Say Anything Blog

An interesting pair of stories ran recently about elected officials of Mandan. The first was about how the Mandan Park Board is trying to come up with uses for the existing community center because it is underutilized. This sounded pretty good. It likely would save the taxpayers money, since we are likely subsidizing the operation of the current center.

Then there was a disturbing story about something called the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association. This group seems to be pushing an idea to build some sort of event center in Mandan. I suspect they are looking to mimic the Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corp., which is currently seeking to fund its operations on the backs of consumers with an increase of the sales tax in Cass County.

Isn’t it interesting that these groups keep popping up wanting to build their operations and facilities on the backs of hard-working people? Once built, the hard-working people end up subsidizing the operation because the market didn’t demand the facility in the first place.

Residents of Mandan only need to look to Grand Forks to see what happens when local officials and economic development groups get together and decide they want something and don’t want to pay for it themselves. The Alerus Center loses $5.5 million each year just in the operating costs, which ends up being footed by the taxpayer - not to mention the quarter-cent sales tax that services the debt incurred in building the center.

Most Mandan residents realize that they are considerably overtaxed the way it is. They also understand that it is increasingly more difficult to honestly attract business to the city, as shown by the city council recently creating a half-million-dollar revolving fund to bribe businesses to come in.

Without a growing economy gaining revenue in a noninvasive way, elected officials in Mandan or any city, for that matter, must concentrate on the basics - such as maintaining the streets without making every corner some sort of art display.

It’s time for Mandan people to demand more responsibility from their government.

When are we going to stop thinking the grass is greener on the other side?

The State Commerce Department has launched a campaign to recruit folks that are no longer in North Dakota in an attempt to convince them to come back. While that may sound great, our government is now making the same decision that those who left made – that things (and now people in our government’s case) are better on the other side of the border. People who left generally did it for higher pay, more opportunities, or they just wanted to leave.

There is nothing that can be done to bring back those who simply want to see what is out there. As far as the others, our focus must be on retention rather than recruitment. It doesn’t matter how much money is spent to recruit people to come back, until we can stabilize the out-migration side of the equation we will simply be swimming up stream – and spending other people’s money to do it. Rather than trying to entice people to come back, we must first make it as cheap as possible for those who are here right now to stay.

The state can’t waive a magic wand and raise wages, but it can do a few things. First, the state must discontinue promotion of North Dakota as a low wage state. Currently the Commerce Department website has a flyer that brags about how labor costs are low. What this means is that our government is taking pride in the very thing that is pushing so many young people out. This must stop.

Second, our government must maximize the take-home pay of its citizens by reducing the cost of its operation. The more people can take home out of their pay checks, the better they will be able to afford to stay in North Dakota.

Finally, we must adopt a North Dakota First attitude. This means that everything our government does should be focused on making things better for those who are here now, not wishing and hoping for others to show up. We cannot continue to subsidize non-residents who attend college in North Dakota if it results in a 25% increase of tuition for North Dakotans. We must abolish the policies that are promoting out-migration and adopt an attitude that values people who choose to remain in the state in spite of those policies.

Several short-sighted and unworkable ideas in the area of retention have been proposed (the 2002 Youth Initiative and Sen. Grindberg’s Promise Plan being most noteworthy). While these plans were not practical or accepted by the people, their focus on retaining the population that already exists was proper. We need plans that will save money for taxpayers, students, and graduates alike. Spending money to retain people is not an option, but reforming policies that will put more money in everyone’s pocket will.

Outmigration Is Real And Won’t Solve Itself

There can be no denying that outmigration is real and it is not getting any better.  Ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away as some like to do.  Two recent reports quantified in no uncertain economic terms that there is indeed a problem.

First, the State Data Center issued a report detailing how even in Cass County where the population is growing at a quick rate, has been unable to recoup taxable lost because of people leaving.  As a whole, the report indicates that the state has lost over a billion dollars in taxable income in the last 14 years. 

Secondly, first quarter personal income growth numbers came in with North Dakota dead last.  Not only dead last, but the ONLY state with personal income actually on the decline.  There’s really no way to spin this.

So let’s review:  1) Personal Income is declining while the Gross State Product is increasing.  2) People who are leaving the state are making more than those entering the state.

What can be done?

1.)  Admit there is a problem.
2.)  Reduce the amount of lost income to taxation by allowing people to keep more of their money.
3.)  Create incentives to entice young people to stay in North Dakota (income tax exemption for those under 30 years old).
4.)  Eliminate hurdles and roadblocks to new business creation.
5.)  Utilize Bank of North Dakota profits for low interest/high risk business loans specifically targeted towards college graduates with solid business plans.
6.)  End the use of student loan profits as a general fund revenue source.
7.)  Increase accountability for higher education cost increases; specifically student fees.
8.)  Allow “amount paid” on student loans to be “banked” for later use as tax credits against state income tax liability in future years.

If these initiatives are not embraced, then the U.S. Census Bureau may be right when it predicts that North Dakota will lose another 30,000 people - or 5% of the state.  Keep in mind they predict that they predict South Dakota (with no state income tax) to gain nearly 50,000 people.

In 2004, Dickinson State University invited a self-proclaimed communist and admitted bomber of the anti-war Vietnam era to campus on the public dime. I was the Chairman of the campus College Republicans at the time.

This speaker, named Bill Ayers, was a member of The Weather Underground, a homegrown terrorist group that wanted to overthrow the American Government to end the Vietnam War, was paid for with student fees.

The 2004 College Republicans opposed this speaker (see press release text below) on the basis that it was a misallocation of student and public funds. We were accused by supporters of this man that we were opposing free speech. The fact is, that the Bill Ayers event in 2004 was not free speech - after all, it was paid speech, using student tuition dollars.

Which brings us to today, where the largest newspaper in the state of North Dakota has decided to attack those that are simply practicing true free speech and hurting no one in the process. The editorial is simply a parroting of the Democratic Talking Points.

So the lesson in all of this is that free speech is only good when it comes to one point of view, but not another.

Text of Opposition Press Release (more...)