A longtime state employee with two decades' experience working with legislators wants to represent the east valley on the House floor in 2009.

Steve Gibson, a 56-year-old Republican, has filed for the House District 78 seat now held by East Helena Democrat Jill Cohenour. According to the Secretary of State's Office, Cohenour hasn't filed for re-election, although she still has a number of weeks to jump into the race.

The education and care of Montana's children is a primary issue for Gibson, though if elected he also would work to improve state government efficiency and revise property tax codes.

He supports "clean and worthwhile" economic development and also wants to see the civility and respectful discourse that marked past Legislatures return.

Gibson said the state should do more to support programs that address residents' mental-health issues, especially children who are struggling. He'd also like to see the eligibility requirements for the Children's Health Insurance Program expanded to provide more care for kids.

"I personally don't think that needs to be a Republican or Democrat issue," Gibson said. "I think we all have an obligation to take care of our kids' health. It's not their fault, (nor) is it in their control to change it."

Gibson has worked as the state Department of Corrections' administrator of youth services since 2001. He's served on several committees related to public education, was a founding member of the East Helena Quality Education Foundation and is married to a teacher. He also served as the superintendent of the Pine Hills juvenile corrections facility for a decade.

He's been through the fight over the state's public education funding system, and he advocates more use of general fund tax dollars -- which come not only from property taxes, but include business and energy taxes and other funding sources -- to ease the burden on residents, especially those on fixed incomes, who are faced with tough economic choices during local school levy elections.

"To continue to rely on our property taxes for education funding, I think it's a mistake," Gibson said.

"(Residents) want to support the schools, but there comes a point where: How far does it go?"

He said the Legislature in recent sessions has been somewhat dominated by the executive and, to a lesser degree, judicial branches of state government. The advent of term limits has weakened the House and Senate, he said.

"You're seeing a lack of past institutional knowledge," Gibson said. "The legislative body is voted by the citizens of Montana to work for them ... and I think that has been weakened.

"If you don't like somebody, vote them out," he added. "Become involved in the process. An arbitrary eight years (before legislators are barred from re-election) to me doesn't make sense."

He was upset with the partisan rancor that made headlines during last year's session. Both parties share some of the blame, he said, and while he knows bipartisan compromises were still a part of the daily happenings at the Capitol, he thinks more work needs to take place across the aisle.

Before his stints as director of the DOC's Youth Services and as superintendent at Pine Hills, Gibson worked in child-protection services in Missoula and as a social worker and counselor.

He's served on a number of national and statewide boards, including the National Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators, the state Mental Health Multi-Agency Children's Task Force, the K-12 Public School Renewal Commission, the American Correctional Association and others. He's also written for nationally distributed publications in his field.

He and his wife Debbie have two children attending Helena High School.

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