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.

These are just the problems that got noticed.

A thorough review of the campaign filings made by candidates, political parties, and independent committees would likely find many, many more problems, though perhaps not as egregious as these examples.

I’ve long called for stricter campaign finance laws. We need more frequent reporting deadlines and reports that represent a more thorough accounting of campaign fundraising and spending. And, perhaps most importantly, I’ve repeatedly called for tougher sanctions for those who flout the laws.

Only, it turns out we already have a pretty good law on the books addressing that last point. I wasn’t aware of

Section 16.1-08.1-05

of the North Dakota Century Code until just recently, while I was researching some of these issues, but it gives the secretary of state’s office some broad authority to investigate discrepancies in campaign reports and exact meaningful fines for discrepancies.

Election officials can order an audit of a campaign if “a substantial irregularity is evident or reasonably alleged.” If that audit “reveals a violation,” the candidate, political party, or political action committee can be fined an amount equal to 200% “of the aggregate of contributions and expenditures found to be in violation or an amount sufficient to pay the cost of the audit, whichever is greater.”

Proceeds from the funds would be deposited in the state’s general fund. If the audit finds no issues, then the Secretary of State eats the cost of the audit.

To my knowledge, this law has not been used once during my more than two decades of reporting on state politics.

It’s good law, though it exempts local campaigns — city, county and school district offices — which is problematic. Last year, I reported on a $2,500 donation made by Fargo-based Epic Companies to mayoral candidate Shaun Sipma

in violation of state prohibitions against corporate campaign contributions.

Even with that glaring omission, our current secretary of state, recently elected Republican Michael Howe, ought to start using it to hold the politicians and activists accountable.