Plain Talk

Redistricting, and in particular, the ways in which federal law and jurisprudence govern redistricting, can be a complicated and nuanced thing. Unfortunately, political debates, particularly these days, are not known for their thoroughness and nuance. Which is why it was disappointing when so much of the reaction to a federal court finding North Dakota's legislative map was illegal under the Voting Rights Act was born of rote partisanship and odious ideological bomb throwing. What the judge ruled in an opinion that is currently being appealed is that while North Dakota lawmakers made an effort to draw a map that was more beneficial for Native American communities, they didn't go far enough. Co-host Chad Oban and I discussed it on this episode of Plain Talk. We also discussed: The debate over a ballot measure to eliminate property taxes. Can the campaign get the signatures? Is yoking that effort to unrelated political causes, such as opposition to vaccines, a good idea? A 2019 law which exempted lawmaker emails with state officials from open records requests. That has hindered media inquiries into the situation around former Sen. Ray Holmberg, who is charged with federal crimes related to sexual misconduct with children. Should the law be changed? A new federal political action committee which will be asking North Dakota elected officials to sign a pledge. A similar group in Idaho punished lawmakers who wouldn't by funding primary challenges against them. Should North Dakota's leaders be signing these pledges? Is there any pledge they make more important than the one to their constituents? If you want to subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.  

This week a group of filmmakers representing the bulk of North Dakota's film industry gathered outside of Gov. Doug Burgum's office, in the Memorial Hall of the state capitol building, to make a point about the process surrounding $700,000 in grants made to one Bismarck-based production company. Matt Fern, who is also based in Bismarck, points out that $100,000 of the grants was awarded without being advertised at all. Another $600,000 was awarded after an abbreviated application process that seemed design to serve the interests of just one company. He joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss why that process was unfair, and why, if North Dakota hopes to build a solid film industry in the state, officials need to do better. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

Sometimes politicians are rich when they go into politics. Sometimes they get rich, somehow, while collecting the relatively modest salary that comes with even some of the highest-level elected offices. How does that happen? And why is there such a disconnect between the ardent, eat-the-rich populism of this moment and the success filthy rich politicians have at the ballot box? Matt Lewis, a senior columnist for the Daily Beast and a regular guest on more national programs than I can conveniently list here, is the author of "Filthy Rich Politicians: The Swamp Creatures, Latte Liberals, and Ruling-Class Elites Cashing in on America," and he joined this episode of Plain Talk to those questions, his book, and the state of play in American politics. Also on this episode, my co-host Chad Oban and I discuss polling on property taxes, abortion, and a federal court ruling that North Dakota lawmakers most hold another special session to address redistricting.

New results from the North Dakota poll were characterized by the sponsor of the poll, the North Dakota News Cooperative, as well as many media outlets covering those results, as showing that state lawmakers are out of step with voters on issues like abortion and ballot measures. Of course, in the coming elections, most legislative incumbents will likely be re-elected, so are they really all that out of step? We talked about it on this episode of Plain Talk. We also covered some tough political headwinds the proponents of abolishing property taxes face, and some of the on-going weirdness emanating from Gov. Doug Burgum's campaign for the White House. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Please search for the show and subscribe wherever you get our podcasts, or click here for more information.

I don't think many people were surprised that Gov. Doug Burgum did not take first place in the North Dakota Poll's presidential preference survey. Like it or not, Donald Trump is a singular political figure among Republicans in this moment in history. He makes his own gravity. Of course he was going to be the first choice for president among Republicans. He's also the first choice in Florida and South Carolina, despite the presence of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and South Carolina U.S. Senator Tim Scott in the race. But did you expect Burgum to come in third place? Behind DeSantis? And just a couple of points ahead of Haley? I expected him to do better. We talked about that on this episode of Plain Talk. We also discussed some of the recent off-year elections around the nation, where Trump's populist movement took it on the chin, and what that means for the durability of that movement. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

