GOP chairman says Berg use of mailing list unfair

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Republican U.S. House candidate Rick Berg improperly used a closely guarded e-mail list of GOP supporters to promote himself over GOP rivals in a contest to unseat Democrat Earl Pomeroy, the state party chairman says.

Gary Emineth said he was convinced that the state lawmaker's campaign used the list, which is off limits to candidates during party endorsement campaigns. Emineth said e-mails were received by people whose addresses he personally "salted" within the list as a way to spot misuse.

The list has about 15,000 names and took more than seven years to compile, and its use by Berg's campaign gave him "an unfair advantage" over the other three GOP candidates, Emineth said.

Berg, a former state House Republican majority leader, denied using the list. Two of his campaign aides are former state Republican Party employees who once had access to it, but he said they independently gathered the addresses they contributed to his campaign's 25,000-name list.

"We're coming up to the convention, and this is the time when things get a little crazy and blown out of proportion," Berg said of next weekend's state Republican convention in Grand Forks, where some 1,400 party activists are expected to choose their favored candidate to run against Pomeroy this fall.

Berg, Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer, Kenmare businessman J.D. Donaghe and DuWayne Hendrickson of Minot are vying for the nomination. Berg and Cramer, whom Pomeroy defeated twice for re-election in the 1990s, are the front-runners.

North Dakota is the only state that does not have voter registration, which makes it more difficult for the Republican and Democratic parties to identify sympathetic voters. Both are fiercely protective of the data they gather.

Members of the state Republican Party's executive committee discussed the list imbroglio last week and decided against taking immediate action.

Cramer, a former North Dakota GOP state director and chairman, said it would be of great concern to any party official to have the GOP list transferred into someone else's hands.

"Walking out the door with an entire list that belongs to the Republican Party of North Dakota is like walking out the door with a safe of cash," Cramer said. "The value of that list gets diminished every time it gets passed out to another entity."

Normally, the state Republican Party would not allow its list of e-mail addresses to be used by GOP candidates who hadn't been endorsed by state party convention delegates, Emineth said. Even then, access to it is restricted to avoid diminishing its value, Emineth said.

Berg's campaign "denied using the list, but I know that they did. I am absolutely convinced," Emineth said. "It was indeed taken by someone."

Berg said the mailing that troubled Emineth asked recipients if they wanted to subscribe to a Berg campaign newsletter, and told of a recent poll that showed Berg as a stronger competitor than Cramer against Pomeroy.

The North Dakota Republican Party gathers e-mail addresses in several ways. Participants at a Bismarck rally last month that featured conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., were asked to sign an attendance sheet and provide an e-mail address. Similar requests are made of people who take part in Republican presidential preference caucuses.

Berg supporter Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the state House majority leader and a member of the GOP executive committee, said the issue was creating an unneeded distraction.

"The most important thing is not to take your eye off the ball," Carlson said. "The eye on the ball is to get a good (House) candidate, and to win in the fall. If we let all of these things sidetrack us, it's a mistake ... Let's get on with the business of the convention, and let's stop the silliness."

Cramer also has been the target of recent criticism for covering the $30 convention registration for four delegates — his future son-in-law and three family friends — and for paying $1,500 to hire a 49-passenger bus to travel between Bismarck and Grand Forks.

Critics said it is tantamount to vote-buying, and Carlson said the executive committee will consider a rule later to restrict or ban the practice. Cramer defended the decision, saying he found it "very concerning that some people think that's a violation of ethics."

Tags: north dakota legislature, daily updates, sports, bismarck, bergs, news