I know investigations take time. Patience is a virtue. But I also understand the public’s skepticism and speculation as to why information is slowly being walked out in the scandals that surrounded the Wayne Stenehjem Attorney General’s office.
Is it being done with intent? Luck? Coincidence? Depends on who you ask. At first, we were told Stenehjem’s emails which were destroyed by his assistant Liz Broker and Deputy Troy Siebel could not be retrieved. Gone forever.
Then, we find out that the state’s attorney from Mountrail County Wade Enget’s review of the Montana Report would bring no charges to Liz Broker or Troy Seibel. We discovered that the conflicted state’s attorney from Burleigh County Julie Lawyer – who hired Liz Broker after she left the Attorney General’s office- limited the scope of what Mr. Enget could do with the incomplete report.
The next business day following Enget’s announcement of no charges, we found out the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) had a copy of Stenehjem’s phone nearly the whole time. It held over 2,000 emails. But it was then March 1st and Enget declared on News and Views with Joel Heitkamp that a statute of limitation on potential state charges in the destruction of Stenehjem’s emails had just passed in February.
Weeks passed before the 2,000-plus emails were released for public consumption. Not much substance in those emails about the multiple scandals that have rocked North Dakota politics. The very next day following their release we find out, “Surprise! there are actually 6,000 more emails and they aren’t from Wayne’s phone, they’re actually from his personal computer we also have in our possession.” We haven’t even scratched the surface on call logs and text messages.
The slow drip of information has led to people’s conspiracy theories and frustrations. People want their records back. They want answers. The sooner they are given to the public, the better.
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