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Last Updated June 22, 2005
Conrad Burns makes weighty speeches on foreign policy and the future of the Internet even as he cuts the figure of a stereotypical Westerner, picking his teeth with a pocketknife, chewing tobacco, telling deadpan jokes. Burns grew up in northwest Missouri, joined the Marines after two years of college, worked for two airlines, then became a livestock fieldman and auctioneer and field representative of the Polled Hereford World and moved to Billings. When he was reassigned back east (to Des Moines), he quit so he could stay in Montana. He set up the Northern Ag Network, which grew from four radio stations in 1975 to 29 radio and six TV stations in 1988. Piqued at a local politician, Burns ran for Yellowstone County commissioner in 1986 and won; two years later, he ran against Democratic Senator John Melcher. Burns attacked him as ''a liberal who is soft on drugs, soft on defense and very high on social programs.'' Melcher was hurt by public opposition to the ''let-it-burn'' policy that resulted in the Yellowstone fires of summer 1988. Burns, who ended every speech with a Western ''You bet!'' won 52%-48%. In 1994, he faced poorly-funded law professor Jack Mudd; Burns won 62%-38%, the first time Montana voters have ever re-elected a Republican senator. Burns has a solidly conservative voting record in the Senate. In 1997, he became chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, one of the key regulatory posts in Congress. There, this former broadcaster has generally favored deregulation and encouragement of Internet commerce. He wrote Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which provided incentives for broadband data networks. His bill to provide for electronic authentication of online contracts and user identities became law in June 2000. With Ron Wyden, he has co-sponsored the extensions of the law exempting Internet transactions from taxation. Also with Wyden, he co-sponsored the 2003 CAN-SPAM law that bans fake originating addresses and harvesting of email addresses from webpages, requires a clear opportunity to opt out of further messages and labeling of pornography and directs the FTC to study a do-not-spam registry. With Hillary Rodham Clinton, Burns sponsored a 2004 E-911 law that granted states money to upgrade technology to locate cellphone callers and provided penalties for states that misdirect the funds. He has worked on spectrum issues, including bills taking certain channels away from broadcasters and allocating them to law enforcement. On spectrum, he says, "I am the only person in the whole Congress who believes it is not a national resource. I think it's a technology." But he has supported spectrum auctions. Despite his deregulatory instincts, he opposed the 2003 FCC ruling allowing companies to own larger numbers of radio and TV stations. "We've all said we've seen a growth in the number of voices and a growth in outlets. We have seen that under existing rules. So my first reaction is, why change?" But Burns will be less of a voice on these issues, since Chairman Ted Stevens reshuffled the Commerce subcommittees and eliminated the Communications Subcommittee so that telecommunications issues can be heard at the full committee level. Burns became chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee instead. On other issues, Burns was a strong advocate of allowing airline pilots to carry guns, and called for shifting airport security from the Transportation Department to Justice. He cast the lone vote against the election procedures bill passed in April 2002, on the grounds that it imposed too many mandates on state and local government. On Montana issues, Burns is often critical of environmentalists. He opposed reintroduction of grey wolves into Yellowstone National Park, estimating the cost at $1.8 million per wolf. He has blocked Democrats' plans for a Montana wilderness bill and they have blocked his. He joined several Democrats in 2002 in seeking over $5 billion for drought relief for farmers, on the ground that they deserve it as much as victims of hurricanes and floods; this was opposed by George W. Bush, and Burns and others had to settle for $752 million coming out of farm programs. As chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, he is well-positioned to steer money to Montana projects, like the ARS Northern Plains Research Lab, the Value-Added Ruminant Animal Consortium at Montana State, the U.S. 93 bypass project in Kalispell and the Marcus Daly mansion restoration in Hamilton. Burns had a surprisingly hard time winning reelection in 2000 over Democrat Brian Schweitzer, who was elected governor in 2004. One reason was term limits: In February 1999, Burns announced he would break his pledge to serve only two terms. That same month, speaking before a Montana group, he referred to Arabs as ''ragheads'' and had to make a quick apology--his penchant for quips had gone too far. Schweitzer, a Whitefish rancher, turned out to be a tough opponent, with a penchant for original proposals and pithy phrases and, in his blue jeans and Dodge pickup, with a persona as down-home as Burns's. Schweitzer was the first candidate in the 1999-2000 cycle to call for a prescription drug benefit, and in fall 1999, he organized the first busload of seniors to Canada to buy drugs at lower prices. Burns responded ineptly and did not seem comfortable arguing that pharmaceutical companies set prices in order to fund pathbreaking research. Burns was also thrown on the defensive on the asbestos issue. There was heavy publicity about the asbestos-related illnesses and deaths in the town of Libby, where children played in tailings from a closed vermiculite plant. In January 2000, a trial lawyer-financed group attacked Burns for supporting a bill that would limit compensation to those who had asbestos-related disease and shut down the giant asbestos tort cases; it showed a Libby resident accusing Burns of "standing up for the people who made me sick and killed my father." In March, Burns withdrew his support of the bill and pushed for $3.5 million for a Libby hospital and $8 million for local economic development. In addition, a group backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an asbestos company ran ads showing relatives of an asbestos victim blaming "asbestos lawyers" for clogging the courts and preventing them from getting compensation. Later, another group backed by pharmaceutical companies ran ads saying Schweitzer favored "Canadian-style government controls on prescription medicine." Burns outspent Schweitzer by 2-1, and in ads talked about bringing $1 billion of federal money to Montana. He also linked Schweitzer to Al Gore. Polls in the closing weeks showed the race close, and Burns won by only 51%-47%. There is some speculation that Burns, who turns 71 in 2006, will not run for reelection when his seat comes up that year. But in 2003 he said there was never any doubt he would run. By mid-2005, two Democrats seemed likely to challenge him: state Senate President Jon Tester and state Auditor John Morrison.
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