Plain Talk

Rep. Claire Cory led the charge for a school choice bill that ultimately passed both houses of the legislature. In its final form, it would have appropriated $10 million toward providing up to a $3,000 per-child subsidy for parents choosing private schools, as long as they were below 500 percent of the federal poverty level. But Gov. Doug Burgum, despite having expressed support in the past for school choice legislation, vetoed the bill. On this episode of Plain Talk, Cory said she was "kind of disappointed in the governor's decision," though she added that she's "excited to work with the governor's office...to create a better bill" for future legislative sessions. Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I talk about the nature of leadership in this populist age where many connotate public service as doing whatever the loudest voices say. From national politics, where Republican politicians and right-wing media outlets like Fox News are terrified of Donald Trump's movement, to local governments, where part-time elected leaders get bullied by angry crowds, can you really say you're leading if you're just following the mob? If you want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish, search for the show on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to find out how to subscribe on the podcast service of your choice.

"We haven't made any decisions yet about 2024," Gov. Doug Burgum said on this episode of Plain Talk. "We did have a great time in Iowa." His answer was in response to my question about whether Burgum is going to join the race for the White House next year. Back in March, I was the first to report that Burgum had been visiting Iowa, and apparently running polling there, but Burgum hasn't said yet whether he's running. There are two things to take away from his answer on today's podcast. The first, obviously, is that Burgum hasn't made a decision yet. Or, at least, not one he's going to share publicly. The other is that there is a possibility that he could launch a national campaign. Though, if he doesn't, would he run for a third term as governor? Despite expressing support for term limits in the past? "I think term limits work best when they work uniformly," he said. He pointed out that the term limits amendment which passed on the November ballot last year doesn't apply to state to other executive branch offices. "Governors can get termed out but other people can stay forever," he said, adding that certain "powerful lawmakers" can also stay in office for another eight years, as the amendment only started the clock ticking for current officeholders in January. "I support it," he said of the state's term limits amendment. "I don't think there's any value in applying it retroactively." As for the just-completed legislative session, Burgum said he's still not sure how to handle a drafting error in the Office of Management and Budget bill that led to lawmakers passing the wrong version of the bill. He did say there will be at least one more veto from his office coming concerning a bump in the formula for spending Legacy Fund revenues from the 7 percent he approved in a bill passed earlier in the session to 8 percent passed in "the wee hours of the last morning without any hearings or actuarial work." Burgum also expressed some frustration with lawmakers over the number of duplicative "culture war" bills they sent him that made "national news about things that may or may not be important to most North Dakotans." "They have 80 days and they have 81," he said, referring to the use this year of "fake" legislative days, "and still most of the most important business came at the end." But Burgum also touted a laundry list of accomplishments from this session he's  proud of, including a new women's prison, progress on a new state hospital, a massive tax relief package, and end to the state's defined-benefit pension for public workers, and more. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to subscribe on the service of your choice.

Attorney General Drew Wrigley is still fired up about a bill to implement mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes - that was later amended to "presumptive minimums" - which was defeated in the state House of Representatives. There was controversy over how the bill was handled in committee and Wrigley's involvement in advocating for it, but on this episode of Plain Talk, Wrigley made it clear he is not backing down. "I'm going to talk about this stuff publicly," he said, committing to a campaign during the interim before the next legislative session to promote this issue. Wrigley said he wasn't intending to take a "personal swipe" at Rep. Shannon Roers Jones when he said her experience as a lawyer was strictly on the civil side of the law, though he added that the comment "was factual." He also took aim at some of his other legislative critics, including Rep. Landon Bahl, who he described as inexperienced - "it shows," Wrigley quipped - and Rep. Bernie Satrom, who he said was "slanderous" in his characterization of discussions about the bill. Former House Minority Leader Josh Boschee also joined the program, and answered questions about why he's suddenly the former minority leader at the end of this legislative session when typically that sort of change in leadership happens at the beginning of the session. Boschee said he felt it was time for his replacement, Rep. Zac Ista, to get experience in the role. Boschee is up for re-election next year, and when asked if he'll seek another term, gave an answer that leaves some wiggle room. "I have every intention of running, but we'll see how things play out over the next year," he said, though he also joked that it was a poor question to ask a lawmaker just after the end of a grueling session. Speaking of which, Boschee also gave some reflections on the just-concluded session, arguing that the Republican majority in the House didn't have good leadership. He said former Rep. Al Carlson, the majority leader when Boschee was first elected, would tell his caucus that they could only introduce so many controversial bills per session. "He had control of his caucus," Boschee said. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk drop? Search for the show on services like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to find out how to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

