Dakota Beacon

The Jamestown Sun asked readers of its web site the question “Who should be the Democrats’ candidate to run against Gov. John Hoeven for the vacant U.S. Senate seat?"  The clear winner was “It doesn’t matter” (39%) followed by various Heitkamps, Ed Schulz and Kristin Hedger.

Hoeven has immediately gone to work laying out the themes of his campaign for the Senate.  He said job creation had been his No. 1 priority and “the state has gained 40,000 jobs since 2000 while also increasing its gross state product from $17 billion to $31 billion.”  He said it isn’t always about government putting stimulus money out, “It’s about empowering business, particularly small business, to make those investments and move forward.”  Hoeven has an MBA, interestingly, so do Sen’s Conrad and Dorgan.

The Minot Daily News matter-of-factly noted that Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple will become ND governor if Hoeven wins the Senate race.  Then, the MDN wondered “who will run for the governor’s office in 2012, when Hoeven’s term expires?”  MDN jerked itself back to the present and said, “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves . . . let’s see who his (Hoeven’s) challenger will be.  That may go a long way toward clearing up the current confusing world of politics in North Dakota.”  Dalrymple (61) said he’s ready to take over if Hoeven wins.

It’s too tangled -- I can’t stand it!  In mid-January, one of the rumors circulating about Rep. Earl Pomeroy was that he was considering the presidency of the American Council of Life Insurers, a Washington lobbying group.  A spokeswoman for Pomeroy firmly denied the rumor.  If Pomeroy took the position, he would become the boss of Sen. Dorgan’s wife, Kim Dorgan, a senior vice president and lobbyist at the council.

Nearly every ND newspaper was fascinated by another story about Pomeroy.  This one came from the Washington political blog, Politico, which reported that “Pomeroy said the protracted debate (on the health care bill) is hurting him so badly back home that he might as well retire if it drags on much longer.”  The source said while others were also upset, Pomeroy was “the maddest by far.”  Pomeroy said his remarks were “misinterpreted.”  He declined to say if we would vote for or against the health care bill.

“Dorgan has been stuffing bills with millions of dollars for scores of North Dakota programs and projects.”  Columnist Lloyd Omdahl said, like it or not, ND’s earmarks go when Sen. Dorgan leaves the Senate.  It’s not chump change either, in fiscal 2008-09 Dorgan sponsored or co-sponsored 169 earmarks totaling $570 million.

Up to this point, ND’s four Indian reservations have seemed equally disadvantaged by poverty, unemployment, and health and education issues.  However, one reservation, Ft. Berthold, is fortunately situated on an oil field.  A 2008 regulatory agreement between the Three Affiliated Tribes and the state spurred exploration on the reservation -- since the agreement, the number of oil wells on the reservation jumped from one to about 160.  In 2009, the TAT received about $5 million in oil taxes, plus royalties for the tribes and individual land owners.  This is leading to inequality between Ft. Berthold and the other ND reservations.

Yes, ND gets cold and hot, and temperature swings are really extreme.  In February 1996, the temperature in Fargo varied 80 degrees -- a weatherman there said “many locations around the world would not experience such a swing in an entire year, let alone in less than two weeks.”

Cold, wind, snow and ice -- these are things to avoid, particularly, if you are getting a little older.  That’s why the ND senior set looks for shopping centers and municipal buildings for winter walks.  It works for everybody and has no special cost.  Well, not quite everybody -- the owners of Fun Fitness, a new fitness center in Wishek (1,100), think people who have been walking at the Civic Center for years are getting away with something.  The owners want the city to charge the walkers a fee, otherwise, they say, their fitness center is like a grocery store competing against free food.  The mayor is pondering the question.   Wishek is in the German-Russian sauerkraut belt -- maybe it’s time to ask, “What would Lawrence Welk do?”

Ralph Kingsbury is the economics columnist for the GF Herald.  Usually, he focuses on the GF economy, but on January 15th he stepped out of that box and took aim at NDSU.  He described concerns that have persisted for several years at the ND Board of Higher Education about the adequacy of financial controls at NDSU.  He attributed the resignation of the former chancellor of the university system, Robert Potts, to this issue.  Kingsbury did not mince words: “What’s happening at NDSU is the result of the decision to grow enrollment without first having a solid budget plan in place. It is no way to run a school.”

Next up was GF Herald Editor Mike Jacobs: “NDSU must clean up Chapman’s budget mess.”  Jacobs described very rapid enrollment growth at NDSU causing it to surpass UND and become ND’s largest university.  He went on to say, “But it turns out that NDSU was essentially giving enrollment away, at least partly to achieve the goal that former President Joe Chapman set, to surpass UND’s enrollment.”

Minot night life is jumping -- there are more people from the Air Force base and, of course, the good old boys in pickups from the oil fields.  According to the Minot police, crime is up too.  The owners of The Blind Duck and dae Udder Place have been thinking about all this and have  concluded, after hearing a few loose gun shots, that alcohol and guns don’t mix.  On crowded weekend nights they will have metal detectors screening the front doors.  This could cramp the style of celebrity athletes.

The one-room schools, which once dotted the ND prairie, were in some ways like home schooling.  Parents of the students were often regular or substitute teachers.  The obituary of Lila Stewart (76) indicates she was born on the family farm in Cartwright and attended a country school taught by her mother.

It may never happen again -- both the Fargo Forum and Jamestown Sun awarded their respective Leafy Spurge and Buffalo Chips for the same evil act.  It met their criteria -- an immensely unpopular deed, preferably out-of-town.  In this case, the awards went to miscreants who glued an orange cat to Interstate 90 in Minnesota.