More doubt about Hoeven/Fong tax scheme

Via the Bismarck Tribune's Web site...

Is plan too good to be true?
By LOUISE POTTER, Grand Forks

I have been thinking about the proposal Republicans are calling “The North Dakota Property Tax Relief Act of 2007.” I have been pleading for a reduction in property taxes for at least 10 years, and I was actually able to reduce the Grand Forks Schools mill levy when I served as president of the school board from 1998 to 2000. If talking about a spending bill that will have to pass both houses of the North Dakota legislature next year will get the job done, then by all means let the conversation continue. But I was worried that the 10 percent reduction the Republicans are touting would turn out to be an eye-poppingly large number. And it is.

Gov. John Hoeven’s campaign manager, who was recently appointed as our state tax commissioner, puts the number at $116 million (letter to the editor, Sept. 24). I don’t know if the Republicans intend their tax break as a one-time giveaway or as a program that will continue in the future, but I have a hard time believing that the Republicans I know in the North Dakota House would ever consider approving that much money to be spent in one place. My grandmother used to tell me that whenever something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Read on...

Vote early!!!

According to North Dakota law, absentee ballots are to be made available on the 40th day before the election. This year, that would be Thursday, Sept. 28. That means you can go to the County Auditor’s office in your county, fill out an absentee ballot application, and vote, right now. There are lots of good reasons to vote early. For one, we could have a blizzard on Election Day, like we did in 2000. Or, you could be an election day volunteer and not have time to vote. Or you could get sick, or get called out of town on an emergency. So don’t take a chance. You can print an absentee ballot application by clicking here. Or you can just go to the county auditor’s office when you’re out running errands. Either way, it will take you about 5 minutes. Do it today!

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Good Morning, Fellow Democrats,

Okay, it’s time to put your walking shoes on. We’re just a week away from the kickoff of our “Had Enough? Rallies.” The doorknob hangers arrived yesterday and event coordinator Josh Askvig was in his pickup delivering them all over the state.

We’ll be going door to door on October 7 in Fargo- West Fargo, Jamestown, Valley City, Bismarck- Mandan, Williston, Minot and Devils Lake, and in Dickinson and Grand Forks on October 14. We’re just planning a couple hours on a Saturday morning, followed by chili and hot chocolate at the local Democratic-NPL headquarters.

If you live in one of those towns, please call your district chair and sign up. If you live somewhere else, call Josh at 232-2249 and get the location and phone number of the organizer nearest you, and take a trip to town. C’mon, everyone, let’s do this. It’s two hours of your time. The reason we’ve been sending you these e-mails every day all year is so that you’d be energized and ready to mobilize when the call to action came. Don’t let us down. We want hundreds of volunteers on the street all across the state the next two Saturdays. Let’s make this the biggest campaign kickoff ever!

Lawn Signs

People who wear uniforms and carry guns have been calling and stopping by our office this week telling us that THERE ARE LAWS ABOUT WHERE LAWN SIGNS CAN GO! So if you have one on the boulevard (that space between the sidewalk and the street) move it back into your yard. And if you put one up in the ditch along the Interstate or a state highway, you probably have to move it back behind the barbed wire fence. My understanding of state law, by the way, is that if you put a sign up along a state or federal highway, you’ll be served a notice that you have 90 days to remove it or you’ll have to pay a fine. Fair warning, I’d say.

Fun Night in DL

Those of you in the east might want to know about a fun event going on in Detroit Lakes next Friday night, October 6. It’s called “An Evening of Fun with Al Franken and Friends.” The Minnesota DFL is brining in the comedian to raise money for the campaign of Rep. Collin Peterson. The entire DFL ticket will be there to laugh with Franken, so it’s a good opportunity to meet Amy Klobuchar, Mike Hatch and the rest of the team. The event is at 8 p.m. at the Historic Holmes Theater in Detroit Lakes. Tickets are just $25 Call 218-844-7DFL to get one.

Fighting Whatever

I’m a Dickinson State Blue Hawk (formerly Savage, but we changed our name 30 years ago), and I don’t give a rat’s behind about what UND calls its sports teams, but I’m with Bill Brudvik, our Attorney General candidate, when he says that the Attorney General’s office should not be representing UND in its lawsuit against the NCAA for the right to keep the moniker Fighting Sioux. It’s a sensitive issue, with no statewide consensus and substantial opposition to the name by our Native community. I think UND ought to hire outside counsel, not Wayne Stenehjem. But it’s a high profile case, likely to generate big publicity for the AG, and play to just a tinge, just a tiny little hint, of some inherent North Dakota racism, and that bothers me. And Bill Brudvik too, I suspect. I don’t like it when government attorneys go over the top for political purposes. Like this case. And like Drew Wrigley and his zeal for the death penalty. Especially when the skin color of those on the other side is just a little bit darker than ours.
Enough of that rant. See you on the Trail.

Jim

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

North Dakota Century Code Section 16.1-07- 04. When ballots furnished proper officials. The county auditor, or any other officer required by law to prepare any general, special, or primary state election ballots or any county election ballots, shall prepare, have printed, and deliver to the county auditor at least forty days before the holding of any general, special, or primary state election a sufficient number of absent voter ballots for the use of all voters likely to require such ballots for that election.

That would be TODAY. The 40th day before the November 7 General Election. Today, if you want to get this voting thing out of the way, you can fill out an absentee ballot application, take it to the Court House, and vote. Just think of all the benefits of doing that.

• You don’t have to worry about a storm on Election Day keeping you from getting to the polls.

• You can go to Minneapolis for the seventh game of the World Series (Just kidding—it just seems like the playoffs last that long these days. Not kidding about a World Series in Minneapolis though).

• You can go hunting all day November 7 and not worry about missing your chance to vote.

