North Dakota Superintendent Candidate Was Once Elector For Socialist Workers Party
A poll from earlier this month conducted by Mason-Dixon at the behest of Fargo NBC affiliate Valley News Live showed independent superintendent candidate Tracy Potter leading Republican nominee Kirsten Baesler by 10 points. Potter, I believe, was benefiting a good deal in that poll from simple name recognition what with his having been on the last ballot as the Democrat US Senate candidate.
In that election Potter got less than 30% of the vote, and for good reason. He backed a federal land grab that opted-in millions of acres of North Dakota land into a national heritage area land designation without notifying any of the land owners or, originally, even giving them the opportunity to back out.
Now, in his most recent stab at statewide office, it has come to light that Potter has a strong element of political extremism in his background. According to election records from the 1976 elections, Potter stood in as an elector for Peter Camejo who was running on the ticket of the Socialist Workers Party, an off-shoot of the Communist League of America which itself had split off from the Communist Party USA after supporting Leon Trotsky over Joseph Stalin.
Obviously, this is a troubling development. Perhaps Potter owes North Dakotans an explanation for his past association with such radical politics, and some assurances that these radical ties won’t influence his decisions should he be elected as superintendent of North Dakota’s schools.
