Melodee Hanes (Photo by Andrew Ramonas / Main Justice)

Melodee Hanes, the live-in girlfriend of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) who withdrew as a candidate for Montana U.S. Attorney over conflict of interest concerns, moderated a panel discussion today in the “Senate” room at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel. The topic was improving legal representation for juveniles who can’t afford an attorney.

Hanes is the acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, an arm of the DOJ that supports research, training and programs for juvenile justice programs throughout the country. Hanes received the political appointment in OJP last June, a few months after she withdrew her candidacy for Montana U.S. Attorney.

When asked how her job is going, Hanes sweetly told Main Justice: “I don’t have any comments today.”

Hanes then thanked Main Justice for the question and quickly walked out of the room. Main Justice broke the story on her relationship with the powerful senator, who had recommended her along with two others for the plum federal prosecuting job.

Two Sioux Falls police officers were patrolling on a below-freezing South Dakota night in February 2004 when they saw a middle-aged man acting suspiciously at a group of storage sheds. Upon questioning by the officers, a scuffle ensued. Shots were fired.

Brendan Johnson (Photo by Andrew Ramonas/Main Justice)

No one was killed. But the high-profile local incident helped propel the career of a young prosecutor.

Brendan Johnson, then a deputy state’s attorney in the Minnehaha County state’s attorney’s office – and now the U.S. Attorney for South Dakota –  helped successfully prosecute John S. Lewis, who received two life sentences without parole and 145 years in state prison for the attempted murders of officers Michael Iverson and Scott Reitmeier.

Johnson, the son of South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson (D), was not yet 30 years old.

State prosecutors interviewed by Main Justice said the murder case was an important turning point for Johnson, who worked in the state’s attorney’s office from 2003 to 2005. Dave Nelson, the Minnehaha County state’s attorney from 1988 to 2008, said Johnson did a “real nice job” on the case.

“I really do remember working with that case and how impressed I was with him,” Nelson told Main Justice.

In a recent interview in Washington with Main Justice, Johnson cited the case as one of his most challenging prosecutions. But as a state prosecutor, Johnson said he also worked on difficult domestic violence cases, which will continue to be a major focus of the 28-attorney U.S. Attorney’s office that he took over last October.

“It’s very rewarding to be dealing with important issues ranging from national security — which is a priority even in rural states like South Dakota — to Indian country issues, to violence against women and children,” Johnson said.

Long Days and Long Drives

Now, Johnson’s work often takes him across a district that covers 77,000 square miles – almost nine times the size of New Jersey. He frequently travels from his home in Sioux Falls to one of his state’s nine American Indian reservations, or to the U.S. Attorney’s office branches in Pierre, Rapid City and Aberdeen.

Rapid City, the farthest outpost from the South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s main office, is almost five and a half hours away from the Sioux Falls headquarters. Last week, Johnson drove two hours to Oacoma, S.D., for part of a listening conference he arranged between his office and state tribal leaders. But he’s also driven more than five hours to visit the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

“In order to do that in a state of South Dakota’s size, on days when I’m on the road, I usually leave at 4, 4:30 in the morning, drive to one of the offices or Indian country and get back later in the evening,” Johnson said.

Johnson, 34 years old, said prosecuting cases from the state’s Indian country is a “significant portion” of his office’s work. American Indians make up only about 10 percent of South Dakota’s population, but account for about half of the state’s federal cases, according to Johnson. The U.S. Attorney’s office prosecutes almost all Indian country felonies.

The U.S. Attorney said he and his office’s Assistant U.S. Attorneys regularly meet with tribal leaders across the state to forge stronger ties. As chairman of the American Indian issues subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys, Johnson is a leading voice in the Justice Department’s increased efforts to fight crime in Indian country.

“You have to earn the trust of the people you’re working with so that when they have a tip, when they know information about the investigation, they’re comfortable contacting me or somebody else in the office and letting us know what is going on,” Johnson said. “You’re not going to get that information unless you build the relationships first and earn people’s trust.”

Senator’s Son

As an appointee of a Democratic administration, Johnson has tried to build up trust in a state that voted 53 percent for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008, with 45 percent supporting now-President Barack Obama.

