K-12 education. We invested in the university system, especially our colleges of technology. We got an insurance program for small businesses with two to nine employees. We're investing in wind power and bio-diesel fuels and ethanol.
"We did this and now we have a $300 million surplus. But we've got expenses coming.
"We have an underfunded state employee retirement program. Past legislatures decided they were so good with money and investments, they got to believing their own BS. They decided on more benefits for teachers and public employees, but forgot to put more money in. And poor (stock market) investment returns in 2000-2003 have created a structural imbalance."
That imbalance is so great, Schweitzer said, "we'll need to put money in that retirement fund--maybe $100 million might allow us to grow ourselves out of the imbalance. We've got to pay our bills as we go!"
"We're going to have to raise taxes," he said with a pause, "unless we can get business coming to Montana, growing in Montana, being created in Montana."
Schweitzer said he is using "business ambassadors" from within the state to solicit new business from Seattle, San Francisco and elsewhere. He said he is contacting and organizing Montana natives who hold important positions in business throughout the country and is working with them to get businesses to relocate or expand to Montana.
"We need value-added businesses in agriculture, energy, high tech, bio tech, information technology--big and small."
He then paused again for dramatic effect: "Here's a big idea," he said. "Eighty years ago we figured out how to convert coal to liquid fuel products--gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel."
The German war machine in World War II ran on liquid fuels made from coal, he said. At the end of the war, we brought the German specialists here and learned the techniques. In 1953 we were producing 1,000 barrels of gasoline daily converting North Dakota lignite coal, he said.
But plentiful, cheap petroleum imports ended our efforts to utilize coal reserves for liquefication.
Schweitzer said 30 years ago South Africa embarked on an energy independence policy. They began converting coal to liquid fuels and they did it without government subsidies and at costs below market prices.
Today, he continued, Montana is sitting on 120 billion tons of coal, a fuel with an unfortunate image of being "dirty." But its conversion to liquid fuels is clean, he said, and the U.S. defense department wants this fuel.
He said the country's energy supply currently is mostly insecure. "It is provided by problem countries run by hostile dictators who will attack the U.S."
Montana's 120 billion-ton coal reserve is 30 percent of the nation's and 9 percent of the world's supply, Schweitzer said, and that could equate to "tens of thousands of jobs."
"Exxon Mobile has patented technology to liquefy coal," he said. "They are building dozens of plants in China and elsewhere. How can this be? We have the biggest demand for energy, and the biggest supply." The problem has been incoherent energy policies coming out of Washington D.C., Schweitzer said. "We're going to have to do it ourselves in Montana."
"We'll have opponents, but we'll have to try to make them part of the solution."
Schweitzer said a major conference on energy will take place Oct. 18 in Bozeman. "We'll do it at the Rocking R," he said in jest of MTA President Ralph Ferraro's establishment.
"We'll be the world's center of energy technology," during the conference, he said. "MSU has an engineering program studying clean fuels; zero emissions technology. Montana has what it will take," he concluded.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Oct. 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.