Editor’s note: The following story was written by a student in Professor Nadia White’s Public

Affairs Reporting class at the University of Montana. You are free to share or publish this story
provided you retain the reporter’s byline. Questions? Email nadia.white@umontana.edu.

Larry Anderson says county commission needs a Republican

By Collin Behan

It had been almost 20 years since Larry Anderson had lived in Missoula when he passed

through on a road trip to visit in-laws in Butte. He stopped to visit an old college friend,

who encouraged him to apply for a job as Missoula’s city administrator. That was in

1986 and the friend was the recently elected mayor of Missoula, Bob Lovegrove.

“I knew absolutely nothing about local government, so I thought I’d give it a try,”

Anderson said. He got that job, served as city administrator for four years and has

remained close to Missoula and local government ever since.

Anderson is now running for reelection after being appointed a Missoula County

Commissioner in 2007. He was born in Omaha, Neb., and came to the University of

Montana in 1963. After graduating with a degree in forestry and range management,

Anderson entered the Army and served as an executive officer of an artillery unit in

Vietnam. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Oregon State

University in 1975.

In 1991, Anderson and his wife Linda, his college sweetheart, opened the Eastgate Rental

and Party Center. They sold the company 11 years later and Anderson went to work as a

Field Representative for former Sen. Conrad Burns and, later, Rep. Denny Rehberg.
County Commissioner Barbara Evens retired in 2007 after nearly 30 years as a county

commissioner and Anderson was named to replace her for the final year of her term.

Anderson said he has tried to maintain Evans’ policy of allowing people to drop in to visit

with commissioners.

“Her motto, and I think it’s one that I carry on, was ‘Serve all the people,’” Anderson

said.

Evans was well respected by the people of Missoula and replacing her was difficult,

Anderson said. At the same time, Anderson thinks he brought a fresh perspective to the

commissioner’s office as a former business owner and fiscal conservative. He was

familiar with the people and workings of local government from his time as city

administrator and having serving one term as a Missoula city councilman for Ward 4 in

1995.

As the only Republican on the board of commissioners, Anderson said he brings a crucial

balance of perspectives to the county. His experience in city, county and federal

government and business can help push Missoula through the current rough economic

times, Anderson said.

If elected, he would like to continue working with outlying towns like Seeley Lake,

Frenchtown and Bonner on their community plans.

“I think the majority of people (in those towns) want to see those communities maintain a

personality and the uniqueness that they have,” Anderson said.

Commissioners respond to a diverse range of needs, goals and opinions. The county’s

constituents range from people living on country roads around Seeley Lake to students

living in apartments in downtown Missoula to seniors in rapidly growing towns like Lolo

or Frenchtown.

Land use planning and transportation are of key importance to the future of the county

and his own plans for the commissioner’s office, Anderson said. Over a billion dollars in

funding requests have been made for transportation projects in the next 20 years. Less

than $480 million in federal and county funding is projected during that time, he said.

“So, as an elected official I’m going to have to try to find ways to compromise and get

people to set aside their personal feelings and look at the larger picture,” he said.