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McLean County State's Attorney Ladd Erickson has not been mincing words in his reaction to some of President Joe Biden's pardons that impact our region. He's called them "ridiculous" and "despicable," though he wants to be clear that this didn't have anything to do with politics.
"Some of the stuff that President Trump said he's going to pardon is despicable," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. But at least one of Biden's pardons is very, very personal to him.
Erickson was involved in bringing Hunter Hanson to justice. Hanson defrauded dozens of people to the tune of about $11 million, but as Erickson explained to us on the show, his victim pool is larger than that. Whole businesses, some of which were the pillars of their small, rural communities, collapsed as a result of Hanson's actions.
And President Biden commuted his sentence. Why? "I have no idea," Erickson told us, "and that's one of the frustrations."
Also on this episode, Sen. Dale Patten, a Republican from Watford City, weighs in on the controversy over the proposed Maah Daah Hey National Monument. A group of activists are pushing hard to get President Biden to create this monument with an executive order on his way out of office, but Patten says it's far too big a decision to be made unilaterally in Washington D.C.
"This is 140,000 acres," he said. "This is twice the size of Theodore Roosevelt National Park."
He also said that Biden using the authority of the Antiquities Act would be in appropriate. "It's a circumvention of congressional intent when wilderness is declared a national monument."
Patten said his criticism of the project isn't political. "As the proposal sits, I don't care who the president is, there would be opposition." He would prefer that local stakeholders in North Dakota -- from agricultural interests to industrial interests to tribes and all levels of state and local government -- work together on a plan to address whatever protections these lands need.
"Do we need to include the federal to do that? No we don't," he said.
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A national survey reports that a shocking number of Americans under the age of 30 condone the murder of health industry CEO Brian Thompson, an act allegedly committed by Luigi Mangione.
Me and Chad Oban discuss that survey on this episode of Plain Talk. Do the people justifying the murder of Thompson understand that people they don't like so much might decide to play by the same rules? What happens when other sorts of political extremists begin justifying violence this way?
Also on this episode, a coalition calling itself Together for School Meals has formed to begin advocacy for legislation that would pay for school lunches for all North Dakota students. Tony Burke, a government affairs director for the American Heart Association, which is one of the groups in this coalition, joined us to make the case for the initiative.
"It's broader than just school lunches," he told us, arguing that it's "about healthy students."
How much will the initiative cost? How will it be implemented? What impacts will it have on existing federal funding for North Dakota's school lunch program? We asked, and Burke answered.
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If you get into an accident involving a local political subdivision in North Dakota -- maybe a garbage truck side-swipes your car, or you slip on some ice outside of a school -- you may find yourself dealing with what's called the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund.
This self-insurance fund, paid for by local entities, handles those claims. And, according to a scathing report from Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread's office, it hasn't been handling them fairly.
"It's damning," Rep. Austen Schauer said on this episode of Plain Talk. "It's absolutely horrible."
Schauer, a Republican from Fargo, sits on the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee, which received Godfread's report. He called NDIRF's treatment of claimants "callous" and "an abuse of public dollars."
He argues that the way NDIRF handles claims, "the victim has to prove they were victimized."
"There's no appeals process other than you hire an attorney," he added.
Schauer says he'd like to see the current fund eliminated, and replaced with something new, be it a new fund with a better governance structure, or a private sector option.
"If there's a legitimate claim, you pay it," he said. "If you have to raise premiums, you raise premiums."
Also on this episode, Chad Oban and I discuss Gov. Doug Burgum's comments about his biggest regret from eight years in office. He says it's not doing more to put the blame for property taxes on the local governments that levy them.
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Artificial intelligence. Whether you love it, hate it, or are indifferent, it's here, and there are important questions about how it will be used, and what sort of opportunities it presents for our region, which policymakers need to discuss.
Rep. Josh Christy is a first-term Republican lawmaker from Fargo who is heading into his second legislative session. He's also what you could call an AI professional. He's an entrepreneur, a software development executive, and a consultant who works with AI and AI policies on a regular basis.
