A trial lawyer political action committee is spending over $250,000 to try and elect former Democratic legislator Mike Wheat to the Montana Supreme Court, and one of the names on the list should raise some eyebrows among the capital press corps. Lawrence VanDyke is challenging Wheat for the seat, and says he wants to keep politics out of the court.
Montana Media Trackers has the story: Montana Trial Lawyers PAC Spends Over $250K For Wheat
Montanans for Liberty and Justice (MLJ), a political action committee with direct ties to the Montana Trial Lawyers Association (MTLA), disclosed spending in excess of $250,000 for the election of Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat between June 19 and October 18.
According to its October 23 campaign finance report filed with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, MLJ received $302,800 in donations and spent $266,271.77. The vast majority was spent on independent expenditures supporting Wheat and opposing his opponent, former Solicitor General Lawrence VanDyke.
Speaking of trial lawyers…do you remember that Louisiana trial lawyer who some might argue helped force former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) out of the race for the US Senate? Looks like he’s back, according to another financial report:
That’s right- a last minute $25,000 donation to a pro-Mike Wheat campaign from the Louisiana trial lawyer who already got Montana Democrats in some hot water. Who is that, you may ask?
Here’s a previous news story from The Great Falls Tribune’s John Adams- Web of relations belies aide’s denial: Connecting Montana’s former governor to dark money
Two weeks after news reports first linked former Gov. Brian Schweitzer to a pair of mysterious dark money political groups, a Tribune investigation shows Schweitzer’s ties to those groups are deeper than a top political consultant let on.
Conrad “Duke” Williams III is a Houma, La., attorney specializing in maritime and personal injury law…Williams contributed $1,000 to Schweitzer’s 2008 campaign and $10,000 to the Montana Democratic Party. Campaign finance reports show Schweitzer’s campaign received nearly $9,000 in contributions from southern Louisiana donors in 2008, mostly from attorneys in the St. Martin, Williams & Bourque law firm, of which Williams was a partner before he formed his own law firm in 2009.
According to the Montana Wildlife Federation’s June/July 2009 newsletter, Williams served as “regional director” for that organization and campaign finance records also show Williams in 2009 gave $5,000 to Montana, Hunters and Anglers PAC, a group that backed Montana Democrats.
Comments
Wednesday, November 05, 2014 1:03 PM
It’s not a bad thing that Daines and Zinke cruised to easy wins (although it IS a mite troubling how many people voted for lewis and curtis), however, with wheat and rice getting slots on the MT Supreme Court, the citizens of Montana still lost ground in our battle to keep the rights safeguarded for us by the Constitution.
What the left cannot win at the polls, they slither into law through the courts – via judges with similar agendas and negotiable morals.
Watch your six, Montana, we’ve got lawyers inbound.