Podcast Transcript
Tom Schultz
Critical time. It really is. There’s a lot of issues. A lot of people have a lot of different ideas about them, what causes them, how we work to fix them, so to speak. And we have an election. Right now, it’s the primary election season. So we’re doing a lot of candidate interviews here, too. So you can make up your own mind. You can be an informed voter. I think that’s very critical, especially today, because, man, there’s so much social media and to so much, so many areas, I think, for misdirection in campaigns. All right, so as we all know, Kurt Almay in studio here today, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate on Voices of Montana. Welcome, Kurt Almay. I’m gonna shake his hand over here. How you doing, sir?
Kurt Alme
Doing fantastic, Tom. Good to be in here with you. Good. Thanks for having me.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, thanks for coming in. You know, this is a good forum, I think, to come in because nobody is interpreting your words and then writing them down for somebody else to read, you know? You get to say what you get to say and people get to get to hear that, straight from the horse’s mouth. Campaigning nowadays really needs more of that, doesn’t it?
Kurt Alme
Oh, absolutely. You know, that’s been the best part of campaigning so far is we’ve been out all over the state. Meeting people face-to-face, shaking hands, hearing about issues, looking people in the eye, not through social media, and talking about things that are important to everyone.
Tom Schutz
Give us the real story behind your entrance into this race. About how long have you been contemplating this? Because obviously people are, well, and there’s been some criticism, and I think it’s fair to criticize and peel into that a little bit as well. Steve Daines withdrew minutes before the election deadline and you applied then. When did that all start? What was the genesis for that?
Kurt Alme
Yeah, that’s right, Tom. So I was the United States attorney for Montana and had been working hard this last year, working on violent crime issues that I think are going to carry over importantly into this campaign. And then the filing deadline was March 4th. And a few days before that, I got a call from Senator Daines saying he and Cindy would like to retire. but they didn’t want to risk losing the seat or the Senate to the Democrats. So he said he would only step down if someone like me would step up and ask me if I would. Boy, my wife and I had to do some praying, but we let him know that because of how, you know, knowing how important this is to hold the seat, We said that if he did decide to withdraw, that we would be interested in stepping up. So then the next thing I heard, or the next time I heard from him was the morning of the filing deadline, and he let me know that he indeed would withdraw if I would step up. And so I went down to the office and called Washington and resigned as United States Attorney, and then we entered the race. I think, as everyone knows, the senators come out and said the reason he waited until the last day to withdraw was to try to discourage Jon Tester and Steve Bullock from entering the race as the Democrats have done in Alaska and Ohio and North Carolina. So now with President Trump’s endorsement, we are off and running hard, traveling the state and working to earn people’s votes.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, congratulations on that too. And I’m very glad for Senator Daines. That guy has worked super, super hard. And so that, and he’s a Montanan too, you know, so he’s got an opportunity now to some of that time, and I’m very thankful for him. What’s been the reaction? All right, I mean, we talked about it here. There are some people that are kind of offended by it. Others go, I understand the criticalness of it. What’s been the reaction so far?
Kurt Alme
Well, I think the reaction’s been good. I, you know, I don’t spend a lot of time talking about why Senator Daines did what he did. That’s the conversation for Senator Daines. Our focus has been entirely on going forward, because there are plenty of issues to talk about in this country. and especially in this state as we head into the primary and then we head into a general election. So we spend a lot of our time talking about issues and what’s affecting the state and how we go forward and how we make a difference.
Tom Schultz
And that’s what we’ll do here. Again, Kurt Almay is in studio with us, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. It’s Almay for senate.com. And to give some of your background, I mean, as you noted, twice serving as U.S. Attorney for District of Montana, I like your nonprofit work as well with the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Club and is it the National Christian Association? And so you’ve been a nonprofit leader, and of course, born in Great Falls, raised in Miles City. You know, I’m not far off from where I graduated high school too as well. How do, you know, all those tools, growing up in Montana, you know, serving a business degree, University of Colorado, Boulder, Harvard Law School, then right back to Montana. How do all those tools that you acquired or developed or had in those jobs make you ready for this job?
