Kendall Cotton Keynote Speaker At Republican Dinner
Author: mt43news staff reporter
Kendall Cotton Keynote Speaker at Republican Dinner
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Broadwater County Republicans gathered Saturday for their annual Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner at the Watson Center. A Group of around 75 persons listened to keynote speaker Kendall Cotton who is the President and CEO of the Frontier Institute, a conservative think-tank that focuses on state and local policy.
In an interview Cotton, 32, talked about the non-profit’s focus on sound public policy including the idea of the first right to compute, a new concept which would open the doors for believers in the second amendment to legally make their own 3-D guns, he explained.
Founded five years ago, Cotton said the Institute is patterned after the former Montana Policy Institute. While he and his staff do not lobby at the legislature per se, they do help research bills. Based in Helena, the Frontier Institute has offices in Bozeman and Missoula. Cotton is a regular on newspaper opinion pages.
Another issue Cotton’s organization focuses on is abolishing property taxes. He did not rule out a sales tax, but said eliminating property taxes would broaden the tax authority by turning the authority over to counties. According to Cotton, Montana Cities and Counties Organization is in favor of the idea.
A third focus of the group is setting up goals for establishing “micro schools” in Montana. Cotton explained these serve parents’ needs who do not want their children in public schools for various reasons. The parents are now finding it difficult to homeschool or to set up a charter school. The institute has a staff person who can help parents walk through the steps. “I have a new sitemap in my office, which shows these micro schools popping up all over the state. This model gives parents a different choice besides public schools. They are modeled after the old one-room schoolhouse concept with older kids helping younger kids and each child learning at his or her own pace,” he said.
Cotton hails from Florence, Montana with a background in the timber industry. He graduated from Montana State University in 2015 and founded the Institute in 2020. The Institute’s backing comes from private donations from individuals, small businesses such as welding businesses, and grocery store owners, all of whom favor limited government. He said they do receive some grant money.
Several elected officials or candidates running for office also spoke, including Judge Dan Wilson, 2026 candidate for the Montana Supreme Court, Second District Congressman Troy Downing, District 77 legislator Jane Gillette and District 39 legislator Kerrie Seekins-Crowe of Billings. County Republican Party President Ed Regan emceed the evening.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
Image 1 Caption: Kendall Cotton, Frontier Institute Founder
Nancy Marks, MT43 News Photographer
