Alanah Griffith

Alanah Griffith was born in Bozeman, Montana. She earned a high school diploma from Bozeman High School, a bachelor's degree from North Central College in 1997, and a law degree from the University of Montana School of Law in 2002. Her career experience includes working as a partner at Griffith & Cummings, P.C.[1][2][3]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am an attorney, single mother, business owner, mediator and litigator who has a track record of passing practical solutions to the issues faced by my constituents. I was born in Big Sky and raised in Four Corners. My parents instilled in me the importance of serving my community as both of my parents have dedicated thousands of hours to our community over their lives. I am the coach of the Mock Trial Team in Big Sky and I have served on the boards of nonprofits like Reach and Morningstar Learning Center. I have also volunteered my time at Eagle Mount and the Gallatin Legal Assistance Clinic.

During the last session, I served on the Judiciary Committee, Agriculture Committee and the Federal Relations, Energy and Technology Committee. I was elected as Vice Chair of the Local Government Interim Committee by my legislative peers. I spent my time in Helena building bridges across the aisle and passing common sense bills that directly helped our district.

Re-electing me means putting my decades of experience as a trial attorney and mediator to work for you in Helena and continuing to allow me to build the relationships that are needed to make lasting changes that benefit you. I believe that together, we can find the common sense solutions to the real challenges facing our state today. Feel free to contact my with any thoughts, needs and concerns. I look forward to serving you again in Helena.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Housing is a basic human need. However, many in our district cannot find secure housing and are spending far more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing. I have experienced this myself as I am a renter. This personal knowledge means that I take finding logical solutions to attainable, secure housing very seriously. During the last session, I worked on and passed bills that will allow West Yellowstone and Big Sky to use their resort tax for workforce housing, allowed local schools to build employee housing on their lands and targeted loosening regulations that substantially increased housing costs with little or no benefit. I am currently working on legislation that will increase the ability for locals to own housing.Montana is lucky to have millions of acres of Federal and State public lands. I have spent my life enjoying the unparalleled hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing and camping these lands offer. However, there is a substantial move to make our public lands private, either by lack of proper funding, failure to fight to keep our trails open, land swaps with less accessible land or by passing legislation to sell public lands. I intimately understand these issues as I have fought in court to keep public access open for everyone. I have always voted to protect our public lands and access to those lands. I am proudly endorsed by Montana Conservation Voters, which is made up of Montanan that value our public lands.Montana clearly needs more regulations in place to regulate data centers. We are working on bipartisan legislation that would place a moratorium on data centers. If that does not pass, then we will adopt a siting act that would protect senior water rights, require the data center to shoulder all of the costs of building their infrastructure, ensuring that current electricity customers do not have increased costs, require clean energy, have a recycling plan for e-waster, mitigating and minimizing vibrations and noise, dark sky requirements and requirements regarding transparency.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am very passionate about attainable housing, access to justice and impartial courts, and stabilizing Montana's energy and transportation infrastructure. This includes increased our electrical grid capacity and completely reworking our Public Service Commission.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Planned Parenthood, Montana Conservation Voters, MT AFL-CIO, Big Sky 55+, MRPE

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am running for HD 60 to bring common sense back to our government and to use my legal experience to advocate on my community's behalf. We Montanans have always prided ourselves on our ability to find common ground on difficult issues, and electing legislators that reach across the aisle to find working solutions for the challenges facing our communities. I will be that voice for you in Helena, and will focus on the issues facing all Montanans, like affordable housing, access to justice, property tax relief, healthcare and expanding access to our public lands.

I am a fifth generation Montanan, born in Big Sky and raised in Four Corners. My parents raised me to believe in public service. I have served our community by working with programs like Eagle Mount, Gallatin Valley Legal Assistance and as a Volunteer Attorney for CASA. I currently serve on the Morningstar Learning Center's BOD and coach Mock Trial at LPHS. I am the pro bono attorney for many non-profits in our area.

I am a civil litigation attorney specializing in contract law, specifically community association law and development. I have spent years advocating for communities within HD60. My experience in drafting and litigating rules and regulations within the framework of Montana law should not just be used to benefit paying clients, but for your benefit in Helena. By voting for me, you are voting to put a proven advocate to work for you.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

