Plain Talk With Rob Port

"This bill changes the legal guidelines." That's what former North Dakota Treasurer Kelly Schmidt had to say of a proposal, currently before the Legislature in Bismarck, which would invest 20 percent of the billions in the state's Legacy Fund in North Dakota businesses and infrastructure. Private entrepreneurs could access that capital to start up or expand their businesses. Also, local communities could access the money to finance infrastructure projects cheaper and quicker than they are at present. The Legacy Fund is already invested in these sort of things, just not in North Dakota. Currently, less than 2 percent of the Legacy Fund is invested in North Dakota. Schmidt spent 16 years at Treasurer before declining to run for another term last year, and that means she spent 16 years on the State Investment Board which oversees the Legacy Fund's fiscal management. Her objection to the legislation - it's House Bill 1425, introduced by Rep. Mike Nathe (R-Bismarck) and backed by Insurance Commissioner and SIB me

President Joe Biden's brand new administration has already taken swift action, by way of an executive order, on all manner of policy fronts. One notable area is energy, where Biden has already withdrawn an already-issued permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Now he's expected to sign a new order halting new oil and gas development on federal lands. What could this mean for tribal lands? "It's not good," North Dakota Indian Affairs Commissioner Scott Davis said on this episode of Plain Talk. Davis, who is a member of Governor Doug Burgum's administration with family roots in both the Standing Rock Sioux and Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribes, expressed no small amount of "frustration" with the Biden administration for taking this step. "You can't just turn the light switch on and off on a whim," he said. Oil and gas production is hugely important to the people of the MHA Nation whose lands are located in central and western North Dakota. According to Davis, among America's energy-producing tribes, the MHA Nation i

Rob and Jay talk about a bizarre DUI case before the North Dakota Supreme Court as well as a bill that would reimburse lawmakers for meals.

North Dakota's Legacy Fund, since it was created by the Legislature and approved by voters in 2010, has turned a slice of the state's oil tax revenues into a nearly $8 billion balance. That balance is invested in stocks and bonds across the nation, and the world, including in some ways that, as a moral matter, we shouldn't be happy about. Almost none of it is invested in North Dakota. Rep. Mike Nathe wants to change that. Or, at least, the part where practically none of these North Dakota tax dollars are invested in North Dakota. He has proposed legislation that, if passed, would require that 20 percent of the Legacy Fund's balance (he pins that number at about $1.4 billion) would be earmarked for investment in North Dakota. It would be available as capital not just for companies and start-ups, but also for infrastructure. He talked about the proposal on this episode of Plain Talk. North Dakota has long been plagued by a shortage of capital. It's hard for companies that want to do business in our companies t

Rob and Jay talk about gun control legislation, the Capitol riot, and a bill that would end an exemption for clergy when it comes to mandatory reporting of child abuse.

"Trump is the best President of my lifetime," Senator Kevin Cramer told me on this episode of Plain Talk. It's a statement he's made publicly many times, even after the ugly events in Washington D.C. on January 6. But Cramer is also critical of President Donald Trump. He has accused Trump of inciting the crowd before the riot, he criticized the president for his conduct during and after the riot, and he said Trump's recent address, finally conceding the election and calling for peace, was tardy. When asked if Donald Trump, after the riot at the capitol, is an effective messenger for Republicans and his movement Cramer said, "I doubt that he is, quite honestly." Should President Trump be impeached and removed from office? That's "exactly the sort of activity that is not conducive to healing this nation," he said. He also believes that Trump does not meet the requirements for removal by his cabinet under the 25th amendment. The text of that amendment states that the President can be removed from office when the

Rob and Jay talk about the latest coronavirus news.

Rob and Jay talk about North Dakota's new mask mandate.

Rob and Jay talk election results, Twitter bans, and District 8 controversy.

As the votes continue to be counted, President Donald Trump, which no real evidence, is making accusations of a fraudulent election. How does North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, a staunch Trump supporter, feel about it? "I don't think it helps him," Cramer said on this episode of Plain Talk. "Do I condone everything President Trump says? No," Cramer also said. But he also said he understands the President's feelings. "I don't blame President Trump for his level of frustration," Cramer said citing what, at this point, seems to have been some wildly inaccurate public polling and some dubious vote-counting procedures in states like Pennsylvania. Cramer also spoke about some state-level politics, weighing in on the controversy in District 8 where Governor Doug Burgum, lawmakers, local party leaders, and the Democrats are all squabbling over who should get to sit in a legislative seat voters elected a dead person to.

