Say Anything Blog

From the beginning the WSI situation has been an amazing series of half truths, slanted journalism, political gamesmanship, and out right lying. And it has not been on the part of Sandy Blunt, Romi Leingang, Mark Armstrong, George Keiser, Frank Wald, Scott Hennen, or Steve Cates. And I can prove every word of this assertion.

All of the following events took place in 2007. First, on either April 26 or 27, long-time friend, Mark Armstrong gave me an envelope that contained documents authored by Sandy Blunt after he had been put on administrative leave from WSI. These documents were apparently referred to in his personal journal as the “secret documents” that he had a friend deliver to various media people so that they could be disseminated without it appearing to come from Mark in his official WSI capacity. Mark and his family have been good friends long before he worked at WSI and long before I began publishing The Dakota Beacon. I trust him completely. After reading these documents and obtaining his assurance that they were absolutely accurate I became alarmed at what I perceived then, and have come to know, that the prosecution of Blunt and Leingang would fail and would cause immeasurable heartache to innocent people and their families.

I immediately began an internet review of all available information and made open record requests of the North Dakota State Auditor’s Office (NDSAO), Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI), and the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office (NDAG).

Mark and I met on May 8 and lamented that the print and broadcast media in ND was not fully investigating the truth of the Burleigh County State’s Attorney’s (BCSA) prosecution. We were very frustrated about the cost to the taxpayers (Mark is a county commissioner) and what this entirely false process would do to good people. Two weeks before that, it was decided by NDAG that NDCC 44:11 could not be used to remove Blunt from his position. We speculated as to if this application of law (gathering 50 signatures to initiate an investigation of elected official State’s Attorney Riha) would be a way to get the state’s media’s attention. It was a discussion, not a plot, and was not done in “secret” as many, many people knew we were meeting.

I met briefly with Representative Keiser and was frankly disappointed that he was overly cautious and unwilling to get more aggressively involved beyond WSI mounting public relations and education events to put WSI in a better light. We talked about the activities Blunt was being charged with related to “misappropriation of entrusted property”, and how those exact same activities were done before Blunt arrived and how the same activities took place at many ND state agencies. We talked about submitting information regarding those activities to Riha, requesting equal treatment of other state agencies as was being meted out to Blunt. I did submit a listing of “illegal” activities of other state agencies for the exact same activities to Riha at a county commission meeting that he apparently ignored.

My investigation of this matter required spending hundreds of dollars on open records requests, I have spent hundreds of hours reading thousands of documents and writing over 25 thousand words (all of which are available at http://www.dakotabeacon.com) on this whole WSI mess. During this entire process I have put myself and my magazine way, way out there. When I write that many words in a journal so very much disliked by ND’s political left and discuss in detail specific individuals, the only protection I have from overwhelming legal jeopardy is the truth.

I am able to establish without equivocation, with full documentation that: A disgruntled core of WSI employees has been involved in the audit and prosecution. The WSI audit was initiated with almost no documented analysis. That it was the first Performance Audit in ND history not began at the request of legislators. That disgruntled WSI employees were either spouses or siblings of NDAO upper management staff, and that a former NDAO employee was a disgruntled WSI employee. That the time period being audited and form of the final audit report document are anomalous. That NDAO asked for NDAG opinions only when it might prove unfavorable to Blunt and never to investigate, based on Blunt’s assertions, legal facts that would exonerate Blunt. That the prosecution by BCSA was began with complaints signed without investigation beyond review of the WSI final audit document. That several very important legal issues relative to WSI authority were ignored prior to the charging of Blunt and Leingang. That the person who pushed the charging of Blunt and Leingang had been fired from WSI for essentially stealing (of time not on state business and use of government facilities for other than government business). This person is now a ND state employee at NDSU based on the reference given to NDSU by his renter. That at least two of the WSI employees requesting Whistleblower protection lied in their requesting letters to NDAG. And this is, my friends, only the tip of the iceberg.

You may think that these afore mentioned assertions are the mere rantings of a madman. But I would like to offer a challenge to ND’s print and broadcast media. I am willing to meet with or talk live on radio or television with any media person (interviewer). Prior to the meeting, a mutually agreed upon “verification entity” will be selected to verify or refute any assertions of fact. The meeting session will be recorded in its entirety and made available to the public (at my expense). If I am proven by the “verification entity” of any willful misstatement or misrepresentation, I will relinquish to the person or organization designated by the interviewer, $50,000.00 that has been placed by me, in an escrow account prior to the interview. Think of this as a tremendous opportunity for some charity to obtain a windfall. Think of this as an opportunity of Joel Heitkamp to expedite the largest single contribution to the ND Democrat Party. By making this proposal I will be the only one publicly risking my reputation and my money. There is good reason that I can make this offer. Who has the guts to take me up on it? Or, who is afraid of the truth? This is a very simple question.