Montana Attorney General Tim Fox appeared on the KGVO Talk Back show on Wednesday and answered questions from listeners regarding his decision to run for governor.

One criticism he addressed was that some say even though he is a Republican, he’s not ‘conservative enough’.

“They might say, you know, he works with Democrats on getting legislation passed,” he said, adding “yeah, legislation to protect kids, legislation to address substance abuse disorder crisis in our state, legislation to protect our consumers, legislation to address human trafficking. I’ve worked with Republicans and Democrats to get common sense legislation through, and I don’t think that tags me as anything but a statesman, frankly.”

Fox also expressed pride in issues he has addressed that are now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We just learned that the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari and will hear an appeal of the case having to do with tax credits for religious schools,” he said. “What the Bullock administration did was unconstitutional, and we’ll be chiming in on that lawsuit in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Montanans.”

Calling current Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney ‘Steve Bullock 2.0’, meaning he would continue Bullock’s policies if elected, Fox also answered a listener’s question about the office of the Commissioner of Political Practices, and whether the office should be abolished.

“That office has been abused in the past particularly in the past, add it up, the last 14 years of Democratic control of the governor’s office, where political hacks, essentially for the most part, though I won’t say all of them, have been placed as commissioners there,” he said.

Fox’s office also released on Wednesday an update on the condition of critically wounded Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer and Casey Blanchard, who was also shot multiple times on March 15.