For immediate release

Oct. 7, 2008

EDITOR’S NOTE: These stories are produced by University of Montana

journalism students under the supervision of Professor Dennis Swibold.
They may be used without charge, provided editors retain the students’
bylines. Please contact Professor Swibold (dennis.swibold@umontana.edu)
with any questions. You can also find this story and others on the upcoming
election at www.montanaschoice2008.blogspot.com.

Chief justice rivals clash over experience

By ELIZABETH HARRISON
Community News Service
UM School of Journalism

Ron Waterman, a Helena attorney running for chief justice of the

Montana Supreme Court, has an identity problem.
Although he is reasonably well known among Montana lawyers and in
his home city, this is his first run for statewide office.
His opponent, two-term Attorney General Mike McGrath has been in the
news and on yard signs since he first ran for Lewis and Clark county
attorney in 1982.
Getting attention hasn’t been easy, though Waterman is making the
rounds of candidate forums and debates, arguing that his lack of political
experience is a good thing. What the court needs now, he said, is broad and
deep legal experience.
He said the next chief justice should be someone who has tried cases all
over the state and represented not only corporations and insurance
companies, but individuals with a range of problems.
Waterman, 64, was born in Newark, N.J., but moved to Montana as a
teenager to work on a ranch near the Big Hole River. After graduating from
the University of Montana’s law school in 1969, he clerked for a federal
judge.
The experience Waterman touts began with his involvement in gender
equity litigation in the early 1980s. That work led Montana high schools to
develop more extracurricular activities for girls.
His later work with stream access litigation led to the development of the
current stream access law, and he helped build Montana’s new public
defender system.
“My opponent has nothing but partisan politics in his resume,”
Waterman said. “I think the fact that I’ve never run for political office before
is a good thing, because it means I don’t have the same political baggage.”
For his part, McGrath doesn’t see how his political affiliations can hurt.
“I’ve been in the public arena since 1982,” he said. “I have a reputation
for being fair and impartial. I’m not sure what he means by ‘political
baggage.’ I just think that’s silly.”
At 56, McGrath has spent most of his professional life in public service.
Before serving five terms as Lewis and Clark county attorney, the Butte
native was an assistant state attorney general for six years.
As attorney general, he’s backed the Montana Meth Project, fought
identify theft and supported the expansion of drug courts and more help for
victims of crime. Beyond criminal justice issues, his office won settlements
from mining companies, holding them responsible to cleaning up sites in
East Helena and along the Upper Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers.
His office also handles consumer protection cases and is presently
defending the state’s method of funding public schools.
In all of these cases, McGrath said, he is personally involved, at least
with strategy, and he participates in the courtroom part time.
Waterman has been critical of McGrath’s participation in one high-
profile case, that of Jimmy Ray Bromgard, who spent 15 years in prison for
a rape he didn’t commit. Bromgard was exonerated in 2004 by DNA
evidence. His original conviction was based in part on faulty hair analysis
conducted by the head of the State Crime Lab, Arnold Melnikoff.
Bromgard sued the state for wrongful conviction, and in a deposition for
the case, McGrath said he still believes Bromgard could be guilty.
Waterman, who represented Bromgard in the case, also chastised McGrath
for not ordering an independent review of Melnikoff’s hair analysis in 250
cases.
McGrath shot back at Waterman and other critics of his handling of the
case.
“First of all, he (Waterman) was well paid for his services to Mr.
Bromgard,” McGrath said. “In terms of the review of the lab, keep in mind
this guy worked in Montana in 1989, so obviously things have changed
dramatically in terms of the operation of the crime lab.”
He said his office reviewed every one of Melnikoff’s hair analysis cases.
“We came to the conclusion there wasn’t anyone else wrongfully convicted,”
McGrath said.
Another point of contention is a state law that bars judges from
considering cases they were previously involved in as attorneys.
Waterman said that if McGrath is elected, he would have to disqualify
himself from any considering case the Justice Department handled during
his tenure. That could amount to hundreds of cases, Waterman added.
McGrath said he would not have to disqualify himself unless the case
was one in which he was personally involved.
“We disagree on what the interpretation of those rules is,” he said.
While the two candidates differ on many issues, they agree that being
chief justice requires leadership and administrative skills, and they both
cited the Supreme Court’s backlog as a problem.
In a September debate in Billings, McGrath said that 70 cases pending
before the court were more than a year old. He said it is “absolutely
unacceptable” for a case to be two or three years old before a decision is
rendered.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” he said. “The constitution itself
provides that citizens are entitled to a speedy remedy.”
McGrath said his experience administering the Department of Justice,
with its 750 employees, could help him spot inefficiencies and cut the high
court’s backlog significantly. One solution could be designating someone as
court commissioner to speed up the paperwork, he added.
Waterman argued that the Supreme Court has already begun reducing the
backlog. To accelerate the process, he said he would convene a panel to
make recommendations.
While Waterman lacks McGrath’s administrative experience, he said he
plays a key role in managing his law firm: Gough, Shanahan, Johnson &
Waterman in Helena.
“I think quite frankly as one of senior partners in a major law firm, I
think I do have a fair amount of administrative experience,” Waterman said.
In the end, voters’ lack of familiarity with Waterman remains his biggest
obstacle in the election.
Waterman has refused to accept campaign contributions from political
action committees, and he has criticized McGrath for accepting such money.
McGrath said he has the support of the Montana Game Warden’s
Association, the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union,
NARAL Pro-Choice Montana and Montana Conservation Voters. According
to his latest financial report, he’s received PAC money from the locomotive
engineers, Dish TV, the state’s public teachers union and the Montana
Hospital Association.
-30-