ND Secretary Of State Cuts Office Hours Again
Almost two months ago I wrote about my experience in trying to get a business registration approved by the Secretary of State’s office. At the time it had taken nearly two months to get my application processed, a delay that cost me thousands of dollars in business.
Since then Secretary of State Al Jaeger has closed his office to outside business one day a week so that his staff can focus on processing business filings. Today Jaeger announces that he’ll be trimming his office’s hours on the remaining four days they’re open for the same reason.
It’s worth noting big delays in processing these filings were an issue during Jaeger’s last campaign for re-election, with Democrat Corey Mock pointing out that the bottle neck in business registrations was hurting the state’s economy. He was right then, and it’s clear Jaeger has done little to address the problem since then.
Setting ideology aside, we citizens expect a certain level of competence and efficiency from government. We can point to the state’s oil boom, and our rapid economic growth, but we’ve been living with those things for years now and the excuse is running thin.
If Jaeger decides to run again for another term, Republicans need to seriously consider finding another candidate. North Dakota cannot be called a “business friendly state” when it takes two months for the government to rubber stamp some forms.
Tags: al jaeger, North Dakota News, secretary of state
