Plain Talk

Minot, N.D. — There aren't a lot of Republicans in the United States Senate willing to praise President Joe Biden for his trip to Kyiv, in Ukraine, which is a war zone. That's what Senator Kevin Cramer told me on this episode of Plain Talk. But Cramer himself? He thinks the president did good. He called the trip "gutsy" and "appropriate." Staying on the national security topic, we discussed the Chinese spy balloon situation, which is where Cramer did have some criticism for the Biden administration. He said a lack of communication from the public drove an overreaction to the balloons, making many Americans, and people in the international community, feel as though our military and intelligence agencies were less prepared to handle the balloons than they really were. Also on this episode: Why is the Biden administration's EPA so hostile to carbon capture and pipeline projects when the infrastructure bill Congress passed before the midterms, one President Biden himself championed, did a great deal to fund and facilitate those projects? And are we classifying too many documents? Cramer says yes. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or click here to find out how to subscribe on any of the other podcast services. It's free!

Minot, N.D. — A war of words between state Auditor Josh Gallion, a Republican, and members of his own party in the state legislature has made a lot of headlines of late. Gallion has accused lawmakers of being "corrupt" for allegedly targeting a member of his office for specific termination and for legislation he says undermines his ability to do his job. Lawmakers say it was actually Gallion who requested that the employee be fired, and that they're responding from complaints from local government entities, including a western North Dakota ambulance service which has now filed an ethics complaint against the auditor's office, who say that Gallion isn't doing his job right. On this episode of Plain Talk Gordy Smith, a 36-year veteran of the state auditor's office under Gallion's predecessors, weighs in on the controversy. Was it appropriate for Gallion to write an op-ed for the state's media outlets blasting lawmakers as corrupt? "Absolutely not," Smith said. "When I read the op-ed, the first two words that came to mind were 'unprofessional' and 'disrespectful,'" Smith said. As for the legislature targeting a specific employee in the auditor's office, Smith says he believes the lawmakers and not Gallion. "There's no doubt in my mind," he said, adding that he spoke to both Gallion and legislative leaders about the issue in 2017 when it happened. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or click here to subscribe on one of the other podcast services. It's free!

"She's right." That's what Chris Jones, the director of North Dakota's Department of Human Services, had to say on this episode of Plain Talk about many of the complaints of one of our previous guests. Specifically Robin Nelson, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Red River Valley, who said that child care operations like her are "drowning" thanks to difficulties with hiring and red tape. "I don't disagree that they're drowning," Jones said in an interview that addressed everything from delays in the background check process to a new web portal for licensing that hasn't worked as well as it could have. Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss state Auditor Josh Gallion's bomb-throwing toward the legislature, accusing them of attacking his office, and of being corrupt, after advancing a bill that would limit what his office can charge for audits and require that someone holding his office be a certified public accounting, something Gallion is not. Gallion's words are unbecoming for someone in his position, we concluded, and even counterproductive to the goal of holding state government accountable. An auditor should be level-headed and trustworthy. Gallion's audits, and the press campaigns he orchestrates around them, have become so exaggerated, so theatrical, that a reasonable observer must take them with a grain of salt. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of the other podcast platforms available. And remember, subscribing to the podcast is free!

Minot, N.D. — You've heard just about every elected official in the state talk about it. Access to childcare, and as importantly, access to childcare that's affordable, is a real problem in North Dakota. So much so that it's contributing mightily, to our critical workforce shortages. People who can't find a place to send their kids during the day, or who can't afford it, can't go to work. But Robin Nelson, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Red River Valley, which provides childcare services to some 700 families, says the state is making it difficult for them to operate. "We're drowning out here," she said on this episode of Plain Talk. She says that an online licensing portal to make the hiring process for child care workers easier has, in fact, made things more difficult because the system "continues to crash" when they try to upload documents. "We are receiving late fees because we're missing deadlines," Nelson says. Background checks for those same workers are also a problem. Nelson says there are "major backlogs," particularly in the area of fingerprinting. She says it can take up to three weeks for a prospective hire to get an appointment to have their fingerprints taken, and even once they're sent in, Nelson says state workers have told her that it might take 11 business days for them even begin to process them. All told, Nelson says it can take as long as 4 to 6 weeks to get a childcare worker licensed and ready to work, which is an eternity, all the more so when you consider we're talking about workers taking jobs at what are, quite frankly, entry-level wages. How many of them can afford to wait for a month and a half before they can begin working and collecting a paycheck? Especially when there are so many other job opportunities available? Also on this episode, my co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss my story about the familial connections between a freshman state lawmaker and a racist church in MIssouri, as well as some bills that are advancing to hopefully address North Dakota's workforce shortages. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Consider subscribing - it's free! - through your favorite podcast service.

The Fufeng project, a controversial corn milling plant planned for the Grand Forks by the China-based company, is officially defunct now this week. City officials pulled the plug after the Department of the Air Force announced that the plant was a security threat to the nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base. I've long expressed sympathy for Grand Forks city officials who got caught in the crossfire between the economic interests of their region - it's undeniable that a plant like the one Fufeng planned would be beneficial - and concerns over national security that were far beyond their purview to analyze. But when I put it that way to Sen. Kevin Cramer who, along with Sen. John Hoeven was responsible for getting an answer on the national security question from the Air Force, he disagreed with me. He used an analogy about Santa Claus to illustrate his point. "When you're five years old, you believe in Santa because you think he's real. When you're ten you're old, you believe because you want to," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. "They kept hoping for someone to tell them this was ok," he continued, arguing that city officials should have gotten out of the project earlier. Cramer did acknowledge that the federal government "let down" local officials by taking so long to answer questions about the national security implications of the plant, but he said the case against it was obvious long before the Air Force finally weighed in. Asked if he was worried about local officials taking it upon themselves to make decisions about national security threats, Cramer said he fears more "is a federal government making local decisions." Still, he sees the process Grand Forks went through, as tortured as it was," as a "great gift" to the nation as it comes to terms with how it does business with other countries that are often belligerent to our own. "No one else has sounded the alarm like Grand Forks did," he said. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Subscribe - for free! - on the podcast platform of your choice.

Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said his city first asked officials at the Grand Forks Air Force Base about the potential security risks of a corn milling plant to be built by Fufeng, a Chinese company, some 16 months ago. The Air Force has finally given an answer, in the form of a letter to North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, but should it have taken that long? Bochenski joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the Air Force's letter, which indicated that Fufeng's project would represent a significant security threat, thus ending the city's participation in the development. He expressed some frustration with how long it took for his community to get an answer. "We expected more out of the federal government," he said. Mayor Bochenski also spoke about how heated the debate came at times, saying that University of North Dakota President Andrew Armacost had called him to communicate that some of the students and faculty on his campus of Chinese heritage were feeling "uncomfortable" thanks to anti-Chinese blowback against the project. Also joining this episode of Plain Talk was Dr. Charlie Bahnson, a wildlife veterinarian with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, who addressed legislation that would remove his agency's ability to regulate deer baiting. House Bill 1151, introduced by Rep. Paul Thomas, a Republican from Velva, is the legislation in question. Bahnson said his department needs that authority to protect North Dakota's deer herd for future generations of hunters, and to protect animal agriculture. "We use restricting that practice as a way to slow down the spread of disease," he said. Deer baiting restrictions are not in any way intended to be a commentary from the department on the practice itself. "We're not in the business of regulating ethics around hunting." "I'd like nothing more than to never talk about baiting again," he added. "I don't like to stir the pot." Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Subscribe - it's free! - on the podcast service of your choice.

Minot, N.D. — Drew Wrigley is asking a lot from state lawmakers in his first time before them as Attorney General. He wants a $24 million increase in his office's budget to recruit and retain attorneys, hire more Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents, oversee the exploding growth in North Dakota's charitable gaming industry, and address backlogs at the state crime lab. He wants new mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for gun-related crimes. One thing he's giving up, though, is his call to re-arrange his office's organization chart and put the crime lab under the administration of law enforcement officials. "You were wrong," Wrigley told me on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to my past reporting on the proposal, "and you won." In support of his push for new mandatory minimums, Wrigley pushed back against a massive fiscal note attached to the bill prepared by state corrections officials. They're estimating that Wrigley's bill would cost the state an additional $28 million per biennium, something Wrigley said is "completely false and ignoring the situation." "I'm not going to be backed off on this with some phony fiscal note," he said. Asked if his office had done a fiscal analysis of the bill's impact, he said no. "Our analysis is this is just a re-prioritization," he said, arguing that state corrections officials can offset the cost of keeping more violent offenders in prison by reducing incarceration rates among non-violent offenders. Also on this episode, state Senator Sean Cleary, a Republican from Bismarck, weighs in on the competing proposals to address North Dakota's pension fund for public workers. A proposal backed by Gov. Doug Burgum, and House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, seeks to transition the state away from a defined-benefit pension. Cleary argues in favor of keeping the defined-benefit pension. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Click here to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice. It's free!

For about a century, North Dakota has had a ban on corporate farming. This is to say that if you want to run a farming or ranching business in our state, you can only do it with family members who are no more distant in relation to you than first cousins. But there has been a push, in recent years, to ease up on the ban, particularly in the area of animal agriculture. The argument is that allowing business structures that aren't just between family members would open up new worlds of capital for investment in agriculture businesses here. Rep. Paul Thomas, a Republican from Velva who is a fourth-generation farmer, is backing House Bill 1371 in the current legislative session in Bismarck, and it would corporate farming in animal agriculture such as swine, dairy, and poultry. Yet in 2015, the legislature passed a similar bill. The North Dakota Farmer's Union successfully referred it to the ballot where it died with more than 75 percent of North Dakotans voting it down. What's changed between now and then to make Thomas think his bill has a chance? "The biggest landscape change is the development of soybean crush plants," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. Thomas says. Soybean plants will be a big source of animal feed, which will increase interest in animal agriculture in our state. He also argues that the current corporate farming ban isn't doing much to protect farming in North Dakota. "If we want to be a food desert let's keep doing what we're doing," he said. Responding to criticism of his bill coming from NDFU President Mark Watne, who argues HB1371 would hurt family farms, Thomas says the decline in the number of dairy farms in North Dakota is "the only argument I need to make." He notes that in 2009 there were 193 dairy farms operating in th e state. Today, he claims, there are only 37. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk are published? Subscribe - it's free! - on the podcast service of your choice.

Two state officials joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss a couple of the more complicated and political thorny issues North Dakota's legislature is taking up this session. Rep. Zac Ista, a Democrat from Grand Forks, talked about his opposition to an income tax plan being touted by Gov. Doug Burgum and Republican lawmakers. He said the plan may pull revenues away from needed spending areas, like child care and mental health, and also argued that the cut is a "giveaway" to the wealthy. It's that last point I wanted to debate with him and my co-host Ben Hanson. Also, a bill under consideration would start a pilot program aimed at capping prescription drug prices in North Dakota, using prices set in Canada as a reference point. The bill would put this program under the administration of the Insurance Commissioner's office. Jon Godfread, a Republican and our current commissioner, said that would be like trying to "force a square peg into a round hole." He expressed skepticism that this bill would be effective, and he's also concerned about the tax dollars the state would spend defending it in court. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Subscribe - it's free! - on the podcast platform of your choice.

The Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives is an exceeding slim majority. All the more so because, in many ways, the members of that majority are divide against themselves. Can these House Republicans govern effectively? Congressman Kelly Armstrong joined this episode of Plain Talk to answer that question. "We all have to talk to one another a lot more," he said. He also pointed out that many of the Republicans in the majority are finding themselves in a position they haven't been in before. "Just about half of the Republican majority has never been in the majority," he said. "They've never seen regular order," he added, referring to the traditional way bills were introduced, worked in committee, and then brought to the floor for a vote in years past. Armstrong also answered questions about his priorities in the new Congress, how the House can fulfill its oversight role without it getting lost in salacious politics, and his potential committee assignements. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Click here to subscribe - for free! - by way of your preferred podcast service.