"Two years ago, generative AI was not something anyone was talking about," he said, referring to his first session in Bismarck. But now it's here. Teachers are using it. Students are using it. The business community is using it. On this episode of Plain Talk, Christy argued that it's time for North Dakota's laws to catch up.
"With any type of technology, there's the good, the bad, the ugly," Christy said, and he's got legislative proposals for each of those. One bill he has developed in conjunction with Attorney General Drew Wrigley's office would address abusive uses of AI. Say, to develop images or videos of public figures for nefarious purposes or of children for sexual gratification.
"People are using this to generate images of children in compromising positions," Christy said, and current law doesn't necessarily address that.
But other initiatives Christy proposes would seek to welcome the AI industry into North Dakota as a partner. Christy proposes leveraging North Dakota's oil, gas, and coal resources to help power data centers. He wants to develop "computing credits" that could help facilitate the data industry's move into the state. He'll be pushing this bills during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.
Also on this episode, Chad Oban and I discuss the on-going controversies around Burleigh County auditor Mark Spolonskowski, the efforts to recall Dickinson city commissioner Jason Fridrich, the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of gunning down an insurance industry executive in Manhattan, and what all those stories mean for our society's notions about right and wrong.
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When state Rep. Eric Murphy decided to introduced an abortion bill that, while perhaps representing where most of the public is on the issue, is likely to incite blowback from activists on both sides, he decided he wasn't going to ask any of his fellow lawmakers to co-sponsor it.
"This is going to be a charged bill," he said of the draft legislation, which he'll introduce next month during North Dakota's legislative session. He said he felt "no need to expose anyone" to the threats and vitriol the bill could inspire.
Murphy joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the proposal, which would make abortion legal as an elective for the first 15 weeks of of a pregnancy, illegal after 26 weeks, and allowable between 16 and 26 weeks only with approval from a panel of medical professionals who deem it medically necessary.
Is Murphy's bill a pro-life bill? That side of the argument would probably say no, because abortion would be completely legal for the first 15 weeks. Is it a pro-choice bill? That side of the debate would likely say no, because abortion is restricted after 15 weeks, and completely banned after 26.
But that middle ground between the two extremes on the issue is precisely where Murphy wants to be, and where he thinks most Americans, and most North Dakotans are. He told co-host Chad Oban and I that "we have to move away from the morality play" that the abortion issue is typically cast as.
"Nobody is getting what they want," on this contentious issue, Murphy argued. He says it's time to start creating laws we can live with.
Also on this episode, columnist Gary Emineth joined us to discuss property taxes. In a recent column, Emineth, who supported the constitutional amendment to abolish all taxes on property values which failed on the November ballot, argued for the Legislature to pass a somewhat narrower ban on property taxes, specifically removing them from only residential properties.
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I don't make a habit of referencing things Plain Talk podcast guests say off the air, but Deb McDaniel, the director of the gaming division in Attorney General Drew Wrigley's office, casually mentioned this jaw-dropping statistic on co-host Chad Oban and I after our interview on today's episode.
In October 2024, electronic pull-tab machines in North Dakota saw over 200 million button pushes. The machines saw $80 million in cash run through them that month.
That's one month, a state with just over 783,000 citizens. That works out to roughly $100 for every beating heart in the state.
It's an astounding figure, and it illustrates how acute the issue of charitable gaming has become in North Dakota. Both Wrigley and McDaniel joined this episode of Plain Talk to talk about their efforts to regulate this exploding industry, as well as a looming push in the upcoming legislative session to take gaming regulation authority away from Wrigley's office.
Also on this episode, we react to Gov. Doug Burgum's last budget address as a lame-duck governor, and the tightrope Sen. Kevin Cramer is walking around some of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees.
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Chad Oban and I are off for the holiday, so today's podcast is a rerun.
This is an interview I recorded with columnist Tony Bender three years ago this month, in November of 2021. In it, we discuss divides in the North Dakota Republican Party that were apparent at the time, and still are today. We also discussed the tribalism of American politics in 2021, redistricting, and the special session of the Legislature in Bismarck.
