Say Anything Blog

Yesterday the people of North Dakota decided to send Earl Pomeroy, a liberal democrat, back to the US Congress where he will serve his ninth term. Despite the single digit approval ratings given to the Democrat-led Congress almost immediately after the 2006 elections, instead of voting for new representation and new ideas, North Dakotans voted for the tired, out-of-touch philosophies of Earl Pomeroy. Earl voted himself a six-week vacation in July of 2008, voted to redeploy troops out of Iraq in 2007, has voted to give illegal immigrants social security benefits, and voted against a bill that would have required that parents be notified by the abortion clinic when their child seeks an abortion. Are those votes a good indicator of “North Dakota values”? Earl Pomeroy apparently thinks so.

Duane Sand was ready to fix what he called “the most broken body of Government” anywhere in the world - the United States Congress. A congress where corruption is king and where people like Earl Pomeroy take upwards of $20,000 in campaign contributions in the few days before voting to bail out those very institutions with $700 billion taxpayer dollars. Duane Sand was ready to stand up for limited government and lower taxes, defend the lives of unborn children, and support our soldiers as they secure victory in Iraq. Duane Sand was ready to expand domestic energy production and free us from foreign oil. But most importantly, Duane Sand was ready to stand up for the true beliefs of North Dakotans, not the special interests of Washington.

It is unfortunate that incumbency is so powerful in this country that it can prevent those with new and innovative ideas from going into Washington and making necessary changes. It is astonishing that despite recognizing that we have a failed Congress, when given the chance to make a change at the polls, the voters send the same people back for another term. I long for the day when North Dakota will awaken and recognize the need for new representation in Washington.

Duane Sand will be debating incumbent Earl Pomeroy for the second time on October 20th. You can catch this debate, which is sure to be intense, on NBC at 7PM. Recently Earl has become more and more desperate to find an issue to attack Duane on. He decided to make the false claim that Duane takes his paycheck from a “radical Washington special interest group”. It turns out that this “radical group” is American’s for Prosperity, one of the nation’s largest limited government, low taxes minded-groups, a group supported by former Governor and current Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer. It’s also important to note that Earl Pomeroy’s campaign “takes its check”, or at least 76% ($1.1 million) of it from special interest groups.

Earl Pomeroy is running out of things to say, and this is evidenced by the fact that any given sentence from his campaign is bound to contain one of the following phrases: “fighting for North Dakota”, “North Dakota values at work”, “Powerful Ways and Means Committee”, and the classic “out of state partisans”. Let’s first take a look at one of Earl’s favorite catch phrases - “fighting for North Dakota”. The phrase is so vague that it hardly warrants a response, but it’s clear that if Earl really wanted to fight for North Dakota, and the entire country for that matter, he wouldn’t have voted himself a six week vacation this summer when we were struggling with high gas prices.

Another phrase that Earl likes to throw into all of his radio and television ads is “North Dakota values at work”. Maybe he has forgotten that North Dakota is a pro-life state, and that his 16% rating from the National Right to Life Committee doesn’t exactly fit with “North Dakota values”. His pro-abortion voting record is something that Earl is always trying to hide from, but it is finally starting to come out this election year. Perhaps the most outrageous statement from the Pomeroy campaign is found on his website where it states that every two years, Earl is attacked by “out of state partisans”. I’m not sure how Earl Pomeroy can describe Navy veteran and North Dakota native Duane Sand as an out of state partisan while still being a member of the Pelosi crowd in Congress. Earl represents San Francisco values, not North Dakota values.

I hope that next Monday’s debate will give voters the chance to see that North Dakota has a great opportunity to elect Duane Sand, a true North Dakotan with a commitment to the taxpayer and a desire to serve the state and bring a refreshing change to Washington.

2008 just might be the year that we finally get rid of the entrenched and out of touch bureaucrat Earl Pomeroy, and Duane Sand is the candidate to do it. His campaign is hard at work, and he is raising unprecedented amounts of money for his efforts. He will need all that he can get to combat the influx of out of state money that Earl Pomeroy will be able to receive. I just got a letter in the mail from the Sand campaign, a sure sign that the word is getting out. Here is a great excerpt from the letter:

“We aren’t just fighting against one politician, one who has publicly endorsed Barack Obama for President; we’re fighting against a well-oiled political machine. Earl is a career politician, serving the will of liberal Democrats in Washington. So far he has even received $26,500 from one D.C. Insider alone: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi”

This is a great point, and all North Dakotans need to hear this message. There is no doubt that some television advertising with this theme will resonate across the state. Please check out Duane’s brand new website - it looks great. You can find it at http://www.duanesand.com/. If you have some time or resources, do consider volunteering or donating to the campaign. We need to reach a lot of voters and we need your help.

