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Derek Skees
| Derek Skees | ||
| Montana House of Representatives, District 4 | ||
| Former member | ||
| In office | ||
| 2011 - 2013 | ||
| Term ends | ||
| January 5, 2015 | ||
| Party | Republican | |
| Compensation | ||
| Base salary | $82.64/day | |
| Per diem | $103.69/day | |
| Elections and appointments | ||
| Last election | November 2, 2010 | |
| First elected | November 2, 2010 | |
| Term limits | 4 terms (8 years) | |
| Personal | ||
| Place of birth | Orlando, Florida | |
| Websites | ||
| Office website | ||
| Campaign website | ||
Contents |
| The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors |
Skees' professional experience includes working as the following; vice president at Roger Porch Construction Incorporated, manager of United Parcel Service, and small construction business owner.
Skees earned his AA from Seminole Community College.
Committee assignments
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Skees served on these committees:
Issues
Legislation
Teacher tenure
In 2011, Wyoming and Montana started working on bills that would end teacher tenure. Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho all shared heavily-Republican legislatures in the 2011 session. Anti-tenure ideas came from Republicans in Wyoming and Montana, raising the question about whether a similar plan could come to the Idaho.
Rep. Skees said he “want(s) to make tenure basically illegal in the state of Montana."
"Any environment that legalizes bad behavior needs to be removed, and I think tenure legalizes bad behavior,” said Skees.
The Skees’ plan would not have only included K-12 public school teachers, but university professors as well.[1]
Elections
2012
Skees ran for Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, State Auditor in 2012. He was unopposed in the June 5 Republican primary and lost to Democratic incumbent Monica Lindeen in the general election on November 6, 2012.[2]
| Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, State Auditor General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | 53.5% | 248,447 | ||
| Republican | Derek Skees | 46.5% | 215,743 | |
| Total Votes | 464,190 | |||
| Election Results via Montana Secretary of State. | ||||
| Montana Auditor Republican Primary, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| 100% | 105,110 | |
| Total Votes | 105,110 | |
| Election Results Via: Montana Secretary of State | ||
Issue positions
A major issue of the 2012 campaign was implementation of the Affordable Care Act, referred to as "Obamacare." Skees said if elected he would work to repeal the law, stating “The vast majority of Montanans are against Obamacare; I am anti-Obamacare. Every time she comes out and says she’s for Obamacare, and (she’s) going to implement it, Montanans are going to say, `That’s horrible – who’s running against her?’”[3]
Skees' campaign website for State Auditor listed the states the following:
Excerpt: "My goal will always be to leave the citizens of this state more free than when I took office. I will be a tireless advocate of Tax and government waste reduction. We must treat the current financial crisis as free market advocates and work to reduce the governments spending so that we don’t have to raise taxes. We must hold sacred the Property Rights of each citizen and work to turn back the clock on the erosion of those unalienable rights. State law should guarantee that the security of the individual is assured by his firearms and not the power of the police state."
He added, "Montana needs men and women for this session of congress that can make the tough decisions we need them to make. No new taxes, accountability in spending and budget reduction measures and policies that make job growth in the private sector a reality. We can recover from this and we can provide a future for ourselves that will be back to the prosperity we want, and we can only do this through the polling stations in this year’s election."
2010
On November 2, 2010 Skees won election to the Montana House of Representatives. Skees defeated Damon Pace and Bill Geisse in the June 8 primary. He faced Will Hammerquist (D) in the November 2 general election.
| Montana House of Representatives, District 4 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | 51.1% | 1,944 | ||
| Democratic | Will Hammerquist | 48.9% | 1,859 | |
| Total Votes | 3,803 | |||
Campaign donors
2010
In 2010, a year in which Skees ran for election, he collected $18,045 in donations.[4]
His largest contributors in 2010 were:
| Montana House of Representatives 2010 election - Campaign Contributions | |
|---|---|
| Top contributors to Derek Skees's campaign in 2010 | |
| Stillwater County Republican Central Cmte | $400 |
| Flathead County Republican Womens Club | $400 |
| Excellence In Voting | $320 |
| Thompson, Ray | $320 |
| Lopresti, John | $320 |
| Total Raised in 2010 | $18,045 |
Recent news
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Derek Skees News Feed
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Personal
Skees and his wife, Ronalee, have three children.
External links
- Official campaign website
- House website
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign Contributions: 2012, 2010
References
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ' |
Montana House of Representatives District 4 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Ed Lieser (D) |
State of Montana Helena (capital) | |
|---|---|
| Ballot Measures |
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| Government |
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| Judiciary |
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| Transparency Topics |
Public Records Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | Transparency blogs | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations | |
| Divisions |
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- Republican Party
- 2010 challenger
- House of Representatives candidate, 2010
- 2010 winner
- 2010 candidate
- 2010 open seat
- Montana
- Former member, Montana House of Representatives
- 2012 challenger
- State executive candidate, 2012
- Auditor candidate, 2012
- 2012 unopposed primary
- 2012 primary (winner)
- 2012 general election (defeated)
- 2012 incumbent running for a different elected office
- State House running for SEO, 2012
- State House incumbent retired, 2012