Justice says his experience counts

Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat says experience is the difference between him and his challenger, former Montana Solicitor General Lawrence VanDyke.

“He says there’s a real contrast in this race and I would agree with him. I think there is, but I think the contrast is with experience,” Wheat said in an interview this week.

“I think the main theme of my campaign is that experience matters when you’re running for the Supreme Court,” Wheat said. “I have experience in my private sector life and in my public sector life and I think that’s important.”

Wheat, 66, was appointed to the Supreme Court by then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2009. Prior to that, he had served as a Democratic state senator from Bozeman, where he practiced law since 1981.

It was a general practice, exposing him to a wide variety of legal cases.

He got his start in law as a prosecutor with the Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney’s Office.

“I prosecuted everything from traffic offenses to homicides. I got a real introduction to the courtroom being there,” he said.

Wheat spent the early part of his life in Superior. His father worked in logging, construction and mining. Wheat went on to join the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in combat in the Vietnam War.

The Marine Corps and the GI Bill helped Wheat put himself through college and law school, at his father’s urging.

“He understood that education was the way to not have to work in construction all your life,” Wheat said.

VanDyke has been an attorney since 2002. He was the Montana Solicitor General under Republican Attorney General Tim Fox for just over a year before leaving that job to challenge Wheat for his seat on the Supreme Court.

VanDyke questions Wheat’s active involvement in Democratic politics. He asserts that Wheat “judges like a liberal Democrat” and is prone to “results-oriented” rulings.

Wheat doesn’t see it that way.

“I know I’m being criticized for being in the Legislature and being a Democrat, but that’s a valuable tool as well,” he said, explaining how his legislative experience serves him well on the bench. “When we’re interpreting statutes we have a pretty good idea about how the statute was created ... I would describe it as a base of knowledge that you draw upon while you are working through your decision.”

Jurists having legislative experience is not unprecedented. Wheat noted that his fellow justice, Jim Rice, served in the Legislature as a Republican, as did Jean Turnage, a former chief justice whose career is highly regarded.

Wheat refutes VanDyke’s claim that his rulings have a liberal bias.

“He seems to think I have some liberal agenda and I’m result-oriented. I really disagree with him on that,” Wheat said, adding that the court is “really confined” by certain parameters, such as lawyers presenting the justices factual backgrounds in cases that can’t be changed.

He said the court’s rulings are arrived at almost through a committee-like process.

“We strive very hard to arrive at a consensus so we can hopefully have an opinion that the majority of us agree to,” he said. “I can’t possibly go through that process pushing some kind of agenda. If that was my job, all I would do is be writing dissents.”

Wheat said he is running for his position on the court because he feels fortunate in life, and he realizes the court can make a positive difference in the lives of people who aren’t so fortunate.

“I feel like I have something to offer and give back to my community and my state and I think I’m doing a good job on the court,” he said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.