While you’re here, you might want to check out the brand new photos of Duane I have posted here. The photos were taken at his official candidacy announcement last month. I also shot two short video clips - you can view those here.

I just returned from an incredible week that I will forever remember. I met 103 like-minded individuals from all 50 states, heard from the leaders of our nation, and made friends and connections that will last for many years to come. The 2008 United States Senate Youth Program was an incredible experience that I will never forget. The William Randolph Hearst Foundation is an amazing organization – they made a huge investment in my life and in the lives of every other delegate, and I will be forever grateful. It is hard to list the greatest moments of the week, but there is no doubt that they would include meeting the President, hearing from Robert Gates, and seeing 60 Senators in just two hours. The experience is still surreal to me, but I will do my best to give a re-cap, as brief as I can possibly make it.

My week began with a flight delay on Saturday, March 1, as I left Bismarck. I didn’t arrive in Washington,  D.C. until 9:00 that night, spending nearly 12 hours in transit. I met up with a few delegates, but I didn’t get to do meet most of the others until the next day. We were split up into groups of 6 to 8, and each group had one Military Mentor. All of the Military Mentors were remarkable individuals from all branches of the Military. It was amazing to hear the stories of these honorable men and women as I spoke with them throughout the week. My group’s Mentor, Captain David Schulz, actually left for Iraq today. See Military Mentors below.

Sunday began with a preview of what the entire week would be like. Formal atmospheres and incredible settings would characterize every three course meal at the Mayflower Hotel where we stayed. We ate this particular Sunday morning breakfast in the Grand Ballroom, and at the end we took the official 2008 USSYP photograph in the same room. After the picture was taken by our photographer, Jakub Mosur, who would follow us throughout the week and take over 10,000 pictures, we boarded the coaches.

The program director, Rayne Guilford, made Sunday into slower day of tours so that we would be able to adjust to our surroundings. On Monday we awoke and had breakfast in the Colonial Room of the Mayflower. We heard from Robert H. Henry, the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and a USSYP alumnus. We then boarded the buses and headed to the Russell  Senate Office Building in the Caucus Room to hear from Nancy Erickson, Secretary of the Senate, and Alan Frumin, the Chief Parliamentarian of the Senate. Both gave insight into how the Senate works and how it differs from the House. We walked to the Library of Congress at 12:00 and had lunch in the James Madison  Memorial Building’s Montpelier Room where we listened to James H. Billington, a remarkable man who has been the Librarian of Congress for over 20 years. We arrived at the US Supreme Court later that afternoon to tour the building, and then hear William K. Suter, the Clerk of the Supreme Court. I asked Mr. Suter a question along the lines of his feelings on how politicized the nomination process has become over the years. He responded by noting that liberal justices like Ginsburg were approved unanimously while conservative justices like Alito faced stiff opposition. We headed back to the hotel and then listened to the Joint Armed Forces Color Guard and the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Senator Jon Tester of Montana spoke to us about becoming a Senator after dinner.

Tuesday arrived and we had breakfast in the Colonial Room once again, and this time we heard from Brian W. Fitzgerald, a lobbyist and partner in Bingham McCutchen LLP. We boarded the buses at 10:30 and went to the Department of State. Security kept us waiting outside the building for about a half hour, but we were finally let in and on the 8^th floor we were allowed to break out the cameras. The 8^th floor of the State Department is reserved for foreign dignitaries, and it shows. It is decorated in colonial style with incredible artifacts and furniture, including the desk on which the Treaty of Paris was signed. We ate a $180 dollar dinner in the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room and heard from Jeffrey Bergner, the Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, along with Ambassador John D. Negroponte, the Deputy Secretary of State. Negroponte was a fascinating speaker and he shared his insights on how he believes the global political atmosphere will change in the coming years. We then headed for the Capitol and toured the building along with the Gallery of the US Senate. After we returned to the Mayflower Hotel, Dana Gioia, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts spoke to us and gave a conservative insight into the funding of the NEA. Dinner took place at 7:00 in the Grand Ballroom, where Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas spoke about a variety of topics ranging from the Farm Bill to his small town beginnings. Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte below.

