Prominent female Democrat Party officials in North Dakota donated hundreds of dollars to a GoFundMe account for a far-left activist who has been charged with attacking Sen. John Hoeven’s (R-ND) office with an axe. When confronted over the funding, the donors chose to make excuses and deflect from the issue at hand.
Thomas “Tas” Starks, 30, has been charged in an axe attack on Hoeven’s office that occurred in December 2020. In surveillance footage of the incident, a man police have identified as Starks strolls up to the office entrance and wildly hacks at the intercom system and door, destroying both.
Police investigating after vandal smashes window at Sen. John Hoeven’s office in Fargo, North Dakota. Authorities released this surveillance footage in hopes of identifying the suspect. https://t.co/DvcT95EUCd pic.twitter.com/ZAOUpNNdmd
— ABC News (@ABC) December 22, 2020
In January, a GoFundme page for Starks was set up asking for contributions to a $15,000 “legal defense fund.” The donation page description lionizes Starks as a hero who “openly believes that no family should live in poverty, that no American should go hungry, and that all North Dakotans deserve a good life and livable wages.”
Locals newspaper The Jamestown Sun reports that North Dakota Democrat Party Chairwoman Kylie Oversen, Democrat Party official Ellie Shockley, and former Democrat gubernatorial candidate for lieutenant governor Ellen Chaffee immediately stepedped in to transfer cash to the GoFundMe, donating $100, $500, and $100 respectively.
North Dakota GOP Chairman Berg slammed Overson for her contributions to the fund, stating, “It is inexcusable that Chairwoman Oversen would be personally involved in supporting a far-left extremist whose violent actions constitute an assault on our democracy. Video evidence leaves little in doubt about this attack, so it is unfathomable why ND Dem-NPL officials would lend their name and financial support to a man they refer to as ‘innocent.’”
Overson responded by attempting to draw a failed comparison between the office axe attack and pro-Trump protests at the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6.
Shockley described Starks as a “friend” and defended her payments to the GoFundMe by declaring “human relationships should come before political expediency.”
Starks attended a BLM protest in Fargo, North Dakota in June 2020, complaining about police brutality that he has supposedly seen in the news and claiming “his family doesn’t have to deal with as many issues as African Americans since his family has light skin.”
Black Lives Matter activists rioted in downtown Fargo over the summer, destroying property and terrorizing local residents.