A partner at Johnson, Heidepriem & Abdallah in Sioux Falls from 2005 to 2009, Johnson said he reached out to Republican leaders in his state — including former Gov. William Janklow – when he was seeking the U.S. Attorney nomination. Janklow, who also served as the state’s attorney general from 1974 to 1978, said in a recommendation letter that Johnson was “marvelously talented and respected.”

“I know you take a little heat. But if you look at the kid’s resume, he’s accomplished a lot,” said Russ Janklow, William’s son and a former law partner of Johnson’s.

Johnson said he believes South Dakota Republicans and Democrats know his commitment to the law.

“I think one of the reasons why they were comfortable with me is to me, there is a line that prosecutors shouldn’t cross when it comes to politics,” Johnson said. “And as a prosecutor, I think folks would say I always played it straight, wasn’t involved in politics when I was prosecuting cases for the county. I think they felt that I did some good things as a prosecutor.”

To avoid any appearance of impropriety, his father decided to have all applications received for South Dakota U.S. Attorney submitted directly to the White House without preference, according to Johnson.

But a conservative South Dakota political blog said it is “impossible to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”

“Unless we now have adopted the monarchy that our forefathers eschewed so long ago, and endorse the naked building of political dynasties. Because that’s the only way this can be justified,” said the South Dakota War College blog when Johnson was nominated for U.S. Attorney in July 2009.

It isn’t unheard of for U.S. Attorney candidates to have familial or close personal ties to a senator from their state.

In 2001 then-Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) recommended his son, Strom Thurmond Jr., for the South Carolina U.S. Attorney post, which the son held for three years. Last year, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) recommended his live-in girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, to be the Montana U.S. Attorney. But she withdrew from consideration, and Helena attorney Michael Cotter won Senate confirmation last year.

Both the Thurmond and Baucus recommendations were controversial. Johnson’s was not.

“My father and I really don’t have the type of relationship where that would be an issue,” Johnson said. “I think we both have a pretty clear understanding that he has his job to do, which I respect and is an important job. But it’s separate and distinct from what I’m doing.”

A future in politics?

Michael Card, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota, said a prominent South Dakotan like Johnson could have a future in politics, perhaps running for Congress one day.

Sen. Tim Johnson and family in 2007 (johnson.senate.gov

“Even if he’s not thinking of it, others are thinking of him,” Card said.

Johnson, however, demurs when asked whether he might one day run for public office. “My only focus is serving South Dakota as the U.S. Attorney.”

Johnson said his conversations with his father are generally more personal than political. about his four children, which include two young boys and two older kids adopted from Ethiopia about two and a half years ago.

His wife of seven years, Jana, encouraged the U.S. Attorney to read a book called, “There is No Me Without You,” which was about an Ethiopian orphanage. After reading the book, they decided to contact the author, Melissa Greene, and ask her about adopting older children from the orphanage.

Johnson and his wife adopted a girl first and then, two months later, they decided to adopt a boy.

“Once their English got a little better, we discovered they didn’t get along particularly well and so this idea that they were going to become brother and sister wasn’t something they were particularly excited about,” he said. “But they are incredible kids. They are a wonderful addition to our family.”

Patricia Cotter (gov)

Montana’s new U.S. Attorney, Michael Cotter and his wife, Montana Supreme Court Justice Patricia Cotter, have been dubbed Montana’s “power couple” by The Great Falls Tribune, which published an article Monday featuring the couple.

Michael Cotter was confirmed as Montana’s U.S. Attorney last Dec. 24 and he was sworn in on Dec. 30. Patricia Cotter was first elected to the state Supreme Court in 2000 and was re-elected in 2008.

The couple met at the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 1975 and have since focused on building not only their families but both of their legal careers, according to the newspaper. They both started their legal careers working together in the law offices of John C. Hoyt in Great Falls, Mont., according to the newspaper.

When Michael decided to apply to become Montana’s top federal prosecutor, the couple discussed potential conflicts.  “We talked about it before I submitted my name: whether in the past there had been any situations where a federal case came over to the Montana Supreme Court for consideration,” Cotter told the newspaper. “It has happened a few times before but not very often.”

