Happy Monday!
Dear Fellow Republicans,
We wanted to provide you with a roundup of everything you might have missed from North Dakota’s great Republican leaders this past week. Please share with family and friends!
Perrie Schafer, NDGOP Chairman
Photo of the Week
Last week, Governor Burgum paid tribute to those who have gone above and beyond to represent their tribal nations during the North Dakota Native American Hall of Honor ceremony hosted by the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission and State Historical Society of North Dakota.
RNC
Take a look at this astounding chart put together by the RNC (below). Joe Biden has spent 40% of his presidency — 238 days — on vacation. One thing is clear: Biden has created a mess and is now hiding back in the basement instead of owning up to his many mistakes. – Perrie
North Dakota
Governor, US senators: Remembering victims of 9/11
Minot Daily News
Gov. Doug Burgum and North Dakota’s congressional delegation issued statements today on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “Today we remember the nearly 3,000 individuals who lost their lives to those unimaginable acts of terror and honor the courageous acts by the first responders and rescue workers who risked their lives to help others,” said Burgum. “We also share our endless gratitude for the members of our military who have defended our freedom and fought the Global War on Terrorism, including the 29 service members from North Dakota who made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.” Sen. John Hoeven said, “As more than two decades have now passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we must vow to never forget the tragic events that took place that day. America mourns the loss of the thousands of men and women who lost their lives in the horrifying attacks, and we’re remembering them and thinking of their loved ones today. At the same time, we extend our appreciation to the brave first responders who ran toward danger to help their fellow neighbor. As our nation continues to fight global terrorism, we are reminded that freedom is not free. We are grateful for the incredible men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who have answered the call to protect our great nation.” Hoeven, a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, was scheduled to speak today at the Team Red, White and Blue remembrance event held at the Global War on Terror Memorial near the North Dakota National Guard headquarters. Sen. Kevin Cramer said, “21 years after the September 11th attack on U.S. soil, we honor the brave first responders who stepped up and mourn with families who lost loved ones. With the death of Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, our commitment to bring terrorists to justice and protect Americans continues.”
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Drives Soybean Crush Plant Construction
Feed & Grain
In a press release, ADM and Marathon Petroleum Corp. about their joint venture’s, Green Bison Soy Processing, new facility, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said, “Green Bison will add value and expand the market for one of our farmers’ most important crops, while also creating 75 direct jobs and diversifying our economy to support our communities, our citizens and the entire state.”
Gov. Burgum touting income tax plan to state lawmakers
Prairie Public
Gov. Doug Burgum has presented his “Relief For All” state income tax plan to the Legislature’s Interim Taxation Committee. The plan would lower the income tax rate to a flat 1.5 percent. Burgum told the Committee it would be the lowest flat-tax rate in the nation. And he said some would pay no income tax. “This would insure that 60 percent of North Dakotans won’t have to pay income tax,” Burgum told the Committee. “That means we’d be eliminating income tax permanently in North Dakota for 388,000 citizens, or nearly three out of five filers.”
Burgum, Cramer comment on queen’s passing
Minot Daily News
Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Kevin Cramer released statements on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who died Thursday at the age of 96. “Queen Elizabeth II served the Commonwealth with grace, dignity and compassion for a remarkable 70 years, inspiring many with her shining example of duty and service,” said Burgum. “Kathryn and I join the world in mourning her passing and offering our deepest condolences to the Royal Family.” Cramer said, “Queen Elizabeth II maintained the grace and dignity of the monarchy for 70 years under her steadfast leadership. Her Majesty will be missed and the world joins the United Kingdom in mourning. May she Rest in Peace.” Burgum directed all government agencies to fly the United States and North Dakota flags at half-staff, and encourages North Dakotans to do the same at their homes and businesses, in honor and remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II. The governor’s directive is in accordance with a proclamation issued by President Joe Biden. Flags are to be flown at half-staff until sunset on the day of interment.
Governor Doug Burgum cites “Biden inflation” while touting plan to slash income tax
WDAY
Governor Doug Burgum is promoting his plan aimed at slashing income tax in the state. “This is an opportunity for us to put some money back, you know put tax payer money back in the pockets of North Dakotans and we’re very excited about it. Burgum, while appearing on “What’s on Your Mind” on AM 1100 the Flag, said his proposal has broad legislative support, and said the state is in position to offer income tax relief because of the state’s strong financial standing. His plan would eliminate income tax for 60 percent of the state’s workers and the remaining 40 percent would pay a flat tax on income of 1.5 percent…Burgum cited soaring inflation while saying the timing is right for relief. “You’ve got Biden inflation hitting record levels,” said Burgum.
