Leon Thiel and Kevin Murch's Democratic-NPL touch-team political assault against Gov. John Hoeven and Republican lawmakers is worthy of the World Wrestling Federation. Their partisan attempts to lay the Workforce Safety and Insurance issue at the door of the GOP are just plain dishonest, but fortunately, the facts speak clearly.

The bill to remove WSI from the governor's authority had overwhelming bipartisan support. Democratic-NPL House Leader Merle Boucher co-sponsored the bill, and most Democrats, including Joel Heitkamp, not only voted to take authority away from the governor, but they also voted to override Republican Gov. Ed Schafer's veto of the bill, which sought to stop the action.

Unlike a number of opportunistic Democrat-NPLers, who seek political gain by inflaming the situation at WSI after they voted for it, Hoeven's position has not changed since day one: WSI belongs under the governor. Also unlike a number of Democrat-NPLers, Hoeven is using his leadership to help fix the problems at the agency and oppose Sandy Blunt's severance package, despite the fact that he has no authority in the matter owing to a law Democrats helped pass.

Thiel and Murch have taken a page from Washington political nastiness, using half- truths, innuendo and personal attacks to advance their political agenda. Since the bill's vote and sponsorship are a matter of record, it's clear that either they are so blinded by partisan politics that they ignore the facts, or worse, that they are willfully distorting the facts for political gain. The last thing WSI needs, and the last thing North Dakota needs now that we're making real progress, is their brand of malicious partisan politics.