Until two weeks ago, the sleepy race to select Montana's next chief justice of the Supreme Court was shaping up to be a lot like high court races of the past.

Scholarly. Buttoned-up. In parts, even forgettable.

But earlier this month, just weeks before Election Day, a public action committee started by state Sens. John Cobb, R-Augusta, Dan Weinberg, D-Whitefish, and Susan Good Geise, a former chairwoman of the Montana Republican Party, put candidate Mike McGrath, Montana's current attorney general, directly in their crosshairs.

The group, which calls itself Montanans for Fairness Not Politics, alleges that as attorney general, McGrath sidestepped justice in favor of political expediency. In particular, the group criticizes the way McGrath handled an investigation into the state's former and now discredited hair analysis expert, Arnold Melnikoff.

Melnikoff worked for the state's crime lab from 1975 until 1989, when he took a similar job for the state of Washington. There, he failed a competency exam in hair analysis and was later fired after his work came under scrutiny.

Melnikoff's hair analysis was part of more than 240 criminal cases in Montana, including, most famously, the case of Jimmy Ray Bromgard, a Billings man who was wrongly imprisoned for 14 years for raping a young girl. DNA analysis proved him innocent and Bromgard was freed in 2002.

Montanans for Fairness Not Politics contends McGrath failed to truly analyze Melnikoff's work in Montana, potentially leaving the door open for more wrongly convicted men. Of the hundreds of cases in which Melnikoff prepared hair analysis, McGrath's review conducted its deepest analysis on only those 19 cases in which Melnikoff actually testified at the convicted man's trial. The review also didn't consider any case in which the accused had already been released from prison.

The issue now threatens to be a defining element in the campaign and is personal for both candidates, raising questions about both McGrath and his challenger, Helena lawyer, Ron Waterman.

For McGrath, questions about how he handled himself as a popular attorney general goes to the heart of his claim of having the "integrity, breadth of experience and commitment to fairness" that McGrath's campaign Web site lists as his chief assets.

But Waterman was Bromgard's lawyer and received a share of the $3.5 million settlement Bromgard reached with the state in the issue. Waterman was also among the group of lawyers who pushed for a complete audit of Melnikoff's work and unsuccessfully sued to force such an audit to take place. Waterman's role in the debate now raises questions: Is he in the race because he has a personal ax to grind against McGrath?

The candidates

Both longtime Helena lawyers, Waterman and McGrath come from different backgrounds and have carved distinctive legal careers. Both are vying to replace Chief Justice Karla Gray, who is not seeking another eight-year term as head of the seven-member Montana Supreme Court.

Montana court races are nonpartisan, which means neither candidate runs on a political party ticket.

A New Jersey native, Waterman, 64, hitchhiked to Montana at 16. He ended up at a Big Hole Valley ranch and worked that summer stacking hay. Unable to find anyone to serve as his local guardian, Waterman was forced to return home to finish high school, but he soon came back to Montana for college.

Waterman graduated from the University of Montana with a philosophy degree in 1966 and a law degree from the UM law school in 1969.

Throughout his schooling, Waterman returned to the Big Hole ranch every summer, working as a hand to the ranching family who became like a surrogate family.

After law school, Waterman served as U.S. District Court law clerk in Billings for a year, before moving to Helena to take a job at the established firm where he is now a partner, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson and Waterman.

Waterman and his wife, Mignon, a former Democratic state lawmaker from Helena, have been married for 43 years. They have two sons and two grandchildren.

Waterman has been a lawyer for 38 years and his career has spanned a wide gamut. He has both sued and defended; both sued and defended insurance companies. He's done family law, like divorces and custody battles, much of it for free. He has built up a profitable practice and, he says, always had the freedom to take cases he believed in.

Waterman has had some high-profile clients. Waterman was a lawyer for Canyon Resources, the Colorado-based mining company that wanted to develop a large, open-pit cyanide leach gold mine near Lincoln. The mine never opened and Montana voters subsequently outlawed that kind of mining.

Waterman was one of the lawyers the company in its lengthy lawsuit against the state, in which Canyon unsuccessfully argued Montana's cyanide-leach mining ban illegally deprived the company of some half billion dollars of lost profit. The company wanted Montana to pay up.

The case went before the Montana Supreme Court in 2003, although Waterman was not the lawyer in the appeal.

Waterman has also made a name for himself doing free legal work, particularly for condemned men awaiting their death sentence. He played a pivotal role in crafting the state's public defender system, which became law in 2005. That's how he met Bromgard, who was one of many imprisoned men nationwide the Innocence Project helped free by testing DNA samples in old criminal cases to exonerate wrongly convicted criminals.

He also represented two other men exonerated from crimes after DNA reviews.

Waterman said his involvement with the Melnikoff review was only a part of why he decided to run for chief justice. Waterman also stresses his long experience, his belief in open government, including his plans to open up some Supreme Court business now done in secret, and the fact that he, unlike McGrath, is truly apolitical.

