From BillingsGazette:

HELENA – Teachers, not cops, are the most effective weapons against crime, said Lee Bruner, a Republican candidate for attorney general who said last week he supports coal mining as a way to pay for public education.

Bruner, 47, of Butte, said recently that Montana’s top elected officials should more aggressively market state lands and coal reserves to bring money to Montana’s schools. Bruner is particularly interested in the Otter Creek coal tracts, enormous southeast Montana deposits of underground coal owned by the state and held in trust for public education.

Royalties assessed on that coal would be a boon to public education, Bruner said. Well-educated citizens earn more and are less likely to commit crimes, he said, making for a safer, more prosperous society.

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