Governor Judge's legacy is secure

Montanans paid their respects this week to Tom Judge, a governor who - like the state he served - was a little larger than life.

One former aide told the Helena newspaper that Judge was like a Shakespearean character, "a study in contrasts" who was strong and bold and yet flawed, too. He had a few scandals, many successes and a love for Montana that made everything else seem largely unimportant.

Arriving in office just as the state's new Constitution took effect in 1973, he oversaw creation of many laws that followed the spirit of that document - giving power to the people and protecting their heritage. That included laws on strip-mine reclamation, air and water pollution controls and the coal-tax trust fund. But he also backed common-sense proposals that meant jobs and resources for Montana such as the Colstrip 3 and 4 power plants.

When he was defeated in his bid for a third term in 1980, many Montanans probably expected that another door would open for Judge to return to public service. That didn't happen, but for history's purposes, it didn't matter - Judge's legacy was already secure, and his importance established.

His name will remain important in Montana history forever.

It may be a gloomy weekend looming ahead of us, but this change in the weather is really welcome.

Although it's a little bit of a shock to go suddenly from 80-degree days to temperatures in the 50s, the cooler, wetter weather will help put a lid on the stubborn fires still burning in Northwest Montana.

And in dampening the fires, the weather switch also will clear up those smoky skies that have been with us for weeks.

Now we need to hope that once the fires are out, the weather takes a turn back toward crisp fall days.

Forest fires are expensive, and there have been a lot of them this summer in Montana, but apparently the costs will barely put a dent in the state's expected record surplus.

That's because booming economic activity across much of Montana has been pumping gravy into the state treasury. Montana's top fiscal analyst told lawmakers last week that an expected surplus of $547 million has been knocked down only a bit, to an estimated $525 million, as a result of fire costs.

He said those costs could continue to grow, but still the state will have a surplus in the $500 million range by the end of the fiscal year next June. And that would be a record "ending fund balance."

What to do with that money, therefore, will continue to be a major topic for Republicans and Democrats, leading up to the November election.