Category: Law, Government, Politics

The headline blaring across the top of page 1B of the Bismarck Tribune Wednesday morning read “Oil Production Sets Record.” Note to Tribune editors: Just leave that page layout on your computer screen, and insert new numbers a month from today. The headline will still apply. And the month after that, and after that . … Continue reading A Standing Headline

            Memo to North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring: You are up for re-election in 2014. Campaigns are expensive. Pretty soon it will be time to get going with your fundraising. If you need a place to start, just click here, and a list will be provided to … Continue reading Bought And Paid For

So who gets credit for Heidi’s election? Cass County gave her almost a ten thousand vote margin. Grand Forks County three thousand. But a lawyer friend of mine who studies elections says it was the turnout on the traditionally Democrat-voting Indian reservations that won her the U.S. Senate seat.  How influential were the reservations in … Continue reading United States Senator Mary Kathryn (Heidi) Heitkamp. How About That?

I’ve been pretty quiet here about the 2012 election. My team is losing, generally, and I don’t have much to add to the debate, except to point out the betrayal of the state and its values by the current Governor. It’s going to end badly for my team Tuesday night, I’m afraid. I’ve been poised … Continue reading Milton Who? Norman Who? Redux.

The stories of the selling out of the North Dakota Bad Lands to the oil industry by our state’s leaders continue unabated. Almost daily now, there are more and more stories of shoddy management of cultural and natural resources in the name of greed. Readers of The Bismarck Tribune aren’t getting good coverage of the … Continue reading Some Things Never Change

Somewhere in Montana this morning there's a young woman on a bus with a half-eaten sandwich and an unfinished quart of chocolate milk, heading west toward an uncertain future. She's there because of a friend of mine, and I want to tell you a short story of true compassion and an unspoken reaffirmation of a … Continue reading The Kindness Of Strangers

The impact of the oil boom has left North Dakota—and many North Dakotans—in the most amazing financial position we have ever experienced, or could ever have imagined. That’s good. I was State Tourism Director back in the 1980’s when a pair of Rutgers University professors suggested we turn western North Dakota into something called the … Continue reading The Case For The Critters: An Overview Of The Oil Industry’s Threats To The Land

I know, it's only Wednesday, but my friend Tweed is here, and we're going hunting for a few days, so I thought I'd just put this up here today and then get out of Dodge. WHERE’S ED WHEN WE NEED HIM? Testing your memory:  Here’s a short story from High Country News, March 21, 1994 … Continue reading Weekenders

Mike Jacobs, in his 1975 book One Time Harvest, wrote “The coal industry has come west in search of four basic resources: cheap clean air, cheap coal, cheap water and cheap politicians. They’ve found each of these in North Dakota.” If he were to write another book in 2012 (and I wish he would), he … Continue reading 30 Pieces Of Silver

Earlier this year, the Center for Public Integrity gave the state of North Dakota an “F” grade on its Corruption Risk Report Card, which rated all 50 states on the risk for election and government corruption. Most of us viewed that report with a skeptical eye, but then when things happen to reinforce the notion, … Continue reading Just Trust Us