• You can go to Florida (or Texas, or Arizona, or California) for the winter anytime you want knowing your vote has been cast. If you go to Florida, you can just go ahead and vote there too. They don’t seem to have any rules there about that.

• You could croak on October 15 and your vote will still be counted.

• You could volunteer to work on a Get-Out-The- Vote phone bank all day and not worry about voting yourself.

• You don’t have to watch a single political commercial on TV because nothing those politicians say can change your vote now.

So, don’t wait until November 7 to vote. Do it now, tell your family members, friends and neighbors (as long as they are Democrats) to do it now. Stop by the county auditor’s office and pick up a fistful of absentee voter ballot applications and hand them out to every Democrat you know. Get them filled out and take them back to the auditor. And then make sure the ballots, which will come in the mail, get filled in and mailed back. Or, you can just click right here, right now, and you’ll be able to print out your application form and mail it in without even leaving home today. You don’t even need to get dressed. When’s the last time you voted in your underwear? Let’s not take any chances this year. Let’s get all our votes in before November 7. We’ll all sleep much better on November 6 knowing the election is already in the bag.

A Tribute to the Governors

In a box beside my desk are about 200 copies of a DVD entitled “The Governors.” This DVD is about a 20-minute tribute to former North Dakota Governors Bill Guy, Art Link and George Sinner. It was produced for the 2006 State Democratic-NPL Convention by a young Democrat over in Fargo, Ben Hanson. It features interviews with Bill and Jean, Art and Grace, and Bud and Janie. It’s a remarkable piece, one I’ve watched over and over and been inspired each time I watched it. It ought to be in the collection of every Democrat in North Dakota. And so we’re going to make it available. For just ten dollars, plus two bucks for postage, we’ll ship you one next week. As long as our supplies last. Stick a check for twelve dollars (or a ten and two ones in cash) in an envelope and send it to Pat Schulz here at the Kennedy Memorial Center, 1902 East Divide Ave., Bismarck, ND 58501, and she’ll send you one. Or, if you want to just call Pat at 255-0460 and give her your credit card number over the phone, she’ll ship it today. And don’t buy just one. This is a great Christmas or birthday gift for family or friends moved away, a reminder of the glory days of good government here in North Dakota, when governors were real leaders, thoughtful, compassionate men who led us through some hard times in this state and helped make it the great place we live in today.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

Letter to the editor by Brent Edison

Via the Bismarck Tribune's Web site...

Sustainable property tax relief
By BRENT EDISON
Bismarck

What a difference a political campaign makes. When the appointed tax commissioner announced for the office back in January, he declined to join the debate on property taxes, saying it was a legislative issue. Now, less than six weeks out from the election, Cory Fong is struggling to attach his name to a plan for property tax relief.

Rather than waiting with my finger in the wind like a career political operative, I came out in favor of property tax relief on the first day of the campaign. Every day since then, I have talked about the need for property tax relief and increased education funding. In August, I proposed using part of the state's $527 million budget surplus to invest $125 million a year over a four year period to accomplish the following: Roll back property taxes, fund K-12 education, expand the homestead tax credit for seniors and disabled North Dakotans and halt double-digit college tuition increases.

In August, I proposed using part of the state's $527 million budget surplus to invest $125 million a year over a four year period to accomplish the following: Roll back property taxes, fund K-12 education, expand the homestead tax credit for seniors and disabled North Dakotans and halt double-digit college tuition increases.

Read on...

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

The problem with the Forum’s defense of the Fong property tax scheme (Oh, I know the Governor was at the press conference, but we all know he was just shilling for Cory Fong) is that it fails to recognize a couple of fatal flaws in the plan:

• Almost NOBODY believes that government agents are going to come riding in on white horses and deliver government checks to help us pay our property taxes.

• Almost EVERYBODY believes that property taxes are rightfully the purview of local governments, and that the state should not be messing with the rights of city commissions, county commissions and school boards when it comes to levying property taxes to provide local services. That’s a slippery slope we don’t want to start down.

No, the proper role of state government is to provide an adequate share of the costs of schools, streets, roads and bridges so the burden does not fall unfairly on local property taxpayers. When the state fails to do that, we get the incredible escalation of property taxes that has come in recent years.

Traditionally, the state has provided between 60 and 70 percent of the cost of education in North Dakota. In 1995, when the Republican Party took control of both houses of the North Dakota Legislature, they began to erode that share, to the point where it is now just over 40 percent. Money to keep schools open had to come from somewhere. So school boards began raising property taxes. In many areas of the state, property taxes have doubled.

Meanwhile, money in the state treasury began building up, to the point where we now have enough money to make a pretty good run at a leveraged buyout of Ford Motor Company—or South Dakota.

Democrats in North Dakota began pointing that out last January—not last week in the final days of an election campaign. Our Tax Commissioner candidate, Brent Edison, proposed earlier this year that we use up to $500 million over the next four years to fund education, provide property tax relief and ease rising college tuition costs.

See, the best way to bring property taxes down is to fund education at an adequate level, bringing the state’s share back up to the 60-70 percent range. That’s true property tax relief. And it will last.

To simply throw some checks out at the end of the year for property tax rebates is a one-time solution with little lasting value (other than political value for those proposing it). There simply can be no property tax relief until we have first dealt with the issue of education funding. Otherwise we just find ourselves back in the same boat two years from now.

That’s where the Fong scheme falls short. It’s an election year gimmick, as we said earlier, to lull the voters into a false sense of security. But the voters of North Dakota are smarter than that. They don’t want the government to throw them a couple hundred bucks at the end of the year and then keep on raising their property taxes. They want the state to do its job—put the money into education so we get real, long-term property tax relief.

I’m with the voters.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

Democrats have a better plan for property tax relief

Via The Forum's Web site...