Who will win the election? Rob and Jay discus.

Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer does not support Measure 2. He does not believe the Legislature should get a chance to overturn a ballot-box vote to enact a constitutional amendment. Measure 2 would amend the state constitution to make it so that constitutional measures approved at the ballot box would also have to be approved by both houses of the Legislature. If one or both houses voted against the amendment, it would go back to a second statewide balloting allowing voters to overturn the Legislature's veto. I don't agree with Ed, and on this episode of Plain Talk we debate the issue, but we did find one area of agreement. Whatever happens with Measure 2 next month, it's clear the status quo in North Dakota's initiated measure process is broken. Schafer and I spoke of potential policy curatives ranging from finance reform for initiated measure campaigns to bans on paid signature collectors to limiting measures to one policy change each.

"Trump has brought the rural voice back into play," Shelley Lenz told me on this episode of Plain Talk. Lenz is the Democratic-NPL candidate for governor, challenging Republican incumbent Doug Burgum, and while she clearly doesn't like Trump overall, she is critical of her own party for not paying enough attention to the priorities of rural Americans. "Urban Democrats are misinformed," she told me. Much of our conversation, as you might expect, focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and Burgum's response to it. Lenz says Burgum has "failed" by, among other things, not paying enough attention to the advice from medical experts. "He's not a doctor," Lenz said. She also spoke about her "homegrown prosperity" platform that would seek to promote more investment in North Dakota.

Is it even worth debating a mask mandate anymore? Rob and Jay discuss.

This episode of Plain Talk was intended to be a conversation with both of North Dakota's candidates for Superintendent. Sadly, the incumbent, Kirsten Baesler, opted not to participate, claiming she didn't have enough time to make it work, though she did offer me a one-on-one interview later in the week. Go figure. The challenger, Brandt Dick, did offer his time, and our conversation covered everything from why Baesler shouldn't get another term to test scores for North Dakota students to school choice. "She thinks that she...has it in the bag," Dick said of Baesler's decision not to participate in our discussion, alluding to other situations where he says Baesler has declined to engage him. "She's concerned to enter into a debate." Dick says one of the biggest challenges facing North Dakota right now is an on-going transition in the way local schools are funded. The new formula was launched under former Governor Doug Burgum, but the state and school districts are still grappling with an equitable distribution

Rob and Jay talk about President Trump and the coronavirus, masking, and Measure 1 and 2 on the November ballot.

What are we going to do with the Legacy Fund? There are a lot of things, and they generally fall into two broad categories. One is how the fund is invested, the other is what we do with the returns. Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread, who serves, as a part of his official duties, on the State Investment Board which oversees the investments of the Legacy Fund, has an idea for the latter of those categories. Currently, the Legacy Fund has approximately $7 billion, and almost all of those dollars are invested outside of North Dakota. Nearly $1.7 billion of that total is not only invested outside of North Dakota, but outside the borders of the United States, including more than $107 million worth of investments in communist China. Godfread doesn't necessarily want to address that specific issue, but he does want to focus some of the Legacy Fund's investments in North Dakota, and he talked about it on this episode of Plain Talk. Currently, the SIB uses 32 money managers to guide investments. Godfread would like t

Measure 2 is a constitutional amendment, put on the November ballot by the Legislature, which would change the initiated measure process for constitutional measures. Activists would still collect and file signatures the same way, but if a measure amending the constitution is passed by voters, it wouldn't immediately be enacted. It would first go to the Legislature for an up-or-down vote. If the Legislature approves, then the measure is enacted. If the Legislature votes it down, the measure automatically goes on the next general election ballot for another vote of the people. If approved again, then it is enacted. Oh, and Measure 2 would require that constitutional amendments only be placed on November general election ballots, as opposed to June primaries. On this episode of Plain Talk, Measure 2 opponents Ellie Shockley and Dustin Gawrylow try to convince me that the changes are a bad idea. They didn't succeed, but I think our conversation is illuminating, both of the issues around Measure 2 the initiated me

Rob and Jay talk about Rep. Rick Becker wanting to be North Dakota's new state health officer, and the upcoming presidential debate.

Cramer talks Supreme Court and other topics during his regular appearance on the podcast.