by Sarah Glass
The Ravalli County Republican Women’s Club hosted a brief debate between local political candidates at BJ’s Restaurant in Hamilton on March 24. Stephen Kowal and Matt Roth, both running for Ravalli County Commissioner, were in attendance. Also present were David Bedey and Kathy Love, who are running for the Montana Senate District 43 seat. The nearly 50 people in attendance listened as the candidates introduced themselves and answered a series of questions. Treasurer for MTGOP, Bill Lussenheide, presided as the debate monitor.
Candidates took turns flipping a coin to see who would introduce themselves. Three questions unknown to the moderator were then introduced to the candidates, each having three minutes to answer. At the end of this questioning segment, Kowal, Roth, Love and Bedey each gave a closing speech and opened the floor to questions from the public.
Kathy Love and David Bedey, candidates for Senate District 43
Kathy Love began the debate by introducing herself. She is running as a Republican who has served in the Montana House of Representatives for District 85 since 2025. Love characterized herself as someone concerned for the welfare of children. She said her work in the legislature has helped make it easier to criminally pursue online groomers and those involved in the sextortion of a minor. Love is a former dental hygienist also known for founding the Love2Shoot training course, which focuses on helping women in the Bitterroot Valley learn to use firearms.
David Bedey, also a Republican, has served as the HD 86 representative for eight years. He is a military veteran who says he had planned to retire from politics until certain developments in state politics occurred. Bedey characterized himself as someone who does not follow party bosses but the people he represents. He mentioned his work to support school choice and property tax reform.
When asked what their first order of business would be if they were elected, both Love and Bedey agreed that property tax reformation is paramount.
“I know that when I was running two years ago, this was the hottest item… because of the tremendous increase in residential property tax that was caused by the influx of people coming in and driving up our housing market,” said Bedey. While some of the tax burden has shifted back to large payers like utilities and transportation entities in recent years, he continued, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done and legislative errors that need to be corrected.
The Montana SD 43 candidates were then asked if they would ever vote for a state sales tax without first eliminating property tax or income tax. Bedey answered that he doesn’t believe there is enough public support for a sales tax unless it could be used to reduce property tax “dollar for dollar.” If this did occur, a state constitutional initiative should be required to make sure such assurances are strictly followed, he said. “Polling shows that most people in Montana are skeptical about introducing a sales tax because they don’t believe it won’t just become an additional tax.”
Love answered similarly to Bedey, saying she would not vote for a state sales tax unless another tax was eliminated. “Unfortunately, we are limited to a four percent sales tax in our constitution, which would not be enough to replace either income or property tax,” she said. “I grew up in Georgia, and their state constitution had a four percent cap on sales tax, but what happened was that every county added one on top of that. So, in Georgia now, you go from county to county to purchase something and you may pay a 10 percent sales tax in one county and eight percent in another.”
Love said she believes the state constitution needs to be amended so there can only be two taxes at one time.
Finally, Love and Bedey were asked what they think of Governor Gianforte’s flat tax proposal. Both candidates voiced support for the initiative, with some caveats. Bedey said that a flat tax would likely be more successful for all involved if implemented over time. Love commented that government spending needs to be cut first and that she would have to see how any flat tax legislation was written before committing her approval.
To view Kathy Love’s and David Bedey’s voting records while serving as House District representatives, you can visit the Montana Legislation Scorecard website at montanascorecard.com.
Math Roth and Stephen Kowal,
candidates for Ravalli County
Commissioner
Matt Roth was the first to introduce himself among the candidates running for Ravalli County Commissioner. Roth lives in Florence and considers himself a constitutional conservative. According to his campaign website, he is a follower of Christ, works as a paramedic and is an adjunct professor of Constitutional Law and Forensic Science.
Roth told the audience at the debate that he supports small government and using a network of professionals to learn about and solve local problems. He mentioned his recent experience working as Chairman of the Florence-Carlton School Board.
Stephen Kowal, a resident of Stevensville, shared that he moved to the Bitterroot Valley six years ago from North Carolina. Prior to his move, he worked for a Fortune 500 company where he was responsible for global marketing and sales. Kowal highlighted his role in ensuring the business was fiscally responsible and resilient. He is a Reserve Deputy in the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Department with an undergraduate degree in Business and a master’s degree in Leadership. Kowal expressed that community growth in the valley needs to be considered thoughtfully.
“Where do you think the new site for septage dumping should be in the valley?” asked moderator Lussenheide.
Roth answered that septage is certainly an issue for Ravalli County residents, especially with pumpers having to drive to Helena to dispatch waste. “That’s not cost-effective,” he said. “Right now, Stevensville has a site they are using. There are some discussions that maybe the County might partner with Stevensville and put some infrastructure there. Does the County have that money to do that? Don’t know. Is there rent money that we might be able to apply? Are there private partnerships that we can use to build that? Where exactly that location is… that will be determined if that partnership with Stevensville can happen, and if not, is there land somewhere in the valley where we can build that infrastructure through County resources, and maybe Helena can invest in our infrastructure on that.”
Kowal responded, saying he has met with three septic companies to discuss the waste management issue. Said Kowal, “I live in Stevensville; I don’t want a bunch more of that stuff coming in, but I will say that it is probably the most appropriate spot to put it because they are having problems with their infrastructure. They need a little bit of an upgrade. We need to put it somewhere that we don’t have to fund the whole cost ourselves as a county, and that’s probably going to be the most cost-effective way to do it… I also don’t have all the information.”
Water resources and property rights were other issues posed to the candidates. Roth again voiced his support for small government, highlighting the potential for public and private partnerships. “It’s not big government doing everything. We have to work together. We have to govern our city, our counties. We have to govern our neighborhoods in partnership with the county government,” he said.
Roth also commented on his belief that the government should not be imposing restrictions on private property sales. He gave the example that farmers who subdivide and sell their land may need to use that money to fund their retirements.
Kowal responded that people need to be attentive to what the land can sustain and consider how many “straws” are going into local aquifers; some government restrictions should be considered. “I think nature can tell us how much growth we can handle.”
The Ravalli County Republican Women’s Club will be hosting a debate between another set of local candidates in April. For information about the club’s meeting time and location, visit mtfrw.org/Ravalli or check the calendar section of the Bitterroot Star.
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