We got up a half hour earlier than normal on Wednesday, and for good reasons. This would be the day that we would meet with the President of the United States. We had no speaker during the breakfast, so we were able to get an early start to the day by boarding the coaches at 8:00 AM. We entered the White House after watching the President’s motorcade leave the area. I knew he would have to come back, though, since we were scheduled to meet him at 2:30. After touring the White House, we went to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and then back to the Grand Ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel where we heard from His Excellency Pierre Vimont, the Ambassador of France to the United   States. Vimont kept his speech short, nothing that we had a somewhat important meeting ahead of us. We boarded the buses for the trip of a lifetime at 1:30, and made it onto the White House back lawn by 1:50. We stood for 40 minutes waiting for the main man himself, President George W. Bush.

We were asked to stop our chatter at about 2:25, and with the sun shining brightly in my eyes I caught sight of the President himself walking towards us from my right. As he got closer, the moment became more and more surreal. Moments later, he was just feet in front of me. He talked about leadership, and asked if there was a President in our group. He also spoke about his soon-to-be married daughter, and joked that he was watching Father of the Bride to prepare himself. His speech had a message: you don’t have to be a politician to be a leader. You can talk to the lonely, feed the hungry, and teach children to read, and you will be a leader. . Since I was standing in the front row, I hoped for a hand shake. I didn’t get one, but I did get several moments of eye contact that I will never forget. After posing for a picture, President Bush walked in front of me as he made his way to the Executives of the Hearst Foundation. After shaking their hands, he turned and waved one more time and it was all over. It was incredible being so close to the President and it was a great moment that I will always remember.

We walked off the White House property and boarded the coaches, now headed for yet another amazing journey, this time at the Russell  Senate Office Building. We once again gathered in the Caucus Room and lined up according to state to make the greeting with our Senators more efficient. I stood at the front of my line and got 180 or so pictures and lots of video footage as the Senators walked in. 60 Senators showed up, an incredible number for a two hour time frame. They included Senator Kerry, Dodd, Enzi, Bennett, Stevens, Craig, Hagel, Coleman, Carper, Crapo, Baucus, Sununu, Gregg, Thune, Isakson, Inhofe, Landrieu, Collins, Mikulski, Casey, Cornyn, Snowe, Akaka, Bayh, Klobuchar, and many more. My Senators, Dorgan and Conrad, did not show up, but I did meet John Kerry. After all was said and done, it was another truly amazing experience for me to see so many Senators in person in just a few hours.

Thursday came and with two huge events behind us, we moved on to hear from the CEO of C-SPAN Brian Lamb during breakfast. Lamb neglected the podium and instead chose to mingle in the crowd while he asked us about our favorite moments of the week so far. After the speech, I shook hands with Mr. Lamb and was able to thank him for his time. After touring the “Newseum”, we went to the Russell Senate Office Building once again – this time to hear from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Sherrod Brown. After finishing lunch, Senator Mitch McConnell, leader of the GOP in the Senate, walked into the room and gave a brief speech before exiting. Senator Harry Reid was forced to cancel, was replaced by Dick Durbin who cancelled, and Durbin was replaced by Sherrod Brown. After hearing from Senator Brown, we boarded the buses and headed to the Kennedy  Center, and then toured the building. We stayed at the Kennedy Center that evening to see the National Symphony Orchestra. CEO of C-SPAN Brian Lamb below:

On the final day in Washington, we had our final breakfast in the Colonial Room and then boarded the coaches for the Pentagon. After touring the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spoke to us and answered questions. We had lunch at the Pentagon and then heard from Sergeant Major Thomas McMurtrie. Since the President decided to visit the Pentagon that day, we had to wait in the exit area for 30 minutes before boarding the coaches. Joe Riley, a delegate from Tennessee gave an extremely moving and heartfelt speech, and the flag folding began at 8:00, followed by speeches from “Dino” Dinovitz and Anissa Balson, great-granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst.

It is difficult to put into words what I experienced last week. It was exciting not only to meet with the leaders of the country, but also to meet all of the other delegates. We all had one common interest - politics. There was great spirited debate among our group, and it kept things interesting. It’s difficult trying to adjust to everyday life after experiencing a full week of distinguished speakers and formal dinners, but I have come out of the program inspired to be a leader.

KXMB did a story on my blog yesterday - the link is here if you would like to take a look. KXMB Story

It was exciting to get some coverage and it made my blogging experience even more rewarding.

