Freshman Republican Rep. Greg DeVries anticipated spending the first days of the 2019 Session of the Montana Legislature “getting my feet under me” and, “not having played the game before,” learning “the inner workings at the capitol,” he said over coffee in Boulder last Friday.
The previous day, DeVries attended his first Jefferson County governing meeting, that of the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee. It was his first time meeting some of the local officials and hearing their concerns including hopes for repurposing the Montana Developmental Center.
“I’m not exactly sure what I can directly do,” DeVries said last Friday. “My job description is to write laws or vote on laws.”
He said he viewed the scope of his role as legislator as “big picture,” with the county commissioners being directly responsible for meeting the needs of county residents. He doesn’t want to pass a law for something that should be handled at the county level, or a law that would go wrest governance from the commissioners.
DeVries recounted hearing at the BTAC meeting about “lots of headaches and bureaucracy, which are there because of laws written in the past,” and reiterated his philosophy that “government should be small.”
“[Government] should be there to prevent crime and punish crime, basically,” he said.
Reining in government and prioritizing local governance were primary components of DeVries’ campaign platform, along with being “a voice for the unborn” and a staunch advocate for gun rights — positions that 57 percent of Jefferson County votes favored over those held by his opponent J. Bryher Herak, a Democrat.
His opposition to abortion, and belief that it was “time to put money where my mouth is,” was “probably the largest motivating factor” behind his decision to run for office.
Following that pledge and his election win, DeVries is the latest state legislator to introduce a draft bill to amend the Montana Constitution to define a “person” as “all members of mankind at any stage of development.” The bill proposes to put the so-called Personhood Amendment to a voter referendum on the November 2020 ballot.
Before running to represent HD-75, the extent of DeVries’ experience with governing was serving on school and HOA boards, he said.
During a pre-session orientation, legislators were asked to list three committees they wished to serve on in order of preference. DeVries said he had no strong feelings for any particular committees, but sought “to be part of the solution and not part of the problem” and for leadership to “put me where I’m needed.”
DeVries was placed on the Judiciary, Local Government and Education committees.
“I’m happy with what I was assigned to,” he said. “It’ll be interesting being on the committees and hearing all the bills coming through.”
DeVries said he hadn’t yet met a mentor, but had been “starting to assemble in my head” the names of people whose outlook and ideologies suggested they were “birds of a feather” he might connect with.
A self-employed painter for 25 years, DeVries assigned his son to manage his business during the entire session so he could focus on legislating.
“I couldn’t have done it otherwise,” he said.
A resident of Jefferson City since 2015 — and of Montana since 2002 — DeVries, unlike far-flung legislators, at least won’t need to find a place to stay during the session.
DeVries said he doesn’t have “any big aspirations or goals” for the 2019 Session, just a focus on the personhood amendment “and trying to keep state government small as best I can.”
