Earlier this year North Dakota lawmakers defeated two pieces of legislation which would have legalized sports gambling in the state. One would have legalized gambling on collegiate and professional sports; the other would have legalized wagering on the pros only. Neither bill passed. Yet other states are legalizing sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court…
Fargo Commissioner Says It’s “Disingenuous” to “Bitch” About Company Getting $4.6 Million Subsidy They Said They Don’t Need
There were some fireworks at a meeting of Fargo’s city commission tonight. The genesis for the controversy was an application made by a company called Aldevron for a $4.6 million payment in lieu of tax (or PILOT) subsidy for an expansion they’re building. According to the commission’s posted agenda, the subsidy would have the company…
Local Politics Are as Partisan and Ideological as Any Other Kind of Politics, We Just Pretend Like They Aren’t
Earlier this year state Rep. Scott Louser, a Republican from Minot, introduced legislation which would have allowed local elected leaders to identify themselves with a political party on the ballot. It was permissive legislation, which is to say that nobody would have been forced into an affiliation. Local candidates, much like legislative and statewide candidates…
Burgum Polls Himself Against Heidi Heitkamp Ahead of 2020 Campaign
Governor Doug Burgum’s re-election campaign has been polling, and gave me exclusive access to the results. You can read their full polling memo below. There are a couple of things about this poll which are just as interesting as the actual numbers. First, there has been some whispers in state political circles that Burgum might…
Proposed “Red Flag Law” for North Dakota Doesn’t Need to Be Resurrected
“There was a lot of learning that was happening about the gun violence issue as a whole, as well as what this bill would really do,” state Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, a Democrat from Fargo, told my colleague John Hageman. “Sometimes things take more than one session.” Hanson was responding to questions about whether or…
Marsy’s Law Backer Gets Sweetheart Plea Deal for Drug Charges in Nevada
In North Dakota billionaire Henry Nicholas was able to buy his hobby horse initiated measure onto the statewide ballot for a vote. That was Marsy’s Law, the so-called “victims rights” amendment to the state constitution which has, since it was ratified by voters, been an absolute headache for the criminal justice system while doing very…
We Should Allow More Time for Referendum Campaigns
As of yesterday all three referendum campaigns started by Dickinson citizen activist Riley Kuntz have failed. He was trying to refer an appropriation for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, an expansion of the open records exemption for legislative emails, and a limit on the powers of the state auditor to the statewide ballot for a…
Referendum for Auditor Law Won’t Make the Deadline
“Not making the referendum deadline.” That’s what Riley Kuntz, the organizer behind the “Audit the Swamp” campaign to refer three pieces of legislation passed by lawmakers earlier this year to the statewide ballot for a potential veto vote, told me today. His group had already missed the deadline on two other referendum campaigns – one…
Chancellor’s Comments on Former UND President Mark Kennedy Proves the Impotence of Higher Education Governance
One of the most persistent and confounding problems in North Dakota’s higher education system are university presidents – backed by politically loud constituencies made up of alumni and sports fans and hometown media – who don’t want to be governed. Who resent the governance of the State Board of Higher Education and the Legislature and…
Poll: North Dakotans Split on Supporting Roosevelt Library, Project Is Least Popular in Western North Dakota
Dean Mitchell of DFM Research is a friend of mine who also works as a political pollster. I’ve commissioned polling from him, and his worked for various groups and political candidates on both sides ideological spectrum. His work is well-regarded in North Dakota. Recently he shared with me some excerpts from polling he did in…