North Dakota secretary of state candidate Corey Mock said recent criticisms over columns he wrote for UND's student newspaper are the result of a Republican attempt to "assassinate my character" as he campaigns against incumbent Al Jaeger.
The issue surfaced Oct. 10 when the Herald printed three letters to the editor -- including one from state Republican Party Executive Director Adam Jones -- that criticized Mock for two columns he wrote in 2007.
Jones' letter said a March 2007 column showed the Democratic challenger "wants to oversee the state's elections, but he might not want North Dakotans to vote in them."
Mock, North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Executive Director Joe Aronson and two others have since written letters to the editor that say the columns were taken out of context.
In a Friday interview with the Herald, Mock said the column Jones referenced was a "satirical letter" that was an attempt to point out the seriousness of voting in UND's student government elections.
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He said a column with the message "it's really important to vote" seemed to be printed every year in the Dakota Student, UND's student newspaper, and he was trying to do something more unique.
"I took a different approach," he said. "I used satire, and probably not the best satire. But I used satire to convey the point that elections are important."
Jaeger said the column probably was "intended to be" satirical.
"But when you read through that, it seemed like a rather different way to encourage students to go out and vote by saying, 'Don't vote because it's too easy,'" he said. "It's a different way of doing it and not one that I would do."
'For the voters to decide'
Jaeger said he's been aware for "quite some time" of the satirical piece and another column Mock wrote in October 2007 in which he said he had "determined that 'agnostic' is the most appropriate label for my spiritual beliefs."
While Jaeger said he didn't agree with the message in the two columns, he said he isn't "actively promoting" criticism over Mock's writings. The issue ultimately "will be something for the voters to decide," he said.
"I couldn't get through each day without knowing there's a higher power that I believe in that's there for me and will get me through," he said. "I can't say anything about him. His writings have to stand on their own and people have to decide that for themselves."
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Jaeger said Mock "needs to be accountable" for his record and his past, something he said he's "more than willing" to do himself. But he said his campaign remains focused on his record during his 18 years in office, not what his opponent wrote in 2007.
Mock said the column was his attempt to "play to an audience" of college students.
"I was a columnist, and I tried to take on different and unusual and sometimes difficult writing assignments to really get people to think," he said.
While he said there isn't a "litmus test" of faith that candidates must pass, Mock said he believes in God and is "very spiritual" -- something many readers of his column may not have noticed.
"There's a difference between God and religion, and I was encouraging people to remember that," he said. "They're connected but they're not one and the same."
Mock said he believes the recent attacks are "nothing more than a distraction" from what really matters -- and a sign that Republicans are "desperate" in the final stretch of the campaign.
He said he'd like Jaeger to "condemn and repudiate" the attacks.
"This was merely an attempt to focus the race on issues not related to the secretary of state's office," he said. "I hope we can get back to talking about the election as we get close to Election Day."
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Johnson reports on local politics. Reach him at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or send e-mail to rjohnson@gfherald.com .
