Former Democratic legislator Dick Sadler favored a footnote to a 2001 appropriations bill that would pay for a third district court judge in Natrona County if the county provided the facility, but he wasn't the footnote's sponsor, he said Friday.

Sadler, who ran unsuccessfully this week for Natrona County commission, helped lead the opposition to the proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase that would have raised about $11 million toward the renovation of the old Townsend Hotel for three courtrooms.

Tuesday's defeat of the Townsend Justice Center measure by a vote of 17,446 to 13,782 could influence the Legislature to withdraw the state funding for new 7th District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl because the county did not meet its obligation to provide adequate space for a courtroom for 12-person jury trials, local and state officials said Thursday.

Rep. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, as the co-chairman of the Joint Appropriations Committee, said he needs to look at whether the state should fund Skavdahl's position with the county's failure of responsibility when other cities, such as Gillette, have the same judicial needs and are providing the space.

Nicholas said Sadler wanted a footnote in the 2001 appropriation that the third judge would be named and funded when the court provided the adequate space.

Sen. John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, was the chairman of the JAC in 2001, and said he didn't remember whether Sadler proposed the footnote.

Sadler said Friday that he agreed with the footnote, but didn't propose it.

He recognized that Natrona County needed a third judge, but said that the local judiciary would find the space, such as the unused fourth floor in the Hall of Justice. "So we appropriated the money," he said.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal appointed Skavdahl as the third 7th District Court judge in July 2003. Skavdahl was installed a month later.

But the footnote in the bill for the appropriation required the space, so the appointment of the third judge was inappropriate, Sadler said. "When they put in Skavdahl, I thought, 'What the hell are they doing?'"

Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.