Plain Talk With Rob Port

Heading into their 2025 legislative session, which starts in January, North Dakota lawmakers will consider dozens and dozens of bills dealing with property taxes. That makes sense because despite a ballot measure aimed at abolishing property taxes face planting on the statewide ballot, North Dakotans are not satisfied with the status quo. What property tax reform and relief will look like coming out of this legislative session is an open question, but Senate Majority Leader David Hogue told Chad Oban and me on this episode of Plain Talk that there is one certainty. "There will be caps," he said.  Which is to say, lawmakers will be capping property tax increases, though Hogue explained that how those caps will be structured will be an open debate. Will the caps apply to all local spending or only that funded by property taxes? Will the caps be a flat percentage or tied to inflation? We'll see, but after years of demuring on caps, won over, Hogue said, by the local control argument, the Legislature is ready to

In this episode of Plain Talk, guest hosts Corey Mock and Jessica Unruh Bell are joined by Minot Representative Scott Louser. Together, they dive deep into the complexities of North Dakota's property tax system, dissecting the legislative response to the failed Measure 4 and exploring innovative proposals for property tax relief and reform.  Mock and Bell close the episode with their perspectives on upcoming legislative priorities and the latest developments in President Trump’s cabinet appointments. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It’s super easy—leave your message, tell us your name and where you’re from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive

In this special episode of Plain Talk, guest hosts Corey Mock and Jessica Unruh Bell welcome Senator Dick Dever from District 32 for a candid conversation on legislative insights and challenges. Senator Dever shares reflections on his experience in the legislature, discussing the impact of term limits, the significance of interim committees, and his personal goal to restore honor and civility in North Dakota politics. The discussion also covers the evolving responsibilities of policy advisory roles and predictions on how term limits might reshape the state’s government structure. Following the interview, Corey and Jessica exchange their own insights on the upcoming legislative session and the recent reporting about Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler.  If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It’s super easy—leave your message, tell us your name and where you’re from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show w

Governor-elect Kelly Armstrong, fresh off a landslide victory on the statewide ballot, is coming in hot. He's still got a term in Congress to finish out -- he's said he'll resign shortly before midnight the day before he's sworn in as governor on December 15 -- but he's got big plans for his time in Bismarck. "I don't give platitudes," he told me and Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. Armstrong campaigned on property tax reform. He opposed Measure 4 -- he said in a previous Plain Talk interview that he hated the proposal -- but he also isn't a fan of what the Legislature has been doing to address the issue in previous sessions, which as amounted transferring local spending into the state budget. "Don't send me another buy down without significant reform," he told us. "It hasn't worked in the past. It's not going to work going forward." He also talked about his philosophy when it comes to staffing his new administration. "I have a small alaw firm mentality for how I operate," he said (Armstrong practiced

The vote is in, and despite weeks of polling gurus telling us it was going to be a close election, it wasn't particularly close. It wasn't a Reaganesque national landslide, either, but former President Donald Trump won not only the Electoral College vote but the national popular vote as well. Legendary North Dakota political operative Pat Finken joined me and Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the national election, as well as local elections, where Finken, through his Brighter Future Fund political action committee, campaigned against the Measure 5 legalization of marijuana and as well as a couple of Republican legislative candidates. The high turnout election, both in North Dakota and nationally, showed "the importance of showing up," Finken said. We also discussed how the election will impact the divides in the North Dakota Republican party, and how that coalition will govern in Bismarck. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It’s super easy—

The legislative races in the Grand Forks area have gotten ugly. Incumbent state Sen. Scott Meyer, a Republican from District 18, sent his opponent threatening social media messages. Incumbent state Rep. Emily O'Brien from District 42 has been accused of not living in her district. Now Sarah Grossbauer, a Democratic-NPL candidate in District 42 -- one of O'Brien's opponents -- is dodging questions about drug use after a Republican (and former friend) leaked a photo of her allegedly using cocaine in the bathroom of a downtown Grand Forks bar. Me and Chad Oban talked about it all on this episode of Plain Talk (full disclosure, Oban works for North Dakota United, as does Grossbauer). One complicating factor in all of this is our propensity -- and I really mean "our" because we're all guilty of this -- of being hypercritical of candidates we don't like while rationalizing the behavior of those we do. It has to stop. We can expect more from our elected officials. Auditor Josh Gallion also joined this episode to tal

We live in an age of misinformation. The internet is chock full of false narratives and egregious bunkum that can seem plausible to some if for no other reason than the sheer volume of it orr, perhaps, because it confirms certain biases and attitudes the audience already has. Recently a website called the Gateway Pundit, which was forced to print a retraction as a part of a settlement in a defamation lawsuit brought by Georgia election workers published what it purports to be a news story about the Bank of North Dakota. Citing anonymous sources and critics, the "story" insinuates that the BND is involved in a cover-up of bad loans, bailouts, and other nefarious activities. The one on-the-record statement was given by Sen. Kent Weston, a Republican who serves in District 9. Normally, one might think it unwise to respond to internet cranks, but we live in an era where talk radio host Alex Jones was able to convince 1 in 5 Americans that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. These things can't be taken li

"Even the most extreme ends of our legislature vote the same way 60+ percent of the time," a Plain Talk listener and sitting state lawmaker texted me recently. He was making a point about the way we talk about politics, where we emphasize our disagreements more than our agreements. "Difference in ideology is great. We need more civil debate and strengthening ideas through discourse," he said. "But the gap between left and right is much narrower than most people realize." He's right, and the voting records bear it out. We do agree more than we disagree, what gets the heat, what draws our attention for reasons having to do with human nature (and, if we're being honest, the sort of content that drives clicks and shares and views) is our differences. I was thinking about while recording this episode of Plain Talk, which featured Chad Oban and I moderating a debate between District 10 Sen. Ryan Braunberger, a Democrat, and challenger George Roughead, a Republican. As we covered education topics like student perfor

Chad Oban and I have a lot of disagreements while hosting the Plain Talk podcast, which is what you'd expect. He's left-of-center; I'm right-of-center. Today, however, we were singing from the same choirbook. Sen. Scott Meyer, a Republican running for re-election in Grand Forks-area District 18, who admitted to me that he got drunk and sent threatening messages to his opponent, Democratic-NPL candidate Kyle Thorson, should resign. We each made our case for why on today's episode of Plain Talk. Also joining us was former NDGOP chairman Perrie Schafer to discuss the work his LegeNDary Fund is doing to promote traditional, "normie" conservatism in North Dakota. "There are a certain group of people who are loud and make a lot of noise," he said. "They are not the majority." He said he wants to bring what he calls the "80%" of reasonable North Dakota Republicans back into active engagement with the NDGOP. "When the loud side of either party makes a lot of noise, the 80% are quiet." Also joining us was Treasurer T

The Legacy Fund was launched in 2010 when North Dakota voters approved a legislatively-initiated constitutional amendment to create it. Now, thanks to the share of oil tax revenues it receives, as well as the investment returns its generated, it sits with a balance of about $10.7 billion. And it's become something of a political football. It can seem as though we are endlessly debating how the fund is invested and what we should do with the fund and its earnings. On this episode of Plain Talk, a couple of Republican lawmakers from District 12, in the Jamestown area, talked about legislation they'd like to see passed during the 2025 session which, they feel, would help inform those debates. Because one of the biggest problems of the Legacy Fund is that we don't know how a lot of the money is invested. Rep. Mitch Ostlie, and Rep. Bernie Satrom, estimate that about $3.1 billion of the fund's investments are opaque to public scrutiny. "Where are the dollars invested?" Rep. Ostlie asked. Their proposal is called t

