Former New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran has recently pled guilty to two felonies that would not have been detected and arguably not a crime if she had been an elected state official or legislator in North Dakota.Her crimes were that she admitted using campaign contributions for her personal use. In addition to having pled guilty to these crimes, she has resigned her position as New Mexico Secretary of State at the request of both political parties, including her own. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, who is a member of the same political party as Duran, called Duran’s actions, “deeply troubling and concerning.”
It would be virtually impossible for these crimes to have been detected in North Dakota. There is no oversight over how statewide candidates and state legislative candidates spend their campaign funds. One can only presume that lack of oversight is in the name of conservatism and avoidance of “costly” regulations. Surely all of North Dakota’s 18 statewide elected officials and 141 state legislators would never think of doing something like that. The people of North Dakota have the luxury of being certain that all 159 of these individuals, as well as their potentially 159 political opponents, are 100% grade A trustworthy. We can all rest assured that the odds of one of 318 people with political ambitions being dishonest are zero. Any type of oversight would surely be a waste of tax payers money. What a burden it would be to have separate bank accounts and a double entry system for persons in control of a multi-billion dollar budget. How could the North Dakota State Auditor possibly have the time to even do random spot checks?
If one follows the news, there have been many financial improprieties on Wall Street and even in Vatican City just to name a few. Embezzlers are predictably the persons one would least expect as it is a crime of opportunity. North Dakota is obviously the land of opportunity.
