Inaugural Address
Governor Brian Schweitzer
Monday, January 3, 2005
Governor Brian Schweitzer: There's a very special person who is not here today. There's a very special person who's in a hospital in Billings. But we have a closed circuit television connection. For all of you that have been praying for Bette Bohlinger, you should know, she is going to be just fine. And I would like John, my friend, your Lieutenant Governor, to speak to my friend Bette Bohlinger.
Lt. Gov John Bohlinger: Thank you all, Bette is with us in spirit. She, through the wonder of technology, is able to view the proceedings that are taking place at this time. She is my wife, a woman that I have had the joy of sharing nearly forty-two years with, the mother of our six children, the mother of two of our daughters who are here, Jen Osborne and JoLynn Summers. Bette, I just wanted to tell you, this is a unique and historic day in our lives and it is a day that we celebrate with you- it's a day that has come to fruition because of the passion that you have given this family. I, we, love you and we thank God for what we think of as a miracle in your healing. You've had wonderful healthcare at Deconess medical center, and we are greatful for the team of doctors and healthcare providers who are there to administer to you. It's just been a unique and heroic effort on their part. We thank you all for carrying Bette in your prayers. We thank you all for sending your cards, and letters and gifts, which give support and encouragement to her. I just can't thank you all enough, and she will be joining us here in Helena eventually. Thanks again for your support.
Governor Brian Schweitzer: To the very special guests that are here today, once again, Governor Judy Martz, thank you for your years of public service, thank you for protecting Montana, thank you for your years as Governor and Lieutenant Governor and may God bless the Martz family... And to Chief Justice Karla Gray, and the rest of the Justices, thank you very much, thank you for your service... Mr. Attorney General Mike McGrath to you, my friend Mike McGrath, thank you very much for four great years and four more. To the other boy from Whitefish, John Morrison, our insurance commissioner that we call auditor, thank you very much. To our teacher at the head of the class, Linda McCullough, and to the man that will share this hall with me for the next four years, Brad Johnson, Secretary of State.
To the members of my cabinet, may you never forget who we work for, you don't work for me, you don't work for yourself… you work for that family in Miles City that has a small business, you work for a single mother in Billings that has one disabled child and a father who left, you work for a farm family near Cut Bank. You work for the people of Montana. Let us never forget who brought us here and who we work for. Thank you for serving with me.
To the 150 souls that serve in our legislature, to the leaders of the legislature, may God's gift of wisdom be with you during the next ninety days. May we find the way of agreeing more than we disagree, and when we disagree may we not be disagreeable. I look forward to working with each and every one of you.
To the foreign dignitaries, the people who have come from other countries, who recognize the grandeur of Montana and the friendship of the people of Montana- Thank you for coming here on this special day in this special place, I look forward to working with you as well.
To the people who work in this grand hall, the people of General Services- the folks who have put together this grand day, the people that protect your building, thank you very much and I look forward to meeting with you in the next four years.
To my staff, those young people who helped on the campaign. To those people who helped through the transition and to those people who have agreed to be part of this new journey for the people of Montana, thank you, thank you for being with us.
Some four hundred generations ago, the first Montanans, the people who recognized the treasure state before this state was called Montana. To those people who recognized that snow is the treasure of Montana, and the mother of the rivers of the country. For those people who hunted and fished on our rivers for four hundred generations, I say welcome through the front door of the capital of the State of Montana.
Today's a new day, today is a day for the least and the last. I'd like to tell you about some of those. Nearly a hundred years ago Irish Mike and his bride Hannah homesteaded in the Hi-Line. They came to this country with nothing more than the clothes on their back, their faith in God and an Irish spirit of optimism. Now, Irish Mike didn't have much when he started, didn't have much when he was gone, but he raised a wonderful family, a Montana family. At the same time a family came from the, Ukraine Mike and Francesca, again, nothing but high hopes and faith in God as they struck out in Montana. Mike and Francesca, like Mike and Hannah, lived their life, worked their dreams and only dreamed of the possibility of being at the front of the line in the state of Montana. Today, as their grandson, I say to the people who were the homesteaders of this state, thank God that you believed and stayed. Thank everyone in Montana that represents the stories of the people that settled this great land, thank you for believing and know this: our greatest days are ahead of us.
The rest of the nation will find that we are the center of the energy for the future of this country. Our grand wind and our solar power, our rivers, not to mention our coal, our natural gas and our oil, and our ethanol. The future energy of the State of Montana is the future energy of this country. I hope you share our commitment to the future of Montana, and let us remember that we take care of every Montanan. The Montanans that will not make it to the front of the line and can only dream about the next generation making it to the front of the line. Those people who have special health and education needs, we will be there for you. Those small businesses that would like to grow from two to twenty-two, we will be there for you. And every family, every family who dreams, like my Mother and Father, children of homesteaders without a high school diploma that could only dream that the next generation could be university graduates, could be anything- and who knows, could be the Governor of the State of Montana. This is your day, its a new day, its for people who dream big things, and its for people who believe in ourselves. Thank God we have Montana, and thank God for the Montanans that inhabit.
Now, I will walk over to the drums, with my Lieutenant Governor, and as they play the drums, I want everyone in Montana to know, that my heart will be beating at the same rate as those drums and the Governor at the end of the hall will hear those drums beating for the next four years. Thank you very much. Thank you Montana. God bless America.
Note: When mentioning "drums" Governor Schweitzer was referring to a Native American drum circle that performed immediately after his Inaugural Address.
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