Helena, Mont.- Long-time Montana political figure Paul Richards today filed for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Conrad Burns. Democrat Richards, a small businessman from the Boulder Valley southeast of Helena, said his campaign will be proactive.

"I'm pro-peace, pro-renewable energy, pro-sustainable agriculture, pro-health care, pro-education, pro-Native American, pro-women and pro-wildlands," he said. “I know what it's like to win an uphill campaign by stressing the issues."

Richards has pursued Burns’ U.S. Senate seat since early summer of 2005.  “I’ve been heartened by increasing support for peace in Iraq,” he said.  “When I first started campaigning, people were quite mixed on the subject.  Now, two-thirds of the audiences are for peace.”  Late last year, Richards welcomed fellow candidate Jon Tester’s belated announcement that he also favors a clear exit strategy to bring American troops home from Iraq.

"Standing for peace has been the cornerstone of my campaign since I announced,” Richards said.  "We need to stop the war now.  Instead of spending hundreds of billions, even trillions, of dollars playing world policeman, supporting regional dictators, and protecting oil supplies, we can and should invest that money into our nation’s energy infrastructure,” said Richards. 

“Every farmer could harvest wind power, every rooftop generate solar electricity, every car made be fuel-efficient, and every home and factory insulated – all for a pittance of what we are spending on ill-advised oil wars.  Instead of endlessly occupying other countries, let those in the military come home to help with the essential rebuilding of our own country,” Richards said.

“Thirty years ago, we all knew we had to kick the fossil fuel habit," said Richards, who served in the Montana House of Representatives in the 1970s.  "It expands our trade deficit, contributes to global climate change, encourages foreign dictatorships and domestic political corruption, and weakens our country.  We simply can't afford to let fossil fuel lobbyists like Bush and Cheney continue to dominate federal energy policy.  We can’t have the industry controlling both the executive and legislative branches of our federal government." 

Richards said as senator he would protect Montana’s remaining federal roadless areas by sponsoring the Rockies Prosperity Act (HR 1204) in the U.S. Senate.  The legislation, currently sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shays  (R-CT) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), has already garnered the support of 187 House of Representatives members.

“Those 187 House members need a staunch ally in the Senate,” Richards said.  “To date, Senators Burns and Baucus have proven incapable of leadership concerning the protection of our diminishing public wildlands.”  Montanans overwhelmingly supported the original ‘Clinton Roadless Conservation Rule’ that safeguarded 6.4 million acres of roadless forests in Montana, Richards said.

“Montana has the best hunting season in the country,” said Richards.  “Our five-week-long hunting season is due directly to the habitat provided by these 6.4 million acres of roadless wildlands,” said Richards.  “Montana hunters and anglers want these lands protected.  The Rockies Prosperity Act provides this protection.”
Richards said he will also work to protect the Yellowstone wild bison herd.  “The Yellowstone herd is the last population of bison to occupy its native range continuously in the United States.  These wild buffalo of Yellowstone are the last genetically pure remnant of the giant herds of millions that once roamed the West,” he said, “until they were wiped out over a century ago as a strategy to conquer and subdue the West’s native inhabitants.

“The paleontological evidence of bison occupying the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem including the Yellowstone plateau goes back at least the last 10,000 years,” Richards continued.  “They shouldn’t be slaughtered at Park boundaries,” he said, calling this year’s slaughter of 1000 wild bison “inexcusable.”  Richards said migrating bison could be as big a tourist draw to Montana as Yellowstone National Park has seen from the reintroduction of wolves.

On another issue affecting Native Americans, Richards said we would advocate for fair Indian claims settlement.  “The U.S. government, through the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, administered the Indians’ lands,” Richards said.  “Timber was cut, oil drilled, grass grazed, and coal strip-mined. But, instead of the revenue going to the Indians, the money disappeared.

”We’re not talking millions of dollars here. We are talking billions. Banker Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Nation estimates the theft at $176 billion! That’s right - $176 billion! The money rightfully belongs to over a half million Native American landowners whose resources were taken. Those suing to get their money back deserve the support of Montana’s Congressional delegation.”

Detailed position papers concerning Richards’ issues can be found at: http://www.Richards2006.us. Montanans can contact Richards at: Paul@Richards2006.us.