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Eating Liberally -- April 23, 2009, and the 4th Thursday of each month -- Super Buffet Mongolian Grill, 1000 45th St., Fargo -- 6:00 p.m.

This is  a time to get together and eat and talk , just time for  our friends.   There is no format, dues, agenda etc.,   We can meet anytime or place we decide, picnic pot luck,  local food, anything we want to, even invite  speakers.  But for now please show up, eat and talk to like minded friends.  No need to RSVP just stop by and eat. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Trana if you like.

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More WSI In The News
Written by Chet   
Friday, 21 December 2007

Where's Hoeven[Updated X 1]

There's a fair amount of coverage of yesterday's WSI news today.  Here are some high-points:

  • Fargo Forum -- The Bottineau County Commission asks for an investigation into the use of county resources by North Dakota Workforce Safety And Insurance (WSI) Board Chairman Robert Indvik.  Patrick Springer called me yesterday to ask me about my blog post (read the original blog post by clicking here).  Here's a quot':
Bottineau County commissioners called Thursday for an independent investigator to determine whether the county road superintendent misused his county cell phone.

The unanimous vote to ask for investigation of the use of county property, which came in a special county board meeting, is yet another examination of possible illegal conduct concerning officials with ties to Workforce Safety and Insurance, the state workers’ compensation program.

The Bottineau County action came after revelations earlier this week that Bob Indvik, the Bottineau County road superintendent, appeared to have made extensive calls with his county cell phone to board members and employees of the state workers’ compensation program, which he oversees as chairman of the board.

Fargo Forum (the Bismarck Tribune has a similar story here.  Minot Daily News has a story you can read by clicking here, too.  I like the Minot Daily story.)

  • Fargo Forum -- WSI Internal Audit Manager Kay Grinsteinner is still employed at WSI after WSI Board labor representative Terry Curl blasts WSI Audit Committee Chairman Mark Gjovig for his irresponsible, unprofessional attacks on Grinsteinner.  Here's a cut:

The tension in the room boiled over after WSI staff counsel Anne Greene reported that Grinsteinner’s questions about favoritism in safety grant awards were unfounded, and Gjovig and others continued to question Grinsteinner’s motives.

Terry Curl, organized labor’s representative on the board, erupted, criticizing the way Gjovig addressed Grinsteinner.

“You’ve been so disrespectful,” he said. “She’s told you three or four times those (notes) were private.”

Fargo Forum (the Bismarck Tribune has a similar story here.)

When is the Governor going to come out from under his desk and do something about the rogue leaders of WSI's rogue board? 

I'm not holding my breath.

[Update #1:  I forgot to mention this.  Someone has told me there has been a fund established at BNC National Bank here in Bismarck (with branches around the state, I think) for Todd Flanagan, the whistleblower who was fired after reporting he had been pressured to lie to law enforcement.  I don't know Todd Flanagan, I don't think I've ever met him or talked to him on the phone, but I have heard from three different friends that he's a good guy.  It's Christmas.  This guy got unfairly and probably illegally terminated by WSI.  He's a victim of the rogue, corrupt management of a state agency.  We own that agency.  It's partly our fault that he's without a job at Christmastime this year because we've allowed our government's leaders to turn WSI into this.  If you can find it in your heart and wallet to help him out a little at Christmas time, please please stop by a BNC Bank branch and offer to make a contribution.]

Comments (39)add comment

Doug D.Riley said:

Quit Slapping Hands
For the past year we have listened to the crap that has flowed threw indviks mouth an now he's going to bubble up and play stupid-"i did'nt know"--corruption is'nt going to stop as long as they just keep slapping officials hands an saying don't do it again-also wsi is going to pick up the bill-WHY-should'nt the only call he makes to someone is to ask when an where the next board meeting is going to be--is'nt that why wsi has board members to disscuss wsi's problems an future is at the BOARD MEETING-an not to afew individuals over the phone-again the taxpayers are flipping the bill-aw well something new but notthing changes-
 
December 21, 2007, 09:27 AM
Votes: +1

Deb said:

spot on as always, Chet.
From the original blog post about Indvik's misuse of the county cell phone, under the section titled "People of Bottineau County" Chet wrote:

c. Where is Bob Indvik going to get this $10,000.00 (or whatever the amount is)? Maybe he just has that kind of dough layin' around, and that's great for him. But I wonder, "Is WSI going to write the check?" If so, it seems like a bad policy choice for WSI to be paying the expenses incurred by a WSI Board member who was (a) operating outside of WSI's governance model; and (b) possibly violating open meetings laws. And how can WSI go back to pay bills that were incurred before the current biennium? I don't think they can. So is Bottineau County just going to get stuck with thousands of dollars in Bob Indvik's personal cell phone bills from previous bienniums?