Justice Cotter told the newspaper, “On occasion a federal court can certify to the Montana Supreme Court questions on state law,” adding, “It may happen three or four times a year, and typically the United States is not a party in those cases. I think we’ve had one case in my 10 years on the court in which the United States was a party. If that happened while Mike was a United States Attorney then I would recuse myself.”

Unlesss and until that happens, the new U.S. Attorney will be focused on prosecuting violent crimes, drug trafficking, international organized crime and terrorism, hate crimes, economic crimes, protecting children and crime in Indian country, according to The Tribune.

Michael, who had never before held public office, told the newspaper he considers himself apolitical and plans to maintain that neutrality in his new job. “Politics plays no role in being an attorney representing the government,” Cotter told The Tribune. “It’s the facts of the case and the law that is violated. The facts drive whether or not a crime has been committed.”

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who along with Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) recommended Michael for the post, said his recommendation was based on Cotter’s extensive legal experience and commitment to public service, not politics. In a statement, Baucus said, “He has strong expertise, including trying cases in federal court, was well known in Montana legal circles and has extensive roots in the community, including volunteering with youth programs and his church. Mr. Cotter is also experienced in managing personnel both as a private practice attorney and as a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army.”

Cotter was nominated for the post in September. Baucus’s live-in girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, had been a finalist for the position before she withdrew. She now holds a political appointment at the Justice Department. She became acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention a few months after her withdrawal.

The daughter-in-law of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is a Justice Department political appointee, the National Journal reported today, according to the National Review’s The Corner blog.

Stephanie Denton Baucus (Facebook)

Stephanie Denton Baucus is associate director of the DOJ Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, which coordinates with state and local law enforcement and government agencies. See her LinkedIn page here. She is married to Zeno Baucus, the Montana senator’s son from his first marriage.

Max Baucus’s live-in girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, also holds a political appointment at the Justice Department. She became acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention a few months after she withdrew as a finalist for Montana U.S. Attorney.

Hanes and the senator’s daughter-in-law both started at the Justice Department in June 2009.

The Missoulian newspaper today disclosed that Sen. Max Baucus’s future girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, was involved in discussions with the senator’s divorce lawyer in 2007 while serving on the Montana Democrat’s Senate staff. The Montana newspaper quoted from billing records submitted by Baucus’s lawyer, Ronald F. Waterman, in Helena.

Melodee Hanes (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice)

Main Justice obtained a copy of the billing records. Click here to see them.

The records show that Hanes – whom Baucus later recommended to the White House as a finalist for Montana’s U.S. Attorney – consulted with the divorce lawyer on such delicate matters as how to determine the value of the home Baucus shared with his then-wife, Wanda, in Washington’s exclusive Georgetown section.

Baucus and Hanes, who now live together in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, were not yet in a relationship in the summer of 2007, Baucus spokesperson Ty Matsdorf told the Missoulian. That relationship began about a year later, in the summer of 2008, the senator’s office has said.

“Melodee Hanes’ interactions were in her official role as state director and focused on scheduling and logistics, including how a potential separation between Sen. Baucus and (his ex-wife) Wanda could impact the senator’s travel and work,” Matsdorf said in a statement to the Montana newspaper.

Although no Senate ethics rules appeared to have been violated by then-staffer Hanes working on her boss’s divorce agreement, the billing records add a new layer of questions to the story.

For instance, there’s a reference in the billing records, not mentioned by the Missoulian, to unnamed “advisors” on an e-mail from the lawyer about the draft separation agreement that Hanes had discussed.

Was one of those advisers Baucus’s then-chief of chief, Jim Messina?

Baucus once told The Washington Post that Messina is “like a son to me.” The senator and his former aide — who is now a White House deputy chief of staff — reportedly remain close friends.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that nobody at the White House, including Messina, knew of the relationship. The White House vets all U.S. Attorney recommendations.

As the relationship intensified in early 2009, Hanes and Baucus mutually concluded that she should withdraw her name from consideration for U.S. Attorney to avoid an appearance of impropriety, the senator’s office has said.

