Plain Talk

In 2020, Shelley Lenz ran for governor, and received the endorsement of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL to do so. But in 2022, Lenz is running for the state Senate, only she's doing so as an independent. Why the switch? Neither party is doing right by the people, Lenz argued on this episode of Plain Talk. Lenz is hoping to be elected to the legislature in Dickinson-area District 37, where Republican Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner is retiring. She says the issues around the Legacy Fund's investments, some of which have gone to not-so-great places like Russia and China, is an example of what she's talking about. Though lawmakers have already created a program to divert as much as 20 percent of the Legacy Fund's investments to North Dakota, Lenz says she wants more, as much as 50 or 60 percent. Will that message resonate with voters? And can someone who isn't a Republican win in western North Dakota? That's why we hold the elections, folks.

During their 2021 regular session, North Dakota's lawmakers did something they hadn't ever done before in state history. They expelled one of their own. Luke Simons, then an elected member of the House from Dickinson, was expelled after my reporting exposed documents detailing years of harassment of people who work in and around the Legislature, including two of his fellow lawmakers, Rep. Emily O'Brien from Grand Forks and Rep. Brandy Pyle of Casselton. Now, during their interim between sessions, lawmakers are looking at how their harassment policies might be strengthened. O'Brien joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss just how tall an order that is. She noted that implementing these policies is difficult because they apply to elected officials who aren't really anyone's employees outside of the voters. Also complicating the work is that many in the public are fine with this sort of behavior from their elected officials. Simons, a member of the controversial Bastiat Caucus of Trump-aligned Republican lawmakers, still enjoys support to this day. Several lawmakers who voted for his expulsion have been censured over it at meetings of their district party committees. It's very possible that Simons could run for, and win, a seat in the Legislature in the future. What then? There don't seem to be any good answers. Also on this episode, Wednesday co-host Chad Oban and I talk about the Democratic-NPL denying me media credentials for their upcoming state party as well as the debate over energy policy that's erupted in America since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting disruptions it provoked in international energy markets. Want to know when new episodes of Plain Talk come out? Subscribe, for free, on your favorite podcasting platform. Want to support Plain Talk and get access to a lot of other great local news content? Consider subscribing for a low introductory rate of just $0.99 per month.

The politics around local development were already a fraught exercise before the cloud of geopolitical issues cast a shadow over them. Things like economic incentives, zoning ordinances, traffic, smells, noise, and infrastructure loads have never been easy to navigate. But add in growing concerns over the presence, in our local economies, of businesses based in places like China? The process becomes positively byzantine. The Fufeng Group would like to build a corn milling plant near Grand Forks, North Dakota, and all the usual concerns are around it. Are they getting too much taxpayer support? Is the project palatable to those who have to live or work near it? But then there's also the fact that Fufeng is based in China which is ruled by an oppressive Communist government that, among other sins against basic human decency, has millions of ethnic minorities confined in forced labor camps. Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski joins this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the Fufeng project debate which has roiled his community so much that one person tried to make a citizen's arrest of the city council at a recent meeting. Bochenski acknowledges that concerns about China are valid, all the more so after Russia's invasion of Ukraine elevated the question of our nation's economic ties to these regimes, but argued that a local city council is ill-prepared to take the lead on them. Subscribe to Plain Talk on your favorite podcasting platform: https://www.inforum.com/podcasts/plain-talk-with-rob-port Support Plain Talk with a subscription that unlocks great content from news outlets across the region: https://inforum.news/port

In 1977, Jimmy Carter was taking over the White House. Art Link was governor of North Dakota. "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boon was at the top of the charts, and movies like "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and "Smokey and the Bandit" were drawing audiences to theaters. Also, Sen. Ray Holmberg also took his seat in North Dakota's legislature for the first time. Now, 46 years later, this constant in our state's politics is calling it a career. On this episode of Plain Talk, he reflects on his proudest accomplishment (promoting the UAV industry in his hometown of Grand Forks), his favorite governor (Jack Dalrymple), and the biggest challenges facing North Dakota in the future, including the growing acrimony in the NDGOP, its dominant political party, and the uncertainty of the oil, gas, and coal industries. About the rancor in the NDGOP, Holmberg said many voters are turned off by local meetings where attendees "listen to people scream 'point of order, point of order, point of order' for an hour." He said he expects incumbent Senator John Hoeven to win on the June ballot, but that the Donald Trump-aligned wing of the party is "very skilled" at organizing for the convention process, and more moderate Republicans need to get better at it. What's changed from the beginning of his almost five decades in the legislature to the end? Holmberg says more people than ever are engaged in a process that's also more open and accessible than before. When he started, he said the only way most North Dakotans could reach their lawmakers during the session, other than traveling to Bismarck, was by sending a letter or calling a toll-free telephone number and leaving them a message. Now the public can watch floor sessions and committee hearings and email or even text their lawmakers in real-time. Something that's both good and bad, Holmberg says. Want to know when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Consider subscribing on your favorite podcast app. Want to support Plain Talk? Get a subscription for all of the great Forum Communications content for a low introductory rate of just $0.99 per month: https://inforum.news/port

How do you report the news, and in particular political news, fairly and faithfully in an environment where so many people can find sources on social media and talk radio and cable news who are willing to tell them only what they want to hear? Matthew von Pinnon, the editor of the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, talks about that on this issue of Plain Talk. He says the bias many imagine, where newspaper editors and publishers sit around a table in a smoky room to decide what the news will be, simply doesn't happen. Von Pinnon also weighs in on North Dakota's interesting 2022 election cycle, including the in-fighting in the North Dakota Republican Party, and why the Democratic-NPL can't seem to find the energy to take advantage. Subscribe to Plain Talk on your favorite podcasting platform: https://www.inforum.com/podcasts/plain-talk-with-rob-port Want to support Plain Talk and other great news and opinion content? Consider subscribing for a low introductory rate of just $0.99 per month: https://inforum.news/port

The North Dakota Republican Party has had a dominant, three-decades-long run in state politics, but former Governor Ed Schafer, whose election in 1992 was the dawn of that era of success, says the sunset could be upon us. It doesn't have to be, he said on this episode of Plain Talk. Things can still be corrected. But the path the party is on right now isn't one that leads to sustained success, he argues. That was part of the reason why he endorsed incumbent U.S. Senator John Hoeven. "A lot of it was the nastiness," he said. Hoeven is facing a challenge for the NDGOP nomination from state Rep. Rick Becker, who has burnished appeal to a very Trumpy, very online faction of Republicans who have no problem being confrontational, disruptive, and often just plain mean. "It's distributing to me," Schafer said. He's worried that if Becker's approach to politics becomes the norm in the NDGOP, North Dakota voters will lose faith in a party whose candidates they've been consistently voting for over generations.

The officials overseeing North Dakota's investments are acting quickly to divest from investments in Russia in the wake of the terrible invasion of Ukraine. Already about 37 percent of the investments overseen by the State Investment Board have been pulled. It will take some time to pull the rest out - the investments are complicated, and officials are trying to limit the financial hit North Dakotans will take - but there's a plan in place to make it happen. But should our strategy about investing in countries with not-so-great political leadership change going forward? "I think it has to," Thomas Beadle said on this episode of Plain Talk. Beadle was elected as North Dakota's Treasurer last year, and by law is a member of the SIB. He said officials at the SIB, as well as other state boards, such as the Land Board, which oversees the investment of North Dakota's funds, are having a debate about that shift in policy now. But it can be complicated. Investing in state-owned companies is one thing, but what about American companies that do businesses in places like China or Russia? Also, is there danger in setting a precedent for reactionary investing? Do we want to open the door to pulling investments in companies based in other states because North Dakotans don't like the politics there? Beadle says we have to find a balance, and state investment officials are working to find out what looks like. Subscribe to Plain Talk on your favorite podcasting platform: https://www.inforum.com/podcasts/plain-talk-with-rob-port Support Plain Talk with a subscription to the Forum Communications network of publications for an introductory rate of just $0.99 per month: https://inforum.news/port

Is U.S. Senator John Hoeven too wealthy to be in touch with North Dakota voters? Katrina Christiansen, a candidate for the Democratic-NPL's endorsement in North Dakota's Senate race, made that argument on this episode of Plain Talk. Joining Wednesday co-host Chad Oban and I, Christiansen said Hoeven is too busy living up to Republican talking points from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to focus on North Dakota's values. On this episode Oban and I also talk about the theatrics at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. Is it a good thing for members of Congress to heckle the President of the United States? No, it's not. Is it a savvy move for a politician who wants to get attention and raise money? Yes, sadly, it is. Subscribe to Plain Talk on your favorite podcasting platform: https://www.inforum.com/podcasts/plain-talk-with-rob-port Support the podcast and get access to a lot of great content by subscribing to the Fargo Forum at an introductory price of just $0.99 per month: https://inforum.news/port/  

If there is any lesson to be learned from the last few years of tumultuous international politics, and the crippling pandemic, it's that we need our supply lines to get shorter. For a long time, Americans have been content to see industry, from value-added agriculture to mining and manufacturing - move out of sight and out of mind. It's clear that we need to bring that stuff back to the United States. That's not always as easy as it seems. There is a local political fight in Cass County over a soybean crushing facility. It's exactly the sort of project we need built in America, and in North Dakota, which grows some of the best soybeans in the world, but some critics, adopting a not-in-my-back-yard attitude, don't want it. Rep. Jared Hagrit, a Republican from District 20, a soybean grower himself, and a past chairman of the United States Soybean Board, joined this episode of Plain Talk to talk about the Casselton project and why it's important.

In an development I wouldn't have predicted a year ago, popular incumbent Senator John Hoeven, facing a primary challenge from state Rep. Rick Becker, may skip the NDGOP's endorsing convention. Why? Because it's not a sure thing that he'll win the endorsement, despite never receiving less than 70 percent in any statewide election since 2000. He also may be afraid that the turbulence within the NDGOP could manifest itself at the convention in embarrassing ways. Can you imagine the headlines if Hoeven were to be booed while addressing his own state party? Would Hoeven skipping the convention be a good idea? Chad Oban and I play political consultant on this episode of Plain Talk. Also, Superintendent Kirsten Baesler stops by to chat about the on-going challenges the state is facing when it comes to not just recruiting new teachers, but keeping existing teachers on the job. In a society where respect for so many of our cultural institutions - from the news media to law enforcement, government and education - is eroding our educators are taking it on the chin. How can we fix that?