McGrath, who has been an elected Democrat local and state officeholder the past 26 years, is unable to offer the kind of impartial decision-making demanded of a chief justice, Waterman said.

"I have no political aspirations," he said. "We don't want the public to believe that our system of justice is only for those who are connected."

As for any personal feelings toward McGrath over the Melnikoff debate, Waterman said he simply disagreed with McGrath's handling of the situation, but had no "personal animosity towards him."

Throughout his career, Waterman said, he and McGrath have sometimes ended up on the opposite ends of legal disputes. Such disagreements are normal among lawyers.

"Those are professional differences," he said. "We just view those issues differently."

Born in South Dakota, McGrath moved to Montana as a young boy and spent most of his childhood in Butte, where his father was a salesman for General Electric and his mother was the editor of the Butte Heritage Cookbook.

McGrath graduated from Butte Central High School in 1965 and from the University of Montana in 1970 with a business degree. That year, McGrath enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served two years of active duty, leaving as an airman first class.

From there, McGrath went to law school at Gonzaga University, earning his law degree in 1975. He's practiced law for 33 years.

He and his wife, Joy, have been married for 37 years. They have two grown sons and a granddaughter.

After law school, McGrath worked for Legal Services for a year and was sent to Reno, Nev., to handle divorces, custody battles and child abuse cases for low income residents. He worked briefly for a private firm in Alaska before returning to Montana where he took a job with Democratic Attorney General Mike Greeley.

There, McGrath distinguished himself by helping to successfully defend a utility lawsuit against the state alleging Montana's coal severance tax was illegal.

In 1982, McGrath was elected as a Democrat as Lewis and Clark County attorney, a post he held for the next 18 years. McGrath also ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 1988 and for governor in 1992.

In 2000, he was elected attorney general and ran unopposed in 2004. McGrath said he is particularly proud of several things he has accomplished since taking the helm of the Justice Department, including:

- Successfully arguing that out-of-state energy companies who own dams in Montana owe the state property taxes for the land on which their dams sit.

- Representing the state in the historic 2005 agreement between Montana, federal authorities, NorthWestern Energy and the Salish and Kootenai tribes that resulted in the dismantling of the Milltown Dam and the removal of 100 years of mine waste that had washed downstream and collected behind the defunct Clark Fork River structure.

- Representing Montana in an ongoing federal lawsuit against the state of Wyoming alleging that Wyoming has been shortchanging Montana on decades-old water compacts guaranteeing Montana a set amount of water in the Tongue and Powder rivers. Both waterways begin in Wyoming and flow north into Montana, eventually dumping into the Yellowstone River in southeast Montana.

As for Bromgard, McGrath said he's surprised some find fault with his handling of the case when it was McGrath who ordered the DNA testing, even though Montana law didn't require such testing then. McGrath also worked with Yellowstone County authorities and jointly called for Bromgard to be released.

As for the review, McGrath said his team looked at hundreds of cases and followed them "to where they went." In some cases, Melnikoff's analysis was inconclusive; in some cases no one was ever charged. The review examined every case in which Melnikoff's testimony played a role in a felon's conviction.

He described the 11th-hour attack as a "gotcha process."

If anything, McGrath said, his handling of the Bromgard case demonstrates exactly the kind of chief justice he will be: putting justice first. McGrath said he personally read the entire court transcript of Bromgard's case and pushed for the DNA test.

"I've dedicated my career to public service," he said in a recent interview. "I feel I can make a contribution."

Mike McGrath

Office sought: Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.

Age: 61.

Birthplace: South Dakota, but moved to Montana as a young boy.

Home: Helena.

Occupation: Montana Attorney General, 2000-present.

Family: Married to Joy, 37 years. Two adult sons, one granddaughter.

Education: Butte Central Catholic High School, 1965; University of Montana, Business degree, 1970; Gonzaga School of Law, 1977.

Past employment: Legal Services, Reno, Nev., 1977-1978; private firm in Alaska, 1978; assistant Montana attorney general, 1978-1982; Lewis and Clark County attorney, 1982-2000, Montana attorney general, 2000-present.

Military: United States Air Force, 1970-1972, left as airman first class.

Political experience: Elected as a Democrat as Lewis and Clark County attorney and attorney general; unsuccessfully ran for attorney general in 1988 and for governor in 2000.

Ron Waterman

Office sought: Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.

Age: 64.

Birthplace: Newark, N.J., moved to Montana at 16, moved permanently to Montana one year later.

Home: Helena.

Occupation: Partner attorney, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman.

Family: Married to Mignon for 43 years; two adult sons, two grandchildren.

Education: University of Montana, bachelor's degree in philosophy, 1965; University of Montana School of Law, 1969.

Past employment: U.S. Federal Court law clerk, Billings, Mont. 1969-1970; attorney, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, 1970 to present.

Military: None.

Political experience: None.