(AP File photo)
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – The latest campaign finance reports released Thursday show that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum raised about $18 million dollars for his six month-long campaign for the Republican nomination for President, but the vast majority – nearly $15 million – came from loans the candidate gave the campaign.
In addition to the campaign’s fundraising, the Doug Burgum for America spending report to the Federal Election Commission also shows how the campaign spent those contributions. Nearly $1 million was spend on ballot access – either paying states to get Burgum’s name on their primary ballots or for “ballot access consulting services.” Advertising, including ad strategy and consulting, cost the campaign at least $10 million.
The campaign also paid at least five individual North Dakota State Patrol troopers for their travel expenses on the trail. One trooper was paid over $18,000, and another was paid nearly $12,000. In total, the five troopers were paid about $47,000. There was also a $5800 payment made to the North Dakota Highway Patrol by the campaign.
Under North Dakota law, the state patrol can provide security and protection for the governor and immediate family, “as deemed adequate by the superintendent” of the patrol, and that the protection is provided regardless of the governor’s physical location or nature of his activities.
But a letter from the governor’s Chief of Staff Jace Beehler to Col. Brandon Solberg dated Sept. 1 stated that Burgum’s campaign for the office of the President of the United States had presented a “unique situation.”
“With the campaign advancing into the fall, in an effort to minimize campaign-related travel expenses to the citizens of North Dakota, the campaign will assume the travel costs associated with security for the presidential campaign,” Beehler wrote.
Through open records requests, KFGO News earlier sought information about state-incurred security costs associated with Burgum’s presidential campaign. The state patrol would not provide specific dollar amounts but did confirm that both state and campaign funds were used to pay for security, and that specific officers were assigned to the detail.
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley agreed with the patrol’s decision not to disclose the security expenses because, “doing so would undermine the mission of those security resources by shedding light on the breadth and depth of that security.”
Burgum launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on June 7 in Fargo and ended his campaign on Dec. 4. He spent time in Iowa and New Hampshire during the campaign and participated in debates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Simi Valley, California.
Lodging expenses from the campaign also show multiple expenditures at luxury resorts and lodges in Deer Valley, Utah, Scottsdale, Arizona, Florida, Las Vegas, New York City, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Since dropping out of the race, Burgum has campaigned for former president Donald Trump in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
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