Rebecca Binstock, left, executive director of the North Dakota Ethics Commission, Logan Carpenter, center, general counsel for the Ethics Commission, and Alisha Maier, right, operations manager for the Ethics Commission, listen during a committee hearing on Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — A new report shows that Ethics Commission complaints that don’t…
Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, left, talks to Gov. Kelly Armstrong on May 3, 2025, after lawmakers adjourned. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — Officials tasked with selecting the new members of the North Dakota Ethics Commission said they plan on asking candidates what they think the commission’s role in government should be — a…
Pat Monson BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) — A career attorney who assisted in an Ethics Commission investigation told lawmakers that she thinks the Attorney General’s Office is pressuring the commission’s staff to resign. “I believe that what our attorney general is attempting to do is to drive them out,” Pat Monson, who recently retired after 46 years as a trial…
Rep. Emily O’Brien, vice chair of the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee, questions staff from the Attorney General’s Office about how it handled finances related to a controversial renovation and lease of a south Bismarck building. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — Financial discrepancies related to an Attorney General’s Office building project have been resolved, staff…
Members and staff of the North Dakota Ethics Commission meet during an Oct. 23, 2024, meeting at the North Dakota Capitol. Pictured clockwise from left are member Murray Sagsveen, then-Chair Dave Anderson, attorney Logan Carpenter and then-operations administrator Alisha Maier. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — A total of 39 North Dakotans applied to fill the open…
House Minority Leader Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, speaks on the House floor in December 2024. Ista recently asked the Ethics Commission to analyze whether it would be an ethics violation for him to attend a study tour paid for by the government of Israel. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — At least one North Dakota lawmaker has…
MOORHEAD (North Dakota Monitor) — A leader of the BadAss Grandmas for Democracy on Monday encouraged voters to push back against two proposals from the North Dakota Legislature to change the state constitution. Dina Butcher, part of the group that was the driving force behind creating the Ethics Commission in North Dakota, said the two measures are the Legislature’s way…
Commissioners Murray Sagsveen, left, and Ronald Goodman, right, members of the North Dakota Ethics Commission, listen to a House committee hearing on March 18, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — The North Dakota Ethics Commission is looking into whether strongly worded communications from the state Attorney General’s Office have negatively impacted commission staff. The decision follows…
BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) — The North Dakota Ethics Commission found Rep. Jason Dockter committed three ethics violations related to his ownership of a Bismarck building, but the agency did not hand down any penalties for the lawmaker. The announcement, released Friday evening, marks the first time the commission has declared that a public official engaged in unethical behavior. The…
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — Ever since North Dakota voters created an ethics watchdog agency seven years ago, dubious lawmakers have pushed back against giving it power to actually keep an eye on state officials. That was true in the session that just ended, as legislators shut down many requests from the Ethics Commission, keeping the agency on a…
