HELENA — Montana House Republicans are asking a Helena judge to dismiss a motion filed by media organizations seeking an order holding them in contempt of a 1998 court order that says party caucuses cannot meet in private.
“We … do not see any member of the public complain when their chosen representative joins a caucus, and then caucuses in public or private, with notice or without,” attorney Mark Parker of Billings wrote Wednesday in response to the media motion.
“What Montanans of every political stripe want more than anything is for their trusted representative to ‘go in a room and figure it out,'” Parker wrote.
Media organizations filed their motion on Nov. 21 after a Great Falls Tribune reporter learned that House Republicans held an unannounced meeting in a Helena motel basement on Nov. 12.
Parker argues the 1998 court order doesn’t explicitly compel caucuses to give public notice of their meetings, Lee Newspapers of Montana reported. He also argued that the court order doesn’t apply to current lawmakers because they were not in office at the time of the ruling.
His motion also said the judiciary recognizes the value of private deliberations and notes the Montana Supreme Court meets in private to discuss and decide cases.
District Judge Kathy Seeley has scheduled a Dec. 9 hearing on the motion.