Citizens honored for Constitution work

 

By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau • June 12, 2009

 

HELENA — The 100 "Con Con" delegates who rewrote Montana's constitution in 1972 were honored Thursday during a ceremony at the Capitol commemorating their achievement.

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"This country has prospered for more than two centuries because in this country we are governed by a system of laws, not people," Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike McGrath said at the opening of the ceremony in the Capitol rotunda.

 

McGrath, the state's top judge, said the product of the Con Con was a "modern" and "enlightened" legal document.

 

"Thanks to these delegates it is perfectly adapted to Montana's role as the last best place," McGrath said.

 

Thirty-seven years ago, 100 elected representatives gathered at the state Capitol to rewrite the state's foundational legal document. Among them were 56 Democrats, 38 Republicans and six independents.

 

Though each was chosen by voters to help rewrite the constitution, none of them were politicians or elected officeholders. They were 100 citizens with politically and geographically diverse backgrounds who came to Helena in the winter of 1972 and emerged on March 22 of that year with a 12,000 word document, half the length of the original 1889 constitution. It was ratified by voters on June 6,1972, and continues to guide the state today.

 

Convention delegate Arlyne Reichert of Great Falls recalled some of her experiences as a delegate.

 

"Although it's been 37 years since the 'new' Montana Constitution was written, it seems like only yesterday," Reichert said.

 

Reichert said one of the reasons the convention was successful was because all 100 delegates met in the House chambers. They also broke legislative tradition of putting Democrats on one side of the aisle and Republicans on the other, opting to sit alphabetically instead.

 

"Many believe that if the situation had been analogous to the Legislature, with another body down the hall, the constitution could never have been finished," Reichert said.

 

A bronze plaque listing all 100 members of the 1972 Constitutional Convention was unveiled at the end of the ceremony. The plaque will hang outside the Senate chamber on the third floor of the Capitol.