Former state Senator Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks)
There is a sort of check and balance that comes with power. It’s called arrogance – and truth.
Ray Holmberg, who was North Dakota’s longest-serving state senator and chairman of the senate appropriations committee until he resigned last year following his jail communications with an inmate charged with child sex trafficking, is learning this lesson now. As Holmberg’s power grew while holding North Dakota’s purse strings, his arrogance grew tenfold.
He never imagined he’d be outed as a pedophile. He never imagined you’d find out he traveled internationally (at least three times) to sexually assault children. He certainly never thought you’d learn North Dakota taxpayers paid for these sex trips.
Because of Holmberg’s arrogance, we now know the truth.
But here’s what I’m struggling with the most: Shouldn’t we have known this sooner?
HOW COULD THEY NOT KNOW?
I find it hard to believe Holmberg’s Republican colleagues didn’t know, or at least have suspicions, about his pedophilia. Were these fellow Republican Party members so afraid Holmberg, in arguably the most powerful position in the Legislature as senate appropriations chair, would cut them off from their cash cow that they stayed silent?
It’s the silence that’s deafening.
It’s giving former House Appropriations Chairman Bob Martinson the chance to come on my show and loudly denounce Holmberg’s actions, but he took after me instead (listen at 15:33).
Instead, Martinson continued to defend himself, his record and his brother, John Martinson, the former head of the N.D. School Boards Association, who traveled with Holmberg internationally on state-sponsored trips. Rather than going on the defensive, the Martinsons should have made a strong statement about how sorry they are for any money Brother Bob would have had a hand in appropriating, and Brother John in spending, to be used by Holmberg to assault children. Even if they didn’t know the truth about Holmberg, or have suspicions, or seen the red flags, their tone today should have been filled with sadness for the trauma these children will carry the rest of their lives.
WHY DID WE PAY FOR IT?
North Dakota taxpayers have the right to know.
Why did they have the power to do this?
Who gave Holmberg and the Martinsons the power to take North Dakota tax dollars, then choose who gets the privilege of traveling with them and what routes they’re allowed to take?
WHAT WILL WE FIND OUT NEXT?
Unlike those who fear Holmberg, I don’t. I fear we are only scratching the surface of abuse, misuse of taxpayer dollars and corruption of power.
Are there more trips?
How much more of our tax dollars were used by this perpetrator?
Is Ray Holmberg the only predator in the Republican Party? What is this subculture of secrecy covering up?
Will other victims come forward? Or worst of all, will other victims fear to speak their truth?
To the victims of Ray Holmberg and the victims of other Republican Party members, this is my promise to you: This darkness will come to the light. I will fight hard for you. I will have your back. I believe you. I am sorry the desire to protect one’s power overwhelmed the desire to protect you.
Comments