Speech

2003 Montana Boys State - Dillon

Remarks of Governor Judy Martz
Dillon
6/12/2003

*** Check Against Delivery ***


What a pleasure it is to be with you this evening. I appreciate very much this opportunity to speak with you and affirm for you the very special role you play in today's society as our inspiration for tomorrow.

I was asked to share with you some of my observations about the 2003 Montana Legislature, our state budget, education funding and other such topics like open container laws.

Before I do all that, I would like to recognize a few of your counselors who I know to be great young men. Cory Swanson, Chuck Denowh, Tom Figgarelle, and Kris Goss are all here and you are lucky to have them.

I would also like to thank all of the volunteers, coordinators, and members of the American Legion who make this event possible.

This week proves that positive reinforcement works. It is our responsibility as adults to promote and reward leadership in the next generation. Thank you for all you do.

Too often, there is a perception held by adults and spread by the media that the youth today are disillusioned, apathetic and up to no good. This is simply not true.

This is not an accurate refection of you and your peers. You are volunteering in record numbers. Teen pregnancy is at the lowest rate since records have been kept. Teen drug, alcohol, and tobacco use is down. Juvenile crime is at the lowest level in years and school drop out rates are down.

My challenge to you is to see the truth and realize that the majority of your friends want the same strong values you do.

I recognize your intelligence, assertiveness and commitment to the things that are important in your life. You would not be here today if you weren't special already.

Find the power of the positive within yourselves and focus on it.

Once you realize who you are and what you can achieve, let your actions show the world that the stereotypes and misperceptions are not true.

What I'm getting at is the hope that each of you, as you prepare to enter your senior year of high school and prepare for college, a profession and family life will take time to reflect on who you are.

But think bigger. Think beyond that. I challenge you to get to know yourself in an honest, candid way. Face your ambitions with excitement and initiative, and your fears with solutions and candor.

Look within yourself to see what makes you special, what makes you excel and what motivates and pushes you to strive for excellence.

And while you are doing this self-exploration, realize that those around you are probably in the same boat, asking themselves a lot of the same questions about life and how to reach their expectations.

What I am describing is leadership. By sitting here today you have been recognized as leaders in your community. You have shown great promise to your peers and neighbors.

I would ask you to never to be satisfied once you receive recognition. Always work to extend yourself; effective leadership means always striving to become better.

Leadership is about building positive futures for others to inherit from us. You need to be committed and challenge yourselves.

Build on the idea of positive happenings in a negative world. Health, innovation, and leadership help to emphasize our character.

See your true character, celebrate it, and make it known. Emphasize and enhance it. Think bigger. We were created to connect with something bigger than ourselves.

I have a vision for your generation, and I need your help. I need your generation to become leaders in creating healthy communities in this great state of Montana.

I need you to send out clear messages to the younger students of your generation who can follow and learn from you the positive movement that you all are creating.

Now, I'd like to share with you a few observations about the 2003 Legislative session. First of all, I will tell you that I only have four real disappointments about the session.

One - that the two parties didn't work more closely together on behalf of the people of Montana like they should have, particularly when we were facing the biggest deficit in history. Partisan differences should never get in the way of the peoples’ agenda.

I hope that during your time here at Boys State you will give some thought to how your two parties can work together on the pressing issues facing the people of Montana.

In politics, it's easy to disagree, which often makes it harder to agree.

But that isn’t an excuse not to serve the people. It should be motivation to serve them better.

As you go about your business here and in the future, think about this quotation from Montana’s seventh Governor Joe Dixon in 1921:

“Let us eliminate the petty things of politics and partisanship and work together is sincere spirit of doing the bigger things for Montana.”

My second disappointment is that the legislature failed to pass a ban on open containers.

It's unfortunate that Montana is among only a few states that haven't passed a ban on this activity.
Too many people, young and old, have lost their lives unnecessarily on the highways because someone or several people are drinking and driving.

My third disappointment, for the second session in a row, is the legislature did not pass my loan forgiveness program to recruit new teachers.

On the 89th day of a 90 day session in both 2001 and 2003, legislators killed my bill to give new teachers $12,000 in student loan money for teaching in a subject or geographic area of critical need. We need this bill; we will try again.

Finally, I am disappointed we didn’t use just a little bit of the Coal Trust Fund to help pay for human services and education.

Using the Coal Trust Fund to help pay for some of our necessary government programs should have been done, but once again, long standing partisan traditions got in the way of real opportunity to help Montana survive difficult economic times.

But you’ll learn that when working in Government, you cannot dwell on the disappointments. The 58th Session on the Montana Legislature missed some opportunities to help the people but we still accomplished several very important objectives.

We balanced the budget, we funded education, we provided for the most in need, we passed the most significant tax reform in decades, and we enhanced our economic development opportunities to create more better paying jobs.

These may sound like business as usual…but each and every one of them is a great achievement.
First, a balanced budget is critical to our state’s solvency. Many states are not able to bring their books into balance. As a result their entire populations are suffering either major cuts in government or significant tax increases or both. We have been able to find an effective balance to spare the Montana people that hardship.

Second, as you know, funding education is a critical objective for any legislature to accomplish. School funding is a large portion of the state budget and because of that some people had targeted education to receive a major cut. I wouldn’t let them. I vowed to veto any cut in spending and we were able to find the money to keep schools strong.

We are now working on the School Renewal Commission during this interim to find new funding sources and make other improvements for our public schools.

A student will be invited to serve on this commission to ensure your views are heard. I am confident the commission will do a great job.

The next priority that we met was ensuring that our neighbors most in need of assistance received the care they deserve. We were able to avoid deep cuts in critical programs in the Department of Health and Human Services. Some reductions were made, but by examining all possibilities, we made sure government is still helping the most in need.

The next two items go hand in hand. Tax reform and economic development matter most to you.

The next generation of Montana professional is going to benefit the most from the work we did this session to spur economic growth. Our Office of Economic Opportunity will ensure that these reforms are utilized properly for the gain of all Montanans.

During this difficult session we maintained our focus. In the future, because of work done this session, we can increase the state's revenues and do even more for education and human services.

I am confident that Montana will be stronger as a result of our work this session.

You are the future leaders of our great state. I fully expect to see one of you up here someday.

Have a great time while you're here. Make some new friends, and think about what I said in the beginning. Get to know yourself well. Know what you want to accomplish in life and go for it.

Again, I would like to thank you all for inviting me to attend your gathering, tonight. And thank you for being positive, influential leaders in your schools, your communities, and your state.

You have a very bright future ahead of you. I would like to leave you with a famous quote by Margaret Mead, a renowned anthropologist,

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Good luck, God bless, and congratulations.