Jonathan McNiven
Many of the candidates hoping to occupy the state House seat vacated by Rep. Jonathan McNiven will be featured in the issue of the Yellowstone County News that will hit the shelves Thursday.
It was his recent purchase of that weekly newspaper that prompted McNiven to resign from the Legislature just two weeks after he was re-elected to the House by a wide margin.
The Billings Gazette reported Tuesday that 14 people had expressed an interest in replacing McNiven, a Republican from Huntley who represents House District 56. The Yellowstone County Republican Central Committee will submit the names of three possible replacements to the Yellowstone County Commission, which could then name a successor or reject them all and ask for three more candidates.
The Gazette gave background information on some of those interested in replacing McNiven, mostly those who had already served in or run for the Legislature.
Two interesting connections were not reported. One candidate, Mick McCarthy, of Lockwood, has a brother, Kelly McCarthy, who is a Democratic state House member from Billings. Another candidate, Becky Robison of Worden, published the Yellowstone County News before recently selling it to McNiven.
Robison could not be reached for comment, but McNiven said she apparently has decided to withdraw her name from consideration.
“Come to find out, that is actually costing me money,” McNiven said, explaining that printing all those profiles forced him to bump this week’s edition of the News to 20 pages, rather than the 16 he had been planning on.
Mick McCarthy, meanwhile, said he decided to seek the position because an earlier article about McNiven’s resignation said only three people had applied to replace him, and “none of these guys even lived in our district.”
He said he told his wife, “I should throw my hat in the ring. At least I live here.”
McCarthy, an aircraft rescue firefighter and airfield maintenance worker for the city of Billings, said he has lived in Lockwood since 1989. He said he talked to his brother Kelly, who was elected this fall to a second term in the House, about his candidacy, but that “this was my idea, not his.”
“I’m not a registered Republican, but I’ve tended to vote that way my whole life,” he said. He added that though he and his brother “agree to disagree a lot of times,” they “still get along great.”
In addition to introducing themselves in the pages of the Yellowstone County News, candidates have been invited to speak at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 in the Lockwood School gym. The Gazette reported Wednesday that county commissioners will interview the three finalists on Dec. 9.
