Gov Race: GOP Calls on Judge to Recuse

The Montana Republican Party is calling on Lewis and Clark County District Judge Kathy Seeley to recuse herself from the campaign contribution case involving gubernatorial candidates Steve Bullock (D-MT) and Rick Hill (R-MT).

MT GOP Executive Director Bowen Greenwood released a laundry list of donations to Democratic campaigns from Judge Seeley, including her endorsement from abortion rights group NARAL in 2008. They also noted that US District Judge Dana Christensen, who kicked the case back to state courts, is a campaign contributor to Steve Bullock. (Full release below)

After effectively pulling Rick Hill’s campaign ads off the air, the Hill campaign is now seeking relief from US District Judge Charles Lovell. As Lee Newspapers’ Chuck Johnson reports:

Hill’s attorney, Matthew Monforton of Bozeman, filed legal papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell of Helena to temporarily halt the order issued by Seeley.

“Her order has effectively shut down the Hill campaign with less than two weeks left before Election Day because of actions, when taken by the campaign were perfectly legal, a gross violation of due process,” Monforton wrote.

It was Lovell who issued the order Oct. 3 that struck down’s Montana campaign donations as unconstitutional. On Oct. 9, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Lovell’s decision and reinstated the limits.

KTVQ-TV featured an interview with State Sen. Majority Leader Jeff Essmann (R-Billings), who also is calling for Judge Seeley to recuse herself.

Billings state senator Jeff Essman, the Senate majority leader, claims the district judge who ordered Hill’s campaign *not to spend the money and to pull the TV ads purchased with those dollars, is politically motivated.

Essmann points to campaign finance records that indicate both District Judge Kathy Seeley and federal judge Dana Christensen have donated to Democratic candidates.

Regarding Judge Seeley’s laundry list of Democratic campaign contributions, Montana Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann had this to say in a prepared statement e-mailed Thursday:

Montana Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann (R-Billings) called on District Judge Kathy Seeley to lift the order she imposed on the Rick Hill campaign without holding a hearing yesterday and called on her to recuse herself from further actions in the case because she cannot separate herself from her partisan Democrat party bias.

“Montanans want and deserve an independent judiciary especially in the closing days of a hotly disputed election season. Unfortunately, judges at both the federal and state court levels could not stop themselves from making critical decisions having an impact on a race when they have obvious ties to the Democratic Party or Steve Bullock. No wonder Bullock had a grin on his face last night, it looks like he thought he had the case rigged,” Essmann stated.

Campaign finance records available on the website FollowtheMoney.org show that over a 20 year period Kathy Seeley has always donated to partisan Democrats and never donated to a Republican. Meanwhile, Dana Christensen, a former delegate to the Democratic National Convention, has donated over $11,000.00 to Democrat candidates, including Steve Bullock, and a paltry $200.00 to Republicans. “The federal judge should have recused himself and transferred the case to a judge who has not donated to one of the parties to the lawsuit, and Judge Kathy Seeley should do the right thing now and take herself off the case,” Essmann demanded.

FULL PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MONTANA GOP

MTGOP releases judge’s 100% partisan contribution record

Helena District Court Judge Kathy Seeley, a 100% Democrat donor, recently ruled against Rick Hill, the Republican nominee for Governor, in a campaign-finance case. This came after Federal District Court judge Dana Christiansen, an Obama appointee with thousands of dollars of donations to Montana Democrats, sent the case to Seeley’s court.

Today the Montana Republican Party released a list of every single political contribution that Judge Kathy Seeley has ever made. There is not one single Republican campaign on the list.

Christiansen’s contributions — which include two separate donations to Steve Bullock — were also included.

Despite her 100% partisan contribution record, Seeley failed to recuse herself from the Hill case. Christiansen also failed to recuse himself despite his direct contributions to Steve Bullock and his overwhelmingly partisan donation record.

Along with her 100% partisan donation record, Seeley has also in the past been endorsed by Hill-opponents NARAL pro-choice Montana.

(http://www.prochoicemontana.org/political-updates/2008endorsement.shtml)

The Code of Judicial ethics, promulgated by the Montana Supreme Court, reads in part, “[A Judge] should not suffer his conduct to justify the impression that any person can improperly influence him…”

No doubt, that code of ethics helps explain why Seeley has in the past recused herself from cases involving Steve Bullock. Why she chose to disregard those ethics in this case is not as easy to explain.

Earlier this year, Seeley recused herself from a case in which the MTGOP alleged that Steve Bullock violated campaign finance laws. Now, she has failed to recuse herself from a case in which Steve Bullock alleges that someone else has violated campaign finance laws.

(http://www.krtv.com/news/helena-judges-refuse-to-hear-campaign-finance-case/)

MT GOP Executive Director Bowen Greenwood: “Why didn’t Seeley recuse herself in this matter?

The list of Seeley’s donations is as follows:

JOHNSON, PAUL, DEMOCRAT $20

http://followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=967175181

MAZUREK, JOSEPH, DEMOCRAT $45

http://followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=967154767

TWEETEN, CHRIS, NONPARTISAN $80

http://followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=967196850

MCGRATH, MIKE, DEMOCRAT $75

http://followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=967196850

GRAY, KARLA M, NONPARTISAN $35