poverty vs. indigence in Montana's Public Defender System

In Montana, are the 14.1% statewide poor people (in poverty)? Or are we really, really destitute (indigent)? Because if we are really, really destitute (indigent) then we may be entitled under the new Public Defender Act to equal access to justice and an attorney to boot! A Montanan can NOT simply be in poverty or poor or at a place that they can not afford a $150/hr attorney when the average Montanan's wage is $6.90/hr. No! They must be indigent! Because, "The mission of the Office of the State Public Defender is to ensure equal access to justice for the State's indigent and to provide appellate representation to indigent clients (ONLY!). (http://publicdefender.mt.gov/)
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary Defines indigence as: "a level of poverty in which real hardship and deprivation are suffered and comforts of life are wholly lacking." And again, Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines poverty as:"the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions."
So, what does it take to be in real poverty in Montana. In 2009, the U.S. Dept of Human Services says that a person is in realitive poverty if that person makes $10,830 or less per year. See http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09poverty.shtml
While the Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) for 2007 of the U.S. Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/) - States: The number of all ages in poverty was 131,433 or 14.1% of Montana's overall population. And for Missoula County, the Missoula City-County Health Department and the Healthy Start Council Sept 3, 2008 Missoulian News: "Seventeen percent of all Montana children age 18 and under live in poverty. However, 38 percent of Native American children 18 and under live in poverty in our state. Yet, Native Americans are only 6 percent of our total population. Sixteen percent of children in Missoula County 18 and under live in poverty. Missoula County ranks 20th in the state, which means 36 counties have even more children living in poverty. The lowest rate is 9 percent in Stillwater County and the highest is 33 percent in Roosevelt County. The number of children in extreme poverty - those living at 50 percent of the federal poverty level - is increasing and has reached a statewide level of 8 percent."
So, what does it take in Montana to be labeled indigent? The U.S. Dept of Human Services or the Census Bureau or the U.S. Government have no relative indicators or charts for indigents. Only from the Montana State Code Section 47-1-104(3) of The Public Defender Act, do we get: "An applicant is indigent if: (a) the applicant's gross household income, as defined in 15-30-171, is at or less than 133% of the poverty level set according to the most current federal poverty guidelines updated periodically in the federal register by the United States department of health and human services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2); or (b) the disposable income and assets of the applicant and the members of the applicant's household are insufficient to retain competent private counsel without substantial hardship to the applicant or the members of the applicant's household."
Ask yourself, why would Montana's Legislature and Governor choose to use indigent in the Montana Public Defender Act? Will this discrimination provide more poor Montanans with equal access to our Courts or justice? And exactly what percentage of the 14.1% of those stricken by real poverty will the Court or the Public Defender label indigent and actually try to help? Where have the integrity and the dignity in our Legislature & Governor & Courts gone? Really, what social condition is more acute in 2009 than realitive or real poverty?
Remember, the Montana Constitution's Section 4. Individual dignity. "The dignity of the human being is inviolable. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. Neither the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate against any person in the exercise of his civil or political rights on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas."
In the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention, Delegate Mrs. Mansfield had these comments regarding Section 4 of the Montana Bill of Rights. "The committee unanimously adopted this section with the intent of providing a constitutional impetus for the eradication of public and private discrimination based on race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas. The provision, quite similar to that of the Puerto Rico declaration of rights, is aimed at prohibiting private as well as public discrimination in civil and political rights....Social origin or condition was included to cover discriminations based on status of income and standard of living."
And also the comment from Delegate Mr. Dahood, "The intent of Section 4 is simply to provide that every individual in the State of Montana, as a citizen of this state, may pursue his inalienable rights without having any shadows cast upon his dignity through unwarranted discrimination...(C)onstitutions are based on the premise that they are presumed to be self-executing, particularly within the Bill of Rights. If the language appears to be prohibitory and mandatory, as this particular section is intended to be, then in that event, the courts in interpreting the particular section are bound by that particular presumption and they must assume, in that situation, that it is self-executing. There was a case in Montana some 60 years ago that involved a provision of our Bill of Rights that had to do with an individual right, and there the Supreme Court said that was self executing and a citizen could enforce it without any type of legislative implementation."
As always, please let me have your comments on this important topic, thanks ...