BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota’s new Ethics Commission is working out how far its authority extends and determining the rules that will guide its actions and decision-making.
The panel oversees the conduct of legislators, state officials, political candidates and lobbyists.
Chairman Ron Goodman said the commission will not investigate every ethics violation in the state.
Goodman told the board at the second meeting on Sept. 13 that he has been questioned about whether the commission can investigate lawmakers’ use of social media and even a query about oilfield spills, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
That’s unlikely, but one of the board’s first tasks is to write guidelines to govern how it acts. Assistant Attorney General Allyson Hicks said the board has “broad constitutional authority” over its rule-making.
“There is no other branch of government that has yea or nay power over your administrative rules,” Hicks told the commission.
Dennis Cooley, a professor of ethics and philosophy at North Dakota State University, said the commission is responsible for investigating complaints dealing with cronyism, favoritism or “poor behavior” among legislators, state officials, political candidates and lobbyists.
“This is not a retributive committee. It’s a restorative committee. That’s the big point,” he said.
The board hasn’t yet crafted rules related to transparency, corruption, elections and lobbying.
Commissioner Cynthia Lindquist, president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College, said she would want to know what other state boards have adopted for their rules.
“That would be something that would help me so that we know what’s there already so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel on that,” Lindquist told her fellow commissioners.
The governor and legislative leaders appointed the Ethics Commission’s five board members last month.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
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