MINOT, N.D. — If you watched the recent debate in North Dakota’s gubernatorial race, hosted by Prairie Public, you realize just how useful a political weapon the coronavirus outbreak has become. Give credit, then, to Governor Doug Burgum and other leaders in his administration for unflinchingly pursuing as much data about the outbreak as they can,…
Ignore the Politics, Carbon Capture Research Is a Necessity
MINOT, N.D. — According to certain blinkered political commentators, who see America’s energy grids as yet another venue for team-sports partisanship, coal-fired electrical production ought to go away already. Their simpleton’s view portrays nothing more than pro-coal Republicans facing off with pro-renewables Democrats. They cast efforts to improve coal for modern energy markets, stuff like…
Poll Shows Strong Majorities Want Legacy Fund Invested in North Dakota by North Dakotans
MINOT, N.D. — The Legacy Fund has a problem. The roughly $6 billion pot of money, created from a portion of oil tax revenues by the Legislature in 2009, is almost entirely invested outside of the borders of North Dakota. What’s more, some of those out-of-state investments are morally dubious, including financial backing for the Chinese…
Indignant Lectures From Martinets With Medical Degrees Are Not What We Need Right Now
MINOT, N.D. — “North Dakota’s doctors are fed up,” reports my colleagues Jeremy Turley and Adam Willis. Their story is about doctors ripping Gov. Doug Burgum for not instituting a mask mandate and not deferring to doctors when making policy during the ongoing pandemic. I’ve written before about the deference issue, and the simple answer is…
Will the Election Cure Coronavirus?
MINOT, N.D. — Every day, we hear it. The incessant drumbeat about the coronavirus. New cases. New deaths. New food fights over what we ought to do and what we ought to stop doing. Do you wonder if the tone of all this will change after the election? Continue reading…
Trumpian Obstinance, Backed by Republicans Like Sen. Cramer, Is Making Conservatives Look Silly
MINOT, N.D. — Perhaps Donald Trump’s greatest contribution to the Republican Party’s legacy will be a shift, prompted by his rise to the presidency, from a conservatism defined by a platform of ideas that annoy liberals to simply annoying liberals. With the budget deficit now measured in the trillions, and the bulk of his policies…
Burgum-Funded Political Committee Refuses to Answer Questions About Measure 1 Opposition
MINOT, N.D. — There has been much whinging from the Bastiat wing of the North Dakota Republican Party about the political spending of Gov. Doug Burgum this election cycle. He used a political committee, funded mostly with his own money and staffed with his people, to back a slate of candidates in the primaries, many of…
ND Has Done Michelle Kommer an Injustice and I’m Not Sure It Can Be Entirely Fixed
MINOT, N.D. — Up until just recently, Michelle Kommer was a member of Gov. Doug Burgum’s cabinet. She was the head of the Commerce Department, specifically, a job she has told me she wasn’t sure she wanted in the first place. She’s had success in the private sector and was a little intimidated at the…
We’re About to Find Out How Much Juice Rick Becker and His Political Movement Really Has
MINOT, N.D. — The Bastiat Caucus, founded by Rep. Rick Becker (R-Bismarck), started in 2013 as a faction of lawmakers inspired by the free market ideas of French Liberal School economist and writer Frederic Bastiat. What it has become is something less aspirational and, depending on your point of view, inspirational. At times it can…
Andahl’s Death in District 8 Creates Tense Political Situation
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s political landscape is a bit darker this morning. Dave Andahl, a long-time public servant in Burleigh County and legislative candidate this election cycle, is no longer with us. I can’t say I knew Andahl well. Just a few email exchanges over the years about things I’d written, and some conversations this…