Tony was a good friend of mine, and passed away recently. Missing him, I went back and listened to this old interview, and thought you, the audience, might enjoy it, too, as a holiday rerun. Especially since so many in my audience were part of Tony's audience, too.
Regular episodes of Plain Talk will resume next week
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Plain Talk co-host Chad Oban says North Dakota's campaign finance laws are a joke. They're not transparent, he argues, and there's little in the way of consequence for those who flout them.
Sen. Sean Cleary, a Republican from Bismarck, wants to change that. He joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss his idea for putting more information about campaigns and candidates before the voters, and creating some stiffer penalties for those who don't comply.
Legislation Cleary is drafting for the upcoming legislative session, which commences in January, aims to require more frequent campaign finance reports from candidates and expand the information being reported. It also seeks to make reporting requirements more consistent across different types of campaigns, from those run by candidates to those backing ballot measures.
Cleary is also looking at increasing the fines for non-compliance to put more of a "stick behind it," and he wants to require that both candidates and incumbents have to file statements of interest more regularly, disclosing certain facts about their holdings so that voters can scrutinize how they might intersect with the public's business.
Also on this episode, Oban and I discuss my recent story about a plan for the University of North Dakota Alumni Association and Foundation to pay retention bonuses to UND President Andrew Armacost. We also honor the passing of my friend and fellow columnist Tony Bender.
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When reporter Adam Willis set out to profile the debate in North Dakota over Summit's Midwest Carbon Express pipeline for Bloomberg, he wanted to focus on the people who are for it, rather than against it.
Much of the reporting on that topic, to date, has focused on the naysayers, he told Chad Oban and I on this episode of Plain Talk. During out interview, Willis described what he learned about the people who are working to make carbon capture projects, including Summit's, a reality in North Dakota, as well as some of the strange political bedfellows between the left and right the debate has created.
Also on this episode, Oban and I discuss what may be the new political divide in America, which is less along the lines of ideology than the vagaries of pragmatism. The debate, increasingly, seems to be between people who are unflinchingly loyal to their party or buried to their necks in ideology, and those who just want to pursue good ideas.
We also discussed the state of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet appointments, and some of the blowback Governor-elect Kelly Armstrong has received for appointing an outgoing Democratic lawmaker to his cabinet.
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Heading into their 2025 legislative session, which starts in January, North Dakota lawmakers will consider dozens and dozens of bills dealing with property taxes. That makes sense because despite a ballot measure aimed at abolishing property taxes face planting on the statewide ballot, North Dakotans are not satisfied with the status quo.
What property tax reform and relief will look like coming out of this legislative session is an open question, but Senate Majority Leader David Hogue told Chad Oban and me on this episode of Plain Talk that there is one certainty.
"There will be caps," he said.
Which is to say, lawmakers will be capping property tax increases, though Hogue explained that how those caps will be structured will be an open debate. Will the caps apply to all local spending or only that funded by property taxes? Will the caps be a flat percentage or tied to inflation? We'll see, but after years of demuring on caps, won over, Hogue said, by the local control argument, the Legislature is ready to get it done.
Hogue also spoke about steps the Legislature plans to take to strengthen its oversight role in policy. The majority leader says the plan is to move dozens of executive branch officials who evaluate policy to the legislative branch. Which makes sense. If the Legislature wants to measure the success or failure of a given policy, it might not make a lot of sense to get that analysis from someone working for an agency head who lobbied for the policy in the first place.
This move is also aimed at addressing the challenges presented by term limits. Now that the legislature is going to see more turnover, by law, it's going to be losing some level of institutional knowledge. Moving these workers to the legislative branch serves as a buttress to that brain drain.
Hogue also spoke to impending debates over state jail and prison populations and state-provided mental health services, including the push to build a new state hospital in Jamestown, which he said is far too expensive.
