Sullivan ahead in tight justice race

Voters for a Flathead County Justice of the Peace were divided in their choice between a Whitefish attorney and Columbia Falls paralegal.

As of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, attorney Mark Sullivan had 6,192 votes and paralegal O'Neil had 5,927 votes - with 59 percent of votes counted in Flathead County.

Justices of the peace don't have to be attorneys and that was the dividing point between Sullivan and O'Neil.

Sullivan has been an attorney for 17 years, working as a prosecutor, public defender and private attorney.

O'Neil has been a mediator for more than 20 years, practiced law in the Blackfeet Tribal Court, and serves as a state senator.

Sullivan and O'Neil were the top two vote-getters in the June primary for one of two Justice of the Peace positions. They outpaced attorneys Tom Muri of Whitefish and Lane Bennett of Kalispell at the polls.

A separate race for the county's other Justice of the Peace position was between incumbent David Ortley and challenger Shawn Guymon.

Ortley easily was re-elected. He had 10,049 votes to 1,854 for Guymon at the midway point of vote-counting.

Flathead County commissioners expanded Justice Court, effective next year. It is currently funded for one full-time judge and one part-time judge.

At the first of the year, both positions will be full time.

Both Sullivan and O'Neil said they hoped to help the court catch up on a backlog of cases.