AG Wrigley: state supreme court ruling on ballot measure “left a lot of us scratching our heads”
AM 1100 The Flag
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley is expressing frustration and surprise after a ruling Wednesday by the state Supreme Court. “I’ve been in and out of courtrooms for 30 years. You don’t always get the decisions that you want. Someone asked me if it is legitimate, yeah, its legitimate. They’re not infallible though. They spoke finally on this and left a lot of us scratching our heads wondering how did they reach that conclusion,” said Wrigley. The court ordered a ballot measure calling for term limits for North Dakota’s Governor and legislators be placed on the November ballot. The measure was previously rejected by Secretary of State Al Jaeger, who alleged 29,000 signature petitions submitted in support of the measure were fraudulent. The court found Jaeger acted unlawfully, essentially saying not enough alleged fraud was found to justify rejecting all 29,000 signatures, of more than 46,000 submitted.
Wrigley expresses concern with increasing crime rate
WFGO
Attorney General Drew Wrigley said 2022 statistics show a rising crime rate in North Dakota. Wrigley said that’s especially true of violent crime. “When you look at the violent crime and person crime increases across North Dakota, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that these difficulties present a clear and very real present danger to the communities in North Dakota,” Wrigley said at a news conference. Wrigley told reporters he’s preparing a package of legislation to present to the 2023 Legislative session, to help deal with it. He said the package will include more agents for the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and tougher mandatory sentences, especially for violent offenders. “Punishment and protection are legitimate, and central, important features of the criminal justice system,” Wrigley said. “Public safety comes from removing certain types of anti-social and violent dangerous offenders from our communities for a significant amount of time. There’s no question on the impact that can have.”
ND to get $6M in JUUL settlement
Knox Radio
A $438.5 million settlement has been agreed to in principle between e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs and 34 states, including North Dakota. North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley says the deal resolves a two-year bipartisan investigation into JUUL’s marketing and sales practices. North Dakota will receive more than $6-million under the settlement that will be paid out over a period of six to ten years. The settlement also provides for a series of important and strict injunctive terms intended to severely limit JUUL’s marketing and sales practices. Wrigley says an investigation revealed that JUUL attained a prominent position in the vaping market by willfully engaging in a campaign that appealed to youth. JUUL also manipulated the chemical composition of its product to make the vapor less harsh on the throats of the young and inexperienced users.
Lieutenant Governor Brent Sanford touts North Dakota’s ag advantages after visiting Iowa
WDAY
North Dakota Lieutenant Governor Brent Sanford is talking about differences between the agriculture industry in North Dakota compared to the industry in Iowa. “They aren’t talking about the things that we are talking about. They don’t talk about the value added agriculture as much. It was like what we found where the excellence in growing the commodities and growing the crops,” said Sanford. Sanford made the observation after attending the Iowa Farm Progress Show over the weekend. While there, the Lieutenant Governor met with several other Lieutenant Governors from other Midwestern states and also dined with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Sanford discussed his trip while appearing on “What’s on your Mind” on AM 1100 The Flag. Sanford also said North Dakota is doing a relatively better job than Iowa at working toward solutions for pressing issues in agriculture. “They’re concerned about lack of propane, they’re concerned about high prices on fertilizer. You know, so similar concerns as we have and we are probably closer to solutions on those things,” said Sanford. The Lieutenant Governor also commented on harvesting now taking place in North Dakota. “Just driving through western North Dakota the last couple of weeks I mean there is some tremendous wheat being harvested. The corn looks good,” said Sanford.
Midwest grid operator feels heat as it signals need for gas
Energy Wire
Julie Fedorchak, chair of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, said she’s been pushing MISO to no avail since 2016 to value the attributes that coal, gas and nuclear power plants provide the grid. Ultimately, she said, a delay in doing so led to MISO’s Midwest region falling short of meeting its planning reserve margin requirement and issuing a warning about an elevated risk of reliability problems “Fast-forward six years, and it hasn’t been taken care of,” Fedorchak said. “And it’s almost a crisis.” While Fedorchak agreed that MISO’s charge is to be fuel-agnostic, she said the grid operator has been “late to the party” when it comes to establishing markets that reward grid reliability.Search for missing Native artifacts led to the discovery of bodies stored in ‘the most inhumane way possible’
NBC News
“We are heartbroken by the deeply insensitive treatment of these indigenous ancestral remains and artifacts and extend our deepest apologies to the sovereign tribal nations in North Dakota and beyond,” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said in a statement. “This dark chapter, while extremely hurtful, also presents an opportunity to enhance our understanding and respect for indigenous cultures and to become a model for the nation by conducting this process with the utmost deference to the wishes, customs and traditions of tribal nations.”
Washington, D.C.
Sen. Hoeven Helps Send-Off National Guard Unit in Bismarck
KVRR
Sen. John Hoeven commending the service of the North Dakota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 112th Aviation Regiment at a send-off ceremony Sunday in Bismarck. The regiment is deploying to provide aviation support along the nation’s borders. This will be the battalion’s third deployment, following missions in Bosnia from 2005 to 2006 and Kosovo from 2011 to 2012. Hoeven said, “The sacrifices made by them and their families do not go unnoticed.”
