Montana House Speaker Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, faces a freshman challenger in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Debra Brown of Winston said she decided to run for office because she wanted to make a difference. She has no qualms with Sales and said she’ll leave it to voters to decide who should be on the GOP ticket for the general election, when the primary winner will face a Democratic challenger.

House District 68 covers northern Gallatin County and southwestern Broadwater County.

Sales, who is seeking his fourth term in the House, said his top priority is reining in government spending. He said budget increases in the 2007 session were unwise and unsustainable, and said Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s tenure in office has brought an increased pace of government growth, topping the two previous Republican administrations — which Sales thinks also were too spendy.

“I think we’re passing on a debt to future generations that can never be repaid,” he said in an interview Thursday. “We’ve got a behemoth government that is growing much faster than personal income.”

Sales believes budget increases to the state departments of Corrections and Revenue were unwarranted, and he thinks state funds are being wasted on administrative costs at school districts throughout Montana — he’d rather see state funding go toward teachers’ salaries and student support.

While others may claim to be fiscally conservative, Sales said he walks the walk.

“I’m a true fiscal conservative and I have the voting record to back it up,” he said. “It’s easy to claim you’re a fiscal conservative, and it’s hard to push the ‘no’ button.”

While the Legislature last session debated how to spend more than a billion dollars in surplus revenues, Sales thinks Montana may face a budget shortfall in the next session.

Many in the public and the press have bemoaned the 2007 session as one of acrimony and bitterness, but Sales said it didn’t strike him as out of the ordinary, considering the circumstances.

For the first time in 16 years, one party didn’t control the governor’s office and both legislative houses, he noted. That tension — with Republicans essentially in control of the House and Democrats controlling the Senate and governor’s office — led to a different mood in the Capitol’s hallways in 2007, he said.

“We’re dealing with a lot of important subjects up there that people have a lot of diverse and differing ideas on, so there’s going to be some heated discussion up there, and I think that’s healthy,” Sales added.

Brown said she would offer a fresh perspective at the Capitol. She’s heard complaints from residents who feel disconnected from their government.

“I believe you can make a difference if you step out and get involved,” she said.

Brown said she wants to “return the voice of power to voters” — though she admitted she doesn’t know exactly how to do that — and she would encourage fellow legislators to work together as a team in the best interests of Montana.

The only policy issue she felt comfortable discussing was natural resource development. Brown believes the state needs to encourage increased resource extraction while protecting Montana’s natural beauty.

She said she is aware of problems with the education funding formula but said she doesn’t know enough about the specifics to speak about the issues.

“I am really not a good person to respond to that,” Brown said, noting she had home-schooled one of her sons for his last few years of school.

She would work to learn about those issues if elected, Brown said.

She also said she hadn’t paid enough attention to the last legislative session to form an opinion on its tone and on legislators’ conduct.

“I did not run for this office to campaign against Rep. Sales,” Brown said. “I just did it because I thought it was something I should do.”

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Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com