Panel: End the program

Every December, Municipal Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht used to hold a two-day food drive in her Kalispell courtroom.

For only $10 and 10 cans of food, defendants could get $50 knocked off their fines.

Since its start in 2001, the event provided between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds of food a year to the Flathead Food Bank.

It will continue no longer.

The state Judicial Standards Commission has decided that having defendants make contributions to charities and nonprofits in place of fines is a violation of judicial ethics.

That means an end to Ulbricht's Food For Fines program - and an end to a holiday windfall for the Flathead Food Bank.

"It's going to hurt. Let's just say that; It's going to hurt," Flathead Food Bank Executive Director Lori Botkin said.

Ulbricht said she told the city manager and City Council as soon as she received the Judicial Standards Commission's decision.

"Personally, it bothered me a little bit, but I see the reasoning why a judge shouldn't promote a cause, no matter how worthy," Ulbricht said.

Ulbricht said she decided to adopt the program because it gave defendants a break while allowing them to give back to the community.

"I thought it brought the problem full circle," Ulbricht said. "A defendant could help somebody else and themselves at the same time."

The program also allowed defendants to have a little extra disposable income around the holiday season, or just to find a convenient way to give back, Ulbricht said.

"We had a defendant who actually brought in extra food," she said. "They felt that strongly about the program that they saw it as their way to give back."

Participation in the Food for Fines program was voluntary, and the amount a defendant could write off his or her fine with food was capped at $50.

But there was no gray area left by the Judicial Standards Commission's decision, Ulbricht said.

"As a municipal court judge, we're attorney judges," she said. "So the Judicial Standards Commission not only has the power to sanction you as a judge, but also power over your bar license. The mayor said that perhaps the city council can come up with their own food drive to replace it."

Programs similar to Food for Fines aren't the only practices affected by the commission's decision.

Ulbricht said she will no longer give jurors the option to donate their fees - which are paid by the city - to Literacy Volunteers or Head Start.

Judges, in place of fines, can no longer order a defendant convicted of DUI to make a donation to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Nor can they order a defendant convicted of drug possession to make a donation to a treatment facility or a defendant convicted of partner assault to make a donation to a battered women's shelter.

Doing so violates Montana statutes and the Montana Canons of Judicial Ethics, according to the Judicial Standards Commission.

"I don't quarrel at all that it's the best intention in the world," said Judicial Standards Commission Chairman Ed McLean, a District Court judge in Missoula. "But that doesn't make it right or legal. When you have canons, you follow the canons or you don't be a judge. That's not a negotiable thing."

In a letter sent to Montana judges, McLean called substituting donations to charities or nonprofits for fines "widespread," and cited Canon 25 of the Canons of Judicial Ethics - which precludes judges from using the power of their office to persuade others to support certain businesses or charitable enterprises and bars them from soliciting for charities when doing so could create a conflict or interfere with their ability to be impartial.

Even though it occurred only two days out of the year, Ulbricht's food drive redirected revenue that would have gone into the cash-strapped city's coffers to the Flathead Food Bank.

In his letter, McLean wrote that "the statutes of Montana are clear where the fines and fees may be allocated and the courts do not have the discretion to direct those funds to other purposes."

City courts in Whitefish and Columbia Falls do not participate in the Food for Fines program, according to their judges. Flathead County Justice Court hasn't participated since before 2000, according to Justice of the Peace David M. Ortley.

"I think the reasoning is that not only does it put the judge in a precarious position where it appears the judge favors one organization over another, but it is not consistent with the statutes on sentencing provisions," Ortley said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com