Political notebook
Janell Cole and Don Davis, The Forum

The property tax reduction plan Gov. John Hoeven and Republican legislators announced last week is too small and doesn’t increase aid to public schools, Democratic-NPL tax commissioner candidate Brent Edison says.

He sticks to the plan he proposed in August, when state officials said there would be a $526 million surplus by June 30.

He proposed $125 million tax relief each of the next four years through property tax cuts, a halt in double-digit college tuition increases, more state funds for education and expansion of homestead tax credits to low-income elderly and disabled citizens.

Read on...

**On another note, be sure to check out Tax Commissioner candidate Brent Edison's latest commercial by clicking here.**

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

I stopped in Dickinson last night to see an old friend. Connie Kooren and I go back to the days when he worked at the North Dakota Farmers Union for Stan Moore. He moved to Dickinson about 30 years ago and took over management of the Farmers Union Station, and he built it in to one of the largest Co-Op oil companies around, and then retired a couple years ago. When I was working with Dickinson District Chair Cindy Klein last winter on lining up legislative candidates for District 37, she had appointed Connie chairman of the search committee. We were doing fine, until one day Connie read something outrageous Frank Wald said in the paper and decided to run himself. It was the best decision ever made in District 37. We're going to win in District 37. We talked last night about their radio ads--I thought they might need a little tweaking--and about getting ready to go on TV. The Republicans in District 37 have lots and lots of money and are on TV already. We'll get Connie up next week. He's done a good job of fundraising and has enough to at least try to compete with them on the airwaves. Meanwhile, he and Kathy continue the daily grind of knocking on doors, a husband and wife team as dedicated as any I've ever seen. And Connie's House running mate, Stuart Savelkoul, the radio voice of District 37, is in the next precinct over, also hitting as many doors as possible before Election Day.

These guys are typical of what is going on around the state. Up in Minot’s District 5 the other night, all three candidates--Senator Tom Seymour, Representative Woody Thorpe, and their running mate, Louis Pinkerton, all have their TV spots made and paid for. Woody's the champion door knocker there--a function of time in his retirement years.

In District 15, the "media blitz" has started and won't quit until Election Day. I was in Devils Lake Friday, and will be back there tomorrow, working out kinks with Joe Lawson, Bev Honkola and Russ Pearson in their media plan.

Over in District 7, just down the road from Devils Lake (a huge district that runs almost all the way from Minot to Devils Lake south of Highway 2, with Rugby as its epicenter), our incumbents Senator Ryan Taylor and Representative Arlo Schmidt told me the other night that they will buy as much radio time as they can get, but the focus there is really on getting to every door in every little town. Seems like you can't drive more than a mile in that hundred-mile long district without seeing one of their signs. It's a different kind of campaigning when you can't have TV, I've found, and while it's a little cheaper, the gas seems to cost as much as the TV spots these days in these big districts.

I'm back on the road this week, and will keep you posted on what the districts are doing. It's an exciting time for our candidates right now. They're finally getting to spend some of that money they spent all summer raising. That's way more fun.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

More tales of a Republican led do nothing government...

Via the Bismarck Tribune's Web site...

Outmigration has been costly
Associated Press
9/23/06

FARGO (AP) - North Dakota lost nearly $1 billion in net taxable income from 1993 to 2005 due to outmigration, a State Data Center report says.

The figures show people moving to North Dakota during the 13-year span brought with them $5.5 billion in net taxable income, about $1 billion less than the what people leaving the state took with them.

The number of people leaving the state between 1993 and 2005 totaled 434,091, based on the number of exemptions claimed on income tax returns, said Karen Olson, an information specialist at the Data Center. The number of people who moved to the state during that period totaled 389,725, based on the tax exemptions, she said.

Read on...

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Fellow Democrats,

My old friend Karl Limvere, once communications director for the North Dakota Farmers Union and now pastor of the Zion United Church of Christ in Medina, showed up in the news last week. Karl is one of a group of local ministers who has organized a group called the Dakota Progressive Clergy Network.

The group is comprised of a number of pastors from mainline Bismarck churches, who have been meeting informally for several months to talk about faith issues and their impact on the lives of their congregations. They’re currently doing a series of programs in Bismarck called “Religion and Society.”

"Our hope is to bring the discussion of religious morality back to the central theme of our Biblical heritage," Limvere said last week. "Being a follower of Christ means that we respond through the grace and love of God with compassion and care to serve basic human needs. The true moral test of a society is how we care for the 'widow and the orphan' and not how we impose our ethical judgments upon each other."

Hmmmm. That could have been taken right out of the Democratic-NPL Party’s platform, I thought when I read that comment. See, I get tired of hearing Republicans say you can’t be a Democrat and a Christian. I know a lot of good, solid church-going Democrats. And I’ve heard some Republicans complain about Christian fundamentalists having their hands around the neck of the Republican party.

The second program in their series will feature speaker Adam Taylor, director of campaigns and organizing at Sojourners/Call to Renewal, based in Washington, D.C. Taylor's talk is on "Religion and Economic Justice," at Bismarck's United Church of Christ, 1200 E. Highland Acres Road. It’s this Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Taylor currently serves as the Director of Campaigns and Organizing at Sojourners, a 34-year-old Christian organization that integrates spiritual renewal with social justice. He formerly served as the Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that educates, trains, and mobilizes students around issues of global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, Taylor worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights.

I’m pleased that Karl and others in his group are heading this effort. I hope you’ll take time to check out one of their programs. These aren’t Democrat or Republican events. But it sounds like truly progressive members of our community will enjoy them.

