Plain Talk: NDGOP chairman says party may pull support for candidates in slurs controversy

MINOT, N.D. — NDGOP party chairman Perrie Schafer says he’s looking into the controversy around the use of homophobic slurs and other bigoted language in a messaging group organized by the North Dakota Young Republicans, and there may be consequences for Republican candidates who were a part of it.

“This is an organization,” he said of his party on this episode of Plain Talk. “We get to choose who we’re associated with.”

He said he wants to be fair to the members of the group, which is affiliated with the NDGOP and has a non-voting seat on the party’s governing committee, but that some of the people who participated in the group may find themselves out in the cold.

“We have a right to choose who is in our group,” Schafer said.

“Personal responsibility and accountability are apparently not what these people want,” he added, noting that some members of the group, including Carter Eisenberger, a Republican candidate for the state House in District 11, indicated that they were proud of the slurs being used.

Schafer also weighed in on outgoing state Rep. Rick Becker choosing to launch an independent U.S. Senate campaign against endorsed Republican incumbent John Hoeven. “He gave up his right to run as a Republican,” Schafer said of Becker’s decision.

“The man can’t be trusted,” he added, noting that Becker had previously promised to respect the vote of Republican delegates to the NDGOP’s state convention.

Also on this episode, Wednesday co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the North Dakota Young Republicans controversy, Cara Mund’s independent bid for the House of Representatives, and more.

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