621: 'We knew this was coming'
Plain Talk
This episode of Plain Talk is a little unusual, because the guest we interviewed for the show is actually our own producer, Matt Fern. Matt, in addition to producing Plain Talk, is also a filmmaker by trade. A couple of years ago he to object to hundreds of thousands of dollars in film grants being issued by the North Dakota Department of Commerce under former Gov. Doug Burgum by untoward means. The Commerce Department ran for a grant that, per evidence from the legislative record, was always intended to go to a specific Bismarck-based company that, two years later, And this wasn't the...
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Department of Incompetence | The $740,000 Question (Episode 1)
Plain Talk
The $740,000 question is a podcast from Plain Talk producer Matt Fern. Making movies in North Dakota is hard. Unless you’re one company with powerful connections. In the premiere episode of The $740,000 Question, filmmaker Matt Fern unpacks how a single production company, Canticle Productions, received $700,000 in taxpayer-funded film grants from the North Dakota Department of Commerce. With no state film office, no tax incentives, and virtually no infrastructure, how did this happen and why? Matt traces the timeline of payments starting with a $40,000 stock footage deal in 2017, a $100,000...
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620: 'This panel has represented George Floyd protesters and they have represented January 6 defendants'
Plain Talk
Public defenders working in the federal system representing indigent defendants The federal government ran out of money, That's a big problem. Every American accused of a crime has a right to counsel, and while you might think that public defenders are just for poor people, they actually represent most people accused of a crime. In North Dakota, the precentage of criminal defendants represented by a public defender is north of 80%. In the federal system, nationwide, it's around 90% Jason Tupman said on this episode of Plain Talk. Tupman is the top federal public defender for the North Dakota...
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619: 'Conservation sometimes becomes the dog that everybody can get behind kicking'
Plain Talk
One proposal in the recently passed "big, beautiful bill" that didn't make it to the finish line was an amendment from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, which would have jump-started a sell-off of federally owned lands. On this episode of Plain Talk, John Bradley, executive director of the North Dakota Wildlife Federation, talked about that victory, and also discussed the place in politics conservation issues often find themselves. "Conservation sometimes becomes the dog that everybody can get behind kicking," he said. Bradley expressed a desire for public lands to become a "third rail" issue that...
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618: Legislature stepped up with funding to move public defenders 'in the right direction'
Plain Talk
The criminal justice system is often where public policy debates, from civil rights to addiction, converge. It's also critical for ensuring accountability when the government oversteps. North Dakota's Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigence, led by Director Travis Finck, headed into this year's legislative session facing a due to a lack of resources, leaving many without legal counsel. But lawmakers stepped up. The Finck and his fellow public defenders received a 20% budget increase, amounting to an additional $4.5 million over their 2023 budget. The budget boost is moving the agency "in...
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617: Rep. Nico Rios didn't show up (REPLAY)
Plain Talk
In this replay episode, we revisit a conversation that didn’t go as planned. We had scheduled Rep. Nico Rios to appear on Plain Talk to discuss his recent controversies; from bigoted and homophobic remarks during a DUI arrest, to a social media post invoking the CIA and antisemitic language, to a constitutionally questionable resolution declaring Jesus Christ “King over all the world.” We wanted to have a respectful, honest conversation about his words and actions. But just minutes before the interview, Rep. Rios backed out. “Ay dude I'm not going on your boring little show,” he...
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616: 'We have...lifelong Republicans saying I'm done.' (REPLAY)
Plain Talk
In this special replay episode, Rob Port and Chad Oban revisit a timely conversation with former North Dakota Republican Party Chair Bob Harms. With infighting and censures making headlines again, Harms' perspective on internal party dynamics, district-level power struggles, and the long-term risks to the GOP brand hits even harder today. The discussion dives into how party rules, legislative overreach, and local gamesmanship are discouraging participation and undermining transparency. Harms also shares his concerns about property tax reform, the future of the Legacy Fund, and what happens...
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615: 'Donald Trump likes people who like him'
Plain Talk
President Donald Trump joined Israel's attacks against Iran's nuclear program, and so far the operation seems to have been a success. That's certainly Sen. Kevin Cramer's view of it, as he explained on this episode of Plain Talk. He also praised Trump's willingness to repudiate some of the isolationists in the MAGA movement. "I've often said, and people have quoted me saying, 'Donald Trump likes people who like him.' The problem is when the body of people who like you range, you know, so greatly, you at some point are going to disappoint somebody," he said. "I was very proud of this decision....
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614: 'When someone on your own side is referring to them as cuts, you're losing that war'
Plain Talk
Recently, Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak sent out an email seeking to debunk what she describes as myths when it comes to proposed changes to the Medicaid program. She argues that the program isn't being cut, but rather just being slowed in its growth. But wherever you come down on that debate, the fact that she's prompted to make these arguments is politically significant. On this episode of Plain Talk, my co-host Chad Oban and I talked about that, in the context of one of Fedorchak's predecessors, former Rep. Earl Pomeroy, trying to explain his vote in favor of Obamacare. Oban pointed out...
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613: 'We're not providing a grant. We do expect a return to come back to us.'
Plain Talk
In I argued that the concept of "baby bonds" — a verison of which is included in "big beautiful bill" President Donald Trump is backing in Congress — is something North Dakotans should implement whatever the federal government might do. We have hundreds of millions in revenue from the Legacy Fund's investments, and we have the Bank of North Dakota to administer the program. A rough estimate based on the average number of live births in our state every year is that this would cost the state about $20 million or so per biennium. After I published my column, Treasurer Thomas Beadle reached...
info_outlineOn this episode of Plain Talk, Sen. Josh Boschee, a Democrat from Fargo, characterized the just-completed legislative session as marked by crucial victories but also "too many missed opportunities" and numerous "close calls on bad Republican bills."
He emphasized how Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve both.
Among the victories? Passing Gov. Kelly Armstrong's property tax plan, which implements $1,600 primary residence property tax credits and 3% caps on growth in property tax bills. Noting his day job in real estate, Boschee extolled "how much this is going to help make housing more affordable throughout our state."
He highlighted that the reform could potentially "completely wipe out" property taxes for lower-priced or rural homes or those in smaller communities, allowing residents to invest that money in home repairs, buy a larger home, or open up more affordable housing stock for others.
And the bad bills? Boschee said those included "book bans, what teachers are teaching in the classroom, which bathrooms people are using," and issues related to "abortion and gay marriage."
Most of those initiatives failed, and Boschee said that's because "a faction of the Republican party worked with Democrats to defeat a lot of those bills."
Boschee also praised former Rep. Cynthia Schreiber Beck, who passed away recently. She was someone who "got things done for Richland County or District 25," he said. "Someone that we could all depend on and trust" and who "told you like it was."
"If she wasn't going to support your idea, you knew it," he said, but if she liked your idea, she "would work with you to make it better or to get it across the finish line."
Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the impact the property tax cap may have on the ways North Dakota communities develop, and how the state's new ban on cell phones in schools will play out.
This episode is presented by Lignite Energy Council, an organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the development of North Dakota's abundant lignite resouces. Their goal is to maintain a viable lignite coal industry and support the generation of electrcity, syntheitc natural gas, and valuable byproducts. Visit www.Lignite.com/Podcast to connect and learn more.
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