This guest post was submitted by Minot resident Roscoe Streyle. There has been a lot of talk about the state’s budget and the process over the past numbers of years for various reasons. Too much revenue, too little revenue, too much spending, not enough spending, too much savings, bad projections. Governor’s budget versus the Legislature’s…
Plain Talk: Burgum Says Those Ranking Other Priorities Above Roosevelt Library Are Presenting a “False Choice”
On this episode of Plain Talk, Governor Doug Burgum defended his push for $50 million in funding for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora. Asked about the argument, coming from many, which suggests the state has other priorities for that money, Burgum said it’s “understandable” since “we do have needs across the state.” But…
Roscoe Streyle: How to Change the Governance of the North Dakota University System
This guest posts was submitted by Minot resident Roscoe Streyle. Does the North Dakota University System really need to be changed? The age old question. There are only two options in my mind, two-tiered system or enhancing the current system. Here are the options: 1) Enhance Current System – My Choice Add a four additional…
Governor Burgum Should Invite President Trump to Deliver the State of the Union in North Dakota
Things in Washington D.C. have devolved to the point where Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told President Donald Trump, citing specious security concerns, that he delay his State of the Union address to Congress or deliver that address in writing. Trump, in retaliation, has canceled an overseas trip Pelosi and other lawmakers had…
Roscoe Streyle: Let’s Build the Teddy Roosevelt Library
This guest post was submitted by Minot resident Roscoe Streyle. In the debate over the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, it’s time to recognize that Tourism is a massively important industry in North Dakota and dollars invested in promoting and expanding the tourism opportunities will return the amount invested many times over. Tourism is one…
Bill Would Require Transparency for Executive Branch Travel and Security Costs
Last year state Auditor Josh Gallion, a Republican, released an audit of executive branch travel and security costs (though the auditor got shut down on the latter, with the ND Highway Patrol citing state law prohibiting the release of details about security efforts). Gallion was attacked for his decision to conduct that audit targeting the…
Plain Talk Podcast: Burgum Opposes Using Legacy Fund Earnings to Replace Income Tax, Talks About Frosty Relationship With State Lawmakers
Governor Doug Burgum was kind enough to be my guest for the first episode of my podcast, Plain Talk. I asked him about what some have described as a frosty relationship between his administration and the Legislature, and he down played it. “We’ve got 141 members in the Legislature, he told me. “The frost advisory…
Burgum Needs to Give up on Declining His Salary
I hate that our politicians, exploiting the populist mores of the electorate, are making a spectacle out of declining their salaries. It’s not just the government shutdown playing out at the national level, part of which has included politicians (including North Dakota’s Senator John Hoeven and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, though not Senator Kevin Cramer) donating…
State Lawmakers Should Be Wary of Their Own Revenue Forecast
In North Dakota, when the politicians are writing budgets, they aren’t spending money they have. They’re spending money revenue forecasts predict they’ll have. The lawmakers and various executive branch leaders are, as I write this, down in Bismarck beginning the work of hashing out how to appropriate a two-year budget that will exceed $14 billion…
The Legislature Should Make the New England Women’s Prison Illegal
A political furor has erupted over a proposal from Governor Doug Burgum, backed by Department of Corrections head LeAnn Bertsch, to end the state’s contract with a prison facility in New England, North Dakota, and move those female inmates into a reshuffled state system. The Dakota Women’s Correctional Rehab Center is a subsidiary of the…