With two decades of legal experience and advocacy, I can effectively work with opposing parties to create rules, regulations and laws that solve our community's issues. As a moderate Montana Democrat, I will work with all parties to de-politicize issues by taking the time to listen to all sides of an issue, educate myself on the various ways of addressing an issue and then crafting win/win legislation to resolve the issue. This includes addressing all issues, large and small like affordable housing and healthcare to local issues like our highway speed and animal/vehicular incidents.I have real life experience fixing the issues that are plaguing our community. For example, I am working with Morningstar to address affordable housing and funding issues. We are finding permanent solutions to ensure that Big Sky will always have affordable child care. Likewise, in the Bear Canyon access case, I represented the owner and together we ensured that the public access along Bear Creek was returned to the community. I have helped hundreds of communities around Montana draft community documents to protect their way of life. I bring that real life experience to the table for my community.There is a disconnect with the current legislature with regards to property taxes. Currently, residential property values have spiked while industrial and utility values have decreased (or not risen as quickly.) This resulted in an average 22% property tax increase for residential owners. In HD 60, we saw a median 30% increase and an average increase of around $1,000.00 in taxes. However, Montana Rail Link saw a 22% decrease in taxes. This is because we have been shifting the overall tax burden onto residential owners and away from businesses for years. Clearly, we have shifted this tax burden too far and need to take steps to recalibrate the taxes away from Montana residential owners.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about many areas of public policy. Housing is one. Housing is a basic human need. However, many in our district cannot find secure housing and are spending far more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing. Studies show that housing cost-burdened families have greater stress relating to food security, health care, retirement and transportation. In other words, housing is critical to our economic vitality. Restrictive land use and subdivision laws are a key factor in housing shortages as they prohibit needed density. When elected, I will propose legislation that will address these restrictive laws and support affordable housing solutions.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Senator Mansfield: The Extraordinary Life of a great American Statesman and Diplomat by Don Oberdorfer

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I think former Governor Mark Racicot said it best in a 2022 letter to the RNC. I seek "a return to simple, timeless and enduring values: presuming the best of each other, listening in good faith before acting or responding, exuding generosity and grace, self-correcting our own mistakes and being ambitious to accomplish something, not to be somebody." (Mark Racicot) All of these are important characteristics for an elected official and I strive to accomplish them all.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

More than anything else, it is to actually show up and do the work. I will certainly do this and have a proven track record of success on behalf of my clients. Anyone elected to the office needs to educate themselves about the office and understand what is within the power of the office and what is not. Through my legal career, I have accomplished this. The next is to understand your constituents' unique issues so that you can craft legislation that will effectively address the issues, within the confines of the Montana Constitution. An elected must also create relationships with other legislators as you will need those relationships in place to pass your laws. I have spent a great deal of time at the legislature, testifying about various issues and winning support from both sides of the aisle. I will strive to continue to do this work on behalf of HD 60 when I am elected.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was working for the Bozeman School District's summer facility team. During the summer, when the schools are empty, the heavy lifting is done to get the school ready for the next year. I did this for a number of summers. I did everything from installing underground sprinklers and sod at the new Emily Dickenson School, moving half of the old middle school to the new Sacajawea Middle School, moving out of the Emerson building and even built new lockers in various schools. Every day we would show up and our intrepid leader, Cherie, would dole out our duties for the day and off we'd go, with minimal supervision. We usually did not know what we were going to do. I really learned the value of hard work and teamwork while working for Cherie.

I came away with a lot of good memories, maybe because when thing were dicey, I was the one who was the guinea pig. (My dad was head of facilities for the Bozeman School District.) For example, the high school tennis court fencing was falling down and we needed to somehow get it fixed. Well, there was a backhoe just sitting there. I took the keys and I drove it over to the fence. We chained it to the backhoe and I yanked it straight in no time. I was lucky the whole fence did not come down. There was a lot of on the job problem solving like that. That same summer all of the new high school lockers needed to be installed. When we put the first set of five together, we noticed that they curved in a bow. This continued with the next set, and the next. We took them all down and discovered that all of the back metal sheets were cut the wrong size. Well, the manufacturer could not fix it in time for the next school year. We had already ripped out the old lockers. After a lot of phone calls, we found a local metal work business that could recut all of the pieces and we get them installed in time for the start of school.

Looking back, I could not have had a better job to prepare me for life.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

Ideally, the governor and legislature would work together to solve Montanans' issues, while maintaining the necessary checks and balances that keep our democracy moving along. In Montana, the governor is a year-round position, but the legislature is not. Our legislature only meets every two years, but for certain committee meetings in the interim. Therefore, a lot rides on the governor's office and on the administrative departments to inform the legislature quickly and effectively of various issues that could be addressed in the legislative session. This would include working together to fund the administrative government while maintaining a balanced budget, addressing affordable housing and much, much more.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

