It’s Official, State Supreme Court Puts Pie In Burgum’s Face.
In a wildly popular article I published on November 19th, I dove into the folly that was Governor Doug Burgum's attempt to sneak a candidate into the District 8 seat left vacant after the election of Republican David Andahl. Andahl had died weeks before the election due to COVID-19 complications. But he was elected anyways.
Andahl had benefited from a Political Action Committee's effort to oust longtime District 8 representative Jeff Delzer from office. Burgum contributed a ton of cash to the PAC as Delzer was a political rival from Doug's own party. That's old news now...but if you missed it, read it here.
Now lets get to the Supreme pie in the face...and this gets rough!
KFYR-TV is reporting that on Tuesday the North Dakota State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Doug did not have the power to appoint someone to take over the vacant seat. Let the snarky slams begin! From the KFYR TV story...
Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., filed the District 8 lawsuit claiming he has the power to appoint someone to the House seat left vacant by a deceased candidate.
He claimed the state constitution gave him gubernatorial authority to fill the vacancy if there’s “no other method” provided by law.
Justice Daniel Crothers called Gov. Burgum’s constitutional interpretation unconvincing.
Unanimously unconvincing. Now, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem does have a contentious past with Governor Burgum, to dive into that click on last weeks story. Suffice to say, Wayne is probably having a pretty enjoyable day. Wayne, tell 'em the truth.
This entire exercise was a waste of taxpayer dollars and time, all of which could have been avoided had the Governor came across the hall to receive legal advice from the person who was elected by the citizens of North Dakota.
If you don't find all of this funny, we probably can't hang out.
You'll get 'em next time Doug!
Stay safe y'all.