Sharon Greef of Florence has announced she is a Republican candidate for the state legislature in House District 88, which is the north end of Ravalli County. Greef is running for the seat currently held by her husband, Representative Ed Greef, who will be termed out at the end of 2018.
Greef says she brings the experience needed to represent well the people of HD 88 and the Bitterroot Valley. She has been in Helena the past four sessions and on staff the last two, serving as the Bills Coordinator for the House in 2017.
“I’ve not met a freshman legislator yet that hasn’t talked about the huge learning curve,” Greef said. “I’ve seen it. It’s frustrating trying to be an effective legislator while you’re still learning the whole process of introducing bills, getting to know the staff you’ll be working with, who to get advice from and who not to. I understand the process and am anxious to hit the ground running.”
Along with Helena experience, Greef also brings business experience to the table, having managed a local log home supply store in Stevensville and worked as an auditor for the Safeway stores in western and northwestern Montana.
Greef and her husband have two grown daughters and five grandchildren.
Margaret Gorski of Stevensville has also announced she is running for the District 88 seat on the Democrat ticket.
“I am excited to offer the residents of Ravalli County a real choice of who represents them in the State Legislature,” said Gorski. “During the 2016 election and since then, I have learned a great deal about what is important to the people in my District. They are disturbed with the divisiveness and tenor of our current political conversation and expect their representative to listen to their concerns. I also expect no less. I believe winning an election doesn’t mean you have license to force your own personal opinion on everyone else. It means you identify the root causes of an issue, gather the facts and listen to all sides so that you can make funding and policy choices that benefit as many people as possible. Electing legislators who believe in diplomacy, compromise, and inclusiveness is vital to the future of our democracy.”
Because of term limits, HD 88 Representative Ed Greef will not be returning to the state legislature, but his wife has announced she will be running to replace him. Gorski reacted to that news by saying: “While Ed’s wife has the benefit of doing administrative work for the legislature, those are not necessarily the kinds of skills that are needed to address today’s problems.
“My broad leadership experience in problem solving and consensus building better prepare me to be a State Legislator. I have extensive experience implementing federal laws governing public land management and working with local governments, state agencies and non-profits. I have effectively supervised diverse employees, managed million dollar budgets, and worked with a variety of interests to solve complex problems. Being a representative shouldn’t be about holding on to the past, but charting a path forward. Together we can make Montana attractive to the economy of the future to benefit all Montana families.”
Gorski retired almost five years ago from a 35-year career in the U.S. Forest Service where she served in many capacities as a professional land management expert and leader. She completed her career in the Forest Service Regional Office in Missoula as program leader for the Developed Recreation Program.
Since retiring, Margaret volunteers her time and energy to local, state, and national non-profit organizations. Along with residents of Stevensville, she was critical in recently forming “Friends of Fort Owen,” a new non-profit working with Montana State Parks to enhance Fort Owen State Park as a tourism and educational asset to Stevensville. She is a board member of the Bitterroot Trail Preservation Alliance (www.btpa.org) working to raise awareness and funding for the multi-use trail along Highway 93. Margaret has also worked for many years at the national level, as President of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation (www.lewisandclark.org), and board member for the Partnership for the National Trail System (www.pnts.org).
Most recently, Gorski was appointed by the Ravalli County Board of Commissioners to serve on the new Ravalli County Collaborative, a citizens group to promote wise use of Ravalli County’s natural resources. She is using her training in consensus building and conflict resolution and her expertise in resource management to represent recreation and tourism interests and how to best manage our county’s natural resources to provide fire protection, resource jobs, and public and commercial access.
Gorski has lived in the Lone Rock District since 1991 with her husband Skip Kowalski and their Labrador Retrievers. She enjoys the outdoors, camping, hiking, hunting, skiing, gardening and photography.