There has been some skepticism among Washington wags that Messina really didn’t know of the relationship. According to The Post profile of Messina, Baucus said his then-chief of staff was “very touched” by a rehearsal-dinner speech Baucus had delivered before his son Zeno Baucus’s wedding in the summer of 2008. The senator said Messina’s departure to the White House meant he was losing two sons, The Post reported.

It was at Zeno’s wedding reception that a person familiar with the Max Baucus family told Main Justice that the senator and Hanes were dancing in a manner that suggested a relationship beyond the professional.

It was also reported today in Politico that the Montana senator gave Hanes a $14,000 raise in 2008, making her one of the Baucus’s highest paid staffers.

Baucus’s office said most Baucus staff members received a raise at that time.

“In fact, during that period, Ms. Hanes’s salary increased by the exact same amount as our legislative director and less than our chief of staff,” said a statement from a Baucus spokesman to Politico.

Hanes also accompanied the Montana senator on a taxpayer-funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East later that year, according to Politico. Hanes does not have a background in foreign policy.

The trip to Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates cost more than $14,000 per person, according to Politico. It was the only overseas trip Hanes took with Baucus in an official capacity, Politico said.

The Baucus office told Politico that there was nothing inappropriate about Hanes accompanying Baucus on the trip, adding that former state directors had also gone on overseas trips.

Hanes declined to comment to Main Justice about the role she played in the senator’s divorce proceedings following a ceremony at the Justice Department today.

Ryan J. Reilly contributed to this report.

Melodee Hanes at a ceremony Friday at Department of Justice headquarters (photo credit: Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

Melodee Hanes, the girlfriend of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), attended a ceremony at Department of Justice headquarters Friday honoring newly confirmed Office of Justice Programs head Laurie Robinson.

Hanes, a political appointee who works in a juvenile justice agency under Robinson’s direction, declined to answer questions about the senator’s controversial recommendation of her to be Montana’s U.S. Attorney.

“Not today, no,” Hanes told Main Justice. “No comment today,” she added, before a congressional affairs specialist from the Office of Justice Programs, Sarah Matz, cut off the exchange.

Main Justice was the first to report last Friday that Hanes was one of three lawyers that Baucus recommended to the White House earlier this year to be Montana’s top federal prosecutor. According to Baucus, once their relationship became more intense, Hanes withdrew from consideration to live with the senator in Washington.

President Barack Obama ultimately nominated Michael Cotter for Montana U.S. Attorney. Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, is leading health care reform efforts in the Senate.

Hanes is now acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, an arm of the Justice Department that supports research, training and programs to support juvenile justice programs throughout the country.

Melodee Hanes didn’t withdraw her candidacy for U.S. Attorney in March until after a Montana newspaper reporter asked Sen. Max Baucus‘ office about her relationship with the senator, the Missoulian reported today.

Max Baucus (Getty Images)

Ty Matsdorf, a spokesman for the senior Montana senator, had said in a statement to Main Justice Friday that Hanes withdrew because she and Baucus “wanted to live together in Washington, D.C.”

The Missoulian never mentioned the relationship in a March article that was the first to report that Hanes was no longer vying for U.S. Attorney. The article also didn’t indicate that her name had been forwarded to the White House. The newspaper quoted then-Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser, who said in an e-mail to the newspaper that Hanes was “NOT a candidate for U.S. attorney.”

But former Missoulian reporter Jodi Rave, who wrote the article, said yesterday on her blog, Buffalo’s Fire,  it was “clear as day” at the time that Baucus recommended his girlfriend for the post.

“So, it seems safe to say that her name was not withdrawn because the relationship had intensified; it was arguably withdrawn because the relationship was not a big secret here in Montana,” Rave said.

Baucus, a Democrat, told the Missoulian that he and Hanes decided it would be best for her to withdraw to avoid “an appearance of anything [improper].”

“As Mel and I continued to get closer and closer, we concluded it would be best for all concerned that she withdraw,” he told the newspaper.

We were the first to report Friday that Hanes was one of three finalists whose names Baucus submitted to the White House as potential nominees for U.S. Attorney for Montana. President Obama ultimately nominated Michael Cotter for Montana U.S. Attorney.