Welcome back, Merle

Your Democratic-NPL Floor Leaders, Senator David O’Connell and Rep. Merle Boucher, are on the road nearly as much as I am this time of the year, trying to bolster the numbers of their ranks in the next session of the Legislature. Merle has just completed inpatient treatment for alcoholism, and he and I met last week with candidates in Districts 7, 5 and 15. One of the more poignant moments of the campaign for me so far was when Merle got up in Devils Lake to deliver his first speech since going back on the campaign trail, and began his remarks “Hi. I’m Merle Boucher, and I’m a Democrat.” You bet you are, Merle. And a darned good one too.

Welcome back.

Voting early

Absentee ballots will be available in the next week or so in most counties, and both parties are now urging their supporters to vote early in case of bad weather on Election Day. Republicans did a big mailing last week. A couple of our good local Democrats-including one of our staff-- received their absentee ballot applications from the Republican Party. That’s good. I hope they mailed to a lot of us. Our mailing goes out this week. I think it will only go to Democrats. When it comes to you, go ahead and use the application form and send it in. Vote early. Don’t take any chances. This is a critical election for us.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

Johnson has plans for the next farm bill

Via The Forum's Web site...

Ag plan could provide support
By Jonathan Knutson, The Forum

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson and his peers have a plan to help develop the 2007 U.S. farm bill.

The plan of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture would provide a safety net for farmers and create a permanent disaster-assistance provision, among other things, Johnson said Friday at a Fargo press conference.

The current farm bill is set to expire next year. Congress and the Bush administration are expected to begin working on a replacement this winter.

The association – to which the top ag officials of all 50 states belong – “will once again play a key role in crafting the new farm bill,” Johnson said.

“The plan that we’re recommending will ensure that we continue to keep North Dakota’s – and America’s – agriculture industry strong,” he said.

Read on...

Another reason not to vote Republican in November

Via CNN's Web site...

Candidate: Dems must stop GOP plans for Social Security
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans will revive their effort to overhaul Social Security after the November elections, a "dangerous" plan that would cut benefits to older Americans, the Democratic candidate for a Denver-area House seat said Saturday.

"We can and must stop them -- right now, before it's too late," Ed Perlmutter said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "Just last year, Democrats stood up to President Bush and the Republicans in Congress, and fought back against this dangerous proposal and defeated it."

Read on...

RNC chair in Bismarck today

Statement from Democratic-NPL executive director

(Bismarck, N.D.) -- Jim Fuglie, executive director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, put out the statement below about RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s appearance in Bismarck today.

Statement from Jim Fuglie on Sept. 22, 2006:

“Mr. Mehlman is raising money for the North Dakota Republican Party in Bismarck today, but his party continually blocks drought relief for our farmers and ranchers. The Bush administration and the Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., which Mehlman represents, have turned their backs on North Dakota farmers and ranchers.”

Johnson Returns from NASDA Conference with Plans for 2007 Farm Bill

As President Elect for 2007, Johnson will play a leading role

Fargo – North Dakota’s Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson just returned from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) annual meeting with a strong plan to help develop a new farm bill.

“NASDA will once again play a key role in crafting the new farm bill,” Johnson said. “The plan that we’re recommending will insure that we continue to keep North Dakota’s – and America’s – agriculture industry strong.”

As President Elect of the organization for 2007, Johnson will play a key role in pushing for NASDA’s plan in Washington, as Congress debates the next farm bill.

Major provisions of the plan include a continuation of Market Loan and Counter Cyclical programs to provide a safety net, permanent disaster assistance, development of more biofuels, payment limitations, country of origin labeling, help for first time farmers, and strengthening the food safety and nutrition programs.

“The key to any farm bill is to have a reliable safety net. NASDA will push Congress and the Administration to keep Market Loan and Counter Cyclical payments in place,” said Johnson.

Johnson also mentioned the need for permanent disaster relief in the farm bill. He said, “The ad hoc basis in which disaster relief is currently devised too often leaves our farmers at the mercy of both politics and mother nature.” Disaster assistance should be a permanent feature of the farm bill so it is predictable and not subject to political pressure.

NASDA also will push for more help for biofuels, with grants, federal loans, and major new research and development initiatives. “While some waver in their support of renewable energy, or think we can wait, NASDA will push to help develop more renewable energy production right now. It’s good for North Dakota and good for America.”

Another goal of NASDA is immediate implementation of country of origin labeling – a program that Johnson has long championed. “Consumers have the right to know where their food is coming from,” Johnson said.

Johnson also mentioned that NASDA will push for payment limitations. “We have to be sure that the farm bill is administered fairly, instead of giving huge payments to corporate farms. And savings should stay in the ag programs to strengthen agriculture even further,” Johnson added.

Finally, Johnson noted several programs aimed at first time farmers, including lower insurance premiums, tax incentives and capital gains exclusions. “We have to be sure that farming continues to be a viable way of life. Many people are attracted to a life on the land, but feel they can’t do it. We should do what we can to help.”

GOP Leaders Block Conrad Ag Disaster Bill

Washington - The Republican leadership of the United States Senate today again blocked efforts by Senator Kent Conrad to get a vote on bipartisan legislation to provide assistance to farmers and ranchers recovering from devastating natural disasters in 2005 and 2006.

“A fair vote has been denied here in the Senate today and the party in power has turned its back on America’s farmers,” Senator Conrad said. “But this fight is far from over. I won’t stand by and let this be swept under the rug. The livelihoods of thousands of farm families are at stake. ”

With only days left before Congress adjourns for the fall elections, Senator Conrad again urged the Senate to immediately pass his emergency ag disaster legislation to help producers recover from losses to natural disasters in the 2005 and 2006 production seasons. The bill - which has 22 co-sponsors in the Senate - combines legislation Senator Conrad previously introduced to support ranchers and farmers impacted by frost, flood and disease during the 2005 growing season with legislation to aid producers suffering from the 2006 drought devastating the Great Plains.

