Legislators Believe North Dakota Auditor May Have Illegally Colluded With Burleigh County Prosecutor

From the editor: Recently the North Dakota State Auditor’s office has been making news with criticism of North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance for a severance payment to former director Sandy Blunt. It’s odd that the state auditor would raise this question as Sandy Blunt left WSI long ago, and his severance payment has long since been settled. The timing, just weeks before a statewide election, is curious.
Dakota Beacon publisher Steve Cates submitted the following column describing some of the background on this story that isn’t being reported by the North Dakota media. Specifically, concern from state legislators about the auditor’s office engaging in illegal collusion with the Burleigh County prosecutors to railroad former WSI director Sandy Blunt.
Since it was at the end of the Monday, October 20, 2008 Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee (LAFRC) meeting very few people know that a motion was made at the ND Legislative Council to obtain ALL records from both the ND Auditor’s Office (NDSAO) and the Burleigh County State’s Attorney’s Office (BCSA), of ALL communications between the two entities. ALL 8 of the Republicans and one Democrat on LAFRC voted for this motion to obtain these records. All of this information must be submitted to Legislative Council on or by December 1, 2008.
From ND Legislative Council:

It was moved by Representative Wald, seconded by Representative Grande, and carried on a roll call vote that the State Auditor’s office provide the committee with all communications between the State Auditor’s office and the Burleigh County State’s Attorney relating to Workforce Safety and Insurance, including all correspondence, emails, faxes, subpoenas, summons, complaints , and other information received or sent during the period beginning July 1, 2005 and ending November 15, 2008. The information must be provided to the committee staff and the Attorney General’s office by December 1, 2008. Representatives Skarphol, Delzer, Grande, Hatlestad, Kelsch, Pinkerton, and Wald and Senators Christmann, Cook, and Klein voted “aye.” Representatives Boucher, Conrad, and Onstad voted “nay.”

In the first few days of the 2007 session NDSAO attempted to significantly increase their investigatory authority by placing in the ND Century Code Auditor’s Office section 54:10 the following:

“Be vested with the authority to investigate and report on allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, and violations of state or federal law at state agencies and political subdivisions subject to audit by the state auditor.”

Their (NDSAO) proposal did not make it out of committee.
Through numerous records requests of a number of N.D. state agencies I have found significant evidence that NDSAO has been doing what they wanted the legislature to allow them to do anyway.
The NDSAO has been targeting Sandy Blunt with the audit of Workforce, Safety, and Insurance (WSI), has been intimately involved in concurrent criminal prosecution by BCSA, done subsequent auditing and 2006 Performance Audit follow-up, questioned the legality of former WSI CEO’s severance pay, while feigning the objectivity demanded by audit and accounting rules and procedures incumbent of their office as auditors.
Republican legislators do not trust the Republican Auditor
Major participants in the highest profile governmental drama in Bismarck are being required to turn over records.
Sandy Blunt, who all independent studies examining his tenure as WSI CEO indicate that the agency he led was functioning in excellent capacity, while being assaulted by NDSAO, BCSA, and various members of the state media (as well as 4th rate attorney bloggers), continues to be persecuted/prosecuted.