All Montana cities paying for the misdoings of Libby

Letter to the Editor:

You may not know it, but your city is paying the cost for serial prosecutorial misconduct to effect voter fraud in Libby. The recently concluded Olsen case in Libby resulted in a ruling from District Judge Wheelis which stated that the City of Libby “had no non-frivolous basis to pursue this action” against the challenger in the mayoral race. The action was filed just days before the election. The incumbent mayor, Doug Roll, won by a measly 13 votes. City Attorney Jim Reintsma fled Libby days after the judgment came down.

Without the frivolous lawsuit, Libby would have a new mayor who could lend honor to the title. Allen Olsen would have been a great mayor.

The city’s insurer, Montana Muncipal Interlocal Agency, paid a ton of legal fees in this case. And the mayor of Libby, with a new city attorney, is at it again. I hope you have all paid your dues at Montana Municipal Interlocal.

The new City Attorney and Deputy County Attorney, Allan Payne of Doney Crowley P.C., has announced that Mayor Roll has tasked him with an investigation into the actions of a council member. We’ve taken to calling them witch hunts. Payne has thus far been reticent to reveal exactly what the investigation entails, but has questioned suspects without informing them of their rights. This is reminiscent of the Crismore case, which resulted in a Supreme Court ruling that the City of Libby had violated Councilman Crismore’s rights of due process. I’m sure your city paid for that one too. It cost Mr. Crismore the election.

The justice system in Libby has been compromised, resulting in a complete loss of trust in the system. This began with the Dolezal case, the model for the others. Local law enforcement timed their investigation of County Commissioner Larry Dolezal with the election cycle. Then-Deputy State Attorney Mark Murphy was publicly humiliated when Judge C.B. McNeil declared that no case had been presented, causing a mistrial. There was no evidence of wrongdoing, but Dolezal lost the election in the meantime.

There seems to be no way to end this pattern and practice of election fraud while the current gang is in power. I thought that if I informed the membership of Montana Municipal Interlocal where their dues were going, it might help. If your constituents realize that they are effectively being taxed to pay for repeated election fraud in Libby, maybe the mayors of this state will pressure Doug Roll to stop his crazy antics. You can email him at dproll@yahoo.com and copy me at xcav8orr@hotmail.com so I can report your interest in the matter.

— D.C. Orr, Libby