5 finalists advance for Ethics Commission seat

Gov. Doug Burgum and governor's office staff meet with Senate Majority Leader David Hogue and Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, who appeared virtually, to discuss candidates for an open seat on the North Dakota Ethics Commission. The three leaders settled on five top candidates. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

Attorneys, former chiefs of police and a small business owner are among the five applicants selected as top picks to fill the open seat on the North Dakota Ethics Commission.

Gov. Doug Burgum met with Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, and Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, on Thursday morning to select favorites from a pool of 29 candidates.

They settled on the following names:

• Leslie Bakken Oliver, a Bismarck resident and private practice lawyer who is Burgum’s former general counsel
• Murray Sagsveen, also of Bismarck, who is the attorney for the Western North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
• Arland Rasmussen, who served as West Fargo chief of police from 1995 to 2014
• Michael Reitan, also a former West Fargo police chief from 2014-2017
• Charleen Gust, who formerly served on Casselton City Council and is a freelance writer, marketing specialist and style consultant

Before the meeting, Burgum, Hogan and Hogue independently reviewed the applications and selected their top handful of candidates.

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Three names ended up on everyone’s shortlist: Bakken Oliver, Sagsveen and Rasmussen.

Gust was also a top pick for both Hogan and Hogue.

Hogue specifically requested that Reitan be included in the next round, as well.

The next step is for the committee to pick a date to hold public interviews.

Hogan also suggested that the selection committee prepare three or four questions for the applicants and seek written responses.

Their answers will provide the commission additional information about how the candidates think about complex ethics issues, she said. The questions will be finalized at a later date.

Appointments to the Ethics Commission are made based on a consensus vote by the governor, Senate majority leader and Senate minority leader.

The top candidate will fill the seat left by Chair Paul Richard, who announced he was retiring earlier this year. Richard will stay on the commission until his replacement is appointed.

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