MINOT, N.D. — Recently, a couple of dozen North Dakota lawmakers took a trip to Nashville which cost taxpayers nearly $90,000. The occasion was a summit put on by the National Conference of State Legislatures, an organization our state legislature belongs to (annual dues were $129,770 this year). The trip itself is not exactly news. These…
Democratic Lawmaker Suggests New Ethics Commission Could Regulate Speech of Elected Officials
Politicians say stupid things. That’s not exactly breaking news. Sometimes the stupid things they say rise to the level of being offensive. What’s to be done about it? That’s a question Bismarck Tribune reporter Jack Dura asks with a recent article about some North Dakota politicians who write stupid things on social media. What’s interesting is…
Guest Post: Ethics Commission Front-Runner Has Corporate Ties to Large State Government Contracts
This guest post was submitted by Dustin Gawrylow, executive director of the North Dakota Watchdog Network There has been a lot of debate over the Ethics Commission that is currently being created in North Dakota as a result of the passage of the Measure #1 in 2018. Sixty-eight North Dakotans (including this writer) applied for positions…
Loophole in Measure 1 Will Let Lobbyists Serve on the Ethics Commission, and Five Have Applied So Far
Measure 1, the Hollywood-bankrolled “ethics” amendment North Dakota voters cast their ballots for last year, was backed by a campaign that spent a lot of time vilifying lobbyists. But now lobbyists, including one who works for the Measure 1 campaign, are applying to serve on that commission. A loophole in the measure means they probably…
Print Column: Measure 1 Should Be Challenged in Court Immediately
MINOT, N.D. — Measure 1, approved by 54 percent of North Dakota voters this last week, is a clear example of the deep flaws in legislating at the ballot box. I don’t blame busy voters, inundated with messaging from a myriad of campaigns, for approving the measure. Most of them probably heard little about it…
Podcast: ACLU Says They’ll Consider Litigation Against Measure 1 if It Passes, Christine Blasey Ford Testifies
Heather Smith, executive director of the ACLU in North Dakota, joined me today to talk about her group’s opposition to Measure 1. That’s the “ethics” or “anti-corruption” measure, but the ACLU sees serious problems if it passes from a 1st amendment perspective. Smith tells me that they haven’t made a decision yet, but if Measure…
Print Column: Measure 1 Is an Affront to the First Amendment
MINOT, N.D.—A group calling themselves the North Dakotans for Public Integrity is backing Measure 1, a constitutional ballot measure sold as an “anti-corruption amendment.” Yet the NDPI aren’t really North Dakotans so much as a local front group for Hollywood activists, judging by their financial disclosures, and their proposed amendment isn’t “anti-corruption” so much as…
Co-Chair of Measure 1 Committee Compares Dominant North Dakota Republicans to Nazis
Dina Butcher is a co-chair of North Dakotans for Public Integrity, the local front group for Hollywood activists looking to create an ethics commission and limits on political speech in North Dakota’s constitution. She’s the token Republican for the group, which claims to be bipartisan, but she sure doesn’t seem to like Republicans all that…
Ballot Measure Activists Supposedly Promoting Transparency in Government Still Won’t Come Clean on How They Got Their Signatures
Last week I noted that a group calling itself the North Dakotans for Public Integrity (despite being largely funded by Hollywood celebrity activists) had, per disclosures their campaign made to the state, paid some $260,000 to collect signatures for their ballot measure to amend the state constitution and create an ethics commission. “North Dakota has…
A Bunch of Hollywood Celebrities Just Bought Their Way Onto North Dakota’s Ballot
Yesterday a group calling themselves the North Dakotans for Public Integrity announced that their constitutional amendment has been qualified to appear on the November ballot. Unfortunately this group is not really made up of North Dakotans. Nor do they have integrity. The ballot measure, which you can read here, is supposedly about promoting ethics. Yet…