ICYMI: Letter to the Editor in The Washington Post: “Kevin Cramer Needs to Pay Attention to the Law”

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ICYMI: Letter to the Editor in The Washington Post:
“Kevin Cramer Needs to Pay Attention to the Law”

(BISMARCK, ND) – North Dakota rarely gets major attention in the national spotlight. Unfortunately, our latest coverage has been rather embarrassing. Senator Kevin Cramer held up the confirmation of a White House budget official and criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, slamming them as “arrogant” for not disclosing the information contained in bids for the construction of the border wall. Cramer was upset that they did not choose his preferred firm, a construction firm in Dickinson (whose owners substantially contributed to his Senate campaign).

Cramer wrote the following email to the Corps, copying several members of the White House Office of Management and Budget:
This is a woefully inadequate response and not what I was promised by the White House as a condition for releasing my hold on the confirmation of the nominee for the Federal Procurement Officer. The fact that you all claim secrecy without citing statute makes me very suspicious. I have decided to stay in DC another day and would like to see General Semonite in my office tomorrow.

After the Washington Post broke the original story, Senator Cramer went on to slam them, tweeting, “I should be surprised, but am not, that WaPo would attack me for seeking transparency from an agency issuing billions worth of federal contracts rather than being suspicious of the mole inside the agency using them to detract attention from said agency’s procurement processes.”

In response to this unfriendly spotlight on Senator Cramer, Warren Rose of Alexandria, VA, writes that Senator Cramer’s “colleagues should apprise him” of several pieces of legislation that are intended to protect government contracts from any political influence.

You can read Mr. Rose’s letter here.

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