424: Doug Burgum's gift cards, pension board fight, NDGOP fundraising, and Minnesota's tuition program

Doug Burgum is selling $20 gift cards for $1 each. Is that legal? Is it ethical? As a campaign tactic, will it work?

My co-host Ben Hanson and I discussed it on this episode of Plain Talk.

Also, there's a fight between lawmakers and the executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System. The Legislature changed the makeup of the PERS board, adding more legislative appointments, and they begun a transition away from a defined-benefit pension to a defined-contribution model. Scott Miller, the executive director of PERS, doesn't like either of these changes.

Meanwhile, the change in leadership of the North Dakota Republican Party - recently-elected Chair Sandi Sanford is an ardent culture warrior elected by the MAGA-faction of the party - continues to have ramifications for fundraising. The party's fundraising was in the red after big refunds to major donors.

Finally, Minnesota has passed a free tuition program to address flagging enrollment numbers at that state's institutions. Should North Dakota emulate them?

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