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highplainsdem

(48,969 posts)
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 09:41 AM Sep 2012

Rick Berg’s wealth under scrutiny in North Dakota Senate race

Source: Politico

Republican Rep. Rick Berg, running for Senate in North Dakota, has close ties to a controversial property management company that has been the target of dozens of tenant complaints, been cited for alleged fire safety violations and received a less than stellar grade from the Better Business Bureau.

Berg, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, personally owns apartment buildings run by Goldmark Property Management Inc., one of North Dakota’s largest landlords. Employees of the firm and related companies, including business associates Berg has known for decades, have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Berg and GOP committees to back his runs for federal office.

-snip-

However, Goldmark Property Management’s website listed Berg as a senior vice president of the company until last month, when the Web page was scrubbed. Berg has acted as a public spokesman for Goldmark Property Management in the past, and the firm was listed as his employer in a campaign donation made in 2000. Berg now says this was a clerical error.

-snip-

During Berg’s tenure in the state Legislature, he sponsored or backed legislation that would have given landlords increased authority to evict unruly tenants; required tenants to pay immediate restitution to landlords for losing challenges to eviction notices; called for bigger security deposits by new tenants; opposed rent control and mandatory fire sprinklers; and voted for tax relief for property owners, including landlords.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81422.html



Berg now claims he's "had absolutely no involvement in the company she cited in her ad; no ownership, no management, no employment, no involvement."

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IthinkThereforeIAM

(3,076 posts)
1. Smells like a SLUM LORD...
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 09:46 AM
Sep 2012

... to me.

"During Berg’s tenure in the state Legislature, he sponsored or backed legislation that would have given landlords increased authority to evict unruly tenants; required tenants to pay immediate restitution to landlords for losing challenges to eviction notices; called for bigger security deposits by new tenants; opposed rent control and mandatory fire sprinklers; and voted for tax relief for property owners, including landlords."

Need more proof that Berg is a slum lord? And then he disavows any involvement. I would call him a bald faced liar, but then I do not know him personally.

allan01

(1,950 posts)
2. re:Rick Berg’s wealth under scrutiny in North Dakota Senate race
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 10:26 AM
Sep 2012

id love that person to live in one of his units for a month !

 

RC

(25,592 posts)
4. Him being subject to the harassment of various apartment inspections, sometime several times a month
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 11:02 AM
Sep 2012

Inspections for bugs, water leaks checks, apartment condition... They could never seem to combine the inspections.
The water leaks, dripping faucets/toilets were always two trips. One to inspect and the other to fix.
I get home around 4:00 PM or so. No notice. I'd leave the next morning at 6:45 AM and there would be an inspection notice taped to the door for the inspection that day.
That was our 24 hour notice.

 

RC

(25,592 posts)
3. I lived for 15 years in a Goldmark apartment.
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 10:49 AM
Sep 2012

Several Apartment managers had been trying to years to get the parking lot repaired. The excuse for not doing anything? No money. The year before these pictures were taken, they did do a patch job for the worse areas. While the patches were good, they didn't go far enough.
The asphalt, barely 4 inches worth, was put down right on top of the clay, with no other preparation, other than leveling. The wood forms for the concrete slabs for the garages had not even been removed.
Every spring during the spring thaw, the pavement (because of the clay) would heave two inches or more, above the garage slab, causing flooding in those garages. The garages, being enclosed space, there was mold and mildew.


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Two months after these pictures were taken, they put in concrete.
http://rc.smugmug.com/Other/Parking-lot/14151224_6pwNm4#!i=1043949264&k=qoyiF

Shortly after that is when I moved to KCMO

BTY, Rick Berk is a bald face lier. It was well know he was involved with Goldmark and Property management.

LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
5. WE need to really push this issue. We can't afford to lose this seat to a republican
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 11:15 AM
Sep 2012

Kent Conrad had that seat for ages and he's a democrat so we know we can win statewide seats in that state. We already lost the other seat once held by a democrat to a republican so let's try to hold on to this one!!!

 

RC

(25,592 posts)
7. Kent Conrad is a DINO, to the right of Claire McCaskill
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 12:30 PM
Sep 2012

The longer he was there, the farther to the Right he went.
The seat was lost because there was no real effort by the ND Democrats to keep that seat.
Heidi Heitkamp is going to win this one. She is well thought of in ND and Rick Berg is on the ropes because of his involvement with Goldmark and his reputation as a slumlord.
Go Heidi!

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