Gov. John Hoeven's former political director plans to plead guilty Thursday to forging the governor's signature on a check in February.

Connie Johnsen, 58, had been scheduled to go on trial that day, but her attorney, Orell Schmitz, has notified the court that she plans to instead plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge.

She is charged with forging Hoeven's name on a $450 check on the governor's campaign account and giving a copy to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. Johnsen was fired by Hoeven after she admitted to forging the check in an apparent attempt to make it appear that the governor's campaign office had reimbursed Burlington Northern Sante Fe railroad for food served on a railroad dining car during an April 2001 fund-raiser.

Stenehjem ruled in February that the fund-raiser did not constitute an illegal corporate contribution because Hoeven was not a candidate for office at the time and state law only prohibited corporate cash donations. Northeast District Judge Bruce Bohlman overruled Stenehjem's decision last week, saying goods and services should be counted as campaign contributions. Bohlman did not address whether Hoeven had broken the state's campaign finance laws by holding the fund-raiser.

On Sept. 4, Schmitz asked the presiding judge in Johnsen's criminal case to dismiss the charges against her because she was forced to give incriminating testimony during a deposition for the civil case heard by Bohlman, according to court documents. Schmitz argued that a state statute provides Johnsen with immunity because she was required to testify and answer numerous questions relating to the circumstances surrounding her state charges.

District Judge Donald Jorgensen denied the motion Monday, partly because it came after the deadline for filing motions.

During her Aug. 14 deposition for the civil case, Johnsen said she did not knowingly take direct contributions from corporate entities and believed it was legal for Burlington Northern to provide the railroad car and refreshments. She said on Feb. 6, she heard that the Democrats had requested the attorney general's opinion on the fund-raiser, and that night she said she received "about 27 phone calls" at home throughout the night - including calls from the governor, the attorney general and Jason Stverak, the executive director of the Republican Party. She said she was "just asked a lot of questions."

"I was never asked for a document," she testified.

She also testified that she spoke to Stenehjem about the request for his legal opinion on the fund-raiser, and she said he asked whether BN had been reimbursed for use of the railroad car. She told him she would have to check the file.

She quoted him as saying, "I have to issue an opinion and I need to know what you did."

In her deposition, she referred to that day as "the day I went crazy," saying she panicked and forged the governor's signature on a check to make it appear as though BN had been reimbursed.

"I absolutely had a total, complete panic attack," Johnsen said during her deposition.

She said early that next day, at about 1:30 in the morning, the governor called her and asked, "What in the hell did you do?" in reference to the Burlington Northern billing she had written.

When contacted by the Tribune on Tuesday, Johnsen declined to comment, and her attorney was not available for comment.

Burleigh County State's Attorney Richard Riha said the deadline has passed for plea agreements, so Jorgensen will consider recommendations from the defense and prosecution in determining a sentence.

(Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com.)