State breaks off relations with Global Bridges after ethics investigation | The Mighty 790 KFGO

BY: MARY STEURER

BISMARCK, ND (North Dakota Monitor) – The North Dakota School Boards Association ended a nearly 20-year relationship with the international cultural exchange program Global Bridges after a complaint was filed against the association with the North Dakota Ethics Commission.

It is unclear whether the complaint refers to former Senator Ray Holmberg, who made several trips abroad through Global Bridges and is facing federal charges of child sex tourism.

For years, teachers and politicians have taken government-subsidised trips abroad to participate in Global Bridges programmes. The trips were approved by Parliament and organised by the School Boards Association.

North Dakota’s ties to the Berlin-based organization came under scrutiny last year after Holmberg was accused of committing sex crimes in Prague. Holmberg traveled to Prague during his European trips for Global Bridges, according to North Dakota School Boards Association records reviewed by the North Dakota Monitor.

The ethics complaint filed against the North Dakota School Boards Association has been closed and the contents of the complaint remain confidential under state law, Ethics Commission Executive Director Rebecca Binstock said Tuesday.

She said the association and the complainant informally resolved the complaint. As part of that agreement, the school association agreed to sever ties with Global Bridges.

According to the Legislature, the state allocated $830,000 in taxpayer funds for the program in the Department of Education’s budget between 2007 and 2017.

The legislature appointed the Schools Boards Association to administer the funds.

The association voluntarily returned about $142,000 previously earmarked for Global Bridges trips to the Department of Education in January, Dale Wetzel, a department spokesman, said in an email Tuesday. The Department of Education returned the money to the state’s general fund, Wetzel said.

In a statement from the Ethics Committee on Tuesday, it said the association had repaid the money “on its own initiative” and that the decision had nothing to do with the ethics complaint.

Jon Martinson, a former executive director of the School Boards Association and project manager for the Global Bridges program in North Dakota, said he did not know until Tuesday that the association had repaid the money.

“I was surprised and disappointed,” Martinson said. “It’s a wonderful program.”

The program is designed to help educators in North Dakota, Martinson said.

“The idea is that our teachers get first-hand experiences – not things that are in a textbook, but first-hand experiences that they can pass on to their middle and high school students to help them learn about Germany,” he said.

In a statement to the North Dakota Monitor, Public Education Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said the Department of Public Education never asked for the Global Bridges trips to be part of its budget. She also noted that lawmakers have rejected Department of Public Education requests to require the School Boards Association to report how the money was spent.

“We are grateful to the North Dakota School Boards Association for their steps to address this issue and to the North Dakota Ethics Commission for their work,” Baesler said in the statement. “I hope that going forward, the department’s budget legislation will be strongly focused on the academic needs of our K-12 students, be accountable to taxpayers, and include meaningful reporting and financial transparency.”

Holmberg, who retires from Parliament in 2022, was a long-time chairman of the Senate’s powerful Budget Committee.

A federal indictment accuses Holmberg of paying for sex with minors in Prague between 2011 and 2016. Holmberg has pleaded not guilty to the charges and said his lawyer advised him not to speak to the media. He is scheduled to appear in court on September 9.

Last fall, it was first reported that Holmberg visited Prague as part of his European travels for Global Bridges.

While Global Bridges apparently did not hold any events in Prague during these trips, the School Boards Association approved requests from Holmberg to travel to the Czech Republic.

The executive director of the North Dakota School Boards Association was out of the office Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Under state law, complaints to the Ethics Committee can be resolved informally before being investigated. In this scenario, the Ethics Committee acts as an intermediary between the complainant and the accused. If a complaint is resolved informally, it is closed without an investigation.