Working with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Conrad called on the Senate to debate and vote on his legislation, the Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2006. However, Republican leaders objected to the request and denied a vote on the ag disaster bill.

According to scientists, the dry conditions now ravaging the Great Plains make up the third worst drought in America’s history. The current drought, combined with the effects of last year’s frost, flood and disease have resulted in an agricultural disaster of historic proportions. The Secretary of Agriculture recently declared all 53 North Dakota counties agricultural disaster areas.

Senator Conrad’s comprehensive ag disaster package provides emergency funding to farmers and ranchers who have suffered weather-related crop production shortfalls, quality losses and damage to livestock and feed supplies. The bill also helps farmers overcome losses as a result of energy prices that spiked following last year’s hurricanes. In addition, the disaster aid includes a $300 million provision to assist thousands of small, ag-dependent businesses fighting to keep their doors open.

“This is not a partisan issue, it is an issue of doing what is right and doing what is needed. It is time for the leaders of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House to support passage of an agriculture disaster assistance package,” Senator Conrad said. “Without this action, thousands of family farms and ranches will be lost.”

Hedger wants more local control of voting process

Via the Associated Press...

Candidate questions voting machine handling
By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press Writer

Secretary of State Al Jaeger does not provide enough oversight for the voting machines that count North Dakota's ballots, his Democratic opponent says, a contention Jaeger dismisses as baseless.

Democrat Kristin Hedger said Wednesday that state election officials do not have access to proprietary software used in the scanners, which are supplied by an Omaha, Neb., company called Election Systems & Software.

"North Dakotans should have ownership of the software code that reads our votes," Hedger said during a news conference in Bismarck.

Read on...

Rick Gion's News from Headquarters

Fellow Democrats,

Yesterday was a big day

The governor unveiled his “plan” for property taxes. There’s more on that below. Also, there were debates held by the Bismarck/Mandan League of Women Voters for the tax commissioner’s race and the attorney general’s race. I was there, and so was the Associated Press. Check out the stories by clicking here and here.

More on property taxes

As House Minority leader Merle Boucher says, the governor’s plan for property taxes is an election season ploy. Below I’ve written some interesting points on the topic.

-Democrats have proposed many plans for property tax relief in the past that many Republicans have shot down.

-Brent Edison has been talking about property tax relief since the beginning of his campaign.

-With 48 days to go until the election, the appointed tax commissioner (Cory Fong) is riding the governor’s coattails with a long overdue plan.

-The appointed tax commissioner continually said in the beginning of his campaign that property tax relief is a legislative issue. He was not engaged in the debate. With election season upon us, he now is "engaged."

-After nearly a decade of this being an issue and a lawsuit threat by nine school districts, these Republicans are finally trying to do something about property tax relief.

-The bad tax policy of many of these Republicans is the reason why property taxes have become out of control.

-Rep. Wes Belter (R-Leonard) has said that property taxes are a local issue, not a legislative issue. Now he’s going to sponsor a bill in the next session that the governor endorses.

-Is a 10 percent reduction for residential property tax and just 5 percent for ag property tax fair?

See you on the trail,

Rick

Statement by the House Democratic-NPL Leader

(Rolla, N.D.) -- Today House Democratic-NPL leader Merle Boucher issued the statement below about the Republican plan for property tax relief.

Statement by House Minority leader Boucher on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006:

"The Republican Party has been in power for 14 years now, since Ed Schafer was first elected governor in 1992. In that time, property taxes in North Dakota have doubled. Now, 49 days before an election, they have a plan to lower property taxes.

"Promising to send out government checks in the final days of a campaign is an election year gimmick, and the voters are going to see through it."

Edison says more needs to be done

Brent Edison, candidate for Tax Commissioner, said the property tax relief plan proposed by the governor and appointed tax commissioner today makes progress towards addressing high property taxes and inadequate education funding, but it is still not enough.

“Earlier in my campaign, I outlined four goals I felt we could accomplish with the state’s huge budget surplus,” Edison said. “Today, 49 days from an election, another proposal was finally put on the table that makes progress towards accomplishing those goals. However, this plan presents nothing new for education funding.”

In August, Edison proposed investing $125 million per year over the next four years for the following:

- Roll back property taxes
- Fund K-12 education
- Expand the homestead tax credit for seniors and disabled North Dakotans
- Address increasing tuition rates in North Dakota

After previously stating property tax relief was a legislative issue, the appointed Tax Commissioner voiced support for the governor’s plan today. “I’m glad the appointed tax commissioner has finally entered the debate on this issue,” Edison said. “I look to forward to accepting the governor’s invitation to work to put together a bipartisan, sustainable plan for increasing education funding and property tax relief.”

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Notes From The News:

Yesterday, Republican Agriculture Commissioner candidate Doug Goehring held a press conference to announce that he wants to produce ethanol by building “centrifuges that would pull the excess oil/fat out of syrup.” Now there’s an idea that ought to really catch fire in the next 48 days before the election. I’m envisioning this giant cotton candy machine with a little food coloring thrown in, producing fuel for all those pink Cadillacs the very best Mary Kay salespersons drive. Next week, Goehring plans to propose building time machines that will take us back to the early 1970’s when a Russian wheat deal caused wheat prices to rise to $7 a bushel. Where do they get these guys?

Coming Late To The Dance

Today, Governor Hoeven and Republican Legislative leaders are holding press conferences to announce a plan for property tax relief. I’m pretty eager to hear about this, too. Republicans control two-thirds of the seats in the Legislature. They’ve been in power for 14 years now, since Ed Schafer was first elected governor in 1992. In that time, property taxes in North Dakota have doubled. Now, 49 days before an election, they have a plan to lower property taxes? In my opinion, putting these guys in charge of property tax relief is like putting Dick Cheney in charge of teaching hunter safety classes.

