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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2002

A county official in Montana said he regretted a dispute over how commissioners are elected had to be resolved in federal court.

Commissioner Vic Miller said the county spent a lot of money fighting a Department of Justice lawsuit filed on behalf of residents of the Fort Belknap Reservation. A federal judge ruled the voting system discriminated against Native Americans.

The county enlisted Mountain States Legal Foundation, a Colorado firm which once employed Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, to defend the voting system. Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Rebecca W. Watson was also helping the county prior to joining the Bush administration.

Blaine County commissioner sorry vote suit went this far (The Great Falls Tribune 4/17)

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Changes to voting system questioned (4/10)
Mont. county to discuss new districts (4/8)
Nothing ever happens in Blaine (3/28)
County blames Native 'problem' on feds (3/27)
Mont. voting system ruled illegal (3/26)
Interior pick fighting Native voting rights (11/6)
Native voting rights case on trial (10/10)