I believe there is a two-fold issue, it is the depopulation of our rural eastern Montana and an influx of people to the western side of the state. This brings with it a host of issues, including loss of people to work our ranches and farms, a need for new/different industries as coal mines are phased away and a need to reimagine what rural life will look like in the future. On the other hand, our western side will need to tackle affordable housing issues, workforce issues and infrastructure issues and it continues to grow. Over all of this will be the impacts of climate change. It will be important to address all of these issues now and do our part to decrease our emissions to reduce climate change.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

No. Our legislature is a citizen legislature. It is meant to welcome a variety of backgrounds to the table so that we can address everyone's needs, not just a certain segment of Montana.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Yes, I do. I believe that it is important to understand the background, ideas and values of all of the members of the House so that as an advocate for my district, I can present arguments and ideas in a way that rings true to their own values and ideas. It is key to building common ground and having civil discourse.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

I would like to model myself on two elected officials who come from very different backgrounds and politics, but who remain friends today, Dorothy Bradley and Mark Racicot.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Yes. There is one woman who is retired who I recently talked to one afternoon. She has lived in Gallatin Gateway for over 50 years and owns her home. She is on a limited income. When her recent property tax bill came, she truly had to decide if she was going to pay it or her medications. Her family helped her out, but they are trying to get her to sell the home and move out of state to live with them. She may have to do so if something is not done to relieve her tax burden. She and many others I have talked to are the reason why I have educated myself in Montana taxes and how they work so that I can work to relieve Montana homeowners of the current tax burden.

What is the first bill you would introduce if elected?

I have about 10 current bills in draft. Some just fix current legislation and others are new legislation including shifting some of the hotel/tourist taxes to impacted communities for affordable housing and to adopt a uniform act to give clear guidance of community associations (HOAs) which we currently don't have.

What committees interest you?

Judiciary and Local Government

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I believe that financial transparency is critical to a healthy democratic government. Studies have shown that countries with the most fiscal transparency have the least amount of debt and most effective governments. This certainly applies to our State as well. Financial transparency allows us, the citizens, to hold our government officials accountable to us and how they spend our tax dollars. Our system of government cannot operate without it.

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am running for HD 64 to bring common sense back to our government and to use my legal experience to advocate on my community's behalf. We Montanans have always prided ourselves on our ability to find common ground on difficult issues, and electing legislators that reach across the aisle to find working solutions for the challenges facing our communities. I will be that voice for you in Helena, and will focus on the issues facing all Montanans, like affordable housing, access to justice, healthcare and expanding access to our public lands.

I am a fifth generation Montanan, born and raised in HD 64. My parents raised me to believe in public service. My father was the Monforton School Board Chair for 30 years. My mother worked with Eagle Mount for 20 years, the last 10 as its Executive Director. I have also served our community by working with programs, like Eagle Mount, Gallatin Valley Legal Assistance and as a Volunteer Attorney for CASA. I currently serve on the Morningstar Learning Center's BOD and on the Montana Bar Association as Sec/Trea. I also coach Mock Trial at LPHS.

I am a civil litigation attorney specializing in contract law, specifically community association law and development. I have spent years advocating for communities within HD64. My experience in drafting and litigating rules and regulations within the framework of Montana law should not just be used to benefit paying clients, but for the benefit of my community, HD 64.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We are two seats away from a Republican Supermajority. If the Republicans win those seats, they will call a Constitutional Convention, and rewrite the Montana Constitution. Gone will be the right to privacy, dignity, equitable education and your clean and healthful environment. As an attorney, I have spent years defending our constitution and rule of law. If elected, that will mean some security against the Republican Supermajority. I will continue to protect our judiciary and our Montana Constitution.With two decades of legal experience and advocacy, I can effectively work with opposing parties to create rules, regulations and laws that solve my clients' issues. As a moderate Montana Democrat, I will work with all parties to de-politicize issues by taking the time to listen to all sides of an issue, educate myself on the various ways of addressing an issue and then crafting win/win legislation to resolve the issue. This includes addressing not only large issues like affordable housing and healthcare, but addressing local issues like our highway including the speed and animal/vehicular incidents.I have real life experience fixing the issues that are plauging our community. For example, I am working with Morningstar to address affordable housing. We have purchased the lot next door to the center and secured a $409,000.00 Stabilization Grant to help us move forward with building a new early education center, and then turning the existing facility into permanent staff housing. Likewise, in the Bear Canyon access case, I represented the owner and together we ensured that the public access along Bear Creek was returned to the community. I bring that real life experience to the table for my community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about many areas of public policy. Housing is one. Housing is a basic human need. However, many in our district cannot find secure housing and are spending far more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing. Studies show that housing cost-burdened families have greater stress relating to food security, health care, retirement and transportation. In other words, housing is critical to our economic vitality. Restrictive land use and subdivision laws are a key factor in housing shortages as they prohibit needed density. I have helped a number of Associations amend their governing documents to allow for ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and more density within their subdivisions. When elected I will propose legislation that will address these restrictive laws, and support affordable housing solutions for our workforce.