Kurt Alme
Boy, that’s a great question. Tom, and I think you just, you set the stage, had the chance to live all over the state, work with people in all walks of life, work in public service, work as a prosecutor, work in the nonprofit community. So hopefully we’ve had the opportunity to understand what’s important to people. And what’s important to A, may not be as important to B or may affect them differently. And I think we’re starting to get that kind of understanding. And that hopefully is gonna allow us to represent all the people in Montana.
Tom Schultz
I appreciate that. So then what is important to people?
Kurt Alme
What we’re hearing is making life more affordable for Montanans. We’re hearing about making our community safer. And we’re hearing about concerns about our way of life. And we don’t wanna lose the wonderful way of life that we have in Montana. But affordability is number one, Tom. That’s the thing as a former budget director for the state. Former director of the Department of Revenue. We know how to cut taxes and put money back in people’s pockets. We know how to balance budgets. And that’s certainly what I’ve done. I had the opportunity to serve as Governor Martz’s revenue director way back in the day for those who remember Governor Martz. And there I spearheaded the largest income tax rate reduction in state’s history. And then coming forward, I got the opportunity to work for Governor Gianforte as his first budget director during that first session. We were able to take Governor Bullock’s budget and with the help of the Republican legislature, take about $150 million out of that budget, deliver on about $60 million of annual tax reductions, and set the state up to be debt-free. All of course, while balancing a budget.
Tom Schultz
I think those chops are gonna serve you well in Washington, D.C., but it’s kind of a different animal, isn’t it? ‘Cause you’ve got to have the will in Congress to cut spending. And I don’t see that, especially in today’s electorate.
Kurt Alme
Or maybe any electorate back to World War II, Tom.
Tom Schultz
Maybe, oh my gosh. It does go that far back, doesn’t it?
Kurt Alme
It has. And so we’ve had a lot of challenges controlling spending out there, and I’m not underestimating that challenge if I’m given the opportunity to go do it, but we have to do it. We have to control deficit spending. deficit spending, the interest on the debt alone is either exceeded or close to exceeding the defense budget. And think of the inflationary pressure that is putting on all of us. We talk about affordability in Montana. If we can’t control inflation, we’re not going to make things more affordable. And to do that, we have to control deficit spending.
Tom Schultz
What’s the plan? How do you initiate? Or even, you know, put it on the table, begin the discussion is hard enough, then carrying it through as well. What have you got? What do you see that we can accomplish?
Kurt Alme
Yeah, so great question. So I don’t think there’s any way, any easier way to cut spending than to roll up our sleeves and department by department, agency by agency, item by item, make the tough calls about what do we truly need as a country. It’s no different than what families do with their own budgets and their checkbook every day. And just to give you one anecdote, Tom, when I started as the budget director for Governor Gianforte, we were in the Capitol before the legislative session started, and we were going through a closet and found an old Montana sign in big wooden letters. And I took the N and the O, and I hauled them down to my office and I put them on the coffee table, so all through the legislative session, If legislators or others came in to talk about a new spending proposal, we started with the idea of no. And then maybe, you know, if it was needed and it was justified and we could get there, we would get there, but there’s an unlimited need or unlimited wants out there for government spending. And we just can’t. We just can’t pay for all of them.
Tom Schultz
There’s a joke I’d love to develop about going through the closets in the Capitol, you know. But let’s stay on this too, because of how critical I think it is. When you talk about affordability, I mean, I look at my grandfather’s generation to my father’s generation, they were on the rise. But after that, I think every succeeding generation, mine from my father’s, my children from my generation, they are not prospering at that same level. And it puts us in a new place in this country, and I’d like to see the focus really be there for that.
Kurt Alme
Tom, I couldn’t agree more. This question about deficit spending and controlling the debt is about our kids, and it’s about our grandkids. We are saddling our kids and our grandkids with a tremendous debt that is gonna have to be repaid, and that’s just irresponsible of us. We have got to control spending, bring that debt under control to give our kids and our grandkids the opportunity for the same opportunities we had, same American dream we had, if not better.
