The Montana attorney general is the state’s top lawyer, head of law enforcement and the boss of the Department of Justice, a job description that requires a range of legal expertise and managerial prowess.
Attorney general candidates Democrat Pam Bucy and Republican Tim Fox both say the diversity and depth of their professional experience make them the right choice for the position, even if their experience differs widely – as do their priorities if elected.
And with a considerable amount of third-party money flooding in, the race has taken on a sharpened political tone in recent weeks.
Bucy and Fox are running against each other to succeed Attorney General Steve Bullock, who is leaving the post to run as a Democrat for governor against Republican Rick Hill. Bullock defeated Fox in 2008. The last time Montana had a Republican attorney general was Marc Racicot, who left office in 1992.
Bucy, 43, is touting her experience as an executive assistant attorney general under former Attorney General Mike McGrath, chief legal counsel for the Department of Labor and Industry and criminal prosecutor in the Lewis and Clark County Attorney’s Office.
The Helena lawyer says the attorney general is the state’s “chief consumer advocate,” a role she will take seriously. Among her primary areas of focus are consumer protection and identity theft, land and stream access, and protecting children, women and elders against abuse.
She says she has also worked extensively with the state’s American Indian reservations and would continue to make tribal issues a high priority as attorney general.
Bucy, who points to a long list of law enforcement endorsements, was instrumental in drafting legislation to register sexual and violent offenders when she was an assistant attorney general.
“My No. 1 priority and the thing I’m so passionate about is protecting Montana’s kids,” she said in an interview last week.
Fox, 55, says his 25-year legal career has been distinguished by a wide range of criminal, constitutional and civil cases, including work for the Department of Environmental Quality and private practice. He says he has a managerial background in both the private and public sector.
While Bucy is touting her work as a prosecutor, Fox said he doesn’t believe prosecutorial experience is necessary for the attorney general’s office. He currently works at Helena’s oldest law firm, where he notes that former Attorney General Joe Mazurek practiced.
Fox also places high priority on protecting children, arguing that the state’s sexual and violent offender registry needs to be improved. Other priorities include protecting gun rights and streamlining operations at the Department of Justice.
The centerpiece of Fox’s campaign has been his promise to make the attorney general’s office a “job creator,” by promoting natural resource development through his seat on the Land Board and standing up to the federal government, specifically the Affordable Care Act.
“When the constitution is at risk, the attorney general of the state of Montana has to be involved in defending Montanans and our interests,” Fox said. “And I would propose to do that and intend to do that if I’m Montana’s next attorney general.”
An influx of third-party money from Washington D.C. has further pushed the Affordable Care Act to the forefront of the race. Lee Newspapers reported in late September that a national Republican committee based out of Washington D.C. has pumped $580,000 into advertising that supports Fox and is critical of the health care law.
That amount is more money than the two candidates have raised combined: Bucy has raised about $270,000 to Fox’s $230,000. Bucy isn’t pleased with an outside group “coming in and I think attempting to buy an election.”
“I find it deeply disturbing especially when you find out where that money is coming from,” she said.
Fox says he would have joined a lawsuit with 26 other attorney generals opposing the Affordable Care Act. Bullock decided not to join the lawsuit and said his decision was vindicated when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the majority of the federal health care law, arguing it would have been a waste of taxpayer money to join.
Bucy agrees with Bullock. She says the Fox campaign is “making a 10-second sound bite out of a really complicated legal issue.”
“You’re hired to exercise your legal judgment as Montana’s top lawyer and not your political judgment,” Bucy said.
The Democrat added that she’s “not one bit hesitant to take on the federal government” but only after making a “sound legal analysis,” and says she has done so in the past, including fighting against provisions in the Real ID Act.
Now that the Supreme Court has issued its ruling, it’s unclear what a state attorney general could do to oppose the law. Fox says there are still lawsuits working their way through court systems across the country, which he would consider as attorney general, though he concedes “it might be too late.”
Both Fox and Bucy are Montana natives, from Hardin and Townsend, respectively, which they say gives them an understanding of Montana values. Though Fox has positioned himself as the pro-resource development and business candidate, Bucy says that having been raised by a miner father she understands firsthand the “value of a natural resource job.”
Fox says he has worked closely with the business community as an attorney.
“I’ve helped a lot of businesses get started,” he said. “I’ve helped a lot of businesses succeed. I’ve helped them wade through regulations and government bureaucracies.”
Each candidate has received notable endorsements. Fox has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Montana Chamber of Commerce and the Montana Shooting Sports Association.
Bucy has been endorsed by the state’s largest labor union, MEA-MFT, Montana Conservation Voters, several firefighter and law enforcement organizations, and two major daily newspapers, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and Billings Gazette.
A Lee Newspapers poll in September put Fox ahead in the race 46 to 37 percent, with 17 percent undecided.
With early voting already going, and the Nov. 6 election approaching, the candidates will do their best to appeal to that sizable chunk of undecided voters.
“The only poll that matters,” Fox said, “is on Election Day.”