- Republican North Dakota state Rep. Jason Dockter has been charged with misdemeanor charges involving state-owned buildings owned by affiliated companies.
- Although vague, the complaint alleges that Mr. Dockter voted for “a measure that would apply a financial interest to the payment of acquired real property.”
- Mr. Dockter has pleaded not guilty in the case and is scheduled to go to trial on May 3.
A North Dakota lawmaker is facing misdemeanor charges in connection with a building leased from the state where he owns the property.
Republican state Rep. Jason Dockter of Bismarck was indicted last month on charges of speculating or betting on official actions. The complaint provides few details, but says Dockter violated the law by “voting for a bill that would be used to pay for property from which he had obtained a financial benefit,” and said that Dockter, the executive director of the state Ethics Commission, violated the law. Citing testimony.
Prosecutor Ladd Erickson confirmed the charges involve a building leased in 2020 under the late Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.
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Mr. Dockter is a co-owner of a company that owned and renovated buildings that the Attorney General's Office leased to house its departments. Mr. Dockter was friends with Mr. Stenegem, but that relationship was not a factor in the lease agreement, he said.
The building suffered construction cost overruns of more than $1 million under the Stenehjem administration, which passed away in January 2022. Current Attorney General Drew Wrigley disclosed cost overruns in June 2022 that were covered by various attorney general funds. Lawmakers expressed shock and concern. How trusts and construction projects were handled.
On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, Republican North Dakota Congressman Jason Dockter will preside over the Legislature. (AP Photo/Jacques Duras, File)
Shortly thereafter, records requests from the media revealed that Mr. Stenehjem's assistants instructed him to delete his state government email account days after his death, and also the account of his chief deputy, who resigned several months later. It became clear that he had done so.
These deletions caused further public uproar, and by the time reporters learned of them, Mr. Stenehjem's assistant resigned.
Wrigley said his office recovered about $625,000 after coordinating initial estimates of flooding with the building's owner, but the final figure is unclear.
Wrigley said his office is “providing all the information available to us and will continue to do so. Like everyone else, we will continue to monitor the outcome of this ongoing process.” I'm waiting,” he said.
The controversy led to new lease transparency and email retention laws by Congress and investigations by the North Dakota State Auditor and the Montana State Investigator.
Dockter, who has served in the North Dakota House of Representatives since 2012 and is up for re-election in 2022, declined to comment on the charges. A woman who answered the phone at Mr. Dockter's attorney's office said that Mr. Dockter's attorney also had no comment on the case.
Dockter has pleaded not guilty in the case, and a jury trial is scheduled for May 3.
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This misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of nearly a year in prison or a $3,000 fine.
