House candidates Becker, Mund go after Fedorchak for perceived conflicts

Attacks returned into the fray during the third Republican candidate debate for North Dakota’s at-large U.S. House seat on Friday morning.

The debate, hosted by KFGO radio in Fargo, included four of the five Republican candidates running for the office with Williston resident Sharlet Mohr declining the debate invitation, according to debate moderator Paul Jurgens.

Republican moderate Cara Mund and conservative former lawmaker Rick Becker targeted their attacks on Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak during the more than 90-minute debate. NDGOP-endorsed candidate Alex Balazs, similar to the first debate, tended to leave the candidates to criticize each other while focusing on the question topics.

Conflicts alleged

Becker and Mund accused Fedorchak, a utility regulator, of impropriety connected to the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions carbon dioxide pipeline. 

“I have difficulty trusting Julie,” Becker said. “She takes money from the industries she regulates.”

Fedorchak said her family bought land in Oliver County in 2012, a year before she joined the Public Service Commission. Her family does not own land along the Summit pipeline route, but has signed a contract to store carbon dioxide transported by the pipeline on their property. The Fedorchaks were paid $22,000 for the contract and will be eligible for future royalties if the project is approved and completed.

Fedorchak said she recused herself from all PSC hearings and decisions related to the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.

“The only thing my husband and I did was what any landowner can do in North Dakota is make decisions based on the best interests of your land and your family and the investment that you’ve made,” Fedorchak said. “That’s our right as property owners and I have 100% recused myself anytime I’ve had any sort of conflict of interest.”

Mund referred to the timing of the land purchase and Fedorchak’s role with the PSC as “a lot of coincidences.” Mund also suggested that Fedorchak was leaving the PSC because she had already received her “payday” and wanted to continue it in Washington.

Becker accused Fedorchak of accepting thousands of dollars in donations from North American Coal and a wind energy company in 2014 and 2016 with projects before the commission being approved afterward. Fedorchak said all of her donations were reported accurately in accordance with state law and nothing improper occurred.

Trump trial

The candidates also were asked their views of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial for allegedly falsifying business records involved in paying hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. 

Fedorchak, Becker and Balazs each dismissed the allegations against Trump as a “sham” or “frivolous.” Mund called all three of her debate opponents a “puppet for Trump.”

“It is a sham,” Becker said. “There is a weaponization of the bureaucratic government agencies with the Department of Justice and they are doing a railroad job on President Trump.”

Becker added he believes the American people can see through the allegations and multiple trials of the former president.

“It is a sham,” Fedorchak said. “It is a two-tiered justice system and, quite honestly, I think it’s a distraction.”

Balazs said he believes the cases will be found to be frivolous months from now and described the proceedings as “anger-tainment.”

Mund said she hopes voters heard her opponents respond to the question because the Trump court cases are not distractions.

“As a lawyer, you can’t bring a case as a distraction,” Mund said. “It’s against your oath.”

She added there were multiple attempts to dismiss the cases, but the courts did not dismiss them.

“When we elect leaders who undermine our court system, who support the politicization of our courts, there is a deep concern,” Mund said. 

Election integrity

All four candidates also weighed in on perceived election integrity issues and whether they would have voted to certify the 2020 presidential election, if they were in Congress at the time. 

“There were questions in the last election about voting, and balloting, and counting, and all kinds of concerns across the country,” Fedorchak said. “I wasn’t in Congress in 2021 and I’m not going to talk about what I would have done, or wouldn’t have done.”

Mund pointed out that Fedorchak didn’t answer the question.

“I hope Julie takes the opportunity to actually answer the question,” Mund said. “I think it’s important that North Dakotans actually know how she would have voted.”

Mund added she would have certified the Electoral College vote following the 2020 election and would do so again in 2024.

Balazs said he would vote to affirm the 2024 election, if he is sent to Congress, and he would have voted to affirm the 2020 election because the vote tallies represent the will of the voters.

“Let’s just be clear about this, we have a responsibility to vote to keep election integrity and to make Americans understand so they can trust their elections,” Balazs said. 

Becker said he would have supported a delay in the electoral certification vote in Congress, an idea supported by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“In my mind, to delay the vote, not whether to certify or not certify, but to delay until we knew when the Supreme Court was going to take up those cases would have been prudent,” Becker said.

Fedorchak claimed delays during the 2020 election vote counting, discrepancies and alleged missing ballots have raised concerns with voters.

“Our job as leaders is to acknowledge those concerns, respect them and do our very best to address the concerns that they have and make sure that people have faith in the election process that’s happening,” Fedorchak said. 

Mund said the responsibility of elected officials is to look at the evidence and, in the case of the 2020 election, there was no widespread fraud.

Balazs said to have election integrity voters need paper ballots, something North Dakota already provides, as well as votes cast on Election Day and the elimination of mail-in ballots, except for those who are absentee.

“If you are strong enough to do that as voters, then you’re going to get to a clean election, and you’re going to stop mucking about with talking about things that happened four years ago which are just as destructive to our nation,” Balazs said. 

Fedorchak said she supports a nationwide voter ID law to ensure American elections are secure.

“Having an ID when you show up to vote is a basic fundamental,” Fedorchak said. 

During the debate, Fedorchak responded to Becker and Mund with jabs of her own. She accused Mund of focusing on attacks because she doesn’t have a track record.

“She doesn’t have anything to talk about herself, about her own accomplishments and her own service,” Fedorchak said.

Second NDGOP House candidate debate features more issues than attacks; Fedorchak absent

Fedorchak also accused Becker of “remodeling” his stance on issues such as crop insurance.

“Rick also wants to distract from his record, his very poor record of flip-flopping on issues time and again,” Fedorchak said. “It’s great for Rick Becker to remodel himself in this way to be pro-crop insurance, but he has been on-record saying it’s unnecessary in the past. And this is just an example of what I think voters need to pay attention to. Who can you trust?”

Becker said his words have been twisted; he said he supports crop insurance but believes there should be reform to eliminate waste and fraud.

Other moderators were Forum Communications columnist Jim Shaw and North Dakota Monitor Editor Amy Dalrymple. The full debate can be heard through the KFGO News & Views podcast.

The North Dakota state primary will be held June 11. For more information on early voting, or where to cast a ballot, visit the North Dakota Secretary of State’s website.