A whistle-blower contends that North Dakota workers' compensation officials met with two key legislators, a state business leader and the then-state Republican Party leader to discuss ways to keep the agency outside political control.
The allegation, by Jim Long, chief of support services for Workforce Safety and Insurance, was contained in a written statement he made to criminal investigators laying out the suspected wrongdoing he observed inside the agency.
The meeting, in April 2007, took place at the headquarters of the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce during the legislative session, when control of the workers' comp agency was a hot topic in the aftermath of a critical audit.
Long said Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, chairman of a workers' comp review committee, led the meeting and called for a letter-writing campaign to "combat the negative press because if we stood idle the Republicans would not be able to keep WSI under the control of an independent Board."
Keiser and others at the meeting acknowledged that a possible letter-writing campaign was discussed, but said the publicity effort never materialized. Keiser denied Long's assertion that Republicans were trying to block efforts to place the agency back under the governor's control.
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"That was an attempt to create balance of information about an agency," Keiser said. "It wasn't a cozy relationship" between the state GOP, state chamber, Republican legislative leaders and WSI.
Dave MacIver, president of the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, Jason Stverak, then executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party, and Rep. Frank Wald, R-Dickinson, also were at the meeting, according to Long's statement, which he made public Wednesday.
MacIver and Wald also acknowledged attending the meeting, but said it was an innocent discussion to talk about how they might shed light on the embattled agency's successes, but that no action was taken.
Stverak did not return phone calls asking for comment.
Long was suspended with pay but banned from WSI offices and computers after he met with criminal investigators and asked for protection under state whistle-blower protection laws. He said he released his statement because it appeared state authorities had not investigated his allegations, which also included possible misuse of funds, repeated open meetings violations, disclosure of confidential information, among other violations.
Mark Armstrong, a WSI spokesman, declined to make any specific comments about Long's allegations, but issued a statement saying some of them were previously reviewed.
"We are confident the remaining outside investigations and reviews will ultimately sort out the facts from the fiction," Armstrong said.
Liz Brocker, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, said, "Our general response is we do not comment on investigations," she said.
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Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