Senate grapples with election reform legislation as time runs short to act
NBC News
“Well, I’m not really sure that states need federal intervention now,” Cramer said. “God gave us the Ten Commandments and the founders gave us the Constitution. We’ve been trying to improve on it with hundreds and thousands and millions of bills and we haven’t done much to make it better. “I think the constitutional traditions have been pretty darn good, including in the most recent presidential election — they’ve performed the way they were supposed to perform,” Cramer added. “And so I hate tinkering too much with the Constitution.”
Tribune editorial: Party treated Haugen badly and it will pay
The Bismarck Tribune
The North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party has been in disarray for several years, but it hit a new low with the situation involving Mark Haugen, the party’s candidate for the U.S. House. Haugen stepped forward to challenge Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., for the House seat when the party was struggling to find candidates. In fact, the party failed to fill all the ballot spots…The desire of national Democrats to have Congress pass a bill guaranteeing the right to an abortion has become a key issue in the fall elections. It appears to be the reason Democratic-NPL leaders and other activists on the left pressured Haugen to drop out of the race…The Democratic-NPL can’t win even if Mund triumphs as it further tarnished its reputation with the shoddy treatment of Haugen. The party has had problems in the past finding candidates, and it likely will have a more difficult time in the future.
Water, heat and electricity being added to Fargo National Cemetery restroom
Valley News Live
Funding has been secured for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build a fully-developed restroom at the Fargo National Cemetery. It will include running water, heat and electricity. This comes after concerns from veterans support groups that expanded facilities were needed to better accommodate veterans, families and volunteers. “Our veterans, their families and the FNC volunteers deserve facilities that meet their needs and ensure they can honor the memory of those who served with dignity,” said Senator John Hoeven. The cemetery enhancement project will also include wind walls and storage space. Work on the wind walls began this week and construction of the storage building and restroom are set to begin in the next few weeks. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Hoeven: Settlement to block drilling on federal lands a ‘bad deal’ for Americans
The Ripon Advance
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) denounced the Biden administration’s recent settlement agreement with several conservation groups to block drilling permits for federal land in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. “This is a bad deal for the American people and only further increases our nation’s reliance on OPEC and adversaries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela,” Sen. Hoeven said.
Federal oil leases held up pending climate review
Houston Chronicle
In 2020 a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled the BLM had failed to adequately consider the cumulative impact of oil and gas leasing on more than 300,000 aces of federal land in Wyoming, ordering drilling to stop. But earlier this year the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which manages offshore oil and gas leasing, had largely done its job on climate ahead of a 2018 lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico – though ordered them to address some safety issues before moving ahead. The interruption to oil and gas leasing has drawn outrage from Republicans and some Democrats, who maintain the United States needs to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters in order to keep energy prices low and maintain the nation’s energy supply. As part of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, Congress mandated federal lease sales for oil and gas drilling move ahead. “This is bad for North Dakota, the United States, our environment, and global greenhouse gas emissions, but great for our adversaries,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., tweeted following the announcement of the settlement Wednesday.
Russia Gets Snooty With North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer
SuperTalk 1270 AM
“U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was on the new sanctions list, as were several American senators: Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Rick Scott of Florida, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the group, which also included business leaders, academics and government officials, would be banned permanently from entering Russia.” Kevin Cramer co-sponsored a bill to ban Russian uranium resources from being sold to the United States. He’s all behind blocking all Russian energy imports and has been an overall anti-Putin pundit. Seems fair. Putin will go down as one of history’s great villains.
Altru, construction partners celebrate milestone in Grand Forks hospital project with ‘Topping Off Ceremony’
Inforum
Conveying a congratulatory message for U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Tom Bruseggard said the new hospital will have more beds, additional space and advanced technology to meet the health care needs of people in this area. Emily Berg, speaking for Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the new hospital “will usher in a new era in regional health care” and congratulated all those involved “for their patience, resilience and hard work that has brought this project to reality.”
Is the U.S. Marshals Service About to Ignore ICE Detainers for Dangerous Criminal Aliens?
Town Hall
A number of Republican Senators are sounding the alarm about a potential plan from the U.S. Marshals Service to essentially ignore Immigration and Customs Enforcement retainers for violent criminal aliens. In a letter to U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis, Senators warn the proposed new policy is a threat to the safety of American communities across the country…The letter was signed by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn, Jim Inhofe, Steve Daines, Thom Tillis, Mike Braun, Tom Cotton, John Cornyn, Mike Lee, James Risch, Kevin Cramer, John Hoeven and James Lankford.
Democrat Party Forces Democrat Nominee Out of Congressional Race Because He’s Pro-Life
LifeSite News
North Dakota Democrat Mark Haugen quit his bid for U.S. House on Monday, saying party leaders pressured him to leave because of his pro-life views and he “refused to compromise.” Supposedly, Democrat Party leaders believe abortion is a winning issue, but even prominent state Democrats who support abortion are angry about Haugen’s ouster, InForum columnist Rob Port reports. Haugen reportedly was pushed aside in favor of last-minute candidate Cara Mund, a former Miss America winner who is running primarily on a pro-abortion platform.
