Paul Buckles is many things, but a conventional politician isn’t one of them. A punk-rock drummer in defunct Missoula bands including Coppertone Cowboys and Strange Pussy, an adept shit-talker and a heart-on-sleeve idealist, Buckles is running against incumbent Democrat SJ Howell to represent House District 100 in the Montana Legislature as an anti-Republican Republican.
Buckles, 53, has long worked in healthcare and is currently the CEO of Big Sky Life Support, an organization that provides life coaching and in-home support for western Montana residents in need. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Buckles served in the Montana National Guard as a helicopter mechanic, and he explains that he was encouraged to run for HD 100 by the Montana Veterans Association. Buckles makes healthcare a central component of his platform, a quality he says made him an appealing candidate to the group. (HD 100’s boundaries changed slightly in last year’s redistricting process, but the district still covers downtown Missoula and the Northside.)
Read along as Buckles explains why he considers himself a “horrible representative” for the GOP, pitches a massive expansion of industrial hemp, delves into his stance on abortion access and much more.
This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
The Pulp: Why did you decide to run for HD 100 as a Republican?
Paul Buckles: When I was being pushed into it, I was definitely a little hesitant, certainly based upon my current views. Even though I am being asked to represent the Republican Party, I am a horrible representative for that party because I’m very proactive in the community, and from what I’ve seen so far in meetings that I’ve been invited to [by the] Republican Party, they have a great defense, and that’s it.
There’s really no plan of how we’re going to help anything in Missoula. It’s all about, “How do we stop any type of progress? If it doesn’t reflect our views, we’re gonna stomp it out.”
So what’s your relationship like with the GOP?
I’ve always rubbed both sides the wrong way. As I go to more and more meetings, I’m finding that I’m really rubbing the Republicans. Certainly the church. I’m currently not attending any church, because of the church’s stance on a lot of issues.
Like the issue of abortion. When you have somebody that’s showing up to get an abortion, it’s so much bigger than just, “We’re going to remove this life that’s growing within me.” You have this in-depth social issue: How are you going to take care of the child?
I think the whole procedure and everything around abortion is horrific. I think that a young woman being put in a position where she would contemplate an abortion is horrific. But until we address the social issues that forced the young lady to the abortion clinic, you have to have access, at least within that first trimester.
If you’re not going to do it in a clinic, as history has shown, you’re going to do it somewhere else. You’re going to do it in a back alley clinic, and then you have a bigger problem.
When you say “the church,” who are you referring to?
I’m not gonna name any specific church, but certainly [the ones that align with the Republican Party and say]: “Here’s the church, and here’s the evil Democrats. It’s us and them, and here’s the game plan: We’re gonna stop them.”
Can we circle back to why you are running as a Republican?
Montana Vets [asked me], “Would you consider representing us by running for HD 100?”
I would have to say it’s probably the most impoverished part of Missoula. It’s the Northside. You’re seeing multi-family complexes rather than single-family homes. It’s already kind of targeted as that inner city living—lots of apartments, and we’re just gonna jam you in. It feels very inner city to me.
In what other ways does it feel like an inner city?
If you head up to the Northside and you go into some of the bigger complexes that were just built, I see a lot of graffiti. And it’s not really being policed, as far as the safety of the building. It’s that lack of supervision that I am referring to. And even though they’re affordable apartments, they’re barely affordable.
Can you tell me more about the conversations you had with the Veterans Association about running for office?
[Big Sky Life Support] has been pushing the idea of a supportive community. And the vets, of course, they have a large population that are suffering from mental illness. And so they wanted to jump on board our plan to build this supportive community. I believe it can be done.
We’re already paying for it. We have a huge chronically homeless population, and we are just paying for it in other ways: through our first providers, for one. And you have all the police force, and ambulances always at the shelters. Always.
But something strange happens whenever you take somebody that’s chronically homeless and you put them in a home: all of a sudden they’re not going to court every month.
Our huge push is to support the disabled [community in] Missoula through all the ups and downs of the Medicaid system, and trying to keep people active so they can actually get their benefits. Currently, the whole system is set up to where a third of the population doesn’t even have active benefits for almost half of the month, every single month. That’s really been our big push.
Back to Montana Vets, they see our model working, and they’re like, “Hey, we really want this for our vets. You seem to have a really good grasp on Medicaid. Would you consider running?”
Switching gears: You’ve advocated for a huge expansion of the industrial hemp industry. Why?
With everything you could possibly make from hemp, I think it should be illegal that we’re not growing it from corner to corner. I believe that we could start producing a Montana biofuel out of hemp very easily. I mean, we’re 50th in everything, so I don’t think there’s anywhere to go [but up]. We’re shutting down all of our mills. How easy would it be to convert our paper mill to processing hemp?
Can’t we do something? I think all the little nitpicking that we do every fourth year really hurts us.
Last session, the House Republican caucus voted unanimously to censure Missoula Rep. Zooey Zephyr. If you had been in the Legislature at the time, do you think you would’ve joined your colleagues to censure her?
I think that should be illegal. Oh my goodness, are you kidding me? The people have spoken. This is our representative. You have the floor. No one should be able to have the authority to remove HD 100’s voice. No way. I shouldn’t be able to go, “Hey, buddies, let’s all come together and silence this person because they’re so extreme that it’s causing a disruption.”
I’ll be the next one [laughs]. I come from the world of Jay’s Upstairs, when it was rocking. I’ve kicked my drum set off the stage at Jay’s. I’m a little irreverent, to say the least.
I go, “Maybe we just love each other and just do our best.” How about that?
I want Montana to be a beacon of hope. I really do. I’m gonna change the landscape of it, and I really want free housing for those who are providing healthcare.
We’re so close to coming together, and we just have this small handful of idiots that make it bad for everybody.
What’s your take on the city’s proposed ordinance to curtail camping in parks and other outdoor spaces?
That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. It creates another area that you have to overpolice. It’s not really a living situation, it’s just battlezone camping a bit, with people who are very ill. The mass population of chronic homelessness, they really need so much more support.
I mean, I’ve gone through tough times in my life. But I’ve always had a couch to [crash on]. When you are so mentally ill that you’ve burned all of your family bridges, what’s home?
Paul, before we wrap up, how do you think you could better serve HD 100 than your opponent?
I am very involved in the inner workings of Medicaid; this is from literally my own usage. I know about the programs because I used them. I was on SNAP benefits. I was very, very poor. I used all the subsidies that were available to me. And so I understand the hard work that HD 100 does on a daily basis.
I want a life where if I came down here to the Dram Shop and SJ was to come in, that we could actually have a root beer together, and actually be on the same page. I wish we had a society where we could actually go, “OK, we’re gonna team up.”
Again, back to the bad [church] groups that I’ve been in: They’d rather sit in a big group and pray for someone to get a sandwich than to go into the kitchen and make someone a sandwich. I’ll make you a sandwich.
A Q&A with Buckles’ opponent in HD 100, Democrat SJ Howell, can be found here.
