BILLINGS — The accomplishments of nearly a dozen Build Montana graduates were celebrated during a ceremony at COP Construction in Billings on Friday.

“All my friends are at school right now and I’m working machines and stuff,” said Abby Barlagee, a program graduate.

Build Montana provides high school students with opportunities to network with trade industry professionals, get hands with materials, and receive certifications prior to apprenticeships. It’s a partnership among the Montana Contractors Association, the Montana Equipment Dealers’ Association, and the MCA Education Foundation.

“I’m excited that I get to go straight into an industry that I know that I like,” said Merrick Choriki, a graduate who will head to ThinkBIG with Caterpillar Inc. after graduating high school.

Many of the recent graduates said they were looking forward to the money in their respective trades, including several with starting salaries of $60,000 per year.

“It is good money, but honestly, I don’t really think about that. I think it’s just kind of fun,” said Barlagee.

HELENA — MTN is continuing our look at the closely watched races for two open seats on Montana’s Supreme Court.

Justice Dirk Sandefur was elected to the court in 2016, and he decided not to seek another eight-year term in 2024. That led to three people filing for a chance to win one of the six associate justice positions. The two candidates with the most votes in the June primary will move on to the general election in November.

The first two people to announce they were running for associate justice are both state district court judges.

Dan Wilson, of Kalispell, is one of five judges of the 11^th Judicial District, which covers Flathead County. He was elected to the position in 2016 and reelected in 2022. Wilson previously worked as a deputy county attorney, then spent about a decade in private practice, doing a variety of work – including family law and criminal defense. In 2010, he was elected as a justice of the peace for Flathead County. He says he wants to center his campaign on his experience and record.

“I’m not running to carry water for any sort of political issue or any political group,” Wilson said. “I’m merely offering up again my candidacy to Montanans as a judge with a proven record for following the law and the Constitution, and one who doesn’t insert his own views or the views of stakeholders or interested parties or special interests to determine whether something passes a legal test or not.”

Wilson says recent political tensions around the court are an inevitable when branches of government are in conflict over their roles. He said it’s important for justices to hold to legal standards when making their decisions, and that he doesn’t believe Montanans want justices to advocate for particular interests.

“The Supreme Court functions best, I believe, when it is the quiet branch, when it’s simply there resolving disputes in a fair and constitutional way – that it does its level best to avoid making unsolicited or unnecessary comments attacking any other branch of government, but simply issues opinions that are well supported by the Constitution, the rule of law, logic and good reason,” he said.

Jonathon Ambarian

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Katherine Bidegaray, of Sidney, has been a district judge since 2003 – one of two serving the 7^th Judicial District, which covers Richland, Dawson, McCone, Prairie and Wibaux Counties on Montana’s eastern edge. She said her rural and eastern Montana background would bring a different perspective to the court.

Bidegaray says the current Supreme Court justices are doing a good job, citing a state survey of judges and attorneys that showed 80% of respondents agreed the court’s decisions were based on facts and applicable law. She said accusations that the court has overstepped its role are misplaced.

“I think it is especially important during these times that we have a judiciary that remains fair and impartial, that remains independent of the other two branches of government, and that is prepared to fulfill its function of correcting an abuse of power if, in fact, one of the other two branches of government, including the legislature, overreaches the constitutionally provided powers it has,” she said.

Bidegaray says it’s important to stand up against what she sees as political attacks on the judiciary.

“I just want to be able to do my part so we can maintain our democracy and the rule of law and protect the beautiful rights that our Montana Constitution provides us, which include some really unique rights: the right to privacy, the right to equality of education, the right to access to public lands and water, and the right to a clean and healthful environment,” she said. “Those are unique in our Constitution, and those rights have been under attack.”

Jonathon Ambarian

The third candidate is in an unusual position: admitting his eligibility for the court is likely to be questioned. Jerry O’Neil is a former Republican state lawmaker from Columbia Falls who spent eight years in the state Senate and four years in the House. He describes himself as a mediator and independent paralegal, but he’s not a licensed attorney under the State Bar of Montana.

The Montana Constitution says candidates for Supreme Court must have been “admitted to the practice of law in Montana for five years.” O’Neil says the court and the bar are acting as a “monopoly” by preventing someone from getting licensed as an attorney or practicing law in state courts without having attended an accredited law school.

In December, he filed a federal lawsuit, asking the court to rule that he was eligible to run for Montana Supreme Court because he has been admitted to practice law in Blackfeet tribal court. However, after he filed his candidacy, he dropped the case, telling MTN he thought the judge would likely rule against him “to protect his monopoly.”

