When former Governor John Hoeven annointed North Dakota's socialist Commerce Department's former head, Shane Goettle, to be North Dakota's next Republican U.S. Congressman, few expected Goettle to fail as miserably as he did at the 2012 North Dakota Republican Party Convention. Goettle was embarassed; handed his tuckus by former Democrat, Brian Kalk.  (Kalk went on to be crushed by serial federal race loser, Kevin Cramer, by about 14 points.) After failing so miserably, Goettle took his small campaign nest-egg, created North Dakota's first federal "Super-PAC" and then went to work at North Dakota's Department of Odney Advertising. Regular readers here likely recall that Odney, owned by one of Hoeven's old high-school buddies from Minot, has a $5 million per year (approx.) annual ND state government trough disbursement; a larger appropriation than the state gives the ND Office of Administrative Hearings, the ND Williston Research Center and the ND Council on the Arts.  

Combined.  

In this "study" we'll take a look at how Goettle may be getting himself and his fancy new Super-PAC, it's corporate officers and his new employer into a bit of hot water.

Goettle's Super-PAC -- the "Brighter Future Fund" -- is a corporation that's run out of Odney Advertising's office on Century Avenue in northwest Bismarck. The Brighter Future Fund's treasurer is "Pat Finken," according to OpenSecrets.org. Pat Finken is John Hoeven's old high school buddy and he owns Odney Advertising. There are three "Brighter Future" entities in North Dakota, all of which self-identify as being "nonprofit corporations" and all of which are addressed at 1400 W. Century Avenue, in Bismarck; the same address as Odney Advertising, a Republican-leaning company, if ever there was one.

First, there is the "Brighter Future Fund," run by Goettle (an Odney employee) out of Odney's offices. Then there is the "Brighter Future Alliance," which is run by Odney employees and also operates out of Odney's offices (according to the ND Secretary of State's website).  And don't forget the "Brighter Future Committee," which is also run by Odney Advertising employees, also operating out of Odney's offices (according to the ND Secretary of State's website).

This past week, Brad Crabtree -- North Dakota's Dem-NPL candidate for the Public Service Commission -- held a press conference and circulated a note outlining the problem with Goettle's and Odney's "Brighter Future" entities engaging in political attacks against Crabtree. Here's a summary of the problem, as identified by Crabtree:

• The Brighter Future Fund, the Brighter Future Committee and the Brighter Future Alliance are all North Dakota corporations.
• Corporations are prohibited by North Dakota law from making direct expenditures for "political purposes."  NDCC § 16.1-08.1-03.3
• There is an exception to NDCC § 16.1-08.1-03.3 that applies to "political committees" and "political action committees" as those terms are defined by North Dakota law.
• None of the "Brighter Future" organizations fall under the statutory above-referenced exception. NDCC § 16.1-08.1-01(9).
• North Dakota law applies exclusively to state and local elections in North Dakota; federal laws and rules do not apply to state and local races, including the race for the Public Service Commission.
• The "Brighter Future Committee" -- a North Dakota corporation, not exempt as a "political committee" or "political action committee" -- has produced and distributed at least two partisan, political attack ads against a candidate for the Public Service Commission in North Dakota.  (One ad is on radio I can't find online; the other is a TV ad you can see below). 

Crabtree's point -- and a pretty darned good one -- is that it appears Goettle's federal Super-PAC, though not a state PAC, has been engaging in what arguably appear to be illegal direct expenditures for "political purposes."  

And, if someone were to ask me for my opinion, I might consider going a step further than Crabtree's analysis.  

Keep in mind, Odney Advertising does a lot of public relations work for the North Dakota Republican Party. (This has been confirmed to me by a local TV station. I'll post the supporting public political file info once I receive it.) Crabtree's legal analysis does not address this at all, but it seems pretty clear to me that these facts might also bring some FEC regulations into the picture as they relate to "coordinated communications" and "common vendors."  (See, e.g., 10 CFR § 109.21(a) and (d)(4)).  An argument could be made that since Odney Advertising runs Goettle's federal Super-PAC, does significant advertising and PR work for the North Dakota Republican Party, and is coordinating an attack campaign against both a state PSC candidate and a federal congressional candidate (Pam Gulleson), the Super-PAC may be violating federal laws prohibiting "coordinated communications" using a "common vendor," or other problems defined in that law.  

Here's a breakdown of the anti-Crabtree and anti-Gulleson "Brighter Future Committee" expenditures from SunlightFoundation.org:

(Click here to go to the source page at SunlightFoundation.org)

The "Brighter Future Committee" corporation has apparently spent $25,860.00 in federal Super-PAC direct disbursements for political purposes to produce and distribute, among other things, this TV advertisement:

And there's also a radio ad out there somewhere.  

I think a pretty good argument could be made that Goettle, Finken, the Brighter Future entities, and Odney Advertising are breaking North Dakota law and federal law.

So, once again, we can ask the question:  Who do you go to for enforcement of North Dakota laws when yet another Republican operative (or a whole bunch of them) thumbs his nose at North Dakota's election and campaign finance law?  Do you go to Republican Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a guy who doesn't see a problem accepting corporate campaign contributions laundered through the Republican State Leadership Committee?  Do you go to one of our feckless, cowardly local States Attorney's offices, when they've started to show us they're no longer confident enough to go after Republican state leaders?  Do you go to the Secretary of State, a guy who is proud to admit he doesn't have any enforcement authority?  

And who do you go to for enforcement of federal election laws around here?

Seriously.  Where do you go when Republicans break the law in North Dakota?  

**************

Here's Crabtree's legal analysis, for those of you that are interested (I got it from his campaign's website):

Brighter Future Committee Legal Analysis  

Comments (4)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment Preview