Tagged: Democratic primary

Posted: June 1, 2012 at 6:36 am

Montana Needs the Most Experienced Candidate to Defeat Tim Fox, Break Barriers

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave a talk recently about how there are too few women leaders.  She said that out of 190 heads of state, nine are women.  Out of all of the worlds parliaments 13% are women.  In the corporate sector, women at the top in C-level or board positions top out at 15-16%.  Sandberg says that even in the nonprofit sector, a place we think of having a lot of women leaders, we see the same thing.  Only 20% of non profits are led by women.  These are sobering statistics.  But, at least when it comes to elected office, we have the power to change them.

Pam Bucy gives us the opportunity to elect a woman become Montana’s Attorney General for the first time in state history–one of only six in the U.S.

Bucy is the best candidate to go up against Tim Fox in the general election.  First because women make up more than half the population.  They vote more often than men–both in primary and general elections.  Having a woman on the ticket will help turn out women voters–and that helps all democrats because women are much more likely to vote for them than for Republicans.

But the greatest reason that Pam Bucy is the best candidate to put against Tim Fox is her vast legal experience.

Bucy has been an attorney in private practice.  She’s been the Chief Legal Council for the Montana Department of Labor–an agency with more than 600 employees.  She spent four years as a county prosecutor with the Lewis and Clark County Attorney’s Office.  For more than seven years she served as Chief Deputy Attorney General to Mike McGrath–the highest law enforcement official in the state– running the Department of Justice.  She has been in the courtroom in public and private practice. She has worked with the Legislature. She has managed large agencies, and she has been instrumental in making legal and policy decisions that affect the entire state.

I know Democrats will get behind whomever wins the AG Primary next week, but Pam has the most knowledge and the experience to win in November and to hold the office of Attorney General.

Posted: May 18, 2012 at 5:08 pm

GUEST POST: Pam Bucy’s Volunteer Work Has Made Montana a More Just State

For professional and personal reasons, I have never commented or posted on a political blog. However, the fact that I have a unique perspective on Pam Bucy’s commitment to justice compels me to publicly support her in this context. Her varied and impressive legal experience is already well-known. What is less well-known is her 16 years of quiet, unpaid, tireless work for access to justice in this state.  I know that her commitment to justice is genuine and deeply grounded in the core of who she is and what she believes.

I met Pam when I moved to Montana, right out of law school, to work for Montana Legal Services Association. Representing victims of domestic violence in eastern Montana, I was blown away by the utter and complete lack of access to justice for too many Montanans who couldn’t afford an attorney to help them exercise their rights in relation to housing, credit, parenting, and safety.

When I met Pam, at 33 years old, she had already put herself through law school as a single mom and was Executive Assistant Attorney General (aka Chief Deputy) under Mike McGrath. She was pregnant with her second child, and, somehow, she found the time to serve as the volunteer Chair of the Supreme Court’s Equal Justice Task Force. This was more than a title for Pam.  She showed dedication in her passionate leadership, but she also got her hands dirty doing all kinds of work that needed to be done to increase access to justice for low-income Montanans.

In all of the years we worked with each other on access to justice issues, she was NEVER without a pro bono case. And she took the thankless ones that no one else wanted- complicated, highly contested, ugly, multi-year family law cases. There are women and children in Montana whose rights and safety were only protected because of Pam’s volunteer work.  Her rare dedication has been recognized by her peers: In 2006, she was recognized by the State Bar with both a pro bono award and an award for distinguished service for access to justice.

When the State Bar received a bit of money to do a legal needs survey, she didn’t just lead the effort, she joined Americorps VISTA volunteers in conducting hour long interviews of low-income Montanans all across this state.  Then she led the effort to have the legislature commission their own study of legal needs. That study directly led to the first-ever investment by the state in services, forms, and support for unrepresented litigants in Montana.

She helped create the first pro bono policy for state workers in Montana.

More recently, she demonstrated her commitment to access to justice on the Board of the Montana Legal Services Association. The list goes on and on and on….

I haven’t met a candidate yet who shares all of my beliefs or all of my policy positions. What I look for are people who share my core values, who I fundamentally trust to do the right thing, and who are committed to work hard for the people they represent. Pam is without question that candidate for me.

I can honestly say, without any fear of hyperbole or exaggeration, that Montana is a more just state because of Pam’s volunteer work over the last 16 years.  Her commitment to justice is as deep and sincere as any person’s I know.  I hope readers will consider this quiet, dedicated, and largely unknown part of Pam when they cast their votes for Attorney General in the primary.

Tara Veazey

Helena, MT

Posted: May 2, 2012 at 5:01 pm

New Poll: Gillan in the Lead

A new poll by Public Policy Polling, a national firm that polls in Montana periodically, says that Billings state senator Kim Gillan has opened up a lead against the rest of the field in the Democratic Congressional primary contest, taking 21 percent, with Diane Smith at 13, Franke Wilmer 11, Strohmaier 9 and Bob Stutz at 1.

The poll also reveals that Gillan and Steve Daines (who will be the GOP nominee) are now in a 33-27 match in the general election.

Posted: April 26, 2012 at 6:40 pm

Strohmaier’s Smart Ad

Montana Congressional Candidate Dave Strohmaier (D) has a smart new ad up.  The ad is different than anything else on the airwaves and shows he believes in fairness and equality for all people.  If he were really smart, Strohmaier could probably get some national talk show attention for this.  Perhaps that’s already in the works.

Here’s the ad: