Beth Bakke Stenehjem Wiki
Beth Bakke Stenehjem Biography
Who is Beth Bakke Stenehjem ?
Beth Bakke Stenehjem wife of North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a former lawmaker and the state’s longest-serving attorney general, has died at age 68, his office announced Friday, just hours after he was taken to a hospital.
Stenehjem died around 6:20 p.m. at a Bismarck hospital, his spokeswoman Liz Brocker said. She said she was unable to provide additional details, including his cause of death.
Stenehjem’s brother, Allan, told KFYR-TV that Stenehjem had been taken to a hospital Friday morning after a medical call to his home.
Wayne Stenehjem Death
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a former lawmaker and the state’s longest-serving attorney general, has died at age 68, his office announced Friday, just hours after he was taken to a hospital.
Stenehjem died around 6:20 p.m. at a Bismarck hospital, his spokeswoman Liz Brocker said. She said she was unable to provide additional details, including his cause of death.
Stenehjem’s brother, Allan, told KFYR-TV that Stenehjem had been taken to a hospital Friday morning after a medical call to his home.
Allan Stenehjem told KFYR that his brother had been dealing with an ulcer that may have become inflamed, but later told the Bismarck Tribune that his brother had no known health issues that could have caused his hospitalization and that his brother’s condition was not was related to COVID-19.
Stenehjem spent 24 years in the Legislature before being elected attorney general in 2000, going on to win five more times. In that long career, he supported an overhaul of North Dakota’s court system, domestic violence laws, consumer protection measures, and legislation to keep North Dakota government meetings and records open to the public.
Family
Allan Stenehjem told KFYR that his brother had been dealing with an ulcer that may have become inflamed, but later told the Bismarck Tribune that his brother had no known health issues that could have caused his hospitalization and that his brother’s condition was not was related to COVID-19.
Stenehjem spent 24 years in the Legislature before being elected attorney general in 2000, going on to win five more times. In that long career, he supported an overhaul of North Dakota’s court system, domestic violence laws, consumer protection measures, and legislation to keep North Dakota government meetings and records open to the public.
Gov. Doug Burgum said his Republican colleague “embodied public service” both as a lawmaker and as the state’s longest-serving attorney general.
The intraparty battle between Burgum and Stenehjem featured a spirited and costly debate over which candidate was best suited to revive a state economy that was collapsing due to falling oil and crop prices.
Burgum tried to paint Stenehjem as part of an establishment that had done a poor job of managing money and cast doubt on the future of the state. Stenehjem argued that North Dakota was well positioned to handle falling oil and agricultural prices and that the state needed an experienced hand at the helm.
Stenehjem was born in Mohall. He attended high school in Bismarck and graduated from the University of North Dakota and received his law degree from the UND School of Law in 1977.
Survivors include his wife, Beth Bakke Stenehjem, and a son, Andrew. Funeral arrangements were pending at Bismarck Funeral Home.
