Wilburn Steps Up as Conservative Candidate for Billings Ward 5

When his parents grew up as sharecroppers in Alabama, they were always called "boy" or "girl." After they moved to Montana in the 1950's, it was the first time they had ever been called "sir" or "ma'am."

Now Fred Wilburn is stepping up to run for the city council because he says he doesn't want to see Billings turn into the next Portland or Seattle. He wants to keep it "the last great place."

Wilburn works for the CHS Refinery in Laurel, but says he wants to step up and serve on the Billings City Council in Ward 5 to fight for lower taxes and more freedoms at the local level.

Here's the audio of our full conversation:

Wilburn: What folks have to realize is politics is always local, because locally that's what you'll see first. And it's very important that you're involved in the city council races with these candidates. If you can canvass for candidates, anything that you can do to help these candidates get on to the city council and help to keep it conservative, keep it responsible, keep it effective and efficient. And that's what you really you want, especially in a growing city like ours. More than I think at any time in our history, what the city is going to be in the next 20 years is going to be decided in the next few years.

Wilburn says he is representing "all of us working folk" and that "we've been taxed too much." He says it's not just a problem locally but nationally as well:

Wilburn: If you couldn't do what you were supposed to do with the money we just gave you. What makes you think or what makes you think that we trust you to do what you need to do with new money.

Click here to follow Fred Wilburn's campaign on Facebook.