Thanks to the widely-reported consternation over carbon pipelines, carbon capture has become a hot-button issue. But political kerfuffles tend to obscure that North Dakota is on the bleeding edge of carbon capture and storage technology. On this episode of Plain Talk, Jeff Zueger, the CEO of Harvestone, joined us to talk about the new carbon capture and storage project they've launched at their Blue Flint Ethanol facility near Underwood. At that facility, they're capturing 100% of their emissions from the fermentation process, and since October, they've been injecting 600 metric tons of CO2 about a mile-deep underground daily. As significant as that is, the project's provenance may be even more critical. North Dakota was the first state in the nation to be granted primacy over carbon injection wells by the federal government. Blue Flint Ethanol is now the second project launched in North Dakota under that primacy through a process that, per Zueger, took just months as opposed to the years you might expect from federal regulators. Zueger said capturing carbon is of huge important to the ethanol industry, from the farmers who grow fuel crops to companies like his that turn them into fuels. Carbon capture is "one of the single biggest things we can do to step down our carbon intensity," and that matters, because increasingly the fuels market is demanding lower carbon intensities. Zueger pointed out that, thanks to the emergence of electric vehicles, the liquid fuels markets are already contracting, and the demand that's left wants lower-emission fuels. "We have to respond to those markets," he said.

When I first invited Attorney General Drew Wrigley on to this episode of Plain Talk, our intention was to speak about the lawsuit against Facebook company Meta that North Dakota is now a part of. And we did eventually get around to talking about that, but in between my invitation and today, when we actually recorded the interview, former state Sen. Ray Holmberg was indicted on criminal charges related to international travel to procure sex with minors and child pornography. Wrigley's, whose office handled much of the inquiry into Holmberg's alleged crimes, sent out a press release saying that investigation was one of the first things he was briefed on after being sworn in last year. Something in that release caught my eye. Specifically, this passage: "In early February 2022, within hours of my taking the Oath of Office as Attorney General, the US Attorney’s Office and the leadership of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) briefed me on the early stages of this joint federal and state investigation. I immediately instructed the BCI to move this case to priority status where it remains today, due to the on-going nature of this investigation." Why didn't that investigation already have priority status prior to Wrigley taking office? And did Wrigley's predecessor, Wayne Stenehjem, who passed away last year prompting Gov. Doug Burgum to appoint Wrigley, recuse himself? The answer to that last question is no. "He had not recused himself from the case," Wrigley said. I asked Wrigley if he felt Stenehjem should have recused himself, and he was reticent to say yes. After a long pause, Wrigley said, "Everyone has to make their own assessment on that." "They were such good friends," he added, referring to Holmberg and Stenehjem, both of whom were from Grand Forks and represented that community in the Legislature. Wrigley also said Stenehjem's deputy, Troy Seibel, "didn't have a good answer" when asked about why Stenehjem didn't recuse. Wrigley also pointed out that the currently U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider, whose office is handling the prosecution of Holmberg, has recused himself because he served in the state Senate alongside Holmberg representing Grand Forks. As for why the case wasn't a priority? It "remained in the queue," Wrigley said, adding that it had "evidence that hadn't been analyzed." Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss long political shadow the Holmberg investigation has, and will, cast across North Dakota politics. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get our podcasts, or click here for more information.

There has been turmoil in the North Dakota Republican Party this year, and it most recently manifested itself in the disastrous and hire of a South Dakota man, David Roetman, with a proclivity for misogyny and racism on social media. Levi Bachmeier, the chair of the NDGOP's District 13 committee, and one of the outspoken critics of Mr. Roetman's hire, joined this episode to discuss what's going on in North Dakota's dominant political organization. "It really didn't sit well with me," Bachmeier said of Roetman's hire. We also discussed the growing disconnect between the priorities of some NDGOP officials and North Dakota voters, as well as the attitude from some party leaders that the NDGOP should be enforcing ideological discipline on its candidates.

Congressman Kelly Armstrong hasn't been able to get back home to North Dakota for nearly two months thanks to chaos in Washington D.C. Chaos that included a pitched battle within the Republican caucus over who the Speaker of the House would be. Now that the House has a Speaker again, Armstrong is home in North Dakota again, and on this episode of Plain Talk, called that protracted imbroglio "the biggest self-own in the history of partisan politics. And, he added, if in-fighting among House Republicans walks them into another government shutdown in the coming weeks, "that will also be the biggest self-own in the history of partisan politics." To subscribe to the Plain Talk podcast, search for it on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

North Dakota lawmakers are wrapping up their work at a special session that was convened thanks to the state Supreme Court striking down a catch-all budget bill that violated the state constitution. Some surprise topics came up during the closing hours, including an effort to kill a major audit review of State Auditor Josh Gallin's office, as well as an effort to put stiff enforcement behind a ban on accommodating trans students in public schools. On this episode of Plain Talk, Wednesday co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss.