Former Whitefish leader seeks judge job

The Daily Inter Lake

Former Whitefish City Attorney and Councilman Tom Muri has announced his candidacy for Flathead County justice of the peace and filed for the position this week.

Muri, 54, is running for the justice of the peace position being vacated by Dale Trigg. His opponents are attorneys Mark Sullivan and Lane Bennett, and paralegal Jerry O'Neil.

After graduating from Whitefish High School in 1970, Muri served in the Navy during the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1975. He graduated from Montana State University in 1979 with a degree in history and from law school in 1983.

Muri served as a U.S. Navy judge advocate general and staff judge advocate in Bremerton, Wash., and in Japan. He returned to Whitefish and opened a private practice in 1987 and began work as city attorney.

Muri and his wife, Cathy, have four children and one grandchild.

He has worked as a staff judge advocate for the Montana National Guard and as a special assistant attorney general with the Montana Consumer Counsel, representing the public before the Montana Public Service Commission in Helena.

He returned to Whitefish in 2002, serving on the City Council from 2004 to 2006.

Muri and his wife, Cathy, operate the Crestwood Resort in Whitefish. They have four children and one grandchild.