Dinner for Lawmakers, Paid for by Lobbyists, Was Legal Only Because There Aren’t Any Ethics Rules Yet
Recently a group of 29 North Dakota lawmakers took a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, which cost the taxpayers nearly $90,000....
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Legislature Should Consider Using Existing Platforms for Video of Committee Meetings
Several years ago the North Dakota Legislature implemented a video system for floor sessions in the House and Senate chambers....
Democratic Lawmaker Suggests New Ethics Commission Could Regulate Speech of Elected Officials
Politicians say stupid things. That's not exactly breaking news. Sometimes the stupid things they say rise to the level of...
How Far Must We Oblige the Will of the People?
Like many Americans, I imagine, I'm watching the wrangling over Brexit with a mixture of mirth and confusion. Mirth because...
A Reminder That Social Media Activism Isn’t Real Life
Social media has come to dominate current. Or, at the very least, the way we perceive current events. It's not...
Case From Minnesota May Force the Supreme Court to Decide How Far Our Right to Say “No” Really Goes
"No" may, from the perspective of individual liberty, be the most important word in the English language. Encapsulated in that...
There’s Nothing “Reckless” About Using the Legacy Fund to Lower and Eliminate Income Taxes
"Don't give away Legacy earnings," reads the headline over Mike Jacobs' most recent column in which he warns that North...
So Long David Koch
I'm saddened to hear that David Koch - industrialist, philanthropist, and hugely influential political activists - has passed away. Given...
A Payroll Tax Cut Is a Terrible Idea Without Social Security and Medicare Reform
The Trump administration is kicking around the idea of a payroll tax cut, though it's hard to know how seriously...
Prohibition Is a Crock: Americans (Probably) Spend as Much on Recreational Drugs as They Do on Booze
A newly-issued Rand Corporation report (see below) indicates that Americans spent almost $150 billion on illegal drugs in 2016. To...