Last October, as I was reading through my school’s scholarship opportunities, I decided to compete for the United States Senate Youth Program. A month or so later, I learned that I had been selected as one of North Dakota’s two delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program. At first I thought that it was just another trip to Washington, D.C., but to my surprise the all-expense paid trip came along with a $5,000 scholarship and a chance to meet with a U.S. Supreme Court justice, and possibly the President. I spent the next couple of months feeling pretty excited about the trip, and now it’s February and the trip is just a few weeks away.

I still don’t have many details about the trip. I’m not sure which Supreme Court justice I will be meeting with, and I’m not sure if a meet with the President will materialize like it did for last year’s delegates, but I’m thrilled to have this opportunity and I know it will be a great experience. I will be staying at the Mayflower hotel, which seems to be quite nice from the brochure I received. I also received a note telling me that the weather in D.C. can be “very cold”. I don’t think 40s will measure up to the sub-zero weather in North Dakota as of late as far as being “very cold” goes.

I obviously won’t be blogging during the trip, but after I return I will be posting lots of great pictures and stories about the trip. I might even run into North Dakota’s own Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, in which case I will have to give them a link to my blog.

Here is some pictures and video of the Ron Paul rally in Bismarck. Attendance was estimated at about 300 - a good mixture of youth like myself and older adults as well. Century High School was very well represented at the rally - 10-15 of my fellow students attended. First five minutes of the speech is on video below.

Full picture gallery available here.

With the 2008 election looming, its clear that the Iraq War will be a hot campaign issue when Earl Pomeroy seeks re-election to his ninth term in the House of Representatives. Pomeroy began 2007 by aligning himself with the mainstream left/Pelosi agenda in Congress. In February of 2007, Pomeroy vehemently opposed the troop surge. Fortunately, the surge passed, and it has led to immense successes and progress in Iraq ever since it was put into action. In March, Earl sided with his fellow Democrats again when he voted to force a withdrawl date for U.S. troops in Iraq. Evidently, Pomeroy thinks that wars should be fought based on what Congress thinks, or perhaps more accurately, what MoveOn.org thinks. Let’s not forget that Pomeroy voted for the war back in 2002.

August was a rough month for Pomeroy after he was caught on video calling President Bush “a clown”. The story made the front page of the Fargo Forum, and caused a stir of criticism as it should have. Many called for an apology, but it never happened. The bottom line is that Pomeroy’s voting record on Iraq in 2007 will be a major issue for him in 2008. We’re now winning in Iraq, and had the President listened to Pomeroy, we would be on a path to defeat and dangerous instability in Iraq.

There are some moments when I wish I could have a camera with me. One of those moments occurred around 1:00 today when I was driving into the State Capitol grounds from the south entrance on Boulevard Ave. As I approached the entrance it became apparent that there was some sort of commotion since about 4 people were standing around talking to each other. A few moments later as I began to turn in, I noticed that there was an “ND PEACE” sign placed in the ground where the group was standing. When I drove past the group, it appeared that a man had been ordered to pull the sign out of the ground, and he proceeded to do so. After pulling the sign out of the ground, the man and another woman started walking towards his car. It was pretty easy to spot the car they were headed for, since it was filled with bumper stickers like “Stop the War Now”.

I was somewhat shocked by the whole sequence of events. Its obvious that the ND Peace protesters simply parked their car, grabbed a sign, stuck it on the state capitol grounds, and expected to get away with it. I’m not sure who forced them to take down the sign, but I’m guessing it was a state employee out on break. It just goes to show how removed the members of the ND Peace Coalition are from reality. They somehow believe that they can plaster their anti-American, anti-Capitalism propaganda all over the city - even the capitol grounds!

Mitt Romney won Michigan last night, despite endless media hype that John McCain would be victorious. The media wants to decide the outcome of the nomination process, and ultimately the GOP nomination, and so they have chosen John McCain as the Republican that should win all the primaries. The media also wants to somehow insinuate that Mitt Romney is losing the race and is on the verge of dropping out. Romney is far from dropping out, in fact he actually has a strong lead in terms of delegates.

Its interesting that at this point, Romney, McCain, and Huckabee have each won at least one primary. If Thompson wins South Carolina and Guiliani takes Florida, that will leave all of the top five with at least one state. February 5 will be the deciding factor in the race. I’m not even ready to speculate on who will win the nomination, but you can bet that the media will portray John McCain as “inevitable” over the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday I highlighted some of Governor Huckabee’s latest achievements. Today, the big one came. One short week ago, Huckabee was in 5th place nationally with 12% in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll. Today, Huckabee has gained 8 points and sits at an incredible 20%. He leads the Republican field for the first time, and is actually a full 3 points ahead of Rudy Giuliani. This is an 8 point jump in just seven days - its truly astounding to think about. In addition, Huck is still first in Iowa when the five latest polls are averaged out. To be honest, when I supported Huckabee six months ago, I never could have imagined him taking the nation by storm in just a week. Will Huck’s latest surge in the polls be long-lasting? We will have to see during the next week.

