Podcast: That Blue Alert Thing, Legislative Candidate Kristin Roers, and Senator John Hoeven

Is the Government going to shut down tonight?

“I hope not,” Senator John Hoeven told me on today’s radio show. He made a really good point about the Democratic filibuster of legislation to keep the government running. What, exactly, is in the bill that they don’t like? Are they really willing to shut down the government over a bill which contains nothing offensive to their policy agenda simply because it doesn’t also address their goal of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants?

“If we have a shutdown it’s because they want it shut down,” Hoeven told me.

[mks_pullquote align=”left” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]When I had asked Dohrmann if he was satisfied with the way the alert went out he had a one-word answer. “No.”[/mks_pullquote]

Also Major General Alan Dohrmann, Director of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, was on about the “blue alert” North Dakotans got on their cell phone yesterday causing a whole lot of confusion.

“We’re sorry for that,” Dohrmann told me.

“We’ve got to get better at this,” he added. When I had asked Dohrmann if he was satisfied with the way the alert went out he had a one-word answer.

“No.”

It was the first such alert sent out since the capability was created by the Legislature back in 2015. He said all the various departments of state government involved in alerts and emergency services have already met to address the situation.

Kristin Roers was also on the program today. She’s a Republican seeking a seat in the state House in District 27 (she’s also the niece of state Senator Jim Roers, and cousin to Rep. Shannon Roers Jones). What’s interesting about Kristin Roers’ campaign is that District 27 already has two Republican incumbents in the House, neither of which are retiring.

Rep. Tom Beadle is one. Rep. Randy Boehning is another. Roers made it pretty clear during the show which of the incumbents she is hoping to replace.

“I would say he could do a better job of reaching out to his constituents,” she said of Boehning, adding that she’s never met him at any events in District 27.

For what it’s worth, Rep. Boehning did come under fire from Democrats during the 2014 election cycle for spending a lot of time working in Minot.

Here’s the full audio of today’s show:

[fcc_jw_podcast key=”ezB5l7Eu” /]