One of the newest AFT members to hold elective office is Jill Cohenour, president of the Federation of Public Health and Human Services, a Montana affiliate of AFT Public Employees.

In her first run for office, Cohenour, a Democrat, ousted GOP incumbent Gilda Clancy by a 14-point margin, decisively winning a seat in Montana's state Legislature.

"This is a seat that we need to have," says Cohenour, a chemist at the Montana State Environmental Lab. "We need more working folks in these positions of decision making to protect the services that government provides to the people."

Cohenour, a member of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council,  knows that one of the primary issues she will be working on as a state lawmaker is the budget. Montana is projecting a $250 million deficit for the coming biennium.

Cohenour thinks tax policy needs to be revisited if the state is going to protect its infrastructure, provide quality public services to its citizens and fulfill its obligations to its work force.

"They have really tried to balance the budget on the backs of state workers," Cohenour says, noting that negotiated raises for all state employees were underfunded and a hiring freeze has been implemented. "When you harm us, you are harming the state. We are one of the largest groups of employees in the state economy."

The Montana Legislature meets every other year from January through March. Cohenour says she will take leave without pay from her state job while the Legislature is in session.