SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - JANUARY 12, 2015
STATE OF THE STATE “In the end, our growth may be slowed, but it will not stop.” -- Gov. Jack Dalrymple. In his annual message, Dalrymple said despite depressed oil prices ND is “stronger than ever” and “I expect our Legislature will find that we can continue to fund our priorities, maintain healthy reserves and provide even more tax relief.”
“ANOTHER CICERO HE IS NOT. But what the governor lacks in rhetorical flourish, he more than makes up for in an encyclopedic knowledge of North Dakota’s history, economy, culture, politics and governance.” -- A Forum editorial praising Gov. Dalrymple. The editorial went on to commend the governor for an “institutional memory” that informs his work as the state’s chief executive.
ROUGH PATCH AHEAD ND’s top oil regulator told the House Appropriations Committee that lower oil prices will almost certainly trigger revenue losses for the state in the $100-200 million range by June 30th of this year. If low prices persist, the state could lose billions in the 2015-2017 biennium.
STATE OF THE JUDICIARY Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle asked the Legislature to fund four additional judges and 15 new court staff to meet growing needs in western counties. He said a shortage of judges was leading to “conveyor-belt justice.” Case filings have increased sharply in the western counties, but statewide filings are flat. He also asked lawmakers to support a $40 million project to expand the Liberty Memorial building into a home for the Supreme Court. In November, VandeWalle was elected to his fourth 10-year term. He is the longest-serving chief justice in state history, as well as the longest-serving sitting chief justice in the nation.
TEX HALL, former chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes at Ft. Berthold and a national Indian leader, has long been tainted by his association with tribal mismanagement and corruption, but has seemed politically untouchable. A December 28 New York Times investigative report discusses his criminal affiliations, conflicts-of-interest and efforts to extort investors. Marilyn Hudson, 78, a tribal elder and historian, summarized the NYT findings: “Now you have a murder, a hit man, and a five-time convicted felon operating as an oil contractor working directly with the chairman. It’s like our reservation got hijacked by the plot of a bad movie.”
HEY, WANT A DEAL? Criminal teams, often women from urban Minnesota, have been shoplifting brand-name merchandise at stores in larger ND cities. An example, headphones and designer jeans were stolen in separate incidents at a Bismarck mall. An article in the Minneapolis StarTribune brings the picture into focus. Police in the Twin Cities have been cracking down on “organized retail crime.” This is a special form of shoplifting where teams target brand-name merchandise. The teams are sometimes filling special customer orders, other times they steal merchandise which is offered at half-price to a customer base on Facebook.
CRIP GANGS ND’s Oil Patch is considered to be “felon-friendly,” that is, it’s an easy place to get hired with few questions asked. The FBI and Bakersfield, California police indicate there is a criminal pipeline between Bakersfield and ND where members of the East Side Crips and Country Boy Crips move back and forth. Some get legitimate work, but others supply drugs and prostitutes.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE BAKKEN For months, a Forum New Service team has been investigating human trafficking in ND’s Oil Patch. The resulting seven-part series is published in the Forum papers in ND as well as the Bismarck Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press. There has been a broadening of news exchanges between the Tribune and the Forum papers. Articles by Tribune writer Lauren Donovan appear regularly in Forum papers.
THE MINNESOTA ANGLE Women and girls trafficked in the Oil Patch may come from many areas, but there is a special Minnesota connection. The Forum series included the following: “In the Twin Cities suburb of Columbia Heights, Minn., police officers say they know about North Dakota. Their detective colleagues at the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office know that when a local girl goes missing, to check North Dakota’s Backpage ads. Girls on the street talk about the oilfield, Columbia Heights police Officer Maggie Titus said as she participated recently on a Twin Cities panel discussing sex trafficking. Some have visited the Oil Patch.” Cities between Minneapolis and the Bakken (for example, Fargo-Moorhead) also report seeing an increase in sex trafficking.
LAYING IT ON THICK When Bismarck Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson is enthusiastic about a subject, he becomes effusive. Such was his enthusiasm for Mike Jacobs’ new book, “A Birthday Inquiry: North Dakota at 125: A collection of essays.” Jenkinson’s praise was lavish -- he called Jacobs “a human insight machine” and “you can never dismiss what he has to say, because it is always intelligent, articulate, probing, and well-informed.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO NICE? Jenkinson’s column included a particularly interesting quote from the conclusion of Jacobs’ book: “North Dakota nice has developed an edge. Probably this should be expected from a state and a people who’ve been undervalued, and who’ve undervalued themselves, for so long. This more belligerent attitude is both new and unnerving, as if the chip on the shoulder has become a club in the hand.”
FOSTER COUNTY (Carrington) has traditionally been a place that goes quietly about its business and is rarely noticed, except when its high school sports teams are standouts. The college All-American Kleinsassers (Jim and Sheri) are from Carrington. The tranquility changed recently when a string of Foster County officials resigned at the same time for largely unexplained reasons. A County Commissioner resigned subsequently with the vague explanation “due to the present situation in Foster County.” The remaining commissioners were unable to agree on a replacement and decided a special election was needed. Only one problem -- there may be no provision in state law for such an election.
DAKTOIDS: At the close of 2014, ND’s population was estimated to be about 740,000, an increase of 16,000 (2.2 percent) from 2013 . . . A website named Grand Forks the coldest city in the contiguous U.S. . . . The Milken Institute selected Fargo as the nation’s best-performing small city of 2014. The F-M economy rose to $14.5 billion in 2013 from $8.3 billion in 2004.
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