MINOT – After the debacle surrounding former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s deleted emails, North Dakota residents can be forgiven for not having as much confidence in the willingness of our state’s leaders to be transparent and open with public information.
Unfortunately, the state Department of Commerce has just given us further justification for our cynicism.
The dispute is over film funding. The Department of Commerce claims it ran a competitive bidding process for a $600,000 film grant that went to a Bismarck-based company called Canticle Productions. Dozens of North Dakota filmmakers, some of whom applied for the grant, argue that it was not a fair process, that the grant was always intended for Canticle, and that the Department of Commerce’s competitive bidding process was a farce.
Based on the facts at hand, the filmmakers have the better case. It’s clear from the legislative record that at least some lawmakers wanted to direct the grant to Canticle. Moreover, the competitive process for the grant was shortened, starting late on a Friday and spanning just six business days. A recent report by Auditor Josh Gallion found that this time frame was far shorter than that given to the Commerce Department for similar grants in the recent past.
The filmmakers now have further evidence in the form of an email that was supposed to be included in the response to a previous public records request.
Bismarck-based businessman Matt Fern, who has been organizing the response to the situation on behalf of the filmmakers, recently met with staff in Gov. Doug Burgum’s administration. During that conversation, officials referenced an email from Daniel Bielinski, president of Canticle Productions, to Commerce Commissioner Josh Teigen. Fern noted that he never received that email in response to his request for records.
After the meeting, Sara Otte Coleman, director of tourism and marketing at the Department of Commerce, confirmed in an Aug. 22 email that this email should have been turned over. She provided Fern with the copied-and-pasted text from the email exchange, and the contents are notable.
In it, Bielinski refers to the 2023 legislative session that authorizes the grant funds and assumes that the funds are intended for his company.
“My name is Daniel Bielinski. I am the president of Canticle Productions, which was awarded a $600,000 grant in a bill last legislative session,” he wrote Teigen in the May 26, 2023 email. “I was wondering if we could meet for a few minutes to go over some logistical questions about the payout (which I know won’t happen until the new fiscal year). Would you be free for a quick phone call next week?”
“I don’t believe the legislation names a recipient. That would require us to follow state procurement laws and issue a competitive RFP process,” Teigen responded, instructing Bielinski to work with Coleman, whom he copied in his response.
When Coleman shared Bielinski’s email with Fern, he wrote that it “did not show up in previous searches because it came from a different email address and slightly different name. We apologize and have improved our internal process to include boundary and separate search terms in future public information requests.”
This is a bomb.
Let’s look at the schedule.
On May 18, 2023, Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1018, the Department of Commerce’s budget proposal, which included funding for the $600,000 grant that Bielinski had reported via email.
On May 26, 2023, Bielinski emails Teigen, essentially asking him how to get his company’s money. Teigen responds the same day, saying that there must be a competitive process for the grant and that Bielinski should work with Coleman.
Late in the afternoon on Friday, July 21, 2023, the Department of Commerce will announce that it is accepting bids for the grant.
On July 31, 2023, just ten calendar days and six business days after the grant availability is announced, the Department of Commerce will no longer accept bids.
On August 3, 2023, Commerce Department officials evaluated the bids and awarded the entire grant to Bielinski’s company.
The filmmakers again claim that certain lawmakers and officials in the Burgum administration steered the funding to Canticle Productions and that the bidding process was just a formality. The Department of Commerce claims that the bidding process was fair and open.
At least there is a serious appearance of irregularity here. Parliamentary records show that the grant was to go to Canticle. The president of that company undoubtedly believed that the grant money belonged to him. The Department of Commerce instituted what might be described as a superficial competitive bidding process for the grant and ultimately awarded it to Canticle.
Can you blame the filmmakers, especially those who took the time to submit grant applications, for feeling shortchanged? And now, as our faith in this process is being further eroded, Department of Commerce officials happen to find an email supporting the argument that this process was unfair, but only after it was mentioned in passing at a meeting with the filmmakers?
This is disgusting and it is high time that Governor Doug Burgum and legislative leaders admitted it.
