Candidate for PSC Visits NE MT Fair

Democratic Candidate for the District 1 seat of the State Public Service Commission Doug Kaercher visited Glasgow last week during the Northeast Montana fair to meet and greet locals and educate the voting public on his background and motivation for running for the commissioner position. Kaercher sat down with the Courier to do the same.

After being raised on the Hi-Line and graduating from Havre High School, Kaercher made his way into the commercial pilot trade before moving back to Havre to start a business crop dusting and doing aircraft repair and restoration shop (he actually flew himself into WoKal field and borrowed the airport courtesy vehicle to make his way around town). Eventually, he signed back onto the family farm before leaving his brother in charge to keep the farm going and he ran and was elected as Hill County Commissioner.

In 2006, Kaercher became the Montana Association of Counties president for the year and then took on an appointed position as an administrative law judge for the state's tax appeal board in Helena. After five-and-a-half-years he returned Havre and became the finance director for the city where he has worked since 2012.

When asked why he wanted to take on the role of public service commissioner he referred back to his experience to answer the question. "If you look at my background it's diverse and unique," said Kaercher, adding, that often the PSC and the companies that provide the services have an adversarial relationship.

"As a mediator, I believe, working towards a common goal is going to lead towards better rates for consumers, with reasonable returns for the industries," explained Kaercher alluding to his time as a tax appeal judge. He also pointed out that all five members of the current commission are Republicans and that at the very least adding his name to the ranks could only serve to add balance and some new ideas to the PSC.

The PSC is responsible for the regulation of public utility rates throughout the state. Oftentimes the commission looks at cost to revenue input for the utility companies and based on that analysis set a reasonable rate of return. In some extreme cases, however, that process can be mired in politics and can become quite contentious.

Kaercher thinks he is uniquely suited to take on that challenge, not just from his past experiences, but because his sile motivation for wanting the job is to take on the challenge. He compared it to a tax appeal case saying that most of the time the judge is not giving his opinion but rather determining if the law was followed. According to Kaercher, the same is true for the PSC, the bulk of the job is just making sure the law is being properly administered and that it does not become lopsided in favor of one or the other party.

Kaercher believes that a stable approach to setting rates will give the issue stability, which as a farmer himself can become a major issue in worrying about the future and planning out a budget. He also claims to be an all of the above energy guy. "We need coal, but we need to continue to support solar and wind development so we can replace coal when it's no longer viable," explained Kaercher.

In the end Kaercher summed up his campaign in the following sentence, "I don't have all the answers but I think I'm the one who's best equipped to handle the process."

Kaercher is taking on Republican candidate Randi Pinnochi.