Republicans ask court to find Graybill ineligible in AG race

HELENA – The Montana Republican Party has asked the state Supreme Court to disqualify Democrat Raph Graybill from the November ballot for attorney general, saying it has spent money on developing an election strategy to defeat a candidate not eligible to hold the office.

The court on Tuesday gave Graybill until Aug. 10 to respond to the request for a declaratory judgment. The Republicans in their filing said the matter must be resolved before Aug. 20, the date the ballots for the general election are certified.

The Montana Republican Party lawsuit, filed Aug. 3, is an offshoot of a Commissioner of Political Practices decision during the June primary race in which it was determined Graybill, who now serves as chief legal counsel to Gov. Steve Bullock, did meet the eligibility standards set forth in the state Constitution and could run for office.

The Republicans allege he has not practiced law in Montana for five years before election. 

COPP commissioner Jeff Mangan said Feb. 28 that Graybill has met the constitutional requirement that he must be an attorney admitted to practice law in Montana and who has “engaged in the active practice” of law for at least five years.

Graybill, according to the lawsuit, was licensed to practice law in Montana on Sept. 22, 2015. He faces Republican Austin Knudsen and Green Party candidate Roy Davis in the Nov. 3 election.

Graybill criticized the GOP action.

“It’s desperate, and while the GOP and its lawyers are busy playing political games, I’m talking about real issues, like my opponent’s plan to take away health care from 429,000 Montanans in the middle of a pandemic,” he said in a text

Mangan’s decision was in response to a Feb. 3 complaint filed by former Democratic state lawmaker Dave Wanzenried. Mangan found Graybill to be eligible to run for office.

Republicans noted in their lawsuit that Wanzenried did not escalate the issue to the court.

The Republicans noted that the delegates during the 1972 state constitutional convention intended “to put the attorney general on the same status as the district judge, that he’d have to practice law in Montana for 5 years, learn the procedure of Montana so, therefore – so that he could then be a good, qualified, experienced lawyer when he became Attorney General ..." 

Graybill's grandfather, Leo, was president of that convention.

Reporter Phil Drake is our eye on the state capitol. For tips, suggestions or comment, he can be reached at 406-231-9021 or pdrake@greatfallstribune.com.