The Rundown

Here is a rundown of what you might have missed in North Dakota politics this week sprinkled with a dash of sarcasm. Consider it a cheat sheet for tonight’s happy hour discussion. Cheers to the weekend. If you’d like to submit a moment from the week, click here!

The Weekend

The “March for Our Lives” swept the nation. Hundreds of thousands of students, parents, teachers, concerned neighbors took to the streets. Even if you’re one of the people who disagree with their policy proposals, you have to watch with admiration as these young adults marched. The stories of friends and family they lost to them was moving. The courage to take a stand and motivate others to rise themselves was comforting as we got a glimpse of the next generation of leaders.

First women marched. Then the young marched. It won’t be for naught.

Monday

The response to the “March for Our Lives” was distasteful. People can disagree on substance of policy and that is welcome. But to share conspiracy theories and fake photos on social media is below us.

Speaking of social media, Facebook admitted to tracking people’s texts and call history on android phones who used their messenger app. The data mining has continued to cause a stir as Cambridge Analytica allegedly used data from Facebook to micro-target potential voters in the 2016 election.

Tuesday

Vice President Mike Pence came to Fargo for two events. One was a private fundraiser for Kevin Cramer. The other was hosted by “America First Policies”, a non-profit. Before the public event, I pointed out how this is an example of out-of-state special interest money that is being spent to influence the Senate race. They lack of outcry was because they billed this as an “educational event” and not one about politics.

If you listened to the Vice President’s remarks, you know this was a campaign event. He praised Hoeven, Cramer, and even Rick Berg who is now the NDGOP Chair. Pence then went on to attack Heidi Heitkamp before encouraging people to stay involved. He seemingly ignored the highlighted warning at the top of the event’s page that can be found below.

People who attended the private political fundraiser with Pence and Cramer and then attended the public “educational event” said the remarks made by Pence were identical at both events. Will there be any accountability in this lapse of judgement?

Agenda at the America First Policies event in Fargo

Wednesday

North Dakota’s Auditor announced his office will be looking into the Governor’s office over his travel. The audit comes after the Governor went to the Super Bowl, attended private events, and received meals all for free. The audit will include a time when Jack Dalrymple was still Governor. It is a good audit and we will be following the outcome. Hopefully, the next audit will be a performance audit of the Oil and Gas Division that the ND Legislature has routinely rejected. What are they afraid may be found?

Thursday

Heidi Heitkamp pushed back on right-wing media, their distortions, and use of a bad actor in an attack ad. She even called out a local media pundit who seemingly has a quota of how many times they can fit her name into a column.

Friday

One week from today the NDGOP will gather in Grand Forks for their convention. Last count for delegates was approximately 1,500 which is impressive. I wonder how many of them are attending at the expense of Tom Campbell who is paying registration for supporters? We still have not found out who the keynote speaker will be. I imagine it will be a very high-profile Republican. Anyone want to wager it will be the President himself?