From Minot Daily news:

Indvik said that although he can provide commission minutes showing he had county backing for his WSI work, if an investigation shows that the county shouldn?t pay for the calls, WSI will reimburse the money.

?There?s no doubt about that,? he said. ?If it is WSI-related work, it could be reimbursed.?


So, you were right - he thinks that WSI will magically pay for his idiocy.

Furthermore - isn't there a huge difference between being given permission to serve on the board of WSI, which I really don't doubt that Botno Cty granted, and misusing county resources in order to serve on that board? I highly doubt that any resolution or minutes will ever be uncovered that will show the county commission said "sure - use our cars to go to meetings, use our cell phones to make thousands of dollars in calls. Heck, while you're at it, take a ream of paper here or there - we good folks up Botno want to help out another state agency!!" It's just silly. Which raises other questions:

Is Indvik just stupid? Didn't he think that using his county issued celly for WSI use was a misapplication? Or is he that arrogant to think that no one would ever figure him out?

WSI is a billion dollar company - why didn't the governing board decide to issue themselves cell phones and/or fleet vehicles for WSI business? Their lawyers seem smart enough to figure out a way to fire whistle blowers and ways to get out of all other sorts of trouble (no independent memories, etc), but they're not smart enough to figure out ways to NOT get IN to trouble?
 
December 21, 2007, 09:30 AM
Votes: +7

RLM said:

I'm still waiting
For Scates to make a comment...

He has been unusually quiet this week.

Maybe he just doesn't have anything to bring to this party
 
December 21, 2007, 09:53 AM
Votes: +3

Chet said:

Another question
If it is determined that WSI's use of county property was illegal, and if WSI is supportive of the illegal use of county property even to the point where they will pay for it, wouldn't that be an admission by WSI (the entity) that it was a co-conspirator? If so, if and when the criminal charges roll out, should WSI (the entity) be named as a co-defendant? If individuals step forward at WSI and say they have been supportive of Indvik's illegal conduct all along, shouldn't the people at WSI who express support for the illegal conduct be named as co-conspirators?
 
December 21, 2007, 10:00 AM
Votes: +8

Got to Be kidding said:

...
You have to be kidding me that WSI would even consider paying these phone bills and other charges that were run up by Indvik. How insane. I wonder, are they going to pay current and former employees for the minutes they have used on personal cell phones for work related business while being an employee of WSI? This does happen from time to time. I highly doubt it. How much more ridiculous can this thing get before someone with some authority steps in and stops it? On those phone bills also what business did Indvik have calling Blunt while he was on administrative leave? He is on leave he should not have been consulted for anything by anyone at WSI which we know is not the case but he should have been disbarred in the same fashion Mr. Long has been. First we pay Blunt and Leingang for wrong doings and now they possibly reward (if they pay these bills) an incompitent snow blow operator playing board chairman for being an idiot also. Wow. The thing I find intriguing is this is just his work issued cell phone. What kinds of information would show up if a person looked at his office phone number and if you could get his home phone information. You can't tell me that he only did this kind of stuff from his work issued cell phone.
 
December 21, 2007, 11:21 AM
Votes: +3

Rocky Racoon said:

Tongue in Cheek?
I'm thinking maybe Jim Poolman's consulting company can handle the investigation, since he is an expert on insurance regulation. Maybe Indvik can resign from the board, then get hired as a consultant to WSI, and then make some big bucks so he can pay back Botno County.
 
December 21, 2007, 02:32 PM
Votes: +0

OZ said:

Interesting turn of events
Well, well, isn't this interesting. The Williston Herald has an AP story posted to their website stating that the SAO, in consultation with the AG, will be handling the investigation into Indvik's cell phone bill and county vehicle use. Wonder if WSI will have second thoughts about paying Indvik's cell phone bill now that the SAO is involved.

I'd sure like to have been a mouse in the corner when Indvik heard that piece of news.
 
December 21, 2007, 08:58 PM
Votes: +2

sheri mcmahon said:

...
More than a decade ago, I saw the bullet proof lobby at WSI, along with the bomb threat protocol in the lobby, when I went there with my future husband because of his profound frustration with worker's comp. I had recently begun to follow ND politics and was entranced by the appearance of open government such as at state legislative hearings. WSI's lobby made my jaw drop. What, I wondered, are they afraid of?
 
