Lawrence VanDyke
The Nevada Appeal is reporting that Lawrence VanDyke, who lost a very expensive campaign to unseat Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat last month, has a new job.
He has been named solicitor general for Nevada by that state’s newly elected attorney general, Adam Laxalt. VanDyke held the same position in Texas before Montana Attorney General Tim Fox hired him as his solicitor general. VanDyke worked there for only a year and a half before quitting, and with that very slender experience as a Montana lawyer decided to challenge Wheat.
VanDyke attracted a lot of outside money—and it is true that Wheat did as well, in response to what seemed like a blatant attempt by non-Montanans to buy a seat on our highest court—and still got clobbered in the election, which reflects well on the ability of Montana voters to pay attention.
Everything VanDyke has done suggests he is exactly the opposite of how he billed himself in his campaign slogan, “Law, Not Politics.” He is a darling of the Republican right wing, hired, it seems, exclusively because he wants to use his position to fight the federal government.
This is all nicely summarized by Steve Sebelius, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He pointed out that Attorney General Laxalt, when he hired VanDyke as his solicitor general, said:
Throughout my campaign, I promised Nevada’s citizens and job-providers that I would fight for them to protect our state from the federal overreach from Washington,” stated Attorney General-Elect Adam Laxalt. “When I am sworn in as our next Attorney General, Nevada will have a premier U.S. Supreme Court appellate attorney defending our state against an unprecedented encroachment on our laws and our Constitution. Lawrence will be an effective advocate on our state’s behalf. He has significant experience fighting for the individual rights and liberties of the citizens he has served. He will put up a strong and capable defense of Nevada’s laws and our Constitution.
After a detailed attempt to divine what this “unprecedented encroachment” might consist of, Sebelius concludes: “Ultimately, it seems the only thing that’s really unprecedented here is the rhetoric about unprecedented encroachments on our laws and Constitution, but precious few actual encroachments on our laws and Constitution.”
Sebelius also quotes VanDyke making the same vague promises about the same vague threats. If VanDyke ever runs for office again, let’s hope he’s honest with the voters and adopts a “Nothing but Politics” slogan.
