[MCN] Breaking Election News from Missoula County Commissioner Juanita Vero

[Jim Parker]

**

**

*PRESS RELEASE*

*_For Immediate Release_:_For more information_:*

                     Thursday, January 16, 2020Juanita Vero, (406) 
*360-5821*

*Missoula County Commissioner Juanita Vero Files for 2020 Election*

/Missoula, MT./ Fourth generation, lifelong resident of Missoula County 
and current County Commissioner Juanita Vero filed her intention to run 
as the Democratic candidate in the 2020 race for Missoula County 
Commissioner. Commissioner Vero waited until January 9, 2020 (the first 
day to legally file for candidacy) to officially signal her entry in the 
race but has had her campaign running full speed for a few months.

Born and raised on the E Bar L Ranch out in Greenough in the Blackfoot 
River valley, she has worked many years to support and manage the 
business her great grandparents began in the early 1920s. The ranch is 
one of Montana’s oldest family-owned and operated dude ranches.

Prior to her appointment as a Missoula County Commissioner in mid-2019, 
and beyond her work on the ranch, Vero chaired or sat on executive 
committees for some of our county’s most prestigious conservation and 
nonprofit boards of directors including: Montana Conservation Voters, 
Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Sunset School Board, Swan 
Valley Connections, and Missoula County Open Lands Committee.

“I’m running to retain my seat because I believe in what this commission 
can do,” said Vero. “I’m running because I believe in the Missoula 
County staff and citizens I work with daily. I want our county employees 
to have the agency to provide the best service they can, and for 
citizens to know they’ve been heard by county leaders and empowered to 
create the community in which they want to live.”

As a fourth generation rancher, Vero has extensive experience navigating 
the tricky dynamics of family, age, gender, race, class, and philosophy 
to help their enterprise be successful.

Most of the ranch’s 4,000 acres, plus an additional 4,000 leased acres, 
are under conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy and Five 
Valleys Land Trust. The ranch also provides public access under Fish 
Wildlife and Parks’ Block Management program for yearly fall hunting 
opportunities. The ranch maintains a herd of 100 horses, hires 30 
seasonal summer staff, has four year-round managers, and serves about 40 
guests a week, June-September.

Commissioner Juanita Vero is proud of her roots, giving her an authentic 
rural voice to add to the voices of the other two commissioners, Josh 
Slotnick and Dave Strohmaier.

“I grew up in the Blackfoot Valley where we are wary of attorneys and 
lawyering up isn’t our style,” said Vero. “We embrace the 80/20 rule 
where we leave the 20% we can’t agree on at the door and focus our work 
upon the 80% we do agree on. It has fostered a culture of collaboration 
and trust in private/public partnerships.”

Unlike an incorporated city such as Missoula, a county commission is 
limited to doing only what the state expressly allows it to do. And Vero 
is running because of what she believes the commission /can do/. It is 
not uncommon these days, as one walks within the County offices, to hear 
employees and citizens alike suggesting with a smile, ‘there hasn’t been 
such a diverse and positive commission like this for a generation’.

Commissioners are each one third of a governing body. As a commissioner, 
nothing is achieved alone. And if pressed to speak to accomplishments 
and pride in the work before her, Vero is ready with a response.

“As a Commission we are all committed to cracking this affordable 
housing/wage gap nut, we’re exploring ways to adjust our taxing system 
so it’s more equitable and the burden does not rest so heavily on 
property owners, we’re planning for 100% clean electricity by year 2030, 
and we believe in being pro-business and industry while at the same time 
adhering to our conservation ethics of protecting working lands, open 
space, agricultural soil, wildlife and riparian habitats.”

The campaign ahead will give Vero ample time, along with her daily 
duties as a Commissioner, to meet with Community Councils and citizens 
around the county. Whether Frenchtown, Target Range, Lolo and East 
Missoula or Bonner, Potomac, Seeley Lake and Condon she plans on 
attending meetings and listening deeply to community concerns.

“I have a joyful, collaborative disposition which has prepared me to 
navigate tight budgets with heavy missions,” said Vero. “Having that 
broad watershed, ridge top to ridge top perspective, and seeing where we 
can best work together is the culture I come from. I truly respect and 
trust our citizen voices and efforts. This is what I bring to the 
Commission every day on the job.”

*To contact the campaign please visit:* juanitaforcommissioner.com 
<https://juanitaforcommissioner.com/>.

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/__/

/_Notable endorsements include_//:/*Dave Strohmaier *(Missoula County 
Commissioner), *Josh Slotnick *(Missoula County Commissioner), *John 
Engen *(Mayor of Missoula), *T.J. McDermott *(Missoula County Sheriff), 
*Tyler Gernant *(Missoula County Clerk and Treasurer), *Erin Lipkind 
*(County Superintendent of Schools), *Barbara Berens* (Former Missoula 
County Auditor), *Jack Rich *(Outfitter),*Tracy Stone-Manning 
*(Vice-President, National Wildlife Federation), *Bonnie Buckingham 
*(Executive Director, Community and Food Agriculture Coalition), *Land 
Tawney *(Executive Director, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers), *Karen 
Knudsen *(Executive Director, Clarkfork Coalition), *Amber Sherrill,* 
(City Council, W4), *Katie Carlson *(CEO, Soula Realty*), Addrien Marx 
*(President, Montana Wilderness Association).

*__*

//

/Paid for by Friends of Juanita Vero for Missoula County Commissioner, 
Democrat, PO Box 2863,/

/Missoula, MT., 59806. Barbara Berens, Treasurer./

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