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Judy MartzJudy Martz (born July 28, 1943) was the governor of the U.S. state of Montana from January 2 2001 to January 3 2005. She served as the Lieutenant Governor under Marc Racicot from 1996-2000, and she was the first female governor of that state. She is a member of the United States Republican Party, former Olympic skater, and owner and operator, with her husband, of a garbage disposal service in her hometown of Butte, Montana. In the gubernatorial election of 2000, Martz defeated her Democratic opponent, Mark O'Keefe, by a margin of 51 percent to 48 percent. Within weeks of taking office Martz declared she would proudly "serve as the lapdog of industry." Several weeks later she told the attendees of a women's conference that she had never been abused by her husband, because, "I’ve never given him any reason to hit me either." More seriously, Martz took fire in the media after a fatal drunk driving accident that killed House Majority Leader Paul Sliter. Martz's most trusted aide, Shane Hedges, was the driver, and was charged with negligent homicide. That night Hedges, whom Martz claimed was a friend for life, went to the governor's mansion where Martz allowed him to stay and even washed his bloody clothing (she said it was a "motherly reaction"). Bad press over her shifting stories and various personal scandals policies involving land deals as well as using the phones in her official office to raise money for the state GOP's Political Action Committee (which she ran at the time) took their toll—by 2003 her approval ratings were in the 20% range, some of the lowest ever for any governor in the history of Montana. Martz announced well before 2004 that she would not run for a second term (in spite of that, many blame her for the strong performance of Democrats on a statewide level that year). On a lighter note, in May 2003 Martz made it into the news, through no action of her own, because of a supposed similarity to the face and hair of one nude bordello dancer sculpted by Seattle artist Kristine Veith, and placed in a new development in downtown Helena. Both Martz and Veith deny the similarity, with Martz reporting, "I'm a very modest person, no one would ever see me like that. My husband doesn't ever see me like that." Martz finished her time in office campaigning for President Bush in Ohio, Arizona, and other swing states, and sparring with incoming Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer over transition of state government. External links Martz, Judy Martz, Judy
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