Port: Turns out tough enforcement laws for campaign finance violations are already on North Dakota’s books
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s campaign finance laws are distressingly lax. They’re routinely violated with near impunity.
My reporting recently uncovered that an independent political action committee called the Dakota Patriot PAC failed to report more than $80,000 in expenditures in their year-end report.
Last year, my reporting revealed that statewide candidate Melanie Moniz, who sought a seat on the Public Service Commission on the Democratic-NPL’s ticket, made it all the way to October, almost to Election Day, without filing a single disclosure report for her campaign.
The campaign for the term limits ballot measure last cycle was forced to file an amended campaign finance disclosure after I reported a more than $28,000 discrepancy. That came right after the term limits group dunked on state Rep. Jim Kasper, a Fargo Republican, for failing to disclose in his campaign filings a $5,000 donation from their founder.
What are the consequences for these violations of campaign finance laws? Nothing, really. Just a few embarrassing headlines.
