​North Dakota Rep. linked to extremist political group

MANDAN, ND – The state’s lone Congressman is an online member of a grassroots group promoting Constitutional interpretations shadowing anti-government movements.

Newly elected Kelly Armstrong, the Republican shoo-in who filled Senator Kevin Cramer’s seat after beating attorney Mac Schneider, a Democrat, in November 2018, is one of the 77 members of the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Movement, or CGM.

While the political organization – including another named North Dakota Grassroots Page with 87 members – displays patriotic quotes from Benjamin Franklin and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, it is part of a national order seeking Constitutional rigidity not unlike the old 1950s Citizens’ Council of America or even the Posse Comitatus, the violent Christian supremacist organization behind Gordon Kahl, the North Dakotan from Heaton involved in a shootout with U.S. Marshals in 1983.

The group’s language is different; they say they’re nonpartisan. Although not as zealous as the now defunct Posse Comitatus or Farmers Liberation Army, or as hateful as the pro-Hitler World War II era Silver Shirts Legion of America, or Christian Identity’s interpretations, the political organization’s message is clear and follows the recent “Alt-right” trend of watering down rhetoric in search for wider acceptance, according to analysts.

The North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Group reported it strives to vet, endorse, and support people who agree with fundamental principles, including strict adherence and original interpretation of the Constitution; a belief in limited government; “citizenry maintaining a militia”; a return to a pre-1913 state taxation system; repealing the 16th Amendment of 1909; and limited immigration with the immediate deportation of law violators.

Primary among the list of descriptions is that the movement believes Western civilization is in danger of being annihilated, and that the federal government should not fund public education. Additionally, the group is adamantly opposed to the notion that “any speech be punishable by law,” and that the right to bear arms “shall not be infringed.”

The group also advocates having the nation withdraw from its membership in the United Nations and removing the U.N. from America’s borders, as well as repealing the Affordable Care Act without replacement.

“If it’s the usual constitutionalists, sovereign citizens, it doesn’t surprise me,” attorney Daniel Levitas said. He spent time in North Dakota following the 1983 Posse shootout and wrote a book, published in 2002, entitled “The Terrorist Next Door: the Militia Movement and the Radical Right.”

“There have been members of Congress and elected officials all through the Midwest and the Great Plains, Ohio to Colorado, Montana to Texas, over the past 40 years who have been members of one kind or another of far-right Constitutional groups,” Levitas said. Levitas is currently an attorney with Clements & Sweet LLP in Atlanta.

“The citizen militia thing is an interesting statement, that’s kind of 20 years old already. That people are still running around talking about forming militias that’s notable.”

The return to pre-1913 taxation rates is a reference to ending federal income tax, Levitas said, a long-held grievance of the radical right.

“Even the white civilization, or the end of civilization as we know it, is not even thinly coated, it’s racism, it’s a dog whistle right in your face,” Levitas said.

The belief that Western civilization is endangered aligns with white supremacist rhetoric spurred in part by a 2015 U.S. Census Bureau report that by the year 2060 the white race will be a minority in America. The “Alt-right” and racist groups use the statistic as prophecy, validating their call for racial holy war and a return to nationalistic pride in the white race.

The North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Movement is currently not being investigated by law enforcement, Fargo Police Crime Prevention and Public Information Officer Jessica Schindeldecker said.

There is little police can do unless a crime has been committed, Schindeldecker said. Police did not know of the group’s existence until asked.

“They weren’t, but they are now,” Schindeldecker said of police awareness of the group whose members come from around the state. “We do follow some groups in the area, but unless there is some crime there isn’t much the police can do. Just being aware of what could happen or what is happening for the safety of the community.

“There is little we can do other than awareness, but we’re always letting the FBI or the Secret Service know about this kind of information.”

Former North Dakota Congressman Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat and currently senior counsel for the Alston & Bird LLP law firm in Washington, D.C., said to let the facts speak for themselves, adding that the research was “surprising” and “unnerving.”

“To me failure to respond is an acknowledgement that [Armstrong] is a member,” Pomeroy said. “This is a big deal if you’ve got someone in an extremist group, or a religious extremist group, or a racist extremist group that is also a member of Congress. That is a national story.”

The hate watch group and legal advocacy organization Southern Poverty Law Center listed the American Freedom Party, the Asatru Folk Assembly, and the Soldiers of Odin as North Dakota’s only hate groups in 2018. The Southern Poverty Law Center list does not yet include the National Socialists Movement or Identify Evropa -- active in Fargo and other cities -- or any other white supremacist group as active in the state.

“Kelly Armstrong's membership in a group that believes the Federal Government should not fund public education and that the Affordable Care Act should be repealed without replacement is rather telling of the person he is and the values he wants to bring to North Dakota," Allison Jones, spokesperson for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL said.

After being notified about Armstrong’s connection to the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Group, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s intelligence department will be investigating, Senior Communications Associate Rebecca Sturtevant said.

Comparisons
The Posse Comitatus believed white Christians must counter an attack on their social and political rights; western civilization was in danger of being annihilated. They refused to pay certain taxes and filed “common law” liens against the Internal Revenue Service employees and against judges, according to Atlanta attorney Levitas. The Posse also believed in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy for power, and that the sheriff was the highest local government power.

Many in the “Alt-right” and anti-government groups still consider Gordon Kahl a martyr who stood against government overreach, according to chat records in white supremacist platforms such as Daily Stormer.

The North Dakota Grassroots Constitutional Group stands for similar beliefs, but did not mention the use of violence to attain its goals. The Posse believed there was no higher local power than the sheriff and the power behind a Smith & Wesson.

“Certain Americanist Principles have made the United States the most powerful, revered, influential, and emulated nation in the history of mankind,” the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Group reported. “Without these tenets, the entire world would be a much different place. Culturalism and traditionalism are only pejoratives when they are mentioned in the context of Americanism. Certain ideologies would have one believe that these ideas hinder progress, but fail to acknowledge that they have fostered our great successes.

“However, the cultures and traditions of Western Civilization are in danger of being annihilated by those beliefs. Therefore, so is our future.”

The group supports using the courts to impeach politicians and fight “big brother,” the federal government. A repeal of the 16th Amendment and a return to the pre-1913 taxation regulations would mean that the federal government would eventually not be allowed to levy income taxes on Americans.

“In recent history the lines between the branches continue to be blurred and the Executive and Judicial branches have usurped power from the Legislative Branch, and all three have expropriated power from the States and the People,” the political organization reported. “This is unacceptable and there must be consequences. Change will never occur until there are more constitutional-minded statesmen in offices throughout the nation. Judicial activism should be met with charges of impeachment and the States should exercise Nullification [sic] as a means of remedying the encroachment of their powers.”

Right-wing militias, the Posse, and “patriot” groups have threatened politicians they consider corrupt with arrest; but instead of elected politicians taking the frontlines, as the CGM proposes, a sheriff -- either elected or appointed by the people -- with a like-minded posse would take action, according to Levitas.

Kelly Armstrong, who joined the North Dakota Constitutional Grassroots Movement approximately ten months ago, was contacted repeatedly by telephone and by email for comment, but neither Armstrong nor his office replied. He was recently appointed to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a sector in which he has invested interests with the Armstrong Corp., his father’s oil business.

In 2001 Armstrong challenged a DUI conviction after the North Dakota Department of Transportation suspended his driving privileges for 91 days in light of a driving under the influence conviction in Virginia. In 2018, months before his election, Armstrong was also cited and later pled guilty for using a wireless communication device while driving, or texting while driving, according to court records. 

To learn more about the Posse follow this link to the second part of this series. To learn more about religious influences that the ND CGM supports follow this link.