State Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
(. North Dakota Monitor) – A state senator wants to more than double the staff for the North Dakota Ethics Commission, arguing the state should be doing more to prevent public corruption.
The amendment was brought before the House Appropriations Committee’s Education and Environment Division by Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo.
He said his proposal was prompted by news coverage of former Republican state Sen. Ray Holmberg’s prison sentence.
“It seems like every week, sometimes every day, there’s some sort of news story about our former colleague, Sen. Holmberg,” Mathern told lawmakers.
Holmberg was sentenced to 10 years in prison last week after he pleaded guilty to traveling to Prague, Czech Republic with the intent to engage in commercial sex with minors. One of Holmberg’s trips to Prague was subsidized by taxpayer dollars, according to federal
prosecutors. A prosecution sentencing memorandum also alleged that Holmberg arranged for commercial sex “on countless occasions” while traveling in the U.S.
