Dem-NPL Statement on Ray Holmberg Plea

FARGO – On Aug 8th, Former State Senator Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks) pleaded guilty to traveling to Prague for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual contact with a child. It revealed distressing details about the case including that he traveled with someone to Prague in 2011, he paid a former UND student for sex for several years, and he once said “You’d be surprised what you can do with a 12-year-old boy.”

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “What Ray Holmberg did was disgusting and heinous. It’s a betrayal of our nation’s promise to protect its children that Holmberg has been able to gallivant about Grand Forks as if nothing happened.

That he travelled to Prague to rape children on the tax-payers’ dime is a betrayal to every North Dakotan. We have been patient in letting this case work its way through the justice system, but North Dakotans must be told who knew what Holmberg was doing and when they knew it.

While this is the most extreme case of a Republican lawmaker abusing their position, it is not the only one. Whether it’s Nico Rios drunkenly harassing police officers, Jason Dockter being convicted for profiting from taxpayer funds, Emily O’Brien’s alleged illegally lobbying, Claire Cory drinking and driving, or out-on-bail felon Donald Trump’s long list of crimes, Republicans think that they are above the law. Voters have a clear choice this election: the Republican Party is the party of criminals; the Democratic Party, led by a former prosecutor, is the party of law and order and we will always fight to protect children.”