A debate over a bill to implement what supporters call "presumptive minimum" sentences for certain crimes like fleeing or assaulting an officer, or possessing a gun during a grime, has grown surprisingly contentious in the legislature. There has been some bizarre procedural moves around the bill, including the chairman of the judiciary committee undermining his own committee's vote on the bill, and a war of words between state Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, a Fargo Republican, and Attorney General Drew Wrigley. Wrigley has questioned Roers Jones' knowledge on criminal justice matters, while Roers Jones has accused Wrigley of inappropriately injecting a recent Bismarck case involving fleeing, and an officer-involved shooting, into a political debate. "I'm not interested in a feud with the attorney general," Rep. Roers Jones said on this episode of Plain Talk. My co-host Ben Hanson and I also questioned Roers Jones on her feelings about this legislative session. "I feel the least satisfied over all about this session," she said. "On the whole I feel like we have spent entirely too much time and too much political capital on bills that impact tens of North Dakotans," she added, addressing legislation dealing with things like book bans and pronouns. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on services like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to find it and subscribe on the podcast service of your choice.

Did you know there's such a thing as a fake legislative day? Ok, maybe that's not the official term, but that colloquialism has grown up around a practice at the Legislature in Bismarck which sees lawmakers protracting their session despite the 80-day limit that's in Article IV of the state constitution. You see, if the lawmakers don't gavel in for a floor session, they can still meet in their various committees, and still get paid, without the day counting against their limit. Why are they doing this? And should they be allowed to? My co-host Ben Hanson and I discussed it on this episode of Plain Talk. Also on this episode, Brian Lundeen, a Jamestown resident who is one of the organizers behind the effort to build the Bison World attraction in that city, talks about what the project needs from state lawmakers to make it happen. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on services like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

Russia's bloody invasion of Ukraine has displaced millions of Ukranians, most of whom need a place to go. Meanwhile, North Dakota has a long-enduring workforce shortage that is felt most acutely in the state's oil fields. Now, those two problems are coming together to form what is, if not a solution, is at least a way to mitigate some suffering while simultaneously creating some new opportunities. Former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford, who stepped down from Gov. Doug Burgum's administration late last year, is now the project manager of what North Dakota's oil industry has dubbed Bakken GROW. The acronym stands for Global Recruitment of Oilfield Workers, and it's precisely what it sounds like. A concerted effort to match Ukranians, who need an escape from their homelands, with jobs in North Dakota's oil industry. "It's not only a workforce recruitment effort, it's a humanitarian effort too," Sanford said on this episode of Plain Talk. "The United States is not good at legal immigration," he added, but hopes this program can make a difference. He says it will begin with Ukranians - there is already a sizable Ukranian community in western North Dakota, and he says they're reaching out to organizations like the Ukranian Catholic Church to help with the effort - but the hope is to target potential refugees and immigrants from other countries and ethnic backgrounds as well. Also on this episode, state Rep. Corey Mock joined co-host Ben Hanson and I to talk about the ongoing debate over North Dakota's public worker pension. We disagreed a lot, but we did find some common ground around the idea that there are no easy solutions to this mess, and that a lot of the lawmakers in Bismarck on both sides of the debate are ignoring some pretty brutal fiscal realities. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

