Conrad steps down from role in North Dakota's Marketplace for Entrepreneurs

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., will no longer co-chair the annual Marketplace for Entrepreneurs, which he co-founded with then-state Agriculture Commissioner Sarah Vogel in 1989.

Conrad sent a letter Sept. 8 informing supporters of his decision to step down, which he told the Herald was something he was considering for the last several years.

“As chairman of the Budget Committee, what’s happening is the timing of Marketplace has increasingly fallen at a time when I am fully engaged in the budget process,” he said. “Increasingly, I’m finding I’m in the very awkward position of needing to be in two places at once.”

Congress sets a projected schedule for the session, which Conrad used to plan the annual entrepreneur’s conference date to make sure he could be there. But he said the schedule has been repeatedly changed in recent years and that has made it hard to attend.

“I’ve just been in a position that I thought my responsibilities here and my responsibilities to Marketplace were put in conflict,” he said.

Conrad said his decision had nothing to do with politics — he was a longtime partner on the project with former state Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, a democrat who stepped down in April to become president of the National Farmers Union.

“It really had nothing to do with the new agriculture commissioner,” he said about Doug Goehring, the Republican who took the job.

A recent change in Senate ethics rules reduced the amount Conrad could fundraise for the event, and that was somewhat of a factor in stepping down, he said. But Marketplace has over 1,000 private sector sponsors, he said, so it wasn’t a major deciding point.

“I’ve withdrawn from doing active fundraising for Marketplace for several years, and it seemed to be working fine without my being directly involved in the fundraising,” he said.

The event’s board of directors has told Conrad that Marketplace will continue, and he said he will continue to do everything he can to support them. “Marketplace has been one of my favorite events, and something I’ve done for 20 years,” he said.

“I think it really has brought people together,” Conrad added.

Shirley Dykshoorn, chairwoman of the board, said the annual conference will go on despite losing its founders and no longer getting funding from the state’s Agriculture Department. The federal Agriculture Department’s Rural Development agency announced this week that the Marketplace program is getting a $31,500 grant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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