Good News

A couple weeks ago, I chastised my friend Ardell Tharaldson for only sending me bad news in his frequent e-mails. Well, Ardell made up for it yesterday. He sent me a link to the Rasmussen Report, a website providing political and public opinion coverage. Here’s part of what they said yesterday.

“The battle for control of the U.S. Senate is getting closer—much closer. Little more than a week ago, our Balance of Power summary showed the Republicans leading 50-45 with five states in the Toss-Up category. Today, Rasmussen Reports is changing three races from “Toss-Up” to “Leans Democrat.” As a result, Rasmussen Reports now rates 49 seats as Republican or Leans Republican while 48 seats are rated as Democrat or Leans Democrat (see State-by-State Summary). There are now just three states in the Toss-Up category-- Tennessee, New Jersey, and Missouri.”

“Today’s changes all involve Republican incumbents who have been struggling all year. In Montana, Senator Conrad Burns (R) has fallen behind Jon Tester (D). Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee (R) survived his primary but starts the General Election as a decided underdog. Sherrod Brown (D) is enjoying a growing lead over Ohio Senator Mike DeWine (R). “Four other seats are now ranked as “Leans Democrat”—Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Maryland, and Michigan. Virginia is the only state rated as “Leans Republican.”

“Democrats have to win all seven states leaning their way plus all three Toss-Ups to regain control of the Senate. While that’s a tall order, recent history shows that it is quite possible for one party or the other to sweep all the close races. The Democrats did so in Election 2000 and the Republicans returned the favor in 2002. If the Democrats win all those seats but one, there would be a 50-50 tie. In that circumstance, Vice-President Dick Cheney would cast the deciding vote in his Constitutional role as the presiding officer of the Senate.”

You can read the rest of the report by going here.

Speaking of Virginia, Brad Martin, who directs activities in the Northwest region of the country for the Democratic National Committee, sent me a television spot now being run in Virginia that you really ought to look at. Remember the Swift Boat ads they ran against John Kerry two years ago? Well, turnabout is fair play. Watch this.

Enjoy that? See you on the Trail,

Jim

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Fellow Democrats,

Nothing warms the heart more than walking into a little storefront office in downtown Grand Forks on a warm September afternoon and seeing Iola Kvasager setting up the phone banks for evening callers. The campaign is off and running in Grand Forks.

Iola, and her husband Arvin have been doing volunteer work for the Democratic-NPL Party for more years than they care to remember. It’s a sure bet when the call comes to organize another campaign, the two of them will be there. Usually, Bill and Mavis Couchigian are beside them, doing whatever it takes to elect Democrats in Grand Forks. And we’re going to elect a few there this fall.

District 17 Representative Weezie Potter and District 43 Representative Lois Delmore have great running mates this year and are good bets to go back to Bismarck in January. Lois’ running mates, Jamie Selzler and JoNell Bakke stopped by the Grand Forks headquarters to visit when I was there last week. They took a few minutes from their door-to-door efforts, but didn’t stay long—voters to visit with. Jamie, I think, is the door-to-door champion so far this year. He’s been to more than 2,000 homes already, with more than 50 days left to go in the campaign.

The rest of Weezie’s ticket was there too, en route to their assigned precincts for the day. Cully Gause and Tom Lamb aren’t letting any grass grow under their feet.

Meanwhile, as 5:00 approached, volunteers bounded through the door for the evening round of phone calls, persuasion calls on behalf of candidates and ID calls adding more Democrats to the Get-Out-The- Vote list. I think the activities in Grand Forks at this early stage are typical of what is going on in our party this fall. I’m energized as I travel the state, knowing that our Legislative slate is as good as it’s ever been, and is working as hard as it ever has.

Down in Wahpeton, Representative Clark Williams told me last week that he’s confident his district will deliver a new Senator to Bismarck. That would be former Representative Arden Anderson, who’s running for the seat being vacated by longtime Republican Senator Russell Thane. Arden and Clark are campaigning full time now. They’ve both retired early from their careers, and start their days early, driving from farm to farm in Richland County. Clark says they don’t spend a lot of money on campaigns in District 25. Their focus is on meeting every voter. Every voter. They’ll finish the rural areas and small towns soon, and begin knocking on every door in Wahpeton. Arden sent me an e-mail early Friday afternoon telling me he had to quit early that day because of high winds. But he was back out Saturday, and also Sunday afternoon. It’s that kind of dedication that wins elections.

Speaking of dedication, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper or turn on a TV last week without seeing one of our statewide candidates. Attorney General candidate Bill Brudvik held press conferences on Thursday which landed him in the Forum and Grand Forks Herald, as well as TV and radio coverage in Bismarck and Fargo. PSC candidate Cheryl Bergian’s press conferences Friday resulted in newspaper, TV and radio coverage statewide as a result of Associated Press coverage. Brent Edison was on the road talking about issues important to his Tax Commissioner’s race and got articles in the Williston Herald, Dickinson Press and Minot Daily News, as well as radio coverage in Minot and Williston. Secretary of State candidate Kristin Hedger had an op-ed piece in the Forum and continues slogging her way through the weekly newspapers in the state’s small towns. My guess is that she will end up in every weekly paper before the campaign ends. And Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson continues to be the voice of farmers in North Dakota, with appearances on all Fargo TV stations covering Big Iron in West Fargo last week and a guest shot on Joel Heitkamp’s News and Views radio show.

