Commission recommends all four judge applicants

The Judicial Nomination Commission has recommended that Gov. Judy Martz consider all four applicants for the district judge position in Havre left vacant when Judge John Warner accepted a seat on the Montana Supreme Court.

The commission forwarded the names of Havre lawyer Stephen Brown, Glasgow lawyer James Rector, Hill County Attorney David Rice and Havre lawyer Kathleen Richardson to Martz on Monday. Martz has 30 days to make a decision.

Martz selected Warner, who had won election as district judge three times starting in 1988, for the Supreme Court in April.

Brown, 47, graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula with a degree in political science in 1977 and received a law degree from the UM law school in 1980. He has practiced in Havre for 23 years and is a member of the state commission that reviews ethics complaints against lawyers. He is with the Havre law firm of Bosch Kuhr Dugdale Martin and Kaze.

Rector, 57, graduated from the UM law school in 1979 and has practiced law in Glasgow for 24 years.

Rice, 57, graduated from the UM law school in 1973. He first was elected county attorney in 1986, and was re-elected twice, the last time in 2002. He chairs the state commission that provides training to justice, city and municipal court judges.

Richardson, 55, earned a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., in 1977. She started working for Northern Montana Hospital in 1996, where she is a lawyer and fund-raiser.