Sen. Mike Wobbema, North Dakota District 24, Valley City

Sen. Janne Myrdal, Edinburg

We readily admit that we don’t read Lloyd Omdahl’s columns much, if at all, but having been notified this week that we were the subject of his attention, and noting that, sadly for him, his column lacks correct information, we feel that he deserves a response. We recognize that we come from different political ideologies than he does, but though he has tried to connect them, his issue is less political than it is really a misunderstanding of Christian, Biblical Doctrine having manifested itself under the umbrella of our current state of social issues.

His assessment also misses the reality of the event, and the motivations behind it. Since he did not reach out to obtain accurate information or perspective, as have so many others, and has chosen to present his ire through print, we feel it necessary to address his errors. We will not engage in the willful stretch that Mr. Omdahl has chosen to take in his writing but will simply state the facts of our action on that day as our response.

We did indeed turn our backs once during the session. This was in protest to the lack of action in enforcing the rules of the Senate. This action was clearly understood by those in the Chamber at the time. Of course, the media ran a wholly different story of the event, as they often do without remorse. The facts though, are quite simple.

Daily, during the floor session, we have a member of the clergy pray to open our day, which is followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. We are grateful that we do this in both the Senate and House Chambers in North Dakota. There are written rules of decorum however, that every clergy member receives that clearly state that no lobbying is allowed from the prayer pulpit during this time.

Over about a three-week period, some of the clergy chose to disregard these rules of decorum, clearly and unashamedly taking advantage of this privilege to lobby on issues that were before our committees and the Senate body at the time. Difficult issues. Though requests were made through appropriate channels to end this, it was not successful. There is open and ample opportunity for anyone to lobby their cause and concern through committee action, or to legislators individually. As a matter of fact, lobbying takes place all day, every day the Legislature is in session, and we all appreciate this process.

However, when in session on the floor this does not occur per decorum and rules, and certainly not from the prayer pulpit. So, our protest was an act to bring back into line the rules and decorum of the Senate. To assert differently is simply false information. (It should be noted that this type of lobbying did not occur again during the Session.)

As an additional sidenote, we knew the public cameras in the chamber were NOT pointed in our direction at the moment we turned. Our action was intentionally for the Chamber only. However, a member of the minority party in the Senate requested, and was somehow able to get, release of exempt record security camera coverage to share with the media, an act which in itself is unethical and sets a dangerous precedence. Security camera footage is, of course, exempt and not available for petty political reasons as it could seriously compromise security for any elected official in the Capitol building.

Regretfully, we know politics are politics and to some any method to play dirty politics is acceptable. Since this incident, policy has been created to ensure such a release will not happen ever again.

So, now you know the rest of the story. We can agree to disagree, but these are the indisputable facts of the event.