Plain Talk

If constructed, the Midwest Carbon Express, a carbon pipeline project pursued by Summit Carbon Solutions, would gather carbon emissions from ethanol plants across the upper midwest and bring it to North Dakota for storage. Controversy around the pipeline, particularly from some landowners and farmers who say their land will be stolen through eminent domain, or that the pipeline itself is dangerous, has made headlines. But two North Dakota lawmakers with deep ties to agriculture in the state are pushing back. Sen. Terry Wanzek and Rep. Mike Brandenburg, both Republican members of the North Dakota legislature, recently wrote a letter to the editor arguing that "the future is here, and it demands that we incorporate innovative solutions like carbon capture and storage to ensure the continued prosperity of our leading industries." Rep. Brandenburg joined this episode of Plain Talk to explain his argument. "It's time we start talking about the positive things with this pipeline," he said. Brandenburg says 100 miles of Summit's pipeline run through his legislative district, where he also farms. He initially didn't like the way Summit approached landowners. He said they hired contractors who bullied landowners. "We had a meeting with them and told them they have a bunch of crooks out here," Brandenburg said. Summit has since fired those contractors and fixed the problems, he continued. Meanwhile, he argued, new economic realities are setting in. Canada, a major importer of American ethanol, has implemented new emissions standards, and without carbon capture, American farmers and ethanol producers will be at a disadvantage. "A year ago this time, corn was $2 higher," he said, attributing to fall to competition from farmers in places like Brazil which he says are ahead of the curb on capturing carbon. Brandenburg also said that North Dakota farmers are being misled by people such as Darryl Lies, the president of the North Dakota Farm Bureau who uses his Bismarck-based talk radio show to inveigh against carbon capture and Summit's pipeline. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

When it comes to criminal justice policy, and more specifically, the sort of policy that deals with incarcerating people, the most important thing for us to remember is that most people who are put in prison will eventually get out. According to a public-facing data dashboard from the North Dakota Department of Corrections, about 64% of people incarcerated in our state spend less than a year there. About 92% spend 3 years or less behind bars. If those folks are eventually going to be in our communities again, if they're going to be our neighbors and customers and coworkers, then shouldn't we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to ensure they're ready to be out of prison again? That's what we talked about on this episode of Plain Talk. The data dashboard I just used to bring you those statistics was developed by a nonprofit called Recidiviz. They were founded by Google engineers, and developed for North Dakota a criminal justice data system that allows our state to better organize our corrections resources. In fact, North Dakota was the first state the organization worked with. Dave Krabbenhoft, the director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and Lily Fielding, a state engagement director for Recidiviz, joined this episode of Plain Talk to talk about the cutting-edge work they're doing. Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I talk about how North Dakota taxes are always going up, and never down, and what that might mean for our debate about eliminating property taxes. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Click here for more information.

MINOT — As North Dakota braces itself for another debate about abolishing property taxes - a new ballot measure to do so is being circulated for signatures, and it will likely be on the ballot next year - local governments are busy raising property taxes. It almost seem like the locals want to get rid of property taxes. One local leader, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. Bochenski pointed out that his jurisdiction has been cutting taxes, not raising them. He said his city has just completed its fourth straight cut in property taxes mills, but that's also one of the most confounding things about property taxes. Even if one local government is keeping taxes down, that can be overshadowed by other local governments. When people in Grand Forks get a property tax bill, they aren't just paying the City of Grand Forks. They're also paying Grand Forks County, and their school district, and the park district, etc. It's that way all over the state. But would Bochenski vote to abolish property taxes? He says he's undecided - "I don't think there's enough information" - but on the whole he seems largely against it. He doesn't like the idea of putting local governments relying so much more on state lawmakers in Bismarck to fund their needs, especially with a new term limits amendment ensuring that the folks serving in Bismarck aren't very experienced. Also joining this episode was U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer, who talked with co-host Chad Oban and I about everything from Donald Trump's legal problems to Gov. Doug Burgum's presidential campaign Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's health struggles. Asked if he feels Burgum, who has struggled to gain traction in national polls, should drop out of the race, Cramer said, "Doug maybe along with some others." Cramer said that consolidating the non-Trump candidates is going to be "important" for those looking to move on from the former president. Still, that doesn't mean Cramer isn't behind Burgum. "I'm with him until he makes the decision himself," Cramer said.