Tom Schultz
Yeah. Okay, so deficit spending is one, taxes are another. I mean, I throw on Social Security, Kurt, and we’re with Kurt Alme here. It’s Alme for, oh, I’m gonna write it down here. Allmay4senate, A-L-M-E4senate.com for more information. I’m going to take this call then. I mean, we could spend a lot of time, I think, talking about finances, but there’s a lot of critical issues out here as well. And I got somebody lined up. By the way, Kurt’s only here till about 9.30. Okay, we’re going to roll straight through. We’ll take our break on the other side of that. And with that, we’re going to take our first phone call here today. Good morning, Sarah, listening on the Mighty 790, KGHL and Billings. What’s your question for Kurt Alme?
Speaker 3
Yeah, hi, Sarah from Billions here. Yeah, I just have a question. After Iraq, I’m worried about going to another endless war in Iran, and I guess I want to hear from our would-be senator. Do you support putting boots on the ground there? And would you support requiring congressional input since you will be in the Senate?
Kurt Alme
Yeah, Sarah, thank you for that question. I know it’s on everybody’s mind right now. Let me just tee that issue up and then answer your question. You know, the particular situation with Iran, we all know that for nearly 50 years, Iran has sought to destroy this country. It’s killed our citizens, killed our servicemen. It’s proven it can’t be contained by any means other than force. So I support President Trump’s action to try to set back their nuclear program. I know none of us want to see that nation with nuclear weapons. Now, pivoting to your question to boots in the ground, absolutely agree with you that we have to be sure that we never allow our sons and daughters out there to engage in forever wars again. We need to be sure that the president has sufficient flexibility to defend us, but Congress has to exercise its authority to be sure that doesn’t happen.
Tom Schultz
How does, how do we accomplish then certain goals there? I, I’ve, Sarah, thanks for that call. I have that same fear that, you know, to really have a solid win in this, I feel there needs to be regime change. That’s just an opinion, right? And maybe it should come from within. I know President Trump has said that. We’re in, we’re in, again, new territory. NATO is impacted here as well. Do you think this can be accomplished without boots on the ground? And then how do we then have security going forward if we don’t have regime change there?
Kurt Alme
Great question, Tom. And to answer that well, I think all of us would want to have the access to the classified briefings that the president has. Having been US attorney, I know that there’s a lot more information out there that the president has access to that we don’t. And to some degree, we just need to trust our commander in chief to make these decisions. We have to support him in these negotiations. I think the objectives that have been articulated to be sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon first and foremost, and to be sure the president can negotiate the best arrangement for us to reopen the state, the Strait of Hormuz, are critical objectives, and we’re just going to have to support him in those negotiations.
Tom Schultz
And I think this president brings a new sense of accountability, something that had waned in our country, tragically, in my mind, individually, and also as a corporate government. Our accountability levels need to be raised. You’re someone who’s highly involved in law enforcement. And thank you for that service. I do appreciate that. And our men and women in blue, they carry a lot on their shoulders. And that job needs support. And there have been, from my mind, the left has just attacked them for the very wrong reasons. How do we get that narrative turned around? And are we a safe country?
Kurt Alme
Again, great question, Tom. You know, that is another important reason why we want to go to Washington and serve the state. is to try to make our community safer. And to do that, we have got to support our law enforcement. It’s been an unfortunate trend in this country over the last 10 years or so, really since Ferguson, where all of a sudden, where our law enforcement is being vilified sometimes for situations that occur. These people have a very tough job, as you point out, They’re out on the street every day, dealing on the front line with violent criminals, all for the good purpose of keeping us safe. And they deserve our thanks and our support for that. And we need to give them our thanks and support also so that we can encourage the best and the brightest to go into that profession. Thankfully, that’s still occurring, but we need to be sure that we continue to recruit good people and that we support them while they’re in those jobs so that they stay and continue to protect us.
Tom Schultz
Our service as district attorney, that was like, you’ll know what year, 2012, 14? Well.
Kurt Alme
As U.S. attorney was 2017 to 2020 during the president’s first term.
Tom Schultz
Thank you very much. Have things changed? I mean, since then, we saw COVID. I think we’ve seen the attack on our law enforcement. I’m putting it that way anyway. Ratchet up since then. When you were serving, what was the mood then to then even four years later when they they, our law enforcement officers, suffered through, I think, this unnecessary criticism of them.
