(FROM Proponents Website: http://www.crtrmontana.com/)

Montanans for Justice comments, emphasis in black

FAQ
1. Why are we bringing this Measure?

• First, it is Constitutional rather than in statute so it is less susceptible to tinkering by the Legislature.
• Second, in the mid-1970s Montana voters actually approved an initiative on which the current law is based. That initiative provided a method for the recall of all elected public officials including judges. The initiative provided that ‘any reason acknowledging electoral satisfaction with a public official provided a sufficient reason for the recall. The very next session of the legislature conveyed only months after the initiative passed amended the initiative to restrict our right to recall.
• We went from any reason acknowledging electoral dissatisfaction to the standard set by the legislature that we still have today which limits the reasons for recall to instances involving conviction of a felony physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence violation of the oath of office or official misconduct. Current Montana law limits reasons for recall to judges not doing their jobs or misconduct - proponents find that too limiting. What other reasons are there - recall judges for doing their job? The real targets are judges who make decisions some person or group is upset with.
• What’s more is another judge gets to determine sufficiency of the stated reason for the recall. That is such an obvious conflict of interest given the closeness in the manner in which our judicial system is set up. More importantly, it blocks the voter’s right to determine the sufficiency of the reasons stated in the petition. Voters already get to decide whether to keep or throw out judges - it's called an election. We don't need special elections at taxpayer expense.

2. Why are you targeting judges? Why not include all elected officials?

• A constitutional amendment allowing for the recall of all public officials would amend multiple parts of the Montana Constitution which is prohibited (Article XIV, section 11, example CI-75). This would involve presenting at least three separate amendments to the constitution if not more.
• We can start with judges and if the people like it we can add more. Judges are just the first targets, taxpayers will be footing the bill for recall after recall if the proponents get their way.

3. What Judges are subject to recall? All elected judges, including:

• Supreme Court Justices
• State District Court Judges
• Justices of the Peace (Elected Countywide)
• Municipal Judges

4. Are there judges that are not included, and Why?

• The measure does not include unelected judges (Two state positions only)
  Workers Compensation Judge; and
  Water Court Judge
• These are gubernatorial appointments subject to confirmation of the Senate.
  Why are they not included? It would require two amendments to the Constitution as we would be presenting a Recall measure and restricting the appointment powers of the Governor.
• Also, if a city has an unelected small claims court administrator or judges this position could not be the subject of a recall. Again, elected only.

5. Who starts the recall process?

• Up to three petitioners who serve as “chief petitioners” file with the person able to accept nominations for the judicial position. Typically the Secretary of State for a statewide race or a county clerk and recorder for a district or local office.

6. What responsibilities do the petitioners have?

• First, they must include a justification statement declaring the reasons for the Recall
• Then they must circulate the petition for signatures in a format approved by an elections official, and file the signed petitions.

7. What is a justification statement, and what must it contain?

• The justification statement declares the reasons for the recall in 200 words or less. It is placed on the petition and the ballot so that signers and voters can decide for themselves if there is sufficient reason to recall a judge.

8. Can the justification statement contain any reason to recall a judge? Are there requirement that the justification statement be true?

• The sufficiency of the reasons for recall as declared in the justification statement are to be determined by the voters. If they think the reason stated is sufficient for them to sign they can sign. If they think the reason stated is sufficient to recall the judge by voting against them then they can vote against them.
• There are requirements that the justification statements are true in that a petitioner making false statements is subject to is subject to legal liability. The Initiative says the petitioner "shall not be shielded from responsibility for any untrue statements contained in the justification statement" - that is not the same as "subject to legal liability," since judges are public figures, any petition justification statement author is shielded from legal liability if it is "opinion." Simply: if the justification statement says a judge "is soft on child molesters," that is opinion and there is no legal liability if there is even the most remote truth to it - out of 100 child molesters sentenced, he gave the maximum prison time to all, except one; if it says a judge "is a child molester," that is a factual assertion and if false (and the petitioner knew it was false) there would be legal liability.

9. How many signatures are required?

• 10% for a statewide office needed to be collected statewide to recall a supreme court justice.
• 15% for district and local office.

10. 10 and 15% of what?

• 10 or 15% of the number of people who voted to fill the office which is the subject of the recall. This includes the total number of votes cast both for and against all candidates in the race. Current recall statute requires percentage of all registered voters in the previous election. Judicial elections typically have fewer votes cast (CI-98's standard) than there are registered voters. A very small minority of voters can trigger expensive recall elections under CI-98.

11. How long do they have to gather signatures?

• Three months.

12. When can they file the petition?

• Petitioners must wait at least 60 days from the time the judge takes office before they can file a petition for recall.
• This provides a cooling off period following an election, and allows the judge time to perform functions of the office.

13. Can they file petition after petition just to harass a judge they don’t like?

• Not really, because after a first recall during a judge’s term of office the Legislature can require subsequent petitioners to post a bond which would cover the cost of the election. Proponents say that petitioners will have to post a bond to pay for a second, third, fourth or fifth recall election - but that's not what CI-98 says. Why not? Why does CI-98 leave this up to the legislature? Why are taxpayers on the hook for the costs?

14. What is the role of the Secretary of State, clerk and recorders or other election administrators? Are we placing additional burdens on them?

• No more so than we do when the people present an initiative. The process is similar in terms of presenting and approving petitions and counting and verifying signatures. Well, they do that within a limited time frame, every two years. CI-98 would mean they could be doing this extra work all the time, every year.
• Election administrators, whether the Secretary of State, or a local county clerk and recorder, must approve the form of the petition within three business days so that it can be circulated. This would include making sure 60 days have elapsed since the judge took office, that a justification statement was submitted, and that the justification statement did not exceed 200 words.
• A county clerk and recorder has 15 days to count or invalidate signatures before certifying signatures to the Secretary of State or proper election administrator for tabulation.
• The election administrator has 5 days to tabulate signatures if it is a local or district office, and the Secretary of State has 10 days to tabulate signatures received from county clerks for statewide officer.

15. When are the recall elections held?

• 75 days after certification that a petition has the required number of signatures, or within 90 days if there is a regularly scheduled election within that period. Elections every 75 days - who pays? Taxpayers.

16. Aren’t there existing ways to get rid of a bad judge?

• Yes, but not under the constitution by a vote of the people, and only for very limited reasons under the existing recall statute.
• The constitution currently allows for judges and justice to police themselves with respect to fitness and competency or discipline. The actual people who elect them do not.

17. Does this measure replace those existing methods to remove judges?

• No it adds to the process by giving the people who actually elected the judges a role in the process as well. The people who actually elected the judge already have a role, three roles actually: FIRST, citizens can file a recall petition pursuant to state law for judges who are not doing their jobs; SECOND, any citizen can file a complaint requesting investigation of a judge with the constitutionally required Judicial Standards Commission; and, THIRD, elected judges face regularly scheduled elections - citizens can vote them out of office.
  
  
• FROM Proponents Website: http://www.crtrmontana.com/