Thought to be gone forever, long-sought emails of late North Dakota attorney general emerge

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Thousands of emails of North Dakota’s late attorney general have been released by his successor — long-sought records mired in controversy and previously thought gone forever.

Attorney General Drew Wrigley released about 2,000 emails with redactions on Wednesday. Another 6,000 emails and untold text messages remain to be reviewed and released, he said.

The late Wayne Stenehjem’s emails were presumed lost forever, deleted at the direction of his executive assistant, Liz Brocker, days after Stenehjem died in January 2022. The deleted emails and a building cost overrun of over $1 million incurred under Stenehjem — both disclosed by Wrigley — shocked state lawmakers and government watchdogs.

Now the emails are part of an investigation into an ex-lawmaker.

The emails appear fairly routine, encompassing staff messages and office meetings, and cover much of 2021 to 2022.

Also, Stenehjem apparently conducted state business on a private email account, which is lawful but “does not defeat open records provisions,” Wrigley said Thursday.

Wrigley’s office recently recovered the emails. They were preserved in a backup of Stenehjem’s personal cellphone, extracted soon after his death and found as investigators prepared for the trial of former state Sen. Ray Holmberg, a Republican.

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