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As soon as the legislative session concluded Gov. Doug Burgum visited the Tribune to tout the many accomplishments, and to point out where the Legislature came up short.

After using the word transparency or transparent the 13th time I quit counting and made a few notes on my pad and when I had the opportunity I asked the governor how castrating the state auditor fit into his definition of transparency.

He immediately became defensive and said it was about the money. His first explanation being that these unplanned audits were hurting agencies that had not budgeted for them.

We pointed out that that excuse doesn’t hold water when you look at all the plans the Legislature and the governor created to spend Legacy earnings that were too great for their pockets to contain. Setting aside a couple of million for unplanned audits would have been a drop in the bucket compared to the Legacy funding commitments.

The governor quickly pivoted and said he agreed to rein in the auditor because the Legislature had overwhelmingly passed the measure.