December 22, 2007, 11:04 AM
Votes: +3

Doug D.Riley said:

To Sheri
I think it was printed a few years ago that wsi built the bullit proof building because they said-- they meaning wsi-- needed protection from workers that were making fraudulent injury claims--the building was opened up a few months after hireing blunt- it was the begaining of their start of really denying claims-bring in out of state mouth pieces to help in denying claims-the oir board denying claims--it was'nt long after opening the doors that the people inside the bullit proof building nolonger had a face or last name--it was the beginning of their multi-million dollar non-profit enterprize-an the end of injured worker being treated fairly--the beginning of the untouchables!!
 
December 22, 2007, 02:30 PM
Votes: +0

Jimmy cracks corn said:

The System
In my opinion, If you checked the records of everyone who has a work phone issued to them. you might find Bob Indvik isn't the only one. I bet close to 99% are in violation some way or another. I like the onward and upward approach, verses the who did what. The State and the people of the state have a lot to learn. Let the people who lost thier jobs fend for themselves like I do. Fair is fair, and fired is fired. treat them all the same and move on. The long term solution should be the topic of discussion,And not who did what. Lets see who can come up with the best Idea to solve the problem. I am not on anyones side on this and I really don't care about the past. I think it's time to shift gears from reverse to foreward.
 
December 22, 2007, 04:22 PM
Votes: -1

Truth said:

Eliminate the board, fire the WSI execs and return accountability is the solution.
People may make personal calls on a company issued cell phone, but I don't care if its a private company, what I care about is the number of calls that aren't related to Bottineau County. Why didn't Indvik reimburse the county, did he ever have the intention to? Why so many calls, why to people who were no longer on the board and why for such long periods of time. The large number of calls is what is concerning to me. The long term solution is easy in my opinion, get rid of the inept corrupt board and return WSI back to control and oversight of an elected official.

Its also the hypocricy that Indvik displays, he criticizes others for doing what he himself was doing. The bunker mentality of him and the rest of the board and their way of dealing with problems by blaming others is the problem. In my opinion, he never had any intention of reimbursing Bottineau County until he got caught. If he would of, he would have made monthly payments to the county.
 
December 22, 2007, 09:54 PM
Votes: +7

Doug D.Riley said:

You Have To Know
A lot of the blogs criticize the injured workers as being whiners or losers just trying to get a easy buck all the while we have just been trying to tell everyone just how we are being treated-just think that the way wsi has been treating the Governor-AG-BHP and their own people just imagine how they really treat the injured worker and we do'nt ever get to see their faces-i'm also for Truth's idea but it has to be from the claims manager up-i've talked to my states rep a long time ago -even back then he knew wsi was bad-this what i really do'nt understand-all these people knew about how bad wsi is an nobody did anything-the thought that goes threw my mind is that "THERE JUST INJURED WORKERS" why bother they'll soon be out of money an wo'nt be able to appeal an then they'll just go away-why not it's worked for years.For the pro-wsi people you just make me want to PUKE a bunch of gutless spineless bottom feeders--feeding off the injured and poor have a merry x-mas.
 
December 23, 2007, 12:26 AM
Votes: -2

Doug D.Riley said:

A Great Idea
What Mr. Ed Christensen wrote today(12-26-07) in the bismarck tribune under opinions an letters is a great idea-theres just a couple of problems with it--one is finding three honest people picked by the governor-an the second thing is that wsi will never go for it-wsi has no intensions of overturning any decisions of any claims for anybody period-but it's a great idea.
 
December 26, 2007, 10:21 AM
Votes: -1

Ryan Archibald said:

Conflict of Interest for Some, But Not for Others
Hey Chad, Isn't your wife the counsel for the workers comp committee for the LC? Why doesn't she ever do anything? More like isn't it a conflict of interest for you?
 
December 27, 2007, 11:26 PM
Votes: -1

Oh Boy said:

Give it up
Should we talk about your family, "Ryan"??? Been off limits 'till now.

Get ready for the 15th, man.
 
January 01, 2008, 10:32 AM
Votes: +1

Truth said:

No conflict of interest
Chet is not a legislator or a public official, so there is no conflict of interest. Ryan, why don't you pose the same question to Steve Cates about one of h is contributors to his publication. Remember Patty Armstrong is the wife of WSI comm exec Mark Armstrong, don't you see that as a confilict for the trash that Steve Cates put forth in his articles when he was trying to bad mouth former employees? Have you criticized him? Have you asked him about it? I'm willing to guess not, because it doesn't suit your cause. If its a conflict for Chet, then its a conflict for Cates as well, lets see you post that on his site.
 
January 01, 2008, 10:32 AM
Votes: +3

Doug D.Riley said: