Legislative audit committee asks Attorney General to reconcile Burlington Drive lease after Ethics Commission referrals

The Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee voted on Aug. 14, 2025, in Bismarck to request that the North Dakota Attorney General's office perform a full reconciliation of all payments, refunds and other financial transactions related to the Burlington Drive property lease and renovation and to report the results to the committee at its next meeting.

Rebecca Binstock, Executive Director of the Ethics Commission, and Patricia Monson, a former special assistant attorney general retained by the Ethics Commission, told the committee the Ethics Commission's investigation found three unresolved questions: whether the Attorney General's office's expenditures for the Burlington Drive property were authorized by law, why no agreed-upon reconciliation had occurred with the Attorney General's office, and whether a performance audit is necessary because the State Auditor's office performed only an abbreviated review.

Mary Kae Kelsch, Director of the Division of General Counsel for the Attorney General's office, and Assistant Attorney General Laura Balliet responded with details about the lease and prior reconciliations. Balliet said the office pays $15.20 per square foot per year for the Burlington Drive lease, consisting of $9.50 in base rent and $5.70 in common area maintenance; common area maintenance charges are reconciled annually to actual costs, and overpayments have been refunded after reconciliation. Balliet told the committee the Attorney General's office has recovered $525,000 through reconciliations related to the Burlington Drive lease and renovation, and received a 2022 reconciliation payment of $224,855, which Balliet said was $14,599 less than anticipated.

Representative Scott Wagner moved the request that the Attorney General's office perform a complete reconciliation and provide the results at the committee's next meeting; Representative Austen Schauer seconded. On a roll-call vote, Senators Clemens, Marcellais, Paulson, Walen, and Weston and Representatives Anderson, Hagert, Hatlestad, Maki, Morton, Motschenbacher, O'Brien, Schauer, Timmons, and Wagner voted aye. Chairman Jeffery J. Magrum voted nay. The motion passed 15–1.

Committee members and Ethics Commission witnesses framed the request as a transparency measure to provide additional public detail about expenditures and reconciliations identified in the Ethics Commission report. The committee directed the Attorney General's office to produce the reconciliation and related information for review at the next meeting.

The committee record does not state whether the reconciliation must be independently verified by the State Auditor's office or external auditors; that decision will be resolved in future proceedings when the Attorney General's office submits the reconciliation.