Tag Archives: Ethics Commission

Dina Butcher delivers a proposed ballot measure creating an ethics commission to Secretary of State Al Jaeger. Pictures center, in the back, is fellow measure organizer Ellen Chaffee.

Ballot Measure Activists Supposedly Promoting Transparency in Government Still Won’t Come Clean on How They Got Their Signatures

- August 1, 2018 - ,

Ballot Measure Activists Supposedly Promoting Transparency in Government Still Won’t Come Clean on How They Got Their Signatures

- August 1, 2018 - ,

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…

Secretary of State Al Jaeger receives a filing from a group calling themselves North Dakotans for Public Integrity.

A Bunch of Hollywood Celebrities Just Bought Their Way Onto North Dakota’s Ballot

- July 24, 2018 - ,

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…

Dina Butcher, left, hands North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger a proposed petition for a ballot measure to add anti-corruption policies to the state constitution Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018 at the state Capitol in Bismarck. John Hageman / Forum News Service

Podcast: College Student Says Paid Petitioners Working on Ethics Commission Measure Giving “Middle Finger to Our Values in North Dakota”

- April 26, 2018 - ,

Jamal Omar, a student at North Dakota State University, joined me on the radio today to talk about the tactics being used by petitioners backing what they describe as an anti-corruption ballot measure. Omar said the petitioners have been misleading and overly aggressive. He described being approached by one of the petitioners. “I said ‘is…

Dina Butcher delivers a proposed ballot measure creating an ethics commission to Secretary of State Al Jaeger. Pictures center, in the back, is fellow measure organizer Ellen Chaffee.

Anti-Corruption Ballot Measure Activists, Flush With Out of State Money, Looking to Hire Professional Signature Collectors

- March 19, 2018 - ,

A group of people in North Dakota calling themselves the North Dakotans for Public Integrity is really just a front group for a left wing group called Represent.US as the Associated Press uncovered recently. The ballot measure they’re pushing (or ballot measures, I guess) is just a local iteration of what Represent.US calls the American…

In a Bizarre Move Ethics Commission Activists File Two Additional Versions of Their Ballot Measure With the Secretary of State

- March 2, 2018 - ,

Back in late January a group of left wing activists calling themselves North Dakotans for Public Integrity submitted a ballot measure to create a state ethics commission to Secretary of State Al Jaeger for approval. In late February I reported that this group was considering two additional iterations of their ballot measure, including one that…

Dina Butcher delivers a proposed ballot measure creating an ethics commission to Secretary of State Al Jaeger. Pictures center, in the back, is fellow measure organizer Ellen Chaffee. Both are now asking supporters to consider a measure without an ethics commission.

Backers of Ballot Measure to Create an Ethics Commission Now Maybe Don’t Want an Ethics Commission

- February 24, 2018 - ,

As I noted earlier this month, there are a lot of left-of-center ballot measures in the works this election cycle, but it’s been a rocky road for some of them. A measure aimed at overturning the state’s Sunday closing laws flopped when it’s organizer decided to run for the Legislature as a Democrat instead. A…

Dina Butcher, left, hands North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger a proposed petition for a ballot measure to add anti-corruption policies to the state constitution Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018 at the state Capitol in Bismarck. John Hageman / Forum News Service

There May Be a Lot of Left Wing Initiated Measures on the Ballot This Election Cycle

- February 12, 2018 - ,

Earlier today I wrote about a proposed ballot measure which would raise North Dakota’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. That’s a proposal near and dear to the hearts of North Dakota progressives, but it’s not the only initiated measure coming from the left which may be on ballots this election cycle. There are also:…

Dina Butcher, left, hands North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger a proposed petition for a ballot measure to add anti-corruption policies to the state constitution Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018 at the state Capitol in Bismarck. John Hageman / Forum News Service

You Deny Women Agency by Carrying on as Though They Can’t Be Criticized

- February 2, 2018 - ,

“In a blog post published Jan. 29, Rob Port attributes no agency to Dina Butcher because she is a non-polarized Republican who willingly interacts with, and occasionally supports, other individuals who are not Republicans,” Ellie Shockley (apropos of nothing, a member of Governor Doug Burgum’s higher education governance task force). “Allegedly this means she is…

Ryan Taylor announces Ellen Chaffee as a Dem-NPL candidate for lieutenant governor during a press conference Wednesday, March 14, 2012, in Fargo, N.D. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

Ethics Commission Measure Submitted to Secretary of State for Approval

- January 31, 2018 - ,

Earlier this week I broke the news that former Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Ellen Chaffee was circulating a draft of an initiated measure aimed at amending the state constitution to, among other things, create an ethics commission. Today Secretary of State Al Jaeger announced that the proposed measure has been submitted for approval to be…

In Arguing for an Ethics Commission Former Democratic Lawmaker Embarrasses Himself

- January 24, 2017 - ,

Former state Rep. Ed Gruchalla has a letter to the Fargo Forum today which is one of the most repugnant things I’ve ever seen a politician say or write publicly. And I’m writing that in the age of Trump. Gruchalla, a Democrat and retired law enforcement officer, was cast out of office by voters in 2014.…

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