The girlfriend of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was interested in the Montana U.S. Attorney post years before he recommended her to the White House for the job and before she ever went to work for him, the Associated Press reported today.

Melodee Hanes (Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council)

Melodee Hanes was positioning herself to be Montana’s top federal prosecutor for at least the past seven years, Yellowstone County, Mont., attorney Dennis Paxinos, her former boss and a Republican, told the AP.

Hanes left her job as Yellowstone deputy county attorney in 2002 to work for Baucus’ re-election campaign after serving in the county prosecutor’s office since 1999. Paxinos told the news wire that she made the move to politics with the belief that it would better position her for the U.S. Attorney post.

“I don’t think it was ever her intent to fall in love with a senator,” Paxinos told the AP.

We were the first to report Friday that Hanes was one of three finalists whose names Baucus submitted to the White House as potential nominees for U.S. Attorney for Montana. Hanes withdrew earlier this year to live with the senator in Washington. President Barack Obama ultimately nominated Michael Cotter for Montana U.S. Attorney.

Hanes is now acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, an arm of the Justice Department that supports research, training and programs to support juvenile justice programs throughout the country.

Robert Gibbs (White House)

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that “nobody” at the White House knew that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was in a personal relationship with one of the candidates he recommended for Montana U.S. Attorney.

We were the first to report Friday that Melodee Hanes was one of three finalists whose names Baucus submitted to the White House as potential nominees for U.S. Attorney for Montana. Hanes withdrew earlier this year to live with the senator in Washington. President Barack Obama ultimately nominated Michael Cotter for Montana U.S. Attorney.

We reported earlier today that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, who was Baucus’ former chief of staff, had emerged as someone who may have known about the relationship at the time of the U.S. Attorney vetting. Messina has not responded to requests for comment from Main Justice.

Here’s the exchange between Gibbs and a reporter at the daily White House press briefing:

Q    One last thing — I’m sorry — on Max Baucus.  Melodee Hanes we know was one of three names Senator Baucus sent to the White House to be U.S. Attorney.  Did Jim Messina, who’s very close to Senator Baucus, did he play any role for the White House?  Did he recuse himself from any of those discussions?

MR. GIBBS:  I don’t know what Jim’s involvement was on those discussions, but I think as the senator told the media over the weekend and as we told you and others that asked, Senator Baucus did not give us any information about those three names.  Nobody here was involved in that.

Q    But Jim is very close to Max Baucus.

MR. GIBBS:  But, Ed, when I say nobody was involved in it, I don’t mean “everybody but people that know Senator Baucus” — I mean nobody.

Q    And he didn’t play any role in getting a Justice Department job for her either?

MR. GIBBS:  Those are obviously jobs that are based on who’s best for the job.

The press briefing then moved on to another topic.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) didn’t tell White House or Justice Department officials involved in the Montana U.S. Attorney selection process that he was in a personal relationship with one of the candidates he’d recommended, according to news reports over the weekend.

Melodee Hanes (Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council)

Montana’s senior senator didn’t reveal his relationship with Melodee Hanes to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) or to Dana Christensen, a Kalispell, Mont., lawyer who screened six candidates for the post, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“I’ve known Max a long time. I’ve known Mel Hanes a long time. But I did not know that they had a relationship,” Christensen told the Wall Street Journal.

What isn’t known is whether Baucus’s former chief of staff, Jim Messina, was aware of the relationship. Messina is a White House deputy chief of staff. Messina and White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

We were the first to report Friday that Hanes withdrew earlier this year as a finalist for Montana U.S. Attorney to live with the senator in Washington.

Hanes, who worked on Baucus’ Senate staff from 2003 to June 2009, is now a political appointee at the Justice Department, serving as acting Deputy Administrator for Policy in the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The DOJ office supports research, training and programs for juvenile justice programs throughout the country.

Hanes was one of six Montana U.S. Attorney candidates who Baucus forwarded to Christensen for review. Christensen then narrowed the list down to three candidates: Hanes; Mike Wheat, a Bozeman, Mont., lawyer; and Michael Cotter, who has since been nominated for Montana U.S. Attorney. Baucus and Tester then reviewed the three finalists and sent them to the White House for final consideration.