Letter: Heidi Heitkamp will not turn her back on North Dakota

In a letter published Wednesday, Beckie Stregge suggested that Heidi Heitkamp is going to turn her back on North Dakota and cave in to a donor who does not support fracking.

Stregge must not know Heitkamp and she clearly doesn’t know her record in support of fracking and responsible coal use in North Dakota.

She might want to look into Rick Berg’s top donors if she’s worried candidates just blindly follow dictates of donors before making this claim. She doesn’t seem too worried that Berg is in the pocket of some hedge funds with deep pockets, people who clearly do not have North Dakota’s best interests at the top of any to-do list.

Or, take Berg’s second largest contributor, Elliott Management, which is run and founded by billionaire Paul Singer. This year, Singer put $1 million into starting the American Unity PAC, whose sole purpose is to encourage Republican candidates to support same-sex marriage. Last year, he put his full support behind the same-sex marriage law in New York and played a key role in passing its legislation.

Berg says he believes marriage is between one man and one woman, and he says he will continue to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage.

According to Stregge’s theory, expect Berg to now put his full support behind same-sex marriage because he accepted large contributions from a pro-gay marriage contributor. How realistic is that?

Her theory is hooey, trumped up to scare people.

Heitkamp will continue to be an independent voice for North Dakota and support fracking, the Keystone pipeline and the creation of an oil refinery because it will create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. These are just a few examples of Heitkamp’s willingness to cross party lines in order to put North Dakota’s interests first.

Carissa Botton, Fargo

Tags: opinion, letter, letters