Also on this episode, Oban and I discuss Gov.-elect Kelly Armstrong's decision to appoint Democrat (and erstwhile Plain Talk gust host) Rep. Corey Mock to his administration, and provide some local analysis of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet choices.
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In this episode of Plain Talk, guest hosts Corey Mock and Jessica Unruh Bell are joined by Minot Representative Scott Louser. Together, they dive deep into the complexities of North Dakota's property tax system, dissecting the legislative response to the failed Measure 4 and exploring innovative proposals for property tax relief and reform.
Mock and Bell close the episode with their perspectives on upcoming legislative priorities and the latest developments in President Trump’s cabinet appointments.
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In this special episode of Plain Talk, guest hosts Corey Mock and Jessica Unruh Bell welcome Senator Dick Dever from District 32 for a candid conversation on legislative insights and challenges. Senator Dever shares reflections on his experience in the legislature, discussing the impact of term limits, the significance of interim committees, and his personal goal to restore honor and civility in North Dakota politics. The discussion also covers the evolving responsibilities of policy advisory roles and predictions on how term limits might reshape the state’s government structure.
Following the interview, Corey and Jessica exchange their own insights on the upcoming legislative session and the recent reporting about Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler.
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Governor-elect Kelly Armstrong, fresh off a landslide victory on the statewide ballot, is coming in hot. He's still got a term in Congress to finish out -- he's said he'll resign shortly before midnight the day before he's sworn in as governor on December 15 -- but he's got big plans for his time in Bismarck.
"I don't give platitudes," he told me and Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk.
Armstrong campaigned on property tax reform. He opposed Measure 4 -- he said in a previous Plain Talk interview that he hated the proposal -- but he also isn't a fan of what the Legislature has been doing to address the issue in previous sessions, which as amounted transferring local spending into the state budget.
"Don't send me another buy down without significant reform," he told us. "It hasn't worked in the past. It's not going to work going forward."
He also talked about his philosophy when it comes to staffing his new administration. "I have a small alaw firm mentality for how I operate," he said (Armstrong practiced as an attorney before his political career). "I hire smart people and empower them to make decisions.
If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It’s super easy—leave your message, tell us your name and where you’re from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.
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The vote is in, and despite weeks of polling gurus telling us it was going to be a close election, it wasn't particularly close. It wasn't a Reaganesque national landslide, either, but former President Donald Trump won not only the Electoral College vote but the national popular vote as well.
Legendary North Dakota political operative Pat Finken joined me and Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the national election, as well as local elections, where Finken, through his Brighter Future Fund political action committee, campaigned against the Measure 5 legalization of marijuana and as well as a couple of Republican legislative candidates.
The high turnout election, both in North Dakota and nationally, showed "the importance of showing up," Finken said.
We also discussed how the election will impact the divides in the North Dakota Republican party, and how that coalition will govern in Bismarck.
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The legislative races in the Grand Forks area have gotten ugly. Incumbent state Sen. Scott Meyer, a Republican from District 18, sent his opponent threatening social media messages. Incumbent state Rep. Emily O'Brien from District 42 has been accused of not living in her district. Now Sarah Grossbauer, a Democratic-NPL candidate in District 42 -- one of O'Brien's opponents -- is dodging questions about drug use after a Republican (and former friend) leaked a photo of her allegedly using cocaine in the bathroom of a downtown Grand Forks bar.
Me and Chad Oban talked about it all on this episode of Plain Talk (full disclosure, Oban works for North Dakota United, as does Grossbauer). One complicating factor in all of this is our propensity -- and I really mean "our" because we're all guilty of this -- of being hypercritical of candidates we don't like while rationalizing the behavior of those we do.
It has to stop. We can expect more from our elected officials.
Auditor Josh Gallion also joined this episode to talk about what he's done during his two terms in office to justify voters giving him a third. Among his arguments? He's modernized the office. "We had walls of filing cabinets with paper records," he said. Now, much of that data has been digitized, and is available online.
