Doug Burgum Desperately Needs Better Vetting

I haven’t seen anyone asking serious questions about North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Instead, those in charge of vetting Donald Trump’s potential vice presidential pick seem to be relying on voters’ impressions of an affable Midwest guy. But some North Dakotans who know better can’t stand the thought of Bill Gates’ friend anywhere near the White House.

To be fair, Burgum, a top surrogate for Trump, has a super cool self-made-man story. Chimney sweep, bet the farm and won, worked his way up and became friends with his boss at Microsoft, sold his company for $1.1 billion and stayed on to help things along.

The problem is with the vetting.

It would be nice to have confidence that the vetting went beyond mere Wiki searches and phone calls to people who have been employed by the guy.

He seems folksy. Genuine. He wore jeans to his inauguration and emceed the event himself like a Ted Talk.

Burgum’s Record During Covid

But why doesn’t anyone ask how he really did in his state during Covid? South Dakota and Florida governors’ performances were certainly pored over, but Burgum gets a pass.

He financed and promoted a tracking app for North Dakotans with Covid. One month after the Covid panic hit the state, Burgum announced a partnership with the North Dakota Department of Health and an in-state developer known for creating the Bison Tracker app. He repeatedly pushed the people of his state to use Care19, an app that “more efficiently and effectively” identified people who might have been in contact with others who had tested positive.

I doubt President Trump would be thrilled by these surveillance efforts.

Burgum’s Lack of Endorsement

Burgum has always taken his own path. He’s definitely his own man. He poured copious amounts of dollars into the media in the state, twice crafting his narrative and building his brand, and it worked. When bombarded with his messaging, North Dakotans took a chance on him twice.

Burgum is about to complete his second two-year term and is eligible to run for a final term, but he announced early in the cycle he is not running again as governor.

Interestingly, he was never endorsed at a single North Dakota Republican convention. Few have asked why. He not once but twice completely skipped the regular process of being nominated by his party at the state convention, opting instead to leap right to the primary. This is seen as an affront to Republicans who believe attending a convention is their opportunity to vet their candidates in person. It’s the process as it is meant to be — and one could argue that by going right to the primary, you are signaling that money and advertising are more important than the constituents you serve.

Trump consistently gets over 60 percent of the vote in North Dakota. But, tellingly, Burgum was not chosen as the delegation chair from North Dakota for the Republican National Convention in July. It is longstanding tradition that with convention delegations, the highest-ranking Republican is the individual voted by the delegation to be the delegation chair and the one to have the honor of being the face of “roll call” for your state on television.

State convention voters not only relegated Burgum to alternate status and seating at the convention, but two U.S. senators and the state’s single congressman preceded him on the alternate list. He cannot be elected delegate chair by the delegation if he’s not a delegate.

Yes, a sitting governor and former presidential candidate is not elected as a delegate by his own party to the 2024 national convention — and there is only silence on the matter. This shows that Burgum is more popular with people who know little about him than the grassroots of the party in his home state.

Foreign Influence

One of the most troubling lapses of the vice presidential vetting process is Burgum’s allowing foreign influence in North Dakota.

Burgum was in favor of placing a Chinese-owned wet corn milling plant (Fufeng) just 12 miles away from a sensitive and strategically important North Dakota Air Force base in 2022.

Then he ran for president of the United States. He was all in for the economic development gains for the state until the political winds changed. Then he joined the citizens of Grand Forks and the rest of the state in calling for more vigilance at the local level.

He’s still all-in on the eminent-domain-for-private-gain scheme of piping other states’ carbon dioxide emissions deep into the North Dakota soil. We’re used to pipelines here, but CO2 at 2,183 psi in a 24-inch diameter pipe traveling 2,500 miles — built by a company new to such pipelines — is an asphyxiant of mammoth proportions, to say nothing of private property rights.

Economic opportunities appear to cloud his judgment on security and safety.

There are far more questions that need to be answered.

North Dakotans want people to make their own decisions, but we should do some on-the-ground investigation before jumping on the Burgum bandwagon.

Lori Hinz lives in North Dakota.