All in all, a pretty good week for the Democratic-NPL team. And they’re back at it this week. And they will be for the next 50 days. Welcome them when they come to your town. They’re working their butts off, sleeping little and driving far. If ever a ticket deserved to win, it is this one.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Fellow Democrats,

Y’know, I’ve just about had it with the State Board of Higher Education. I’ve seen State Boards for many, many years, and I’ve never seen a bunch as incompetent as this one. Yesterday it said in the papers that Wahpeton SCS’s president, Sharon Hart is resigning (under pressure from her campus and community) and that the Board is just going to move her over into an administrative position in the system. In essence, a promotion. Movin’ upstairs.

And she doesn’t even have to go to work! They’re paying her $13,000 a month—a month!—to stay home! That’s more than a minimum wage worker makes in a year--for going to work!

What is up with these people? The Board sent its own attorney, Pat Seaworth, to Wahpeton to speak to community leaders to check her out. He reported back to the board Thursday that community leaders in Wahpeton had reservations (that’s putting it mildly, I think) about Hart’s “management style and decision-making process.”

So what is board president John Q. Paulsen’s response? According to the Bismarck Tribune yesterday, he said "she has done many good things at the college -- she has a lot of knowledge, a lot of expertise -- this agreement will allow us to make use of her experience.”

Oh, so JQ knows her better than the people who live and work with her? Those who gave her a 95-1 vote of no confidence? Imagine this. You own a business with 96 employees. You hire a manager. After a couple of years, your employees get together and 95 of the 96 walk into your office and tell you that your company is going downhill, the manager is no good and needs to be fired. But you’re not quite convinced. So you go out and ask all your customers what they think of then manager’s performance as manager of your business. They all tell you that she’s not very good, and they don’t like the way your company is going right now. They’re getting ready to take their business somewhere else. So what do you do? Well, if you’re following the model of the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education, you promote the manager to vice president of the company, that’s what. Go figure.

So what exactly is her new job? In essence, supervising the state’s two-year colleges. One of which she just, basically, got fired from. Sheesh.

I don’t mind all that, and this is not personal. I don’t know Sharon Hart. What I know is, this is another $150,000 a year that we’re picking up the tab for, and I am tired beyond belief of the spendthrift ways of this board when it comes to administration. As I mentioned earlier in this space, they’re paying Eddie Dunn $223,404 for going to work at a thankless job. They’re now paying Robert Potts $214,750 for staying home. And they’re also paying Sharon Hart $154,932 to stay home. Add that up. It comes to just about $600,000. It costs about $3,000 for tuition at my alma mater, Dickinson State. Those three salaries consume the entire tuition of 200 students at DSU. And it’s going to two people who were forced to resign from their jobs and one who is serving in an interim position.

This is the worst case of mismanagement in state government I’ve ever seen. This board should all resign. Or be fired.

See you on the Trail.

Jim

New poll gives Democrats good marks

Via the Pew Research Center's Web site...

Democrats Hold Solid Lead; Strong Anti-Incumbent, Anti-Bush Mood
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Report

As the congressional midterm campaign begins in earnest, the mood of the electorate is sharply drawn. Voters are disappointed with Congress and disapproving of President Bush. Anti-incumbent sentiment, while a bit lower than a few months ago, is far more extensive than in the previous two midterms and remains close to 1994 levels. Moreover, there are indications that voters are viewing the election through the prism of national issues and concerns. Many more voters see their vote as being against the president than at a comparable point in 1994, and a solid majority says party control of Congress will be a factor in their voting decision.

Voters are expressing strong and consistent anti-Republican attitudes. The GOP lags well behind the Democratic Party on nearly all major issues, including the economy, Iraq, education, health care, the environment and the budget deficit. And the Republicans have lost ground in recent years even on such traditional strengths as terrorism and improving the nation's morality.

As in six previous surveys over the past 12 months, voters again say they favor the Democratic congressional candidate in their district by a wide margin (50%-39%). When the sample is narrowed to likely voters, approximately half of registered voters, the Democratic lead is undiminished. That Democrats poll as well among likely voters as among all voters may reflect the fact that Democrats, in contrast to recent campaigns, are more enthusiastic about voting than are Republicans.

Read on...

Rick Gion's News from Headquarters

Fellow Democrats,

We’ve just received word that the former campaign manager for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004 is coming to Bismarck on Friday, Sept. 22. Yes, that’s right, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, will be “gracing” Bismarck soon. The stop will comprise of a lunch, photo opportunity and political roundtable at the Best Western Doublewood Inn.

Politick he must, and politick he will. And his message will attempt to make Democrats look like we are weak on defense. We all know that’s not true. Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan wrote an amendment to reinstate a task force to hunt down Osama bin Laden, because it was dropped by President George W. Bush, Mehlman’s former boss. The amendment recently passed 96-0.

And while Mehlman will be spreading his convoluted message, he won’t be addressing many things important to North Dakotans.

Mehlman is a person who is staunchly in support of the president’s plan to privatize Social Security. He is a person who heads a party which has shown they are steadfastly against adequate drought relief for our farmers and ranchers. And he continually defends the exorbitant debt and deficits his party racks up day after day.

And, if you haven’t read about it yet, Mehlman is one of the architects of a smear and fear campaign against Democrats this election season.

Mehlman heads the party which is responsible for much of the debacle our country is in. He is the ringleader of wrong policy. And he is the grand pooh-bah of the partisanship which has divided this country.

The GOP stands for Grand Old Party. I’d say the only things grand about Mehlman and the Republican Party these days are the scale of their failed policies and their failure to address the real needs of Americans.

Had enough? I have, but the Republican Party in this state obviously hasn’t.

Rick

Republicans using smear and fear tactics

Via the Washington Post...

With No Ideas, The GOP Seeks to Scare
By Harold Meyerson
The Washington Post

Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that Republicans were boasting that they were the party of ideas? They would privatize the commonwealth and globalize democracy, while Democrats clung to the tattered banner of common security in both economics and national defense. The intellectual energy in America, it seemed, was all on the right.