People who are familiar with my body of work probably aren't inclined to think of me when they have an appetite for warm, fuzzy, feel-good stories, and yet that's precisely the sort of story we began today's episode of Plain Talk with. Which is a good thing, because as we survey the political landscape, there's not a lot to feel positive about. Joe Kolosky works for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. He says one of the favorite parts of his job is overseeing a program through which veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, can apply to receive the high school diplomas they missed out on when they shipped out to war zones. The Legislature created the program in 2001 for WWII veterans, and expanded it to include Korea and Vietnam veterans in 2003, and since then it's issued over 300 honorary high school diplomas including, most recently, two Korean War veterans. Koslosky says it means a lot to him that he gets to help these veterans, but more important, it means a great deal to the

By the time her current term ends, Kirsten Baesler will have been the Superintendent of Public Schools in North Dakota for 12 years, having first been elected in 2012. She's currently running against Jason Heitkamp, a distant relative of former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp and a former lawmaker who served one abbreviated, two-term in the state Senate as a Republican from 2021 to 2022 (redistricting forced him to run for re-election after two years, a campaign he lost). Heitkamp and Baesler met on this episode of Plain Talk for what has been, and perhaps will be, their only debate. Each presented sharply contrasting views of the job of superintendent, and repeatedly accused one another of lying or misleading. For her part, Baesler championed her performance in office since 2012. "I've accomplished a lot," she said, noting that she's reduced the number of employees in her office from 101 to 82 while simultaneously maintaining the highest level of job satisfaction among state agencies. She also touted her backgro

On this episode of Plain Talk, Chad Oban and I spent some time talking about the column in which I outed myself as a Kamala Harris voter. Or, more accurately, I spent some time expanding on my explanation, and Chad listened. But the more important part of this episode was our conversation with Sen. Michelle Axtman, a Republican from Bismarck who is something of a rising star in her party (she was transparent about her ambitions during our off-air conversation, saying her goal is to be elected governor one day). Axtman is heading up a legislative tax force on the school choice issue that has drawn some heat for not being as open as it should be to the public, and some criticssay  (including Chad, who works for North Dakota United) not including as wide a swath of education stakeholders as it could have. Axtman took those questions, and answered them, but also delivered a clearer picture of just what it is they're working on. School choice is a fraught topic because, when most people think about it, their minds

We are 31 days away from election day and, here in North Dakota, the hottest race in the state probably isn't for the U.S. Senate, or the U.S. House, or even the governor's seat. It is, arguably, Measure 4 which, if passed, would eliminate taxes on property values and order the Legislature to compensate local governments for that loss of revenue at 2024 levels. It's such a hot issue that when Prairie Public recently hosted a debate between U.S. Senate candidates Kevin Cramer and Katrina Christiansen, they asked the candidates about Measure 4, even though that issue really has nothing to do with the federal office they're running for. Aaron Birst joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss Measure 4, and what's driving both the support for it and opposition to it. Aaron is the executive director of the North Dakota Association of Counties. "The only tax people like is the one somebody else pays," he told Chad Oban and I. Birst isn't arguing that there are no problems with local taxing and spending. "Do we ne

Todd Reisenauer says he'd like to get elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives so that he can take Fargo-area District 46 in a new direction. He said he'd like to focus on issues like housing, healthcare, childcare, and property taxes. What he doesn't want to do, he says, is emulate the approach taken by one of incumbents in that district, state Rep. Jim Kasper, who has been in the center of debates over social issues like book bans and issues surrounding our transgender neighbors. "We can't have District 46 be the front lines of a culture war," Reisenauer told Chad Oban and I on this episode of Plain Talk. The legislative races in District 46 are worth watching. The jurisdiction represents one of the few purple districts in North Dakota and has a history of mixed-partisan leadership. Reisenauer said he admired the work done by another of the Republican incumbents in the district, outgoing Rep. Shannon Roers, who opted not to run for reeelction. He said he got interested in the race when he heard