O’Neil said, if he wins, he believes his election would not be challenged.

“They might do it, but I don’t think they’re going to go against the public like that,” he said.

O’Neil said he was running for the Supreme Court because he believed justices had been overstepping their role on issues like abortion and election regulations, and because he wanted to further challenge the court and the bar.

“The voters I’ve talked to are up in arms over the Supreme Court legislating from the bench, and the majority of them, virtually all of them, are not appreciative of the attorney monopoly,” he said.

Montana voters will also select a new chief justice this year. Three candidates are also running for that position.

Montana’s attorney general told supporters he skirted the state’s campaign finance laws by inviting another Republican to run against him as a token candidate in next month’s primary so he could raise more money for the November general election, according to a recording from a fundraising event.

“I do technically have a primary,” Attorney General Austin Knudsen said last week when asked at the event who was running against him. “However, he is a young man who I asked to run against me because our campaign laws are ridiculous.”

Knudsen separately faces dozens of professional misconduct allegations from the state’s office of attorney discipline as he seeks a second term. He made the comments about his primary opponent during the fundraiser on May 11 in Dillon, Montana, according to the recording obtained by the Daily Montanan, which is part of the nonprofit States Newsroom organization.

In the recording, Knudsen is heard saying that Logan Olson “filed to run against me simply because under our current campaign finance laws in Montana, it allows me to raise more money. So, he supports me and he’s going to vote for me.”

Knudsen’s senior campaign adviser Jake Eaton declined to comment on the recording.

Olson, a county attorney in rural northeastern Montana, denied being recruited by Knudsen. Campaign finance records indicate his filing fee was paid by a longtime Republican operative who is also a Knudsen donor.

The state’s campaign finance watchdog agency, the Commissioner of Political Practices, is investigating complaints filed by the executive director of the Montana Democratic Party that allege an agreement between Knudsen and Olson.

Under state law, a person cannot pay or “promise valuable consideration” to another person to induce them to be a candidate, or to withdraw as a candidate.

Democrat Sheila Hogan’s complaints say Knudsen started raising donations exceeding the $790-per person allowed without a primary opponent long before Olson filed on March 11 — the final day for candidate filing.

“Olson is not a legitimate, good faith candidate for Attorney General,” both complaints state.

Eaton, who called the complaint against Knudsen frivolous, said it was “common practice for candidates to accept primary and general contributions and then return the money if there is no contested primary.”

He suggested Democratic Attorney General candidate Ben Alke, a Bozeman attorney, was also accepting more money than what is allowed from individual donors.

However, a search of Alke’s campaign finance reports shows only contributions to his primary campaign.

Knudsen and Olson have until May 23 to respond to the complaints, although Olson has requested an extension, commissioner Chris Gallus said Friday.

Olson has not raised or spent any money in the race, according to a report filed by his treasurer on Friday.

His April campaign finance report listed a debt of more than $1,500 to Standard Consulting of Helena for reimbursement of his filing fee.

“I did pay Logan’s filing fee and helped him file for office,” Chuck Denowh, a Republican operative and owner of Standard Consulting, said in an email Friday. “I did so because he asked me to.”

Denowh has donated $1,580 to Knudsen — $790 each for the primary and general elections.

Alke said the professional misconduct allegations and other actions by Knudsen are why he’s running for attorney general.

Knudsen is facing 41 counts of professional misconduct on allegations his office tried to undermine the Montana Supreme Court while defending a challenge to a state law about judicial nominations. The Commission on Practice is scheduled to hear the case in mid-July and recommend whether Knudsen should be punished.

Separately, in early 2021 Knudsen ordered the Lewis and Clark County attorney to dismiss concealed carry weapons charges against a man who allegedly threatened a restaurant manager trying to enforce the state’s pandemic mask mandate. Knudsen’s office later pleaded the case down to disorderly conduct.

In October 2021, a Helena hospital said three unspecified public officials threatened doctors after they refused to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, a drug for parasites that is not federally approved for the virus. Knudsen’s office later confirmed that he participated in a conference call with hospital executives and that he sent a Montana Highway Patrol trooper to the hospital to talk with the patient’s family after they claimed mistreatment — something the hospital denied.

“This sort of conduct from the chief legal officer and law enforcement officer of the state of Montana is inappropriate and I hope people are paying attention because this is just one of several issues with Austin Knudsen,” Alke said Thursday.