Court Opinion

ID: 9524820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:57:30.551895+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:12:02.981037
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Justice,
concurring specialty-
Supplemental to the matters covered by Justice Paulson in the majority opinion, which I have endorsed, I feel obliged to express a further comment. Quite naturally, neither party argued nor briefed the subject, nevertheless it is common knowledge that both did actively participate in partisan nomination (endorsement) procedures which are prohibited by law. Section 16-08-04, NDCC, provides in part: “No partisan nominations shall be made for any of the offices mentioned in section 16-08-01.”
Offices which are mentioned in § 16-08-01 are: all elective county offices, the office of judge of the supreme court, the office of judge of the district court, the office of superintendent of public instruction, and the office of tax commissioner. Additionally, the office of tax commissioner is declared non-political by Article V, Section 12, of the Constitution of North Dakota.
Section 16-20-22, NDCC, not only prohibits acts which constitute corrupt practices, but also makes all “illegal acts” and “undue influences” which involve nominations or elections, the basis for depriving a guilty person of the nomination or the election, as the case may be. While the terms “nomination” and “endorsement” have different shades of meaning, they are, in practice, frequently interchanged and even the statutory provisions do not always clearly distinguish between them. See generally, Chapter 16-05, NDCC.
Ordinarily, he who seeks equity must come with clean hands. E. g., Andersen v. Resler, 57 N.D. 655, 223 N.W. 707 (1929).
SAND, J., and HEEN, District Judge, concur.