Steve Bakken is the former mayor of Bismarck, and the chair of the committee backing Measure 5, which seeks to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota. Pat Finken is a long-time advertising professional and political activist. He's a part of the coalition opposing Measure 5. These gentleman came together on Plain Talk to make their respective cases. The contrasts in their arguments, as you might expect, were sharp. Bakken says Measure 5 is a "very conservative" legalization that gives state officials plenty of latitude to regulate lawful use of the drug. The measure "gives all the power to the state," he said. But Finken painted the measure as exacerbating North Dakota's existing problems with substance abuse. "The marijuana of today is not safe," he said. "It's ten times more powerful" than what Americans have may been smoking in past decades. He rejected the argument that marijuana legalization is inevitable, saying that even if North Dakota were the last state in the union without legal access for

Is Attorney General Drew Wrigley's office wasting money on unnecessary litigation? Is North Dakota's Republican majority in the Legislature being something less than good stewards of our fiscal resources by passing controversial bills that invite litigation? House Minority Leader Zac Ista, who led his caucus in voting against approving attitional litigation funds for Wrigley's office at a recent meeting of the Legislature's Budget Section committee, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. Though, given that one of the laws currently being litigated is North Dakota's restrictive ban on most abortions, that dominated the conversation, which had my co-host Chad Oban calling me "raging Rob." Admittedly, I have been a bit feisty lately. But abortion litigation isn't the only cost North Dakota is facing. The biggest line item for litigation costs recently is related to our state's suit against the federal government over the expenses associated with responding to the violent, protracted protests against th

If you read the ballot language for Measure 3 and still didn't understand just what it is the proposed constitutional amendment does, I wouldn't blame you. I don't think that's anyone's fault. It's just a somewhat arcane topic, but that doesn't mean it's not important. State Rep. Corey Mock joined us on this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the proposal, which would make some changes around the Legacy Fund, which these days is sporting a balance of around $11 billion. Currently, lawmakers have the statutory authority to spend up to 15% of the principal of that fund. Mock said that was written into the original amendment that created the fund to ensure that at least some of it was available to lawmakers should some emergent situation make it necessary. But when the Legacy Fund was created, nobody expected it to grow as far and as fast as it has. Mock said the original projects for the fund expected it to cross the $1 billion threshold by like 2021. Clearly, we're well beyond that, but the Legislature's authori

Are the proponents of Measure 2 "elite and out of touch?" Are they "condescending" and "disrespectful" to the electorate? Or do they view North Dakota's initiated measure process -- particularly when it comes to amending the state constitution -- as flawed and needing reform? Measure 2 is a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Legislature, which would prohibit people who aren't North Dakota residents from collecting petition signatures for initiated measures. It would limit measures to a single subject. And, for constitutional measures, it would raise the signature requirement from 4% to 5% of the state's population and require that those proposals be approved through two statewide votes: once on the June primary ballot and again on the November general election ballot. Ellie Shockley, a columnist for the Bismarck Tribune, joined this episode of Plain Talk to make the case against the proposal. It's her words that I'm quoting above. She views this proposed amendment as motivated by a desire am

In November, North Dakota voters will be asked to decide the fate of Measure 4. If approved, it would amend the state constitution to prohibit taxes on property values. It would also lock in an obligation for the state legislature to replace current property tax revenues to local government with other revenues, but only at 2024 levels, with no mechanism to change that level in the future. On this episode of Plain Talk, we had a debate about that proposal. Making the affirmative case for it is former Fargo City Commissioner Tony Gehrig. Making the case against it is Robert Harms, a former chair of the North Dakota Republican Party who also served in the administrations of former governors Ed Schafer and John Hoeven. Former state lawmaker Rick Becker, the chair of the committee sponsoring the measure, declined to participate in the debate, saying the Plain Talk podcast is the only place where he won't speak about the proposal. Both Harms and Gehrig agree on some key issues. They say that property taxes are a pr