When Republican Kelly Armstrong filed his federal financial disclosure after being elected to Congress in 2018, he revealed his extensive ties to the oil and gas industry in his home state of North Dakota. It detailed his income from hundreds of oil wells and his financial relationship with two of the state’s largest oil producers.
Those ties will matter a great deal if, as is likely, he’s elected as North Dakota’s governor next month. Under North Dakota’s system, he will automatically chair two state bodies that regulate the energy industry, meaning Armstrong would be expected to preside over decisions that directly impact companies in which he has financial or familial ties.
Most ethics experts our reporters contacted said that royalty owners voting on matters involving companies they receive income from is problematic.
But Armstrong said his experience dealing with the industry will be an asset in the governor’s role.
“It’s the No. 1 driver of our economy in North Dakota, and I have an incredible knowledge base about what it’s like to grow up in western North Dakota in the oil and gas business,” Armstrong said.
North Dakota’s financial disclosure laws are weaker than those in other states, a North Dakota Monitor and ProPublica investigation found. Armstrong said during a gubernatorial debate on Tuesday that he opposed imposing federal disclosure requirements on the state’s citizen legislators. He said it cost him between $15,000 and $20,000 annually to pay an accountant and an attorney to complete the congressional disclosure for him every year.
The candidate said, however, that he supported putting disclosure reports online to make them more accessible to the public.
“There has to be a happy medium,” Armstrong said.
