Fargo Man Named to Ethics Commission

A Fargo man has been selected, and has verbally accepted, a spot on North Dakota's newly created Ethics Commission. He was one of five selected for the commission, out of a pool of nearly 70 applicants.

Paul Richards, of Fargo, who is a retired executive vice president and former general counsel at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, was one of the five selected for the commission. Others included David Anderson, of Bismarck; Ronald Goodman, of Oakes; E. Ward Koeser, of Williston and Cynthia Lindquist, of Devils Lake.

North Dakota voters approved an amendment to the constitution in November 2018, which established the Ethics Commission “to strengthen the confidence of the people of North Dakota in their government, and to support open, ethical, and accountable government.” The Commission consists of five members appointed by consensus agreement of the governor and the Senate majority and minority leaders.

Clarifying legislation approved in April requires the members’ terms to be staggered. The selection committee determined that Goodman and Lindquist will each serve a four-year term, Anderson will serve a three-year term and Koeser and Richard will each serve a two-year term, effective Sept. 1 after taking the oath of office.

Goodman was designated as the Commission’s convening chair to call the first meeting.