Clark says he’d serve as N.D. GOP chief through fall

BISMARCK (AP) — Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark said he’d be willing to serve as the North Dakota Republican Party’s temporary chairman through the November election.

Clark said he did not want to finish out the term of former chairman Gary Emineth, who resigned Thursday. Emineth was serving his second two-year term, which ends in June.

“I think we’ve got a great foundation that’s been built,” Clark said. “Understanding that there’s only a few months left here before the election, I think what we need is probably someone ... who can get up to speed quickly.”

After the election, the party can then choose a new, permanent chairman, Clark said.

Emineth, 51, said he resigned because of the increasing time demands of his business interests. He and a group of investors recently bought a burrito manufacturing operation.

The Republican Party’s state committee, which includes state party officials and GOP chairmen of local legislative districts, will elect Emineth’s successor. Adam Jones, a party spokesman, said Friday the group plans to meet July 26 in Fargo.

Clark, 38, was first elected to the Public Service Commission, a three-member state utility regulatory board, in 2000. Clark is a former North Dakota labor commissioner and Republican state House member from Fargo.

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