Getting Ugly: Burgum Surrogate Calls Stenehjem "Underhanded"

I told you this was going to get ugly.

Earlier today I wrote about a surrogate for Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem taking a shot at the candidate’s gubernatorial nomination opponent Doug Burgum.

This afternoon a Burgum surrogate swiped right back at Stenehjem.

“Wayne’s false, underhanded attacks underscore why we need an outsider in charge,” Robert Harms, a former NDGOP party chairman and an adviser to Burgum’s campaign, wrote in an email sent out to delegates today. “We need someone like Doug who is ready to take things head on, and not act like a politician trying to distract the people from the big problems in Bismarck with misleading and untrue personal attacks.”

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]”Wayne should drop the personal attacks and focus on the serious issues facing our state,” Harms continued.[/mks_pullquote]

“Wayne should drop the personal attacks and focus on the serious issues facing our state,” Harms continued.

The stuff from Harms griping about politicians is rich. Not only is he a long-time big wig in the NDGOP, but he’s a professional lobbyist to boot. He, quite literally, makes politics his career.

You can read the “attacks” right here, which came from state Rep. Roscoe Streyle in an op/ed that, in addition to being submitted for publication here on SAB, was also sent out to supporters by the Stenehjem campaign.

“Burgum also claims he supports lower property taxes, but his record says something else,” Streyle wrote. “Burgum has received millions in property tax breaks, income tax exemptions and government subsidies for his downtown Fargo building projects. The result of these sweetheart deals is that everyone else in Fargo pays higher property taxes, but not Doug Burgum.”

As I wrote earlier today, I think it was a mistake for the Stenehjem campaign to send out Streyle’s op/ed. In the war of words, it lost them the moral high ground, and gave the Burgum camp an excuse to start throwing some haymakers of their own.

Here’s the full email from Harms:

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