Montana voters probably don’t get too excited about who’s running for state auditor, or even know what the office does (hint: the auditor is also the insurance commissioner).

But this election year, they get a race offering a stark choice between two very different people and philosophies: Republican Duane Grimes, who says he wants to help the free market work more efficiently and provide more choices to insurance consumers, and Democrat Monica Lindeen, who’s pitching herself as a consumer advocate who believes current regulation is working well.

“I don’t believe government is the answer,” Grimes says in a typical comment. “We need to use private markets and make sure they work effectively to drive down costs.”

Lindeen says she doesn’t believe insurance is over-regulated in Montana, and that many of the controls and mandates in place are there for good reason.

“The question in everybody’s mind should be, ‘Who will be the strongest advocate for the consumer in Montana?’ ” she asks. “I like to tell people, that’s what I’ve been doing my entire life — advocating for other people.”

This election year, state auditor is an open seat since two-term incumbent Democrat John Morrison cannot run because of term limits.

Grimes, 51, and Lindeen, 46, are the only candidates in the race. Both are former legislators. Grimes, from Clancy, served as a state representative and senator from 1993-2006; and Lindeen, from Huntley, was in the state House from 1999-2006.

Grimes recently sold his taxi service and warehouse business in Helena; before that, he was a personnel officer at the state Revenue Department. He has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Montana and a degree in theology from Bob Jones University, a private college in Greenville, S.C.

Lindeen has worked as an English teacher but is best-known for helping start Montana’s first major Internet provider, Montana Communications Network, which her family sold in late 1999. She has an education degree from Montana State University-Billings.

Both also ran for statewide office before and lost. Grimes ran for state auditor in 2004, losing to Morrison, while Lindeen in 2006 challenged U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont.

With the seat open and neither candidate well-known by Montana voters, the race is seen as a toss-up — and possibly a close battle.

The state auditor, in reality, is the state insurance and securities commissioner, since the auditor’s primary job is to regulate these two industries.

The state auditor also is one of five statewide officeholders to serve on the state Land Board, which oversees the management of 5.2 million acres of state land.

Grimes is making the Land Board an issue, saying he’ll be a “guaranteed vote” to develop state-owned coal in the Otter Creek Valley in southeastern Montana and generally promote natural-resource development.

“We’re losing a great deal of money for schools because we are not facilitating energy development on the school tracts that we have,” he says. “The Land Board holds the keys. All they have to do is turn the switch, and everybody else gets involved.”

Lindeen says this issue is a “red herring,” because market forces and geography play a much greater role in deciding whether coal, timber and other resources are developed on state lands.

“To say that the Otter Creek tracts will somehow be magically developed tomorrow because Republicans control the Land Board is a complete and total misnomer,” she says, noting that the Land Board often votes unanimously on many issues, regardless of party affiliation of its members.

The board, currently controlled 4-1 by Democrats, voted this summer to appraise the Otter Creek coal tracts. Once the appraisal comes back later this year, the board in 2009 will look at the potential price and public comments, and decide whether to solicit bids to lease the coal for possible development.

The development can’t happen without the cooperation of Great Northern Properties, which co-owns the coal field with the state. A new railroad also may be needed.

Yet the campaigns appear to be focusing more on the office’s regulation of insurance — particularly health insurance, and its high cost.

Lindeen says her No. 1 priority as auditor would be making health insurance and health care more affordable and accessible to Montanans. She says she wants to promote wellness programs, health-information technology and the popular Insure Montana program, which provides tax credits and subsidies to small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees.

Yet, oddly enough, Lindeen says she’d move management of Insure Montana out of the auditor’s office to another state agency, to avoid any conflict of interest, since the auditor regulates insurers.

Lindeen also would ask the 2009 Legislature to study and review the 3-year-old, $11 million-a-year program, and suggest changes by 2011. She supports Morrison’s call to increase state funding for the program.

“I think it’s really important to look at all of the options available, what’s working, and listen to everybody’s point of view,” she says.

Grimes’s ideas on Insure Montana are more specific. He says its insurance-premium subsidies, currently paid to about 750 businesses, shouldn’t be restricted to only a few insurance products.

Currently, most of the subsidies help pay for insurance provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, which has a state contract to offer it to small businesses getting the subsidy. Grimes says the program should be opened up to more products, to give businesses more choice.

He also believes some people joined the program after ditching their old insurance, to take advantage of the subsidies. That wasn’t the intent of the law, and changes should be made to ensure that people getting the subsidies are truly uninsured, Grimes says.

Grimes said he’d like to wait before putting more money into the program: “I hate to throw more cash at it, unless we can make it work for the greatest number of people possible, and right now, it’s not.”

His approach fits what he says will be his main goal in office: Apply smart, sparing regulation to free the insurance industry to offer more products and choices to the consumer.

Lindeen, however, will be trying to turn Grimes’ argument against him, saying he’s on the side of the companies rather than the consumers.

“He feels that we are over-regulating insurance companies in this state, that we have a hostile environment,” she says. “That shows a philosophical difference, and a clear choice on who’s advocating for the people of Montana.”

Biographies

Monica Lindeen

Political party: Democrat.

Office sought: State auditor/ insurance commissioner.

Office salary: $79,137.

Age: 46.

Birth date and place: May 16, 1962, Ogden, Utah.

Home: Huntley.

Occupation: Retired business owner.

Family: Husband, David; one daughter; and two stepsons.

Education: Graduate of Shepherd High School, 1980; bachelor’s degree in education, Montana State University-Billings, 1992.

Past employment: 2000-present, semi-retired former business owner; 1995-2000, co-owner and general manager, Montana Communications Network, an Internet service provider; 1993-1994, part-time English instructor at MSU-Billings; 1980-1985, bartender.

Military: None.

Political experience: Served as state representative from Huntley, 1999-2006; ran unsuccessfully for U.S. House in 2006.

Duane Grimes

Political party: Republican.

Office sought: State auditor/insurance commissioner.

Office salary: $79,137.

Age: 51.

Birth date and place: Sept. 17, 1957, in Spokane, Wash.

Home: Clancy.

Occupation: Former business owner (recently sold taxi and warehouse-distribution business).

Family: Wife, Connie; two sons; and one daughter.

Education: Harrison (Mont.) High School graduate, 1976; aircraft mechanic degree from Colorado Aero Tech, 1978; bachelor’s degree in theology, Bob Jones University, Greenville, S.C., 1983; master’s degree in public administration, University of Montana, 2000.

Past employment: 1999-2007, owned Capital Taxi and UPS-SES Warehouse; 1994-1999, personnel officer for Montana Department of Revenue; 1991-1993, personnel analyst for Montana Department of Administration; 1988-1991, manager for Corporate Air in Helena/Billings; 1983-1988, worked as aircraft mechanic for companies in South Carolina and Idaho.

Military: None.

Political experience: State representative from Clancy, 1993-1998; state senator from Clancy 1999-2006; ran unsuccessfully for state auditor in 2004.