Down-ballot candidates that deserve attention

With the tidal wave of political advertising swamping the media, the down-ballot candidates are completely drowned out by the PAC candidates at the top of the ticket. There are important details of down-ballot candidates, however, that deserve our attention. Take, for example, the candidates Erin Farris-Olsen and John Repke.

The clerk of the Supreme Court is somehow still an elected office in Montana. Though ministerial and not a policy-making position, it is elected on a partisan basis. It shouldn’t be. 

Erin Farris-Olsen is extremely well-qualified to be clerk of the Supreme Court, and most importantly, clearly understands what the job entails, having served as a practicing attorney, and notably, as a law clerk for the Supreme Court.  Importantly, Farris-Olsen is committed to impartiality and keeping politics out of the office. After all, the clerk makes neither legal determinations nor public policy in this purely record-keeping administrative office.