Jim Long for ND Senate

04/23/2008

On March 12, 2008 I was terminated for reporting what I believe to be serious violations of law committed by officials at North Dakota’s Workforce Safety and Insurance. This week, I learned that Grand Forks County state's attorney, Peter Welte, determined not to pursue criminal charges against the parties responsible for retaliating against everyone who reported the crimes they observed at WSI. In his decision, Welte wrote that it was “clear that Mr. Long and Mr. Flanagan suffered adverse employment action.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Welte also wrote that the only protection an employer who has been reported for violating the law needs, is to provide any plausible reason for adverse employment action. According to Welte's reasoning, state employees who are willing to take the risk of funding their own defense for doing their jobs and reporting wrongdoing in the best interest of the public, must go even further than developing a strong case. Instead, state employees who witness wrongdoing must provide prosecutors with an air-tight case.

If a state’s attorney, with the vast resources provided by our tax dollars cannot be guaranteed an air-tight case, how then, can a state employee using his or her own resources? According to Welte, unless the employee can do so, the wrongdoers are immune from criminal prosecution.

The decision is a devastating blow to North Dakota public employees and more importantly, to the citizens of the state of North Dakota. Individuals with knowledge of wrongdoing have learned, through my example, to keep quiet in order to protect themselves and their families from the kind of vicious rumor-mongering and character assassination that I and the other whistleblowers have been subjected to. I have only endured this painful ordeal because I and my family are completely confident I did the right thing when it mattered.  

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the events this week involve Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. In his public statement, he chose to attack my personal attorney. He stated that “Tom Tuntland needs to decide whether he's going to be Jim Long's attorney or his campaign manager."

That is a powerful admission that the events surrounding this case have been driven by politics. The Attorney General has a sacred trust to the citizens of North Dakota to enforce its laws. Whether he likes me or my attorney, I am a citizen of this state. References to my senate campaign are totally gratuitous. When I reported the corruption within WSI to state officials, I was not a senate candidate.

In fact, had the elected public officials to whom I reported wrongdoing within WSI taken any reasonable action, I would not be in the position I am today. If the elected public officials to whom I appealed for assistance performed their lawful duties, I would not be running. I am now running for senate because I am not afraid to do the right thing when it matters. I am now running because I believe I will do more for the citizens of District 14 than the elected officials who took no action to prevent, investigate, or prosecute crimes at WSI.

Stenehjem’s troubling comments make it apparent to me that the unnecessarily lengthy delay in reviewing my case, the total failure to investigate or act on a separate criminal complaint against a WSI official I personally lodged with the Highway Patrol in December 2007, and the adverse employment actions I suffered are all related to my decisions to expose corruption within state government and later, to run on the minority ticket for the legislature.

Stenehjem has a statutory obligation to prevent retaliation. Now, he has attacked my attorney and commented not on the crimes I’ve reported, but on my campaign for public office. Perhaps that is the most telling aspect of this entire, messy affair.