Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
A recent opinion piece written by columnist and former Democrat Lieutenant Gov. Lloyd Omdahl continues the misleading, coordinated left-wing spin machine’s narrative regarding the Constitutional Amendment which created the North Dakota Ethics Commission.
The Republican leadership in the North Dakota House and Senate formed special committees last session to address the measure, a rare move. The committees worked diligently, holding public hearings on legislation to comply with the measure’s requirement that the Legislature pass laws to help implement the measure.
Omdahl’s piece contains numerous inaccuracies and misstatements, but the point which deserves the most focus is his charge that, in passing the law, the Legislature was “abolishing anonymous whistleblowing.”
First, this accusation is false, as, even though it was authored and financed by out-of-state left-wing special interest groups, the Constitutional measure did not call for “anonymous whistleblowing.” Rather, the measure offers maintenance of “a confidential whistleblower hotline through which any person acting in good faith may submit relevant information.” “Confidential” is an established, well-understood term in North Dakota law which keeps private, records which might otherwise be public, under our state’s strong sunshine laws. The “good faith” of someone who refuses to identify themselves also, of course, could not be determined—how would they be distinguished from those who simply have a political motive or purpose?
Second, the “anonymous” whistleblowing which Omdahl and his friends on the left seem to favor would be a disaster, creating a standard of “guilty until proven innocent” and potentially destroying good, honest public servants’ reputations with potentially baseless, anonymous accusations.
That’s why good newspapers refuse to print letters to the editor which are unsigned. In many cases, they verify submission via direct contact before print.
The people of North Dakota know better. They want honest government and fair politics, not what we currently see in D.C. That’s why they approved an ethics measure and trusted their elected representatives in the Legislature to pass good law to establish the details.
The Legislature takes seriously the will of the voters and, under the leadership of the Majority Party, it passed common-sense legislation which will ensure strong ethics, fair investigation of good faith charges, and consequences for those who violate standards.
It seems that left wing extremists would prefer the kind of dysfunction and finger pointing which typify the endless partisan bickering in Washington, leading to a version of impeachment inquiry in recent days.
The Majority in the Legislature did the right thing by requiring anyone wanting to file an ethics complaint in our state to have the courage to identify themselves before hurling accusations. That’s North Dakota common sense.
Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson; House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, R-Carrington;
Sen David Hogue, R-Minot, and chair of the Senate Ethics Committee; and Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo and chair of the House Ethics Committee.