Bullock seeks governor’s office vowing to create jobs, protect union rights
Lee State Bureau
Charles Johnson
Published 9/23/12
GREAT FALLS — After greeting some old friends, Democrat Steve Bullock gets right to the point with union groups about the importance of the 2012 governor’s race.
Bullock, Montana’s attorney general, spoke to some members of the Great Falls Education Association earlier this month. He quickly denounced the education ideas offered by his Republican opponent, Rick Hill. Bullock recycled a comment Hill made earlier this year to a weekly newspaper that Montana ranks “second to last in quality of teachers.”
What’s more, Bullock said, Hill favors charter schools and giving parents tax breaks to send their children to private schools. (Hill has called for giving tax breaks to people who donate to foundations that provide private-school scholarships to low-income students.) The Republican also wants to revamp teacher tenure.
“Rick Hill wants to defund, devalue and dismantle public education,” Bullock said. It’s a line he repeats often.
While defending Montana’s public schools, Bullock said they can be improved.
“We can innovate within the public school system,” he said. “We can move the ball overall without making a wholesale attack on our school system and teachers. We can’t do it if we take the dollars that ought to be going to public schools and we suck them out to private schools.”
Bullock’s comments draw loud applause from the teachers. Major unions, including the MEA-MFT, which represents teachers and school and government employees, have endorsed him.
One union leader tells the teachers, “If you’re in this room, your job depends on Governor Bullock.”
Education background
Bullock comes from a family steeped in education. Bullock’s late father, Mike, taught and administered vocational education programs. His mother, Penny Copps, served as a school board trustee in Helena. His stepfather, Jack Copps, was superintendent of schools in Billings and Helena.
Republicans have hammered Bullock repeatedly for refusing to join what they call “the bipartisan fight” after the “heavy hand of the federal government pushed Obamacare on us.” He refused to sign a friend-of-the court brief against the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Twenty-five Republican state attorney generals and one Democratic one who later switched parties signed the brief.
“Why join lawsuits where our participation doesn’t matter?” Bullock asked.
The case was going to the U.S. Supreme Court anyway, he said. This summer, a divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the law, which Republicans vow to repeal if they win the presidency and control of Congress.
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