FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 28, 2025

BISMARCK – Today, Sen. Tim Mathern (D-Fargo) proposed legislation to require elected officials and employees of higher education institutions to report knowledge of crimes against children. He and House Minority Leader Zac Ista (D-Grand Forks) announced this legislation at a press conference at the Capitol this morning. They also renewed their call to empower and fully fund the the North Dakota Ethics Commission. The House rejected the Senate’s proposal to add a full-time staffer. They also added an arbitrary cut-off for the length of investigations in violation of the state constitution’s prohibition against hampering the work of the Ethics Commission.

Mathern remarked, “Ray Holmberg committed the most heinous crimes against children. He bragged about it. Holmberg was the longest-serving state Senator in the country when he was in office. He walked the halls of this Capitol as one of the most powerful men in North Dakota. He said it himself—that he would be in power as long as he wanted to, unless he was caught. He emailed his friend Bruce Gjovig, ‘no one is ever (too) young’ in 2011. Holmberg served for another full decade after he said that. That’s outrageous.”

Mathern continued, “This would be a step toward justice as we continue to process Holmberg’s vile crimes and uncover more information on what has become the most egregious scandal in our state’s history.”

Ista said, “But we have learned that Holmberg actually did share his true self with close associates years earlier. This was not from rumors and gossip or even news reports–and it was not just off-color jokes or crude talk amongst friends–it was words directly from Holmberg himself in which he revealed himself to be a monster who preys on boys and vulnerable young men. To receive that information and do nothing to stop it is a complete moral failure.”

Ista continued, “Even now, it is hard to fathom that a hidden predator was in our midst for so many years, roaming these very halls. It is inconceivable that anyone who had reason to know the real Ray Holmberg failed to stop him. Now we face a choice: be paralyzed by disbelief or take action. We owe it to the people of North Dakota to act now so this never happens again in our state.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 14, 2025

BISMARCK – Today the ND House voted to cap Ethics Commission investigations to 180 days and removed a proposed new staff position who would have educated our lawmakers on how to follow our ethics laws.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “How can House Republicans claim to care about corruption, fraud, and abuse when they just voted to kneecap the watchdogs? This vote is a rejection of the will of the people of North Dakota: You voted to enshrine the Ethics Commission in our constitution. And you voted to enshrine it because you saw a Republican supermajority incapable of behaving ethically, from Jason Dockter, to Luke Simons, to Nico Rios, to Ray Holmberg. If our lawmakers don’t have the integrity to prove that they are following our laws, they shouldn’t be making them.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 25, 2025

FARGO ND – On Tuesday evening, Representative Julie Fedorchak hosted a “telephone town hall.” Fedorchak said that Trump may come to North Dakota remarking, “He pledged he would think about doing that.”

North Dakota DNC Committeeman Jamie Selzler said, “I appreciate that Representative Fedorchak took my call to kick off her tele-town hall tonight. I respect that she was willing to take tough questions and didn’t handpick callers. That said, I asked her about unelected Elon Musk diving into Medicaid and Social Security in order to cut and kill these critical programs. I asked her to speak up to defend entitlements against attack, and she refused to do so. We are months away from Social Security checks being missed, and from rural clinics closing. Medicaid is about to be slashed by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, which will hurt tens of thousands of North Dakotans who rely on it for healthcare and assisted living support. Julie Fedorchak remains silent on this, and as a Member of Congress is abdicating her responsibility to provide oversight of the administration and to defend the people she’s supposed to represent.”

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Communications Director Laura Dronen remarked, “Fedorchak said that Social Security is not being cut. That’s just a lie. DOGE is planning to cut phone support for Social Security. We are already seeing longer wait times. The Minot Social Security Office is on a list of offices that are set to close. Trump’s Commerce Secretary said no one would ‘call and complain’ if they miss a Social Security check—they won’t even be able to call after Elon guts the phone support.

When asked about Trump’s Executive Order to dismantle the Education Department, she seemed completely fine with it even though that will be detrimental to rural schools and disabled students. She refused to call on anyone to resign—let alone be held accountable—after one of the most glaring breaches of national security we’ve witnessed when a journalist was accidentally included in a group chat about plans to bomb Yemen. Her answers were so vapid and pathetic that it spurred a constituent to say, ‘We don’t need you to be kissing this administration’s butt.’”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 20, 2025

FARGO ND – The U.S. Attorney’s office filed a sentencing memorandum that outlines Former Republican State Senator Ray Holmberg’s pattern of sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

Two details that raise distressing and pressing questions for the public: “Others involved in politics also began propositioning the young man, he told investigators,” and “Investigators also found that Holmberg routinely bragged to friends he trusted about his sexual exploitation of boys.”

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “It’s clear that Ray Holmberg not only thought he was invincible because of the power he had, but he used that power to manipulate and exploit vulnerable young men in North Dakota. Holmberg abused some of the most vulnerable children when he traveled abroad, and he used his position of power—and our taxpayer dollars—to do it. We still don’t know who else enabled Holmberg’s depraved crimes. For the sake of the survivors of his abuse and coercion, may justice be served.”

Goldwyn continued, “As we see legislators attack librarians, teachers, and LGBTQ North Dakotans, it continues to be Republican lawmakers who abuse their positions of power to prey on others. Just yesterday we learned that a MN Republican Senator who ran on “family values” was arrested on felony charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. It’s Donald Trump who was found liable for sexual assault. He celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a man who was found liable for rape. He brought a man back to the US who has been charged with rape and human trafficking. We won’t ignore this pattern of abuse, and the American people shouldn’t either.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]