Sen. Kaufmann Files for Senate District 41
January 18, 2008

Senator Christine Kaufmann has filed to run for the seat she currently holds representing central and west Helena.  Kaufmann served the 2007 legislative session in the Senate following her appointment to the seat vacated when former Senator Ken Toole won his bid for Public Service Commissioner.

Kaufmann was elected four times to the House prior to her service in the Senate.  “I was honored to have been appointed to the Senate,” said Kaufmann, “and I look forward to serving Helena as long as my constituents continue to have confidence in my leadership.”

After three sessions on House budget committees, Sen. Kaufmann was appointed to the Senate Taxation Committee and serves on the interim committee that looks at state revenue.  “I’ve been fortunate to gain experience on key committees dealing with state revenues and budgets,” said Kaufmann.  “I believe that is where the values of Montana are highlighted.  I support fiscal policies that value workers, senior citizens, and children; that ensure they get quality medical care, education and an environment they can enjoy; that ask the right people to pay their fair share to support our communities.  These are the issues I deal with regularly on these committees.”

Senator Kaufmann also served on the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee and currently is a member of the Environmental Quality Council.  Kaufmann believes this puts her in the right place to deal with climate change and energy issues facing the state.  “I will continue to challenge the myth of “clean” coal development.  In the face of global warming, we must put our creative human energy into alternatives, and get serious about conservation.”

Health care is a major issue facing Montanans according to Kaufmann.  She served as chair of the Subcommittee on Health and Human Services for House Appropriations in 2005. Kaufmann noted that she is working to pass a citizen’s initiative for children’s health care and has sponsored a dozen bills on health care issues over her years in the legislature.  “I believe you have to push forward bold new ideas for wholesale change, not just little fixes at the margins,” said Kaufmann.

Kaufmann is known for advancing bold ideas, even if they are not politically popular at the time.  She carried a bill to increase the minimum wage in 2005, a year before it passed by citizen initiative.  In 2001 and 2003, she sponsored bills to create a trust fund to fight forest fires.  The legislature finally passed a similar measure in 2007.  She’s sponsored bills for universal health care, to abolish the death penalty, to require corporate accountability, and to establish civil unions.  “I like to work hard for the right thing and, in the process, help create more space to move ahead on modest proposals that move us forward.  My bills help shift the debate in a progressive direction,” said Kaufmann.

Kaufmann is expecting a stiff challenge in the democratic primary from Hal Jacobson, a termed out house member with whom she served for three sessions.  Although constituents will be hard pressed to find much difference in their voting records, Kaufmann believes the race is about more than differences in style and gender.  “I’ve always been a social justice activist,” said Kaufmann who has worked for the past 17 years as director of the Montana Human Rights Network.  “I don’t switch it off during the legislature.  I approach every decision I make from a perspective of human rights, individual freedom, and equal opportunity.”