How Is Rick Berg Fiscally Irresponsible If His Campaign Has More Cash Than Debt?
It’s not often that the antics of the liberal media make me angry. Bemused. Annoyed. But not often downright upset. But the blatant, in-your-face, bald-faced unfairness of this article by the Fargo Forum’s Kristen Daum has me seeing red.
The premise is that Rick Berg is a hypocrite because he’s been preaching about fiscal responsibility in Washington DC but his election campaign committee still has $123,000 in debt.
I had to read the article twice to find out if I was missing some important detail which made this story, you know, a story. A lot of campaigns end the election cycle with a bit of debt. It’s hardly anything new.
What’s more, of the $123,000 in debt the Berg campaign still has $100,000 if a personal loan Berg gave his own campaign. Outside of that, the campaign has just $23,000 in debt.
What’s more, if you actually look at all the facts and not just the ones that are convenient for Democrat talking points, the Berg campaign committee still has $128,296 on hand. Which is a fact the Forum conveniently fails to mention.
Here’s a summary from the Federal Election Committee:
I’m embedding Berg’s most recent campaign disclosure report below as well so you can look at all the facts yourself.
“If your whole campaign is based around ‘living within our means and everybody has to tighten their belts,’ but then on the campaign side, you have $125,000 that you owe folks, including yourself –what does that say about how you run your own personal campaign and finances,” says North Dakota Democrat mouthpiece Joe Aronson. Except, Berg has more than enough cash on hand in his campaign account to pay off all his debts.
And Berg spokeswoman Alee Lockman explains why in the article:
Berg spokeswoman Alee Lockman said the campaign debt is the result of unfavorable timing between when bills arrived in the mail and when FEC reports were due.
“It’s just a matter of logistics of getting all this stuff filed,” Lockman said. “It’s not something we’re necessarily worried about.”
In other words, it’s not like Berg is defaulting on his debts or not paying his bills. He has the money. He’s basically paying off the invoices as they come in.
Making this whole thing a non-story. Unless you’re a Democrat desperate for a talking point. If I were Daum and the Forum, I’d be embarrassed to have published this nonsense.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if this hit piece isn’t in part a retaliation for Berg’s town hall meetings with citizens. In the past, the all-Democrat congressional delegation of Earl Pomeroy, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan made a point out of glad-handing the state’s newspaper management as opposed to holding public meetings where they took questions from constituents. You can see the contrast even now during this Easter recess from Congress. Both Rep. Berg and Senator Kent Conrad have been in North Dakota. Conrad has been meeting with the state’s newspapers. Berg, on the other hand, is holding town halls where he takes questions directly from his constituents.
I’m guessing the state’s liberal media is feeling bypassed. They’re supposed to be the gatekeepers for the political information the public gets. The idea of Berg going around the reporters and the editorial writers and communicating directly with the people has got to be anathema to them.
