Plain Talk

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.

"This is not going to solve the problem," Rebecca Pitkin, the executive director of North Dakota's Education Standards and Practices Board, said on this episode of Plain Talk. She was talking about her board's recent request of Gov. Doug Burgum to issue an emergency order setting aside some teacher licensing requirements so that student teachers can run classrooms without supervision. "This is a band-aid," she told me and my co-host Chad Oban (full disclosure, his day job is at North Dakota United, the state teacher and public worker union). Pitkin answered questions about how student teachers might react to being asked to run classrooms without oversight, and why more hasn't been done prior to this immediate crisis to address what is a long-standing problem in our state. I also asked Pitkin about this tweet from Rep. Zac Ista, a Democrat from Grand Forks, who complained in a post on X that the ESPB board opposed his proposal to remove relicensing requirements from long-term teachers. Also on this episode, we discussed the latest from Burgum's presidential campaign, including the mystery donor to a Burgum-aligned super PAC, and some fake news from Fargo television station Valley News Live about a Trump attack on Burgum that never actually happened. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show on services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

Collin Peterson represented western Minnesota's 7th Congressional District for 30 years, and during that time got a reputation for blunt talk. He hasn't changed much. As we discussed Peterson's efforts to develop an agriculture policy at North Dakota State University, an entity that will help inform and guide politicians, he shared an anecdote from a recent trip to Iowa. He said he found himself among the Republican presidential candidates when "this Vivek guy" came up to him. "I didn't have any idea who the hell he was," Peterson said on this episode of Plain Talk. "I thought he was running for Congress." That "Vivek guy" was Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech industry multi-millionaire who, as I write this, is currently in third place in the GOP primary according to the RealClearPolitics.com polling average. Can we blame Peterson for not recognizing him? There are currently 13 Republicans officially running for President, a field that runs the gamut from former President Donald Trump to former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton (no, really). How does someone like Peterson keep a hugely important but, we must admit, somewhat prosaic topic like agriculture from becoming collateral damage to our nation's dumpster fire politics? He says he works to keep it "low profile" and "bipartisan." Peterson talked about how agriculture is home to some of America's most bleeding-edge technology, including carbon capture, which he described as the most important issue for ethanol and farming going forward. Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I discussed the likelihood that Doug Burgum will qualify for the GOP's second presidential debate, and my upcoming trip to Iowa to cover the governor's campaign there.