By Adam Harbison (AL ’07)

William W. Mercer (MT ’84) served in the US Department of Justice for twenty years in Montana and Washington, D.C. In Montana, he served as United States Attorney from 2001 through 2009 and as Assistant US Attorney from 1994 to 2001. He was responsible for natural resources litigation, prosecution of criminal cases, and appellate practice on behalf of the United States. From June 2005 through July 2007, Bill served Acting Associate Attorney General and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. As Acting Associate Attorney General, he served as the third-ranking official in the US Department of Justice under President George W. Bush and had oversight responsibilities for five litigating divisions (Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources and Tax) with criminal and civil cases. A native Montanan, Bill was a 1984 Truman from the University of Montana. He received his MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard University in 1988 and his JD from George Mason University in 1993. Today, Bill is an attorney practicing energy, environment, and natural resources law at Holland & Hart in Billings, Montana. He is a recipient of the Truman Foundation's two prestigious alumni awards, the Elmer B. Staats Award and the Judge Joseph E. Stevens, Jr. Award.

Growing up in rural Montana, Bill Mercer became interested in public service at a young age. As a child, his father was elected and served in the Montana state legislature, which is what first piqued his interest in politics and public policy issues. Throughout high school and college, he pursued student leadership positions, including Boys Nation and student government. Even though he attended the University of Montana, he was privileged to get early experience in Washington, DC through his activities, and this is what really led him to start following national politics. Bill believes that winning the Truman Scholarship was a huge development in his life. He had always intended to go to law school in Montana, but the financial advantages that the Truman presented allowed him to consider other opportunities. He eventually decided to pursue a MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. While at Harvard, his academic advisor was Dick Thornburgh, who served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987.

Upon finishing his studies at Harvard, Bill was selected as a Presidential Management Intern (now known as the Presidential Management Fellowship) to served two years working at the US Department of Treasury. Meanwhile, his former advisor was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to serve as Attorney General. Bill was then able to move over to the Department of Justice, where he stayed through the transition period to the Clinton Administration. When his father became ill in 1994, Bill was anxious to get back home to Montana as soon as possible. Meanwhile, his experience at the Justice Department helped him secure a position for the US Attorney’s Office in the state. After serving for several years, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the US Attorney for Montana and later as the Acting Associate Attorney General, the 3^rd highest ranking position at DOJ.

Reflecting on his more than twenty years of service with the Justice Department, Bill is convinced that the ability to evaluate a program’s impact is an essential skill for anyone entering public service, especially in government. He thinks that the quantitative skill sets that are developed in graduate programs are essential for analyzing the effectiveness and efficiency of programs that have been allocated public funding in order to determine if a program is accomplishing its goals, is having unintended consequences, or is failing. Bill said he was initially surprised to find that this kind of impact evaluation was not utilized to the degree that he would have expected at the federal level within agencies. Over time, he realized that there is not a strong audience for such an independent evaluation as you have federal agencies, elected officials, and organizations that receive federal funding that would not be in favor of seeing headlines in a local newspaper proclaiming that a federal grant or earmark has had no effects on a key issue or problem.

Looking at the general political ideologies, he made a personal observation of why this issue does not gain prominence with either Republicans or Democrats. Bill said, “Conservatives often believe that much of federal spending is illegitimate in the first place, and an impact analysis would be a risk if it showed a program was really successful in reaching goals and building collaborative efforts.” On other hand, he said, “There are lots of people who identify as liberals who believe that all government spending is good and that there is not a need to quantify benefits comparing narrow or extensive spending on programs.” Under his political observation, conservatives would run the risk of being attacked for not supporting the funding of programs that really make a difference and liberals run the risk of being challenged for supporting frivolous spending when it comes to ineffective programs. Moreover, Bill believes that there is no champion of this practice within agencies. He feels that program evaluation should be essential to government, but the culture of resisting change at federal agencies makes this a huge problem that needs attention.