Kurt Alme
Yeah, and how that played out was in 2017, we started to see meth sweep the state in Montana, and that was causing our violent crime rates to go up significantly. So our office together with our state, federal partners, state partners, local law enforcement partners, really pushed on violent crime and drug trafficking because our violent crime is primarily caused by drug trafficking. And we’re able to push those violent crime rates down, start to bend the crime curve. Well, then COVID hit and all over the country when COVID hit, crime rose all across the country and violent crime rose all across the country. So now coming back as United States attorney last year, we were dealing with higher rates, but approach is still the same. The approach works if we target violent offenders and prioritize them for investigation and prosecution, and if we target the drug cartels. So we have drug trafficking organizations in Montana that if you work, if you do an investigation and you arrest someone here and you flip them and go upstream, upstream, upstream, eventually you get to the cartels. And that’s the approach that we’re taking now to rip those drug trafficking organizations out by their roots.
Tom Schultz
Yeah. And I’ve heard you say, and thank you for that, Kurt. I’ve heard you say, as we were chatting earlier, that’s one of the reasons why you’re in the race. And one question I think is always good to ask is, you know, what brings you here to this point? And I kind of add to that. What was your call to public service? Was it a mentor? Was it an incident? Was it something that your parents instilled in you? What is your call to public service, Kurt?
Kurt Alme
I think a lot of us in Montana would say the same thing. And that’s when there’s a need, we rise to the occasion, we try to step up. I went to work for Judy Martz back in 2000 because we didn’t have good paying jobs. And so many of my friends had to leave the state to find good work. So we were working on cutting tax rates and creating an environment where good-paying jobs could come into the state, and that has happened. Going back in 2017, I left the Boys and Girls Ranch to go to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and step up because of the meth crisis that was hitting us. 2020, I agreed to go work for Governor Gianforte because our budgets had grown significantly and we needed to work hard to try to restrain our state spending. So there’s always a purpose, always a need. And I know it’s not unique to me. I know there’s people all across the state who step up when we have a need in the state.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, I can appreciate that as well. I mean, I think that’s where we talk here, that everyone has a certain amount of accountability toward that as well, towards service. At least that’s what we hope in this country. We’re developing characters like that. We’ll take one more call here. We got about 6 minutes left, 5 1/2, Bill listening in East Helena. Good morning, Bill. You’re on the air with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Almay.
Speaker 4
Well, thank you, Tom, and good morning, everybody. I also was born and raised in Miles City. And so, Kurt, I appreciate you. We retired after the announcement in the first part of March, a bunch of us down to the VFW were talking about it. And some people were upset about the decision not to, you know, the last minute thing, the whole. politicking. And I said, I kind of used a track and field analogy. I said, look, this is not a sprint. It is not a marathon. It is a relay race. And you have been passed the baton and take it and run and more power to you, Kurt. We’re all behind you. Thank you very much, Tom. And you guys have an excellent day.
Tom Schultz
Bill, thanks for that. That’s reassuring as well, you know. And I want to add to that too, because I think I think campaigning is different nowadays. Like I said, when we started the messaging, there’s so much of it out there and it’s easy to get misdirected on it. How do you see through that? What’s, and this is kind of like your first, like federal race, statewide race, right? What do you, how do you What’s your path through today’s campaign world?
Kurt Alme
Well, great question. And thank you, Bill, for that comment. Absolutely, that’s the way we’re viewing it. There are a lot of issues facing this country, and we’re focusing on how we can try to step up and help. As far as the distraction and misdirection in the political world and in the media that we all try to sift through to try to understand facts and then try to figure out what the right policy is, I think the key is still one-on-one communication. which is why we are just out working hard, traveling the state, trying to meet with people whenever we can. In fact, we just did a loop to Mile City and Glendive and Glasgow and Scobie and Malta here in the last couple of days. And we’re going to go out again here next week and we’re just going to keep getting out, shaking hands with people. looking him in the eye, hearing unfiltered, Tom, as you said, unfiltered comments, unfiltered dialogue, and, you know, make our case to why we want to, why we can earn your vote and what issues are important to Montanans that we can take back to Washington.