Access to Justice is another. As Americans, we rely on our civil legal system to address many of life’s important problems, like divorce, discrimination, landlord/tenant issues and domestic violence. While our system is a powerful tool, it can be difficult to navigate without the help of a trained attorney. I want to change that. I have worked on access to justice for years, including organizing the Gallatin County Legal Assistance Clinic, which provides access to an attorney to help fill out forms and learn about the system. I will continue to propose and support legislation that increases access to the courts.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I think former Governor Mark Racicot said it best in a recent letter to the RNC, I seek "a return to simple, timeless and enduring values: presuming the best of each other, listening in good faith before acting or responding, exuding generosity and grace, self-correcting our own mistakes and being ambitious to accomplish something, not to be somebody." Much like Judge Mark Guenther did on the bench, it is important to listen to my constituents, my fellow house members and to seriously consider not only what they are saying, but why they are saying it before responding with my own thoughts. To be the best advocate for the people of Montana, I believe an elected official must strive to be and do all of these things.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

My legal colleagues say that I have a very even keel personality. I am regularly brought into emotionally charged situations to attempt to get very emotional people to reach a common ground. I typically do this through listening to all sides, showing all parties that I understand their thoughts and concerns and that those thoughts, concerns and feelings are valuable. Then, we start doing the hard work of educating all of the various people involved regarding some of the valid points and thoughts of the other parties. By the end, we are typically working together as a community towards a shared goal. I hope to bring this skill and my even tempered personality to the legislature. I am also an incredibly hard worker. I tirelessly continue to educate myself in various aspects of law, life and now political issues. I am the first to say that I don't know something, but then I go out and find the answer. I thing that is important in any legislator.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was working for the Bozeman School District's summer facility team. During the summer, when the schools are empty, the heavy lifting is done to get the school ready for the next year. I did this for a number of summers. I did everything from installing underground sprinklers and sod at the new Emily Dickenson School, moving half of the old middle school to the new Sacajawea Middle School, moving out of the Emerson building and even built new lockers in various schools. Every day we would show up and our intrepid leader, Cherie, would dole out our duties for the day and off we'd go, with minimal supervision. We usually did not know what we were going to do. I really learned the value of hard work and teamwork while working for Cherie.

I came away with a lot of good memories, maybe because when thing were dicey, I was the one who was the guinea pig. (My dad was head of facilities for the Bozeman School District.) For example, the high school tennis court fencing was falling down and we needed to somehow get it fixed. Well, there was a backhoe just sitting there. I took the keys and I drove it over to the fence. We chained it to the backhoe and I yanked it straight in no time. I was lucky the whole fence did not come down. There was a lot of on the job problem solving like that. That same summer all of the new high school lockers needed to be installed. When we put the first set of five together, we noticed that they curved in a bow. This continued with the next set, and the next. We took them all down and discovered that all of the back metal sheets were cut the wrong size. Well, the manufacturer could not fix it in time for the next school year. We had already ripped out the old lockers. After a lot of phone calls, we found a local metal work business that could recut all of the pieces and we get them installed in time for the start of school.

Looking back, I could not have had a better job to prepare me for life.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Hermione Granger

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

I believe there is a two fold issue, it is the depopulation of our rural eastern Montana and an influx of people to the western side of the state. This brings with it a host of issues, including loss of people to work our ranches and farms, a need for new/different industries as coal mines are phased away and a need to reimagine what rural life will look like in the future. On the other hand, our western side will need to tackle affordable housing issues, workforce issues and infrastructure issues and it continues to grow. Over all of this will be the impacts of climate change. It will be important to address all of these issues now and do our part to decrease our emissions to reduce climate change.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Yes, I do. I believe that it is important to understand the background, ideas and values of all of the members of the House so that as an advocate for my district, I can present arguments and ideas in a way that rings true to their own values and ideas. It is key to building common ground and having civil discourse.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Absolutely. Take our Montana Constitution. In 1970, 65% of Montanans voted to hold a Constitutional Convention. 100 delegates came together, from all walks of life. There were Republicans and Democrats, lawyers, doctors, students and even a beekeeper. At first, there was little agreement about anything, but they worked together, compromising on every issue, until they drafted what is our Montana Constitution. Compromise is not easy. And it takes people on both sides to achieve. As Judge Leaned Hand stated during World War II, "The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias." That is not to say that we shouldn't fight for our ideas and our beliefs, but for democracy to work, we need to find common ground.