Gallion also talked about his office's greater efforts to communicate audit information to the public, but at times that's gotten the incumbent in some hot water. His critics in the Legislature, and in local government, have accused him of sensationalizing funding. Gallion responded to those criticisms, and others related to the costs of his office's audits.
Finally, Chad and made our 2024 election predictions. How will North Dakota's statewide races shake out? Which ballot measures will be approved? Will the partisan balance in the Legislature change much? And who is going to win the national election?
You'll have to listen to find out what we think. And, after Tuesday, maybe you can make fun of us for being wrong.
Speaking of which, we have a new way for you to communicate with us. Just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It’s super easy—leave your message, tell us your name and where you’re from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode.
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We live in an age of misinformation. The internet is chock full of false narratives and egregious bunkum that can seem plausible to some if for no other reason than the sheer volume of it orr, perhaps, because it confirms certain biases and attitudes the audience already has.
Recently a website called the Gateway Pundit, which was forced to print a retraction as a part of a settlement in a defamation lawsuit brought by Georgia election workers published what it purports to be a news story about the Bank of North Dakota.
Citing anonymous sources and critics, the "story" insinuates that the BND is involved in a cover-up of bad loans, bailouts, and other nefarious activities. The one on-the-record statement was given by Sen. Kent Weston, a Republican who serves in District 9.
Normally, one might think it unwise to respond to internet cranks, but we live in an era where talk radio host Alex Jones was able to convince 1 in 5 Americans that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
These things can't be taken lightly.
BND President Don Morgan joined this episode of Plain Talk to provide factual answers. "The only part of the article that is true is they got our name right," Morgan told Chad Oban and me.
"As it kind of got picked up by some locals, we decided we want to get some facts out there," he continued.
Morgan says the bank is in strong financial shape, and it hasn't received bailouts. He also said that Sen. Weston hasn't, to his knowledge, contacted the bank about the claims made in the article.
Also on this episode, Democratic-NPL auditor candidate Tim Lamb joined to discuss his campaign.
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"Even the most extreme ends of our legislature vote the same way 60+ percent of the time," a Plain Talk listener and sitting state lawmaker texted me recently.
He was making a point about the way we talk about politics, where we emphasize our disagreements more than our agreements. "Difference in ideology is great. We need more civil debate and strengthening ideas through discourse," he said. "But the gap between left and right is much narrower than most people realize."
He's right, and the voting records bear it out. We do agree more than we disagree, what gets the heat, what draws our attention for reasons having to do with human nature (and, if we're being honest, the sort of content that drives clicks and shares and views) is our differences.
I was thinking about while recording this episode of Plain Talk, which featured Chad Oban and I moderating a debate between District 10 Sen. Ryan Braunberger, a Democrat, and challenger George Roughead, a Republican. As we covered education topics like student performance, school choice, and school lunches, and as we hit on working-class issues like child care, and as we delved into culture war issues like LGTBQ issues and book bans, these two bright, engaged, well-informed candidates spent a lot of time agreeing on what North Dakota's challenges are.
They often disagreed, sometimes sharply, on what the solutions to those problems are, but when it comes to what the job before them would be if elected to another term in the Legislature? Both men were over the target.
"I was a very good voice for my district," Braunberger told us when asked why voters should give him another term. He mentioned his work on child care and his efforts to work with Republicans. "Being one of only four Democrats in the Senate, you have to work across the aisle," he said.
Roughead, who works as a teacher, said he wants to focus on education. "The Senate doesn't have any active teachers," he said.
District 10 features one of the few competitive races in North Dakota, and that's probably because it's one of the few places with mixed partisan representation. The debate in District 10 can tell us a lot about the debates that are happening (or that would be happening if they featured competitive races) in legislative campaigns around North Dakota.
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Chad Oban and I have a lot of disagreements while hosting the Plain Talk podcast, which is what you'd expect. He's left-of-center; I'm right-of-center. Today, however, we were singing from the same choirbook.
Sen. Scott Meyer, a Republican running for re-election in Grand Forks-area District 18, who admitted to me that he got drunk and sent threatening messages to his opponent, Democratic-NPL candidate Kyle Thorson, should resign.