As Montana is a very rural state, Bill Mercer believed that his work as the US Attorney could be used to improve the quality of life for rural Montanans. He cited the methamphetamine problem as an issue of major importance. During his time in DC, he noticed the lack of a concentration of people from rural states when he would attend DOJ or interagency meetings. In the 1990s, Congressional and DOJ drug policy efforts were mainly targeting crack cocaine enforcement and prosecutions. However, meth use was becoming a huge problem in the rural West and South but got almost no attention from Washington, DC. Meanwhile, meth was tearing apart the fabric of rural communities with increased crime, drug overdoses, and related problems, including drug endangered children and the environmental hazards associated with meth labs. Bill stated, “There was just no resonance for meth as an issue in DC.” Instead, rural states had to take the lead on driving the promotion of the problem and developing solutions. In Montana, he worked both on prosecuting offenders and providing public awareness on the dangers of the highly addictive drug. Bill believes that this is still a major problem for rural areas and that people should be cautious of saying that we have beat meth. According to his experience, the best way to continue dealing with methamphetamine abuse is to keep the focus on prevention and education with young people.

Montana has a huge Native American population with seven reservations. Bill put together extensive public outreach efforts with the Native American community around the issues of public safely. He said, “While I don’t always agree with the current administration, I am glad to see they are still focused on public safety in Indian Country.” He also expressed a belief that the quality of the environment is the most important reason why people live in rural areas. They may make less money but have a higher quality of life and really love nature and being outdoors. For the sake of rural citizens, the protection of the environment must be a priority. Bill was very involved in the prosecution of environmental crimes in Montana, and during his tenure, his office handled considerably more cases in this area than most other states did. He feels strongly that people must know that if they destroy wetlands or violate Clean Air act there are consequences to be paid. “Our national treasures are based in rural areas, so it is important to protect the environment there,” he said.

When asked about how things have changed since he was first selected as a Truman, Bill immediately pointed to the financial value of the scholarship. With the Truman Scholarship and other limited funding sources, Bill managed to complete his undergraduate, graduate and law degrees with only $5,000 of debt. Twenty years later, he (and all Truman Scholars) has seen the cost of higher education skyrocket and now sees the challenges that younger Truman Scholars face as they weigh the consequences of taking on lots of student debt and how it can make public service a difficult financial decision. However, Bill said, “For those who have been privileged enough to win the Truman, the real benefit is the alumni network of people that can be drawn upon from around the country.”

Bill has been involved with the Truman Foundation for a long time as a Senior Scholar at TSLW from 1992-1996, as a founding member of TSA, and as a winner of both of the Foundation’s alumni awards. He stresses that the Truman community provides a vital service as scholars can talk to people about what they are currently doing or would like to be doing in the future. “The Truman network is a community of common and diverse interests with a strong knowledge base that can be a tremendous resource for everyone,” he said. Like many Trumans, Bill is excited by the prospect of the community’s first US Senator Chris Coons, especially given his integration within the Truman community. As Trumans, Bill believes it is important that we all take advantage of our opportunities to be better by engaging with each other to shed light on important issues.

As a piece of final advice for Scholars, Bill recalled times in the life of the Truman Foundation where scholars were told in regards to Presidential appointments that there are not that many and you cannot build your career around that. He certainly did not imagine himself being recommended by his Senator to President George W. Bush to serve as US Attorney, and he said the odds for a rural US Attorney to be appointed to a senior DOJ position would have not been likely at all. He stressed, “There are definitely opportunities for federal appointments in DC and in the states, just as there are great nonprofit leadership opportunities.” Scholars should have an idea of their career goals and never lose sight of what they want to achieve. Even for young scholars, he definitely does not think it is wise to say there are things that are off limits. For Bill, there are just too many examples of people having a strategic vision, and even if it does not exactly turn out the way they envisioned, there are always exciting opportunities to pursue.

Phillip Adam Harbison (AL ’07) is a graduate of The University of Alabama. He also is a 2010 George Mitchell Scholar and just recently completed a MSc in Rural Development from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. Formerly employed at the Appalachian Regional Commission, Adam recently joined the office of Representative David McKinley (R-WV) as legislative assistant/projects coordinator.