Dem-NPL leader calls on Bismarck lawmaker to resign after guilty verdict

Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, listens during his misdemeanor criminal trial at the Burleigh County Courthouse on May 3, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

North Dakota House Minority Leader Zac Ista called on a state lawmaker convicted of a conflict-of-interest misdemeanor to resign.

A 12-person jury found Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, guilty of voting on legislation he had a financial interest in following a 10-hour trial Friday in South Central Judicial District  Court. 

In a statement from the Democratic-NPL Party Friday night, the Grand Forks Democrat said it would be in the public’s best interest for Dockter to step down.

“Representative Dockter must resign after a jury convicted him of using his public office for personal gain,” Ista said. “He has the right to appeal his conviction, but he should step aside from the privilege of serving in the Legislature.”

Dockter on Friday declined to comment after the trial. His attorney, Lloyd Suhr, did not return an emailed request for comment Saturday.

The case surrounded Dockter’s involvement in the lease of a Bismarck building to the Attorney General’s Office and the North Dakota Department of Health and the representative’s subsequent votes on agency budgets.

House Majority Leader Mike Lefor didn’t respond to a request for comment on Saturday. 

Lefor, R-Dickinson, who attended the trial, has publicly defended Dockter, characterizing North Dakota’s ethics standards as too confusing and impractical for a citizen legislature.

“You can’t have sitting legislators looking over their shoulder every time we vote on something,” Lefor said during a March Legislative Procedure and Arrangements Committee meeting.

Senate Majority Leader David Hogue declined to comment Saturday, saying he hadn’t followed the trial closely.

Rep. Emily O’Brien, R-Grand Forks, said after the trial that she disagreed with the verdict.

O’Brien appeared as a witness for the defense because she is chair of the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee, which investigated the building deal. On the witness stand, O’Brien said she found no evidence of wrongdoing by Dockter.

South Central Judicial District Judge Bobbi Weiler decided to wait to sentence Dockter on Friday, telling the courtroom that it had been a long day and she wanted more time.

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