Plain Talk

Rob and Jay talk about the scandal surrounding Rep. Luke Simons, as well as the problems with wind energy.

The fighting over close national elections can be vicious. We saw that last year in the heated battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump where many of the latter's supporters made claims of vote fraud. But it's not a recent phenomenon. Turn back the clock and you find Democrats in the George W. Bush-era hatching conspiracy theories about Diebold voting machines. Given the reality of that sort of turbulence, does it make any sense to make the election process less transparent? Less open to public scrutiny? A bill before the Legislature in Bismarck would do just that. Senate Bill 2271, introduced by Sen. Robert Erbele, a Republican from Lehr, would hide the vote counts for North Dakota's presidential elections from the public. State officials would still be allowed to release percentage figures representing the share of the vote each candidate got, but the actual vote numbers would be a secret until after the Electoral College votes from each state are cast. Surprised you haven't heard of this bill? Don't be. It hasn't gotten much attention, despite having sailed through the Senate already on a lopsided 43-3 vote. It's "almost a politburo situation from Soviet Russia," Saul Anuzis said on this episode of Plain Talk. Anuzis is a long-time Republican leader - he led the Michigan GOP for years and was twice a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee - and of late is a proponent of an interstate compact promoting the national popular vote. He says Erbele's bill is being pushed by a lobbyist opposed to the national popular vote, the idea being that North Dakota can't participate in any national popular vote proposals if we don't report our popular vote totals. Anuzis called it "horrible public policy" and a "secret ballot situation" that conflicts with the basic principles of fair and open elections. He also said it conflicts with federal law. This debate isn't really about how you feel about the national popular vote. I'm deeply suspicious of proposals to change the status quo, including Anuzis' proposal. This is about government transparency. Our society has a hard enough time fighting against conspiracy mongers to get the public to focus on facts. That fight will only get harder if we take some of the available facts off the table. Delaying public reports of vote counts for any race on the ballot, up to and including the presidential races, shortens the time window in which potential fraud might be detected. Perhaps even worse, it could create an information vacuum in which conspiracies about vote counts can thrive. Other states, including South Dakota and New Hampshire, have voted down similar proposals. Anuzis' arguments in favor of a compact among the states to promote the national popular vote might not be your cup of tea, but that's not the point. However you feel about this issue, making our elections in North Dakota less transparent is not the answer.

"The policies surrounding renewable energies was a huge part of this problem," Congressman Kelly Armstrong said on this episode of Plain Talk. The "problem" in question are the power outages that have recently plagued Texas and a vast swath of the middle of America. For Armstrong, it illustrates not just the absurdity of the government promoting intermittent forms of energy like wind and solar to the degree it has, but also the need for a renewed commitment to energy infrastructure. It's not just the oil and gas pipelines targeted by frequently violent protests and activist litigators paid to obstruct and delay. "You think building a pipeline is hard, try building a high-voltage power line," Armstrong said. "The United States used to be the best country in the world when it came to infrastructure," he continued. "I don't think anyone believes that anymore." How has it been working in Congress during the Biden era? Armstrong said he was hopeful about some of the things President Joe Biden has said about bipartisanship, but he's not it turn up in the policymaking process so far. "The take is that Biden's willing to cut a deal, but his staff isn't." How much of that intransigence is a product of political bases that demand, with the fury of protests and social media campaigns, absolute loyalty to policy platforms? A great deal, Armstrong says. "If MSNBC came after me for 48-hours, do you think that would help me or hurt me with my voters?" Armstrong asks. It would help him, clearly, given North Dakota's political inclinations. "If you want to do a three-minute Fox News hit, [North Dakota] is a great place to be," he added.

Rob and Jay talk about summer school and insulin prices.

Power outages touched millions of Americans this week, including North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer. "I actually had a 45-minute blackout," he said on this the 200th episode of Plain Talk. What can be done to prevent these sort of blackouts in the future? A lot of energy policy gets made at the state level, for a lot of excellent reasons, but from the federal perspective Cramer sees a two-pronged approach. One, the lavish production tax credit for wind energy, which provides some perverse and truly distortive incentives for energy companies to produce wind energy, needs to end. Two, both the marketplace and government regulators need to draw a distinction between baseload electrons, of the sort produced by coal or nuclear plants, and intermittent electrons which come from sources like wind. Also on this episode, Cramer responds to the controversy surrounding Senator Ted Cruz's trip to Mexico amid the Texas blackouts and the passing of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

"We have a bit of a crisis in K-12 education right now," North Dakota Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said on this episode of Plain Talk. At issue is the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it's had on the state's schools. While some of the testing and other measurements of academic progress vary from district to district, Baesler said her office estimates that as many as 25 to 28 percent of students currently aren't performing at grade level. The "chaos" of the pandemic "has had an impact on the learning of our students," Baesler said. What can be done about it? State lawmakers had charged Baesler with coming up with a list of proposals, and she's begun presenting the list she produced, with the input of teachers and other education stakeholders, at the on-going legislative session in Bismarck. Some of the top proposals? High-impact tutoring, social and behavioral interventions, and adjustments to the school calendar. That last may be the most provocative in terms of public response, but Baesler said how these proposals are implemented, if they're implemented, would probably look different in each school district. She said it's unlikely that districts would add days to their calendars, but parents and students will likely see some "tweaks" such as academic summer camps or weekend tutoring sessions. Other proposals Baesler's report brings up include creating a credentialed position called "health technician" at schools (think something akin to a school nurse) and hiring school counselors at elementary-level schools as well.

