Say Anything Blog

Fargo Forum Editorial:

There are trade trips and then there are junkets disguised as trade trips.

Falling into the former category was the recent trip – several trips, in fact – to Cuba by bipartisan North Dakota delegations, led by Republican Gov. John Hoeven or Republican Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Democratic state Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. Falling into the latter category was the jaunt to Antigua a few months ago by a tight-knit group of Republican legislators – a trip that would not have been exposed but for the reporting of The Forum’s capitol correspondent Janell Cole.

The Cuba trips were appropriately transparent, paid for by state funds and coordinated with a federal effort led by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., to open trade between Cuba and North Dakota. It’s working. The trips resulted in trade deals that promise to be the first of many. The bipartisan and completely open nature of the effort to establish ag trade with Cuba further confirms the legitimacy of the trips.

By contrast, the excursion to Antigua was an exclusively Republican affair, paid for in full by the Antiguan government and aimed primarily at entangling North Dakota in the Internet gambling business. The trip was approved by no one other than the participants, yet the legislators involved certainly would have been viewed as representatives of the government of North Dakota – and by extension the people of North Dakota. While the trip was not illegal, its clandestine and unofficial nature raises an odor of illegitimacy.

Defenders of the Antigua trippers crow that the “trade mission” should be applauded because it cost the taxpayers nothing. How’s that? Taken to its ludicrous conclusion, such illogic leads to a system whereby North Dakota legislators would appear to be for sale to the highest bidder. And be assured, those bidders would lard the travel budgets of legislators in order to influence legislation.

Read the whole thing.

So let me get this straight. A trip to Cuba that a) was billed to the taxpayers, b) entered North Dakota into dealings with a corrupt despot who's money either comes from illegal activity or from the blood of his oppressed people and c) will only lend legitimacy and support to Castro's oppressive regime is the "right" sort of trade mission. Yet a trip to Antigua that a) started the ball rolling for trade dealings with a democracy and b) didn't cost tax payers a nickel is the "wrong" sort t of trade mission.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the Forum and state Democrats have their priorities messed up when it comes to trade agreements?

I'll admit that the Republicans making the Antigua trip could have made their dealings more transparent (and I will support legislation to that end), but the simple fact of the matter is that they broke no laws and were working in furtherance of their state. The Forum tries to insinuate unethical relationships between the Republicans who went on the Antigua trip and lobbyists, yet there is not one shred of evidence to suggest that these lawmakers crossed any sort of ethical boundaries.

The Forum's shilling for state Dems on this issue is nothing short of alarming.

(via The North Dakota Democrats Blog)