John Morrison (Montana politician)

John Morrison (born 1961) was elected as state Auditor in Montana in November 2000, and re-elected in 2004. In 2006, he was also a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Biography

Morrison grew up in the railroad and timber town of Whitefish, Montana. His father was a small town lawyer and his mother, a substitute teacher and speech therapist. His grandfather was Frank B. Morrison, Governor of Nebraska (1961-67).

When Morrison was in high school, his family moved to Missoula and he graduated from Hellgate High School. Morrison received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he excelled in academics, sports, debate and student leadership. After graduating in 1983, Morrison entered the University of Denver Law School, where he served as an associate law review editor and was a finalist at the National Trial Competition.

Morrison has written numerous legal articles and a book, "Mavericks, The Lives and Battles of Montana Political Legends".During college he worked as a construction laborer and radio announcer and had his own landscaping business.

Legal career

From 1987-1988, Morrison worked in Washington, D.C. as a legislative aide and legal counsel to Montana's Senator John Melcher and the Senate Agriculture Committee, helping write the Farm Credit Act of 1987, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

Returning to Montana, Morrison spent the next thirteen years practicing law in Helena. He represented the state in its Medicaid reimbursement case against tobacco companies, represented The New York Times, NBC and other media organizations in the famous Unabomber case, and handled scores of complex civil cases in both state and federal trial and appellate courts. Morrison was a partner in a small law firm and he taught widely at legal seminars and as a guest lecturer at the University of Montana Law School.

While still in his thirties, Morrison received an “AV” rating from Matindale-Hubbel (the highest peer rating for legal ability and ethical standards) and became a certified Civil Trial Advocate through the National Board of trial Advocacy. He was elected and served as president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association where he began a program to provide hundreds of bicycle helmets each year to underprivileged Montana school children.

Auditor’s Office

Morrison’s current position as State Auditor includes the title and duties of Commissioner of Insurance and Securities.

Morrison proposed, designed and implemented Insure Montana, a small business health care program that uses tax credits, premium assistance and pooling to cover thousands of uninsured workers and their family members. (Great Falls Tribune 3/11/05, article on business page and editorial); (Missoulian 12/21/05.) His proposal-passed in 2005 and funded by a special tobacco tax- also included funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and a prescription drug program. (Missoulian 1/6/03; Great Falls Tribune 1/28/03) He also created a premium assistance program for Montana’s high risk health insurance program that covers the chronically ill, and successfully rehabiltated a Montana Health Insurer. (Daily Interlake 9/8/02).

Morrison is currently leading a 2008 ballot initiative campaign to create the “Healthy Montana Kids Plan” which will cover nearly all of Montana’s uninsured children. (Independent Record 10/28/07).

Morrison wrote and secured passage of sweeping new privacy laws restricting unauthorized use of personal medical and financial information and credit scores. (Billings Gazette 5/8/01 (privacy)); (Great Falls Tribune. 1/29/05 (credit scoring)).

Morrison wrote the Montana Captive Insurance Act and helped launch the niche industry that has brought Montana more than 30 new domestic insurers. (Billings Gazette 3/2/02. )

As securities commissioner, Morrison wrote and secured passage of the Montana Capital Formation Act that creates a Montana based venture capital fund (www.matr.net/article-10616.html) and started InvestSmart Montana that provides investor protection education in communities across the state.(www.investsmartmt.org). Through InvestSmart, Morrison produced "Fraud Under the Big Sky," a feature length documentary film narrated by J.K. Simmons (Law and Order, The Closer, Spiderman, Astronaut Farmer, Rendition, Juno). (Missoulian 9/18/07).

Morrison and his staff prosecuted the largest insurance and securities cases in the state’s history, recovering millions for victims and helping to put corrupt agents and brokers in prison. (Montana Standard 10/31/03 (O'Neill); Gazette 12/21/06 (Davison)).

As a member of Montana’s Board of Land Commissioners, Morrison led creation of the State Land Bank that has acquired thousands of acres of land for the state school trust, making it accessible to the public for recreation. (Billings Gazette, 8/26/01).

National Leadership

Morrison has chaired two major standing committees of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners: Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs and Health Insurance and Managed Care. Morrison led creation of a nationwide system that collects, aggregates and analyzes information relating to the conduct of insurance companies toward consumers in the marketplace, as well as an internet portal for insurance consumers, www.naic.org/cis. He led passage of model law banning discretionary clauses in insured ERISA plans that confers broad claims handling rights on millions of Americans. Morrison chaired the committee that kept terrorism coverage in place after September 11 (Great Falls Tribune 9/8/02; Daily Interlake 1/31/02), led a national crackdown on fake Insurance and medical discount schemes (Consumer Reports July 03, June 06). He was one of a three member delegation that began the relationship between U.S. and Chinese insurance regulators in 2003. As NAIC’s International Vice-Chair for Asia, he has represented U.S. insurance regulators in the 2007 U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogues and the 2008 U.S.-China Insurance Dialogues in Hangzhou, China.

Morrison has written numerous op/eds, including "The Climate Change Peril that Insurers See," Washington Post 9/27/07 (reprinted widely by newspapers and blogs). He has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Times, Money, Forbes, Smart Money, Consumer Reports, Best’s Review, and other national publications.

2006 U.S. Senate candidacy

Morrison started off strong in the race for the Democratic nomination for Senator, collecting $1.05 million as of the start of 2006, including $409,241 in the last three months of 2005. [1] Although incumbent Conrad Burns led Morrison in early polling by 15 points, Burns was hurt by stories about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Polls in March of 2006 showed Morrison narrowly leading Burns while Burns narrowly led Morrison’s primary opponent, Jon Tester. (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/senate_races/montana_senate2.) After April newspaper stories about a past affair, Tester questioned Morrison’s effectiveness to challenge Burns on his weakest point, ethics, although May polling showed Morrison’s lead over Burns growing. (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/senate_races/montana_senate) (Helena Independent Record, 5/28/06] [3] In late May, the Morrison-Tester race was called a "deadlock," [4] but Jon Tester continued to gather momentum. On May 31, 2006, Paul Richards, citing the closeness of the race, and his own position (third) in the polls, withdrew from the race and threw his support to Tester. [5] Tester won the June 6, 2006 primary with 65,531 votes (61%) compared to Morrison's 38,246 (35%).

Tacke Case

In April 2006, several Montana newspapers published articles about an affair Morrison had in the late 1990s, and a later case that was handled by the securities department in Morrison’s office. The case involved complaints against Kalispell businessman David Tacke. During the case, Tacke became engaged to the woman with whom Morrison had the relationship years earlier. After barring Tacke from selling securities, the department referred potential criminal issues to federal authorities and worked with them as the department addressed regulatory issues. Morrison hired an outside counsel to handle the contested administrative proceeding, which was settled. The federal case, using evidence provided and presented by Morrison’s office, resulted in conviction and sentencing of Tacke.

The Missoula Independent, a weekly newspaper that specialized in investigative journalism, was the only newspaper critical of Morrison. It questioned whether Morrison's office went easy on Tacke in contrast to the federal case which led to conviction and imprisonment on essentially the same charges. That disparity raises the question of whether Morrison put personal interest in the way of his public duty." [8] However, under Montana law, Morrison’s office had no authority to prosecute a criminal matter directly, but could only refer evidence of criminal violations to federal prosecutors, the state attorney general or a local prosecuting attorney, which was done. [9]

Notes

External links

* [http://sao.mt.gov Montana State Auditor's homepage]