Plain Talk

Redistricting, and in particular, the ways in which federal law and jurisprudence govern redistricting, can be a complicated and nuanced thing. Unfortunately, political debates, particularly these days, are not known for their thoroughness and nuance. Which is why it was disappointing when so much of the reaction to a federal court finding North Dakota's legislative map was illegal under the Votin...

This week a group of filmmakers representing the bulk of North Dakota's film industry gathered outside of Gov. Doug Burgum's office, in the Memorial Hall of the state capitol building, to make a point about the process surrounding $700,000 in grants made to one Bismarck-based production company. Matt Fern, who is also based in Bismarck, points out that $100,000 of the grants was awarded without be...

Sometimes politicians are rich when they go into politics. Sometimes they get rich, somehow, while collecting the relatively modest salary that comes with even some of the highest-level elected offices. How does that happen? And why is there such a disconnect between the ardent, eat-the-rich populism of this moment and the success filthy rich politicians have at the ballot box? Matt Lewis, a senio...

New results from the North Dakota poll were characterized by the sponsor of the poll, the North Dakota News Cooperative, as well as many media outlets covering those results, as showing that state lawmakers are out of step with voters on issues like abortion and ballot measures. Of course, in the coming elections, most legislative incumbents will likely be re-elected, so are they really all that o...

I don't think many people were surprised that Gov. Doug Burgum did not take first place in the North Dakota Poll's presidential preference survey. Like it or not, Donald Trump is a singular political figure among Republicans in this moment in history. He makes his own gravity. Of course he was going to be the first choice for president among Republicans. He's also the first choice in Florida and S...

Thanks to the widely-reported consternation over carbon pipelines, carbon capture has become a hot-button issue. But political kerfuffles tend to obscure that North Dakota is on the bleeding edge of carbon capture and storage technology. On this episode of Plain Talk, Jeff Zueger, the CEO of Harvestone, joined us to talk about the new carbon capture and storage project they've launched at their Bl...

When I first invited Attorney General Drew Wrigley on to this episode of Plain Talk, our intention was to speak about the lawsuit against Facebook company Meta that North Dakota is now a part of. And we did eventually get around to talking about that, but in between my invitation and today, when we actually recorded the interview, former state Sen. Ray Holmberg was indicted on criminal charges rel...

There has been turmoil in the North Dakota Republican Party this year, and it most recently manifested itself in the disastrous and hire of a South Dakota man, David Roetman, with a proclivity for misogyny and racism on social media. Levi Bachmeier, the chair of the NDGOP's District 13 committee, and one of the outspoken critics of Mr. Roetman's hire, joined this episode to discuss what's going on...

Congressman Kelly Armstrong hasn't been able to get back home to North Dakota for nearly two months thanks to chaos in Washington D.C. Chaos that included a pitched battle within the Republican caucus over who the Speaker of the House would be. Now that the House has a Speaker again, Armstrong is home in North Dakota again, and on this episode of Plain Talk, called that protracted imbroglio "the b...

North Dakota lawmakers are wrapping up their work at a special session that was convened thanks to the state Supreme Court striking down a catch-all budget bill that violated the state constitution. Some surprise topics came up during the closing hours, including an effort to kill a major audit review of State Auditor Josh Gallin's office, as well as an effort to put stiff enforcement behind a ban...

Next week North Dakota's lawmakers will convene in a special session, and it's hard to know what's going to happen. Gov. Doug Burgum called lawmakers into special session with an executive order asking that they limit themselves to five days, but lawmakers aren't obliged to follow that order. Once they're in session, they're in session. Could we see a situation where legislative leaders can't get...

You wouldn't normally expect to use an interview with a United States Senator to talk about what's going on in the House of Representatives, but that's what we did on today's episode of Plain Talk. Even though Sen. Kevin Cramer is a former member of the House, and knows a thing or two about how that chamber operates, he isn't currently a member. Still, the drama in the House, which is currently pa...

"My opinion is there will be no delayed bills introduced," House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, a Dickinson Republican, said of the upcoming legislative session on this episode of Plain Talk. "Get in and get out," he added. The special session is necessitated by  a state Supreme Court ruling which found that the Legislature violated the state constitution's prohibition on multi-issue bills. Now, lawm...

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has been sent packing by a vote initiated by a minority of his own Republican caucus. Now the House of Representatives is tasked with picking a new Speaker, and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota's at-large Congressman, says the price of his vote is a rule change to ensure the next Speaker won't suffer the same fate. Otherwise, the House of Representatives risks...

A ruling from the North Dakota Supreme Court, part of an on-going spat between lawmakers, Gov. Doug Burgum, and the Public Employees Retirement System, has created the need for a new legislative session. State Rep. Corey Mock, a Democrat from Grand Forks and former leader of the minority caucus, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. He estimates that lawmakers will meet again sometime i...

Should people who aren't from North Dakota be allowed to help put proposed laws on North Dakota's ballot? That's the question asked in a lawsuit filed by proponents of a constitutional amendment implementing age limits for North Dakota's congressional delegation. That measure, if passed,  was probably already headed for litigation as U.S. Supreme Court precedent has held that state-level requireme...

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill to outlaw gender care — both surgeries and medicinal treatments — for minor children who are transitioning. Now, a group of North Dakota parents are working with a group called Gender Justice to sue over the legislation, arguing that it's illegal. Devon Dolney, a Fargo parent to a trans son, and Brittany Stewart, an attorney for Gender Justice, join...

The North Dakota Republican Party, without quesiton the dominant political organization in state politics, is currently charting its way through some choppy waters. Controversial new leadership has alienated some of the party's donors. Local NDGOP district leaders are targeting their own incumbent Republican lawmakers. The party's fundraising is showing signs of cratering. Now the party's executiv...

"I'm not interested in doing this simply to make our base happy," Congressman Kelly Armstrong said of new efforts to impeach President Joe Biden over his involvement with his son's business deals and other matters. Armstrong talked at length about the dichotomy among Republicans in their push for accountability for Biden, while simultaneously attacking efforts to bring the same to former President...

If constructed, the Midwest Carbon Express, a carbon pipeline project pursued by Summit Carbon Solutions, would gather carbon emissions from ethanol plants across the upper midwest and bring it to North Dakota for storage. Controversy around the pipeline, particularly from some landowners and farmers who say their land will be stolen through eminent domain, or that the pipeline itself is dangerous...

When it comes to criminal justice policy, and more specifically, the sort of policy that deals with incarcerating people, the most important thing for us to remember is that most people who are put in prison will eventually get out. According to  a public-facing data dashboard from the North Dakota Department of Corrections, about 64% of people incarcerated in our state spend less than a year ther...

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...

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 pla...

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...

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 Wes...