State Rep. Dave Nehring is a Republican from District 8, an area which covers what might fairly be described as the heart of North Dakota's coal industry. This gives Nehring an interesting perspective on the recent energy shortages that are turning off lights here in North Dakota and across the nation. "We can't afford to shut down any more coal plants," Nehring said on this episode of Plain Talk. Coal Creek Station, the largest coal-fired power plant in North Dakota, is located in Nehring's district. Its owner, Great River Energy, announced its shutdown last year, responding to political pressure against so-called "black electrons" and a marketplace that has been manipulated by green energy policies. Nehring sees the planned close of not just Coal Creek but coal-fired power plants across the nation as folly. "We're on an unsustainable path to grid unreliability," he said. What can be done about it? At the very least, "we need to keep the status quo," he said.

Rob and Jay talk about the arctic weather and what it's doing to the power grid.

In the late 19th century hundreds of small, short-line railroads were being bought up and consolidated into larger companies. Our nation's burgeoning economy was (and still is, in many ways) dependent on those railroad lines which, increasingly, were under the control of a shrinking number of people. Those people began using their monopoly over the transportation of goods to price gouge and manipulate markets. "If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life," Republican Senator John Sherman said at the time. Sherman would ultimately give his name to the Sherman Antitrust Act, which continues to the basis of American antitrust law to this day. The point is that corporate hegemonies should be allowed to suppress free trade. Some argue that's exactly what's happening in the enormous and growing market of app development. That market is dominated by two companies. Apple, the manufacturer of iPhones, and Google, which operates the Android operating system used on phones from pretty much every single non-Apple manufacturer. Companies that sell digital services through these apps - think a subscription to a fitness app, or an in-app purchase in a game like Candy Crush - have to use Apple and Google's payment services and they have to pay a 30 percent fee for the privilege. "This is exactly the same thing" as the railroad monopolies of the 19th century says Lacee Anderson, spokesperson for the Coalition for App Fairness, said on this episode of Plain Talk. It is in this context that North Dakota's lawmakers take up Senate Bill 2333, which was introduced by Republican Senator Kyle Davison of Fargo. Mark Buse, who is a vice president for dating service Match.com, says his company supports the legislation. "The issue is that all app developers should be treated the same." Anderson suggested that Apple and Google have used their control of the app markets to drive out competitors for their own services. She also noted the recent controversies over the tech industry censoring political content as an argument in favor of breaking up these company's controls over apps. No other state has this sort of law in place, though others are considering it. Why should North Dakota lead the charge? It could encourage app developers to locate here in order to avoid Apple and Google's fees. Could Apple and Google cut North Dakotans off from their stores if this legislation passes? After all, our state is but a fraction of the markets those tech giants serve. Anderson says that would be an extreme and unlikely outcome.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners and policymakers have had to walk a balancing act between acknowledging the very real dangers of the coronavirus outbreak and the terrible economic realities attendant to shutting down or restricting businesses. Keeping businesses open during the pandemic - a necessity because people still needed many of those businesses, and those businesses needed to survive - was a health risk for business owners, the employees, and the customers. How much of that risk should business owners be liable for? "Businesses need to be protected from lawsuits," Allison Ritter, spokesperson for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said on this episode of Plain Talk. Her group represents more than 2,000 businesses in North Dakota alone, and almost all of them see the need for legislation making it clear what pandemic-era risks business owners are liable for and which they aren't. Ritter's group and other business interests are pushing for legislation that would limit liability for businesses that have opened and will continue to open during the outbreak. Three bills in the state House in Bismarck are addressing this issue. House Bill 1271, introduced by Rep. Marvin Nelson (D-Rolla), was already killed in a floor vote. House Bill 1376, introduced by Rep. Jim Kasper (R-Fargo), just got a "do pass" recommendation in committee and is headed to a floor vote. But the most comprehensive bill, and the one Ritter and her group prefers, is House Bill 1175, introduced by Rep. Michael Howe (R-Fargo), has already been approved by the House on a 77-17 vote and sent to the Senate for consideration. "A person is immune from civil liability for an act or omission resulting in damage or injury sustained from exposure or potential exposure to COVID - 19 if the act or omission was in substantial compliance or was consistent with a federal or state statute, regulation, or order related to COVID - 19 which was applicable to the person or activity at issue at the time of the alleged exposure or potential exposure," that bill reads. Under that language, as long as a business owner took the precautions laid out by the local, state, and/or federal government, they're protected from liability. Bad actors can still be held accountable, but those who operated prudently have a shield. Ritter likened this to the responsibility business owners have for clearing snow from their premises. If they leave the snow and ice and someone gets hurt, their liable, but if they take appropriate steps to clear the snow and remove the ice and someone gets hurt anyway their liability is greatly diminished.