"When I'm in committee, when I'm speaking, nobody ever asks me any questions." That's what Kristie Miller had to say on this episode of Plain Talk. She's the mother of a trans person and has become active in North Dakota politics opposing a legislative agenda in Bismarck she characterizes as an attack on the trans community. The most frustrating aspect of that activism? How hard it is to even get some lawmakers to talk to her. "My experience is...when they found out I'm the mother of a trans child, they won't speak to me." That experience isn't universal. Some lawmakers do speak with her. She credited House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, a Republican from Dickinson, with engaging, though she said that other lawmakers have been something less than pleasant to deal with. She described what she said was a rude interaction with Sen. Keith Boehm, a Republican from District 33 who primaried a Republican incumbent, Jessica Bell, over her vote to sustain Gov. Doug Burgum's veto of a transgender sports bill during the 2021 session. She said that many Republican lawmakers are afraid of opposing the 21 bills dealing with transgender issues at the legislature. "There's a small group out there...when they found out a GOP member voted a certain way they verbally attack them," she said. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on services like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.

Drawing capital to North Dakota has been a problem for our state since, well, statehood. Our economy is heavily dependent on commodity-driven industries - energy and agriculture. Generations of political leaders have tried to find a way to diversify, but not much has changed. Which would argue, I think, for some outside-the-box thinking. And that's what Commerce Commissioner Josh Teigen was doing when he invited Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank star also known as  Mr. Wonderful, to manage a $45 million investment fund for the state of North Dakota. On this episode of Plain Talk, Teigen talked about how that relationship came to be, and responded to criticism of the bidding process around it, as well as recent comments O'Leary made comparing Moorhead, Minnesota, to Cuba. "I think the comments are less about Fargo and Moorhead and more about North Dakota and Minnesota," Teigen said, also describing it as "more of a Bismarck versus St. Paul conversation." "We know the people in Moorhead aren't necessarily driving he policy in Minnesota. That's happening in St. Paul," he added. Asked if he felt O'Leary's comments were helpful to the cause of bringing capital to North Dakota, Teigen didn't defend them, but he wasn't critical either. "We don't get to control every bit of the narrative," he said, adding that having someone like O'Leary, with a national platform, "tell North Dakota's story" has "a lot of upside." Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss Gov. Doug Burgum's apparent interest in running for president, as well as the Legislature falling just one vote short of passing a bill to expand the state's school lunch program.

What's the right legacy for North Dakota's Legacy Fund? It's a perennial question, all the more so when lawmakers are in session in Bismarck, and the answer is seemingly different for everyone. And that's the problem. The Legacy Fund was created two decades ago to store a big chunk of oil tax revenues for the future. Now the fund has billions in principal, and produces hundreds of millions in revenues of its own every cycle from its investments, and we're still debating what to do with it. Former Gov. Ed Schafer, who was a part of the campaign that created the fund, joined this episode of Plain Talk to talk about it. He says our current lawmakers are too spend-happy with the fund, and are foolishly, in his estimation, tying up its revenues, sometimes decades into the future.   Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the debate over school lunch. Should the state be picking up the tab? It would end the headaches schools have with trying to collect past-due lunch payments. It would also make it so that no student would be shamed when they don't get the same school lunch as everyone else because their parents didn't pay. Also, school lunch bills can cost $1,000 or more over the course of the school year. If the state picks up the tab, that's a burden off families with young children. But some lawmakers say it's a handout. A new sort of entitlement. Are they right? If you want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish, search for it on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcast, or Stitcher, or click here to learn how to subscribe on the podcast service of your choice.

The American system for insurance and health care is broken. There's no two ways about it. We pay too much, and get too few choices. How much can North Dakota's lawmakers do about it? Not a whole lot, but there are things they can do to keep it from getting worse. House Bill 1416 would stop insurers from using price pressure convince North Dakotans to opt-in to health insurance plans that freeze out independent health care proviers. Dr. Duncan Ackerman, an orthopedic surgeon and a spokesman for North Dakotans for Open Access Health Care, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the issue. Also on this episode, guest co-host Jamie Selzer and I discuss the push in the Legislature to put another term limits option before voters, one that alters the term limits amendment they just approved last year. We also talk about former U.S. House candidate Mark Haugen's decision to leave the Democratic-NPL and join the NDGOP. Haugen's House campaign ended after party big-wigs pressured him to bow out in favor of former Miss America Cara Mund, an independent candidate who was a late entrant to the race. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk Publish? Search for the show on services like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher, or click here to find out how to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice.