Governor candidate says Burgum too distracted by Trump campaign

Sen. Merrill Piepkorn delivers a speech for his race for governor alongside running mate Patrick Hart on the steps of the North Dakota Capitol in Bismarck on May 21, 2024. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

Governor candidate Sen. Merrill Piepkorn, D-Fargo, at a Tuesday news conference criticized Gov. Doug Burgum as an absent leader with divided loyalties.

During the event, Piepkorn and his running mate Patrick Hart — a construction company owner and former state employee — cast themselves as the choice for North Dakota voters who have lost confidence in the state’s current leadership.

“Let’s tell the governor to put North Dakota first,” Piepkorn said from a podium on the Capitol steps. “Let’s restore integrity to this house of the people.”

Piepkorn spoke disapprovingly of Burgum’s May 14 appearance at former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan.

“When a governor is preoccupied and consistently out of his state doing someone else’s partisan business, the voters have the right to ask, ‘How much is that individual working for the citizens of North Dakota?’” Piepkorn said.

Burgum isn’t seeking reelection. The governor is believed to be a contender for vice president or another spot in the White House Cabinet, should Trump be reelected.

When Burgum announced in January that he would not seek a third term, he pledged that he would be busy working for the state in his final year, including meeting with state agencies to develop strategic budget proposals before the next legislative session. 

Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller is running to replace Burgum as governor. Her running mate is Commerce Commissioner Josh Teigen.

The governor’s recent budget proposals, which recommended that large state agencies downsize their operational budgets by 3%, were subject to criticism from Piepkorn, too.

During a recent presentation on the proposals, Burgum defended his recommendations as in the best interest of the state’s long-term financial health.

“We realize that asking agencies to cut their budgets may seem counterintuitive when our state coffers and reserves are flush with cash,” Burgum said at the May 9 event. “But the current trajectory of our overall state budget requires us to contain costs, and we must identify additional areas for efficiencies and savings if we’re to ensure that ongoing revenues can cover expenditures in the long term.”

Piepkorn, however, said there are already areas of state government that are underfunded — like pay for rank-and-file state employees.

“I think we have to take care of today’s needs now,” he said. 

Piepkorn also said Tuesday that Burgum should have vetoed several bills targeting LGBTQ North Dakotans during the 2023 legislative session. 

Burgum signed a handful of bills related to transgender people, including measures that criminalize gender-affirming care for minors, prevent transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities in schools and some state-owned living facilities, and that forbid transgender girls and women from playing in female K-12 and college sports.

Hart, meanwhile, demanded more transparency from Miller on where Legacy Fund dollars are invested. The Legacy Fund is a trust fund for the state made of oil and tax revenue. It’s administered by the State Investment Board, which Miller chairs.

A North Dakota News Cooperative poll indicated that respondents want the state to publish Legacy Fund investments rather than require citizens to file open records requests.

One Bismarck resident, attorney Tory Jackson, asked for a list of Legacy Fund holdings by country and company. In return, he received a 57-page list of investments. Some were not identified by country, but categories like “Emerging Markets Region” and “Global Region” instead. Jackson, who wrote a column criticizing the Legacy Fund transparency, has since asked for an attorney general’s opinion on whether the state is in violation of open records law.

In response to a request for comment from the North Dakota Monitor, spokesperson Mike Nowatzki said the governor’s office typically does not comment on attacks by political campaigns.

He said the state is already transparent about Legacy Fund investments, including publishing monthly performance reports. Miller has also defended the transparency of the fund and said the State Investment Board meetings are open to the public.

Hart also condemned what he characterized as pervasive unethical behavior by lawmakers and other high-ranking officials.

“We need a strong and well-funded Ethics Commission with the teeth to define the legal and ethical violations,” Hart said. “We need legislators who have high personal standards and demonstrate respect for all North Dakota, and we need an executive branch that makes sure North Dakota citizens can trust their government working for them.”

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