Say Anything Blog

A little over a week ago I posted on news that over a half a million acres of privately-owned land in North Dakota had been handed over to an un-elected, quasi-government board for management thanks to a bill put in the 2009 Omnibus Land Management Act by Senator Byron Dorgan.  The owners of the property, who had only been notified that such a move was being considered, were shocked to learn that their land could now be managed by someone else.

Now comes news that one of the primary movers and shakers behind this effort, state Senator Tracy Potter, engaged in some dubious finagling to get this land under his control (he sits at the head of the board which now has management power).  Senator Potter told Congress in Washington DC that hearings had been held and there was broad public support for the plan.  He was right that meetings had been held, but the public was only on board with a feasibility study.  They weren’t necessarily in favor of their land being designated as National Heritage Areas.

Further, Potter’s group appears to have been less than truthful about lobbying efforts for this designation on tax disclosure forms filed with the IRS.  The North Dakota Policy Council has the scoop:

Northern Plains Heritage Foundation Director and North Dakota State Senator Tracy Potter organized a lobbying effort to get more than half a million acres of private property designated as the Northern Plains Heritage Area in March (See Figure 1 below), by the US Congress, without disclosing such efforts to the IRS, which is required by law. He also convinced a congressional subcommittee, in 2007, that such a designation had widespread public support, when it did not. ...

In 2005, the NPHF Board began as a sub-group of the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, which is also administered by Potter. In 2007, the NPHF received a $62,000 federal grant and split away from the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation. In fact, the NPHF filed its own Form 990 – the tax return filed by non-profit organizations – which revealed that a portion of the federal funds ($8,446.22 - Page 2) were used to pay for Potter’s trip to testify at the subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. And the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation hired lobbyists to urge the passage of the NHA.

The Greystone Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization which also does work for a handful of North Dakota colleges, filed a 2007 lobbying report for the work that was done on behalf of the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation in support of the NHA designation. However, the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation reported on its Form 990 that it did not lobby. Clearly, however, the non-profits were attempting to influence legislation.

According to the Greystone Group’s disclosure reports, both the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation and the NPHF lobbied for the Northern Plains National Heritage Area Act, in 2008. And in 2009, the NPHF lobbied for S. 22 – a bill which included the NPHA designation.

In testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Potter also claimed that there was public support for the NHA designation.

“In public hearings before city and county commissions the meaning of such a program has been discussed and the commissions have unanimously provided their encouragement,” Potter testified.

The NPHF met with the commissions and several civic organizations to discuss the idea of a National Heritage Area designation in 2005 and 2006. However, not all five county commissions Potter referred to offered up support for the designation, as letters that appear in the feasibility study and meetings minutes show. (Click HERE and HERE to view the letters.)

In summary, Senator Potter played fast and loose with the truth about public support in North Dakota for this designation while testifying in Washington DC.  Potter also apparently tried to conceal lobbying efforts on behalf of the designation by the various groups he heads up (National Plains Heritage Foundation and the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation).

One would hope that Senator Potter would be held accountable for these transgressions.

And we should also ask ourselves why the government needs to manage all of these lands.  My guess is that Senator Byron Dorgan is probably leading the charge on this in the background, with this designation being a way for him to funnel lots and lots of federal pork back into the state (this designation allows the government to develop the land for tourism and recreation) so that he can be repaid in kind with contributions and political support from the people he funneled the pork to.

It’s basically like a “get Democrats elected” piggy bank being created at the expense of our tax dollars and some land owners’ property rights.

North Dakotans should be very, very alarmed by this.