Burgum, you ll recall, declared political war on the Bastiats in the 2020 election, and Magrum was one of the targets. This bill, as I m sure Magrum knows, is a nonstarter. It s basically the political equivalent of flipping Burgum “the bird.”
Anyway, karma has a way of sorting things out. Burgum s political action committee successfully primaried budget hawk and longtime House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, but when Burgum s candidate, Dave Andahl, died of COVID shortly before the election (and still won), District 8 Republicans put Delzer back into the Legislature.
Burgum may have a reputation as having a Midas Touch when it comes to business but when it comes to politics, you may want to think twice before you take his call.
Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, the Republican legislative caucus bosses, and two of the loudest voices backing Delzer s not-at-all democratic return to their chambers.
What does the bill do? It writes the statute the Legislature claimed, in their legal dispute with Burgum, already existed in the Century Code.
It states that if a candidate who has been placed on the ballot for the legislature dies, or becomes unqualified, yet received enough votes to win, a vacancy occurs, and it will be filled by the statutory process used for filling other legislative vacancies.
The bill also makes it clear that the Governor is not to be appointing people to the Legislature. The governor may not fill a vacancy in the office of a member of the legislative assembly, it states in a later section.
Associated Press revealed that Governor Burgum is billing North Dakotans for his lawsuit. The records that the
Associated Press obtained revealed that the governor s lawsuit will cost taxpayers $12,000 in attorney fees and court costs.
Star Tribune said that, as of Thursday (December 17), Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has yet to see and approve/ deny the bill.
Star Tribune also reports that Attorney General Stenehjem has stated that the lawsuit was a waste of taxpayer money. So, one could make an educated guess about the attorney general s decision may be. But, whether this transaction is approved for the governor s office budget or not, should Governor Burgum really be billing the taxpayers?