Say Anything

For the uninitiated, for some time now I’ve been critical of the way things, well, have stayed the same since Senator Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy departed North Dakota’s congressional delegation. For years those two, along with Senator Kent Conrad (who will be retiring at the end of his term) peppered the state’s press corps with press release after press release crediting themselves with every dollar of federal pork which flowed into the state.

Not surprisingly, the volume of these press releases increased around campaign season.

But I had expected, with Dorgan and Pomeroy being replaced by Republicans, that these press releases would dry up. They haven’t. They’re still being sent out regularly, with the delegation claiming credit for all manner of federal spending in North Dakota whether they had a hand in it or not.

The latest press release is below, but my overarching point is that this sort of politics should be rejected by voters. These are not prizes being announced. We’re not winning the lottery here. This our tax dollars slowing being dripped back into the state after they were collected from us by the feds with Conrad, Hoeven and Berg posing next to the money as though they were Ed McMahon with a big check.

And when all three of these guys claim to be concerned about the national debt, bragging about pork spending here at home in North Dakota is just a little bit hypocritical.

Delegation Announces More than $275,000 in Funding to Help Boost North Dakota Manufacturing

Washington – Senators Kent Conrad and John Hoeven and Congressman Rick Berg announced today that the Dakota Manufacturing Extension Partnership will receive a federal grant totaling more than $275,000 to continue efforts to strengthen and grow manufacturing in North Dakota.

“In order to create jobs and revenue in our state, it is important to continue expanding and improving the businesses that call North Dakota home,” the delegation said in a joint statement. “The North Dakota MEP does just this by providing companies with the services and tools to compete both domestically and internationally.”

The Dakota Manufacturing Extension Partnership is a non-profit based in Bismarck. They will receive $275,148 in funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The program works with small and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers to help them create and retain jobs, increase profits, and save time and money. The nationwide network provides a variety of services, from innovation strategies to process improvements to green manufacturing.

MEP also works with partners at the state and federal levels on programs that put manufacturers in position to develop new customers, expand into new markets and create new products

The grant was awarded by the National Institute of Standards & Technology with funds appropriated by Congress.