That, as they say, was then. In 2006 the campaigns that the Republicans are waging in their desperate attempt to retain power are so utterly devoid of ideas that it's hard to believe they ever had an idea at all.

With fewer than 60 days remaining before the November election, the only two Republican strategies left standing are to scare the public about the Democrats collectively or to slime the Democrats individually. There's nothing new about these strategies, of course, but this year they exist in a vacuum. Having run both the executive and legislative branches for the past two years with nothing but failure to show for it, the Republicans can no longer campaign as the party that will balance the budget, reform entitlements, lower energy costs, fix the immigration problem, create a more secure world or find a suitable way out of their endless war of choice in Iraq. What's left is a campaign of scaring and sliming, with the emphasis on the latter.

Read on...

Delegation Leads Call for Disaster Assistance for America’s Farmers and Ranchers

Washington - Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy gathered today with hundreds of farmers and ranchers outside the U.S. Capitol to urge the Congress and the White House to pass emergency agriculture disaster assistance legislation.

“Let’s make our voices heard loud and clear at the White House. Our farmers and ranchers need disaster relief now,” the delegation said in a joint statement. “People in Washington, D.C. cannot turn a blind eye toward this disaster. We need nothing less than a comprehensive disaster bill to cover 2005 and 2006 losses.”

Farmers, ranchers, and rural business operators from across the nation - including more than 70 from North Dakota - gathered at today’s rally with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to call for emergency legislation to aid producers devastated by natural disasters. Among those attending were a bipartisan group of 12 lawmakers, leaders of national farm organizations - including National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau Federation, and the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

I confess, I don’t watch TV much. Too little time, too many nonsensical channels. But a number of people have asked me in the past week if I saw Keith Olbermann on MSNBC last Tuesday. Sorry, I said, I missed him. Yesterday, Ron Saeger sent me a website link with a few of Olbermann’s recent commentaries, and my friends are indeed right, I should watch him. So I’m sharing that link with you today, and a few paragraphs from his September 5 commentary to lead you there.

“It is to our deep national shame—and ultimately it will be to the President’s deep personal regret— that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies—or even question their effectiveness or execution—to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.

“Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 -- without ever actually saying so—the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, “a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government.”

“Make no mistake here—the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the “media.” The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.

“Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle: The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word—“media”—the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.

“That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American. Mr. Bush and his colleagues have led us before to such waters.

“We will not drink again.

“And the President’s re-writing and sanitizing of history, so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics, is just as false, and just as scurrilous. “In the 1920’s a failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews,” President Bush said today, “the world ignored Hitler’s words, and paid a terrible price.”

“Whatever the true nature of al Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi State of Germany serves only to embolden them. Moreover, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek—a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety. It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration’s recent Nazi “kick” is an awful and cynical thing.

“And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:

“Have you no sense of decency, sir?”

Olbermann’s September 11 commentary is a powerful message about where we are today, five years after September 11, 2001. You can read that and other recent Olbermann posts by clicking here.

Say a prayer this morning that the Trail leads to peace.

Jim

The fifth anniversary of 9/11

On this fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party salutes all of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

We will keep all of these folks in our thoughts and prayers throughout the day.

Also, here is a statement from Congressman Earl Pomeroy regarding the day's remembrance:

"Our world changed on September 11, 2001, when the deadly force of terrorism slammed into the World Trade Center towers as well as the Pentagon and an isolated field in Pennsylvania.

On the fifth anniversary of this tragedy, we prayerfully remember the innocent Americans who lost their lives that day. We recommit ourselves to our defining freedoms and values and stand together to defend them.

I think especially of North Dakota's Ann Nelson and other individuals who lost their lives that day, who we have come to know through the stories and loved ones they left behind. Our memories of these outstanding people remind us in very personal ways of the devastating tragedy of the lives lost. Our thoughts remember the victims, and our prayers are with their families on this sad anniversary."

Al Jaeger doesn't get it

Kristin Hedger, Democratic-NPL candidate for secretary of state, has recently brought the issue of confusing voter identification requirements to light. Good for her. People are confused, and the current secretary of state has not done his job when it comes to making it clear.

Jaeger recently wrote a letter to The Forum saying that North Dakota law is clear. Well, the law may be clear, but people don't know about it.

Here's what Hedger had to say in a recent news release:

Hedger cites, in particular, confusing guidance from the current Secretary of State's office concerning what forms of identification are required to vote. “When North Dakotans go to the polls," she says, "all that is required is proof of where they live. By presenting written confirmation of their name and address, poll workers can insert the correct information into their books and keep our state’s elections running on track.”

The fact that Jaeger has to keep writing these letters to defend himself proves that the laws aren't being promoted correctly. He has spent a lot of money promoting the fact that voters need a picture I.D. That's not the case. As Hedger says, Jaeger is stuck in slow motion.

Jim Fuglie's News from the Trail

Fellow Democrats,

Ardell Tharaldson reads the Washington Post online and yesterday he sent me a really depressing story. Depressing enough that I want to share it with you, so you know what’s going on, and what kind of campaign our opponents are running this year. Here’s how the story from Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza starts out:

“Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.”

“The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.”

Uffda. How do you fight that?

The story continues: “The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has enlisted veteran party strategist Terry Nelson to run a campaign that will coordinate with Senate Republicans on ads that similarly will rely on the best of the worst that researchers have dug up on Democrats. Because challengers tend to be little-known compared with incumbents, they are more vulnerable to having their public image framed by the opposition through attacks and unflattering personal revelations.”

“And with polls showing the Republicans' House and Senate majorities in jeopardy, party strategists said they have concluded that their best chance to prevent big Democratic gains is a television and direct-ma