Tom Schultz
I do appreciate the people of Montana being open to hearing that, you know, face-to-face conversations. Just got a few more minutes here, and you’re welcome back a million times. You know, we got a, it’s going to be a long campaign. Of course, the primary is June 2nd, and then we go to November 3rd, I think, for the general election or somewhere around there. It’s a bit of a haul, right? I want to go back to your growing up in Great Falls. I want to go back to graduating in Custer County. tell us a story, Kurt. Tell us a story from your childhood that makes us kind of understand, oh, I get why he’s doing what he’s doing.
Kurt Alme
Sure. You know, we talk about 3 values on this campaign, and I know we could talk about a lot more that are important to Montanans, but we talk about faith and we talk about hard work and we talk about service. And let me just focus on that middle one, hard work, because you bring up Mile City and graduating there in Mile City, when you’re in high school, high school boy, in the spring, you go out and brand and you don’t get paid for it. You get a great meal and you get great company, but you go out and help because that’s the service the community needs. That’s what help our ranchers need. And they’re so fantastic in supporting our communities, that that’s just what you do. And you go out and you work hard from morning till dusk branding and get a good meal and go at it again the next day. But that’s the kind of service, that’s the kind of hard work that’s instilled in us in Montana. And like you and I were talking about off-air before I jumped on, I think in Montana, we still believe in the American dream. We still believe if we work hard, there’s opportunity to succeed. And those of us who’ve grown up here still believe that. I think that is an important hope for us to have and us to instill in our kids because those opportunities still exist. And not just in Miles City, but they exist all across the state.
Tom Schultz
I can appreciate that from one who believes that, but who sees the attack on that hope and our identity. It can be discouraging in a lot of ways. How do you find the encouragement?
Kurt Alme
Oh, by traveling around. Oh, the trips that we’ve made already around the state and seeing a lot of old friends and Dylan, we were down in Hamilton, I used to live in the Bitterroot, and then out in Miles City. You see the extraordinary things that people are doing, and it’s inspiring. If you turn off the media, the national media, and you actually go out and see what people are doing face to face, it’s still very impressive and very inspiring.
Tom Schultz
Did you get straight A’s? Your dad was a teacher, your mom was a teacher.
Kurt Alme
I did. I did, though. I do have to tell people my dad was a principal at Pine Hill School in Miles City.
Tom Schultz
Oh, okay.
Kurt Alme
And I, of course, went to the public school, but a few times, people have asked which school I really did graduate from. And I do clarify I was threatened with Pine Hills a few times, but I graduated from the public school.
Tom Schultz
Pine Hills, a correctional school, by the way, in Miles City. That’s actually good. Don’t you love the sense of humor that you run into on the campaign trail, too?
Kurt Alme
Yeah, and yeah, that’s exactly right. Right. Sometimes I’m creating the jokes myself without even knowing it.
Tom Schultz
Well, you visited a lot in Eastern Montana. You’re in Miles City, you’re in Malta, you’re in Glasgow. What’s the next week look like in terms of where you’re going to be?
Kurt Alme
Well, we just have a full schedule, a lot of dinners, a lot of meetings all the way through June and November. So we’re going to be You know, we’re going to be back in Helena, we’re going to be in Townsend, we’re going to be up in Great Falls, we’re going to be up in the Flathead, in Eureka, up in Havre. Like I said, we’ve already covered, you know, we’ve been down to Dillon, we’ve been to… We’ve been over to Hamilton and Roundup and Lewistown. We’re just covering the whole state. And for the listeners out there, we’re going to be coming out to your community. We’d really like to have a chance to sit down and talk to you. I hope you come out so we get a chance to meet and a chance to visit.
Tom Schultz
Allmayforsenate.com. That’s Kurt Alme, Republican candidate, U.S. Senate. You’re welcome back here too, sir.
Kurt Alme
Thank you, Tom.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, thank you. Travel safe. Good to see you too, Jack. Thanks for joining us for the podcast and join us weekdays live from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. for more Voices of Montana on Great stations all across our Treasure State.