We each made our case for why on today's episode of Plain Talk.
Also joining us was former NDGOP chairman Perrie Schafer to discuss the work his LegeNDary Fund is doing to promote traditional, "normie" conservatism in North Dakota. "There are a certain group of people who are loud and make a lot of noise," he said. "They are not the majority."
He said he wants to bring what he calls the "80%" of reasonable North Dakota Republicans back into active engagement with the NDGOP.
"When the loud side of either party makes a lot of noise, the 80% are quiet."
Also joining us was Treasurer Thomas Beadle to respond to criticisms of the State Investment Board made by two of our previous guests, Rep. Bernie Satrom and Rep. Mitch Ostlie of Jamestown. They claim that North Dakota's Legacy Fund investments are transparent enough, and have proposed legislation to require an online database detailing where the fund's money is at.
Beadle says he supports the idea, but pointed out some limitations.
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The Legacy Fund was launched in 2010 when North Dakota voters approved a legislatively-initiated constitutional amendment to create it. Now, thanks to the share of oil tax revenues it receives, as well as the investment returns its generated, it sits with a balance of about $10.7 billion.
And it's become something of a political football. It can seem as though we are endlessly debating how the fund is invested and what we should do with the fund and its earnings.
On this episode of Plain Talk, a couple of Republican lawmakers from District 12, in the Jamestown area, talked about legislation they'd like to see passed during the 2025 session which, they feel, would help inform those debates. Because one of the biggest problems of the Legacy Fund is that we don't know how a lot of the money is invested. Rep. Mitch Ostlie, and Rep. Bernie Satrom, estimate that about $3.1 billion of the fund's investments are opaque to public scrutiny.
"Where are the dollars invested?" Rep. Ostlie asked.
Their proposal is called the Legacy Fund Transparency Act, and it's pretty simple. It would require that the State Investment Board list the Legacy Fund's investments in a public way. Perhaps on the SIB's website.
The lawmakers feel this would not only help inform debates over what we should be doing with the Legacy Fund, but also help us identify problematic investments, like when the fund was invested in Russian bonds. "We were literally funding the Russian government," Rep. Satrom said.
The lawmakers were also somewhat critical of the current members of the State Investment Board, which includes among its number elected officials like Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller, Treasurer Thomas Beadle, Rep. Glenn Bosch, and Sen. Jerry Klein.
"This has just been incredibly hands off," Rep. Satrom said.
"We were able to find out...that we were in Russian bonds," he continued at another point in the interview. "Couldn't they see? They're just trusting the experts and not having common sense."
Also on this episode, Chad Oban and I discuss what are probably the most important legislative races in the North Dakota, in Districts 10, 24, and 46, and we also talk about U.S. House candidate Trygve Hammer's recent criticisms of his opponent Julie Fedorchak.
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People who are familiar with my body of work probably aren't inclined to think of me when they have an appetite for warm, fuzzy, feel-good stories, and yet that's precisely the sort of story we began today's episode of Plain Talk with. Which is a good thing, because as we survey the political landscape, there's not a lot to feel positive about.
Joe Kolosky works for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. He says one of the favorite parts of his job is overseeing a program through which veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, can apply to receive the high school diplomas they missed out on when they shipped out to war zones.
The Legislature created the program in 2001 for WWII veterans, and expanded it to include Korea and Vietnam veterans in 2003, and since then it's issued over 300 honorary high school diplomas including, most recently, two Korean War veterans.
Koslosky says it means a lot to him that he gets to help these veterans, but more important, it means a great deal to the veterans themselves. Those who feel they or someone they know may qualify for it should contact the Department of Public Instruction. Officials only need you to fill out a one-page application, and provide a the veteran's paperwork verifying their service.
Also on this episode, Chad Oban and I discuss the recent FEC filngs in North Dakota's federal races, our thoughts on the likely outcomes of those races, and the future of the North Dakota Republican Party's dominance in electoral office.
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