Grand Farms is an agriculture research site west of Fargo, and on today's episode of Plain Talk, we talked about what a big deal it is with Grand Farms board chair Greg Tehven and state Rep. Cindy Schreiber-Beck. It's a big deal, because I'm not sure how many non-farming citizens understand how much bleeding-edge technology is involved in modern farming. From drones and autonomous machinery to planting techniques, human ingenuity is pushing to keep farmers in a position to feed the world even as the world's population gets bigger. Also on this episode, Wednesday co-host Ben Hanson and I break down a new ballot measure that would do a lot of harm to North Dakota's political process, from opening up elections to endless audits and objections to turning the initiated measure process into a completely unaccountable process through which anyone with some money can put their issue on the ballot. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

Perrie Schafer likes Gov. Doug Burgum. He says they worked together in recent years "hand in hand" during his stint as chair of the North Dakota Republican Party. But on this episode of Plain Talk, he said Burgum didn't make a big impression during the first presidential debate. "I think Doug is going to have to make a decision," Schafer said during the show with co-hosts Chad Oban and Ben Hanson chiming in as well. "There's a point where there's good money after bad," he added, saying the candidate has to ask himself of saying in a crowded GOP field, "Is it worth doing?" He said Burgum's recent injury, playing basketball the day before the debate, isn't helpful. "He's got an Achilles problem as well," Schafer said. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on popular podcast apps like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

Gov. Doug Burgum was injured in a pick-up basketball game just hours ahead of a pivotal national debate where he desperately needs to make a good impression with a national audience that, for the most part, doesn't know him. So of course we spent this episode of Plain Talk discussing a parking dispute in West Fargo. I'm kidding. Sort of. We talked about Burgum's injury, but we also interviewed West Fargo City Commissioner Mark Simmons about the controversy around the city's West Fargo Events non-profit and the parking dispute between two of the city's major developers. We were also joined by Sen. John Hoeven for an update about the potential for the Dakota Access Pipeline being shutdown, and the struggle to build pipeline infrastructure. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on podcast services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

A shooter who opened fire on police officers in Fargo had mass casualties on his mind. Attorney General Drew Wrigley, who joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the release of harrowing police-worn body camera footage of the terrible incident, said we may never find out much more than that about the shooter's motivations. "I'm going to lower people's expectations on that," he said, noting that more information from the shooter's computers and other devices would be made public in the future. "We can't find anything." Wrigley also covered the controversy over the binary trigger the shooter used to accelerate his rate of fire toward the officers. State lawmakers have passed specific protections for that trigger, and Wrigley said he's received some blowback from critics for bringing the issue up. Wrigley said he's talked about it because it's a central part of the Fargo incident, and because he even he, a gun rights supporter, thinks the triggers should be illegal. "We don't see automatic weapons fire as part of the 2nd amendment protections," he said. "Wouldn't it be nice if [binary triggers] weren't established in North Dakota law?" he added. Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I talk about the impact culture warrior leadership has had on fundraising for the North Dakota Republican Party, as well as next week's GOP presidential debate, where Gov. Doug Burgum will be competing. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show on podcast services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.  

Is a government-backed nonprofit called West Fargo Events too close to a developer, property management, and event-booking company called EPIC Companies? That's a philosophical question, but it manifests itself in a practical way in the relationship between West Fargo Events and another developer, Jim Bullis. "How can you trust West Fargo when they're playing favorites with developers?" he asked on this episode of Plain Talk, where we discussed the years-long dispute he's had with EPIC Companies and West Fargo Events over parking. "It's three years this has been going on," Bullis said, adding that the relationship between EPIC Companies and West Fargo Events "seems to be a conflict they do not have a way to get around." Also, on this episode, my co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss the property tax hikes that are taking place in local government jurisdictions around the state, and what impact that might have on a new ballot measure campaign to eliminate property taxes entirely. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show on your favorite podcast service, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

Toward the end of my two days covering Gov. Doug Burgum's presidential campaign at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines I was able to get some one-on-one time with the candidate. This isn't to say that I didn't get plenty of time with the candidate before that. He had a sweaty, sunburned press scrum surrounding him everywhere he went at the fair, and it was easy enough to ask him questions when they occured, but the governor was gracious enough to make a half hour available for me for an uninterrupted conversation. I chose, as the venue, a park bench in the middle of the fairgrounds, just around the corner from the famous "soap box" stage sponsored by the Des Moines Register. With people walking by -- including another Republican candidate, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who greeted Burgum warmly -- I interviewed the governor of North Dakota, who aspires to be leader of the free world. We covered everything from how Burgum entertains himself on the campaign trail to what he's hoping to accomplish at the GOP's first presidential debate later this month in Wisconsin. If you want to subscribe to Plain Talk, so you're notified when new episodes drop, search for the show on your favorite service, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

On this episode of Plain Talk, recorded by your sweaty and sunburned correspondent in his hotel room at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines, Iowa, my co-host Ben Hanson and I interviewed Sen. Kevin Cramer. Cramer had some unique insights into the peculiar role Iowa plays in presidential politics, his having been a former chair of the North Dakota Republican Party. He also weighed in on Gov. Doug Burgum's issue platform and other issues around his campaign from a congressional perspective. In the second half of the show Ben and I were joined by my other co-host, Chad Oban, to talk about Burgum's performance in Iowa. We discussed everything from the candidate's taxpayer-subsidized security detail to his substantive policy arguments to his annoyance about constantly being asked about Donald Trump. Want to subscribe to the podcast? Search for the show on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information on how to get the show on the podcast service of your choice.