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New Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer armed with fresh ideas

Whitefish area insider undaunted as a Helena outsider
The front door to the governor’s mansion was open Friday, Jan. 14, and when the door bell rang, Brian Schweitzer himself answered.

He wore jeans and cowboy boots. The only other person at the mansion was the cook. There were no aides, no secretary and no security.

Schweitzer had described his first two weeks in office as "busy," and the emptiness of the house reflected it. The only thing that clearly belonged to Schweitzer was his hunting rifle, which leaned against the wall, two feet from his bed.

"That’s all the security I need," Schweitzer said, pointing to the rifle.

Schweitzer is the first Montana governor to have never served as an elected official before taking office. And after assuming his first elected position, he is trying to remain the Whitefish businessman he was just a few weeks ago.

This includes running his own errands. As people see him around town, Schweitzer noted that they always ask, "What are you doing in the grocery store?"

"Buying groceries," he answers.

You might say that buying his own groceries is part of his open-door policy for his new office, and to let Montana know that "the governor is available to all the people of Montana, from the biggest and most to the last and least."

As part of this philosophy, he has started http://www.ideas.gov, a Web site where citizens can submit their ideas for how Montana could be better governed. It is an idea that the Bush administration used in the days following Sept. 11.

By PAUL PETERS
Whitefish Pilot

Full Story: http://www.whitefishpilot.com/articles/2005/02/03/news/news02.txt

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