Letter to the Editor: Follow the money

I encourage all voters to do what I did – see who is funding their local candidates. I searched for our incumbent legislators – Sen. Jerry Klein, Reps. Robin Wesiz and Jon Nelson. I expected to see some listed contributions from small towns across my district, like Fessenden, Harvey, Rugby, New Rockford, Maddock and elsewhere. Honestly, I was shocked by what I found. There was nothing of the sort. Over 80 percent of the money funding their campaigns were from lobbyists PACs, special interest funds, former and current elected officials and political appointees. You always hear about longtime legislators being supported by the politically well-connected. The “Good ol' Boys," right? It really makes me wonder why all of these groups that spend millions of dollars every legislative session trying to get what they want would be so determined to get these guys reelected. Yeah, I know it’s possible for a lobbying group to want something good, but let’s be honest. Most of the time they want a law written in a special way that benefits them or their industry, or they want a piece of our tax dollars. It seems like Bismarck has become a microcosm of Washington, D.C. It’s a place in which the special interests finance and support the same people they’ve built relationships with over and over again each election cycle. The whole thing is just one big revolving door and good ol' boys club. Well, I don’t know how “good” they are, but it should raise eyebrows to see how they are almost completely funded by people who are not from our community. You can visit https://cf.sos.nd.gov/search/cfsearch.aspx and search for this information for yourself.

Dean Wallace

New Rockford, N.D.

Editor's Note: Per our policy regarding letters to the editor, the publication of this letter has been paid for by Dean Wallace.