With all of his latest successes, Huckabee has also been under fire on several issues. His handling of the Wayne Dumond case, as well as a video about taxes have all surfaced in the media. The video, in which Huckabee talks about supporting tax increases, was taken out of context. Huckabee was referring to a tax increase proposed to deal with the brief slump that followed 9-11. He later repealed these taxes when they were not necessary. Huckabee wasn’t a perfect Governor, but neither was Ronald Reagan.

If you haven’t heard about this yet, a Fargo Sheriff named Paul D. Laney hosted a fake pre-Ozzy Osbourne concert party in which 40 people were arrested because of outstanding warrants. The Rolling Stone did a nice run-down of this story:

     

“Invitations were sent out to people who ignored court summons, didn’t pay child support, failed to pay fines, etc. Approximately forty Ozzy fans (or Rob Zombie fans, to be fair) responded to the invite and attended the bash, which was held at the concert venue by PDL Productions. Little did they know, PDL stood for ‘Paul D. Laney,’ a county sheriff, and that all those meaty guys wearing PDL T-shirts were actually deputy sheriffs, probation officers and local DEA members. Rather than boozing, the miscreants who showed up got arrested on outstanding warrants.”

 

This story was picked up by a lot of media sources, and Ozzy Osbourne himself ended up responding to it. Ozzy said: “Sheriff Laney should be apologizing to me for using my name in connection with these arrests. It’s insulting to me and to my audience and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job.” The story continued to make headlines today when Bill O’Reilly featured it on his “Is it Legal?” segment of the O’Reilly factor. Fox News Analysts Megan Kelly and Lis Wiehl both agreed that there was nothing wrong with the sheriff’s actions, and I also agree. Why waste taxpayer dollars trying to track these criminals down when you can get 40 of them in one night? Well done, Sheriff Laney, and kudos to Mr. O’Reilly for picking the story up, although it would have been nice if he would have mentioned North Dakota.

I just got a mailing from the Hoeven Committee - it looks as if Governor John Hoeven will be doing his official re-election campaign announcement “Mathern style.” Hoeven, like Mathern did a week ago, will take his announcement to four different cities: Bismarck, Minot, Fargo, and Grand Forks, on November 13. Here are his stops:

• Bismarck - 3pm - Bismarck Technical Center, 1200 W. College Dr.
• Minot - 6pm - Holiday Inn, 2200 Burdick Expressway East
• Grand Forks - 12pm - UND Ctr. for Innovation, 4200 James Ray Dr.
• Fargo - 9am - Echelon Corp. 1749 38th St, I-29 frontage road

As I’ve said several times before, if Mathern is the nominee, you can expect an election about as close as 2004 when Hoeven faced Joe Satrom and won with over 70% of the vote. Hopefully, once elected, Hoeven will start gearing up for his 2010 Byron “Combover” Dorgan showdown. I’ve talked to several people who are doubting that Dorgan will seek re-election in 2010. While I hope this is true, I am very skeptical. Even though Dorgan would be pushing 70 in 2010, I highly doubt he is ready to give up his salary and his perks as a Senator. Dorgan and Conrad are known for accepting large amounts of gifts from special interest groups including trips to exotic destinations.

Representative Ron Carlisle has served my district, District 30, in the House of Representatives for the last 17 years, and has now announced that he will not seek another term in 2008. At 67, Carlisle says that he is winding down after retiring from his job four years ago. He now wants to spend more time hunting and volunteering for his friends in the political world. I did some volunteer work with Rep. Carlisle back in 2006; he’s a really great guy and he will be missed in the legislature.

That said, Bismarck now needs to work on finding his replacement. Who will step up? I’ve talked to several people who seem to be interested. I don’t want to give any names yet, but I know that there is definitely some interest out there. We need to run a strong campaign, because you can be sure that Dorgan and Conrad will be dumping thousands of their out-of-state dollars into these district elections. It was those dollars that unseated Senator Sitte of Bismarck last year. While we can’t stop Dorgan or Conrad from pouring in the funds, we can certainly help the candidates on our side by giving them the resources they need to run a successful campaign.