Remember when North Dakota’s ‘ultra-conservatives’ were actually in favor of protecting free speech?
MINOT, N.D. — There is much ado in North Dakota politics this year about political spending, and much of the ado is coming from people who are people complete hypocrites about it.
Last week, before the holiday, a group of Bastiat Caucus lawmakers gathered in the state capitol building in Bismarck, in the hall just outside Gov. Doug Burgum’s office, and threw a hissy fit about political spending Burgum is doing on legislative races across the state.
Burgum has been pouring big money into a political action committee that, in turn, is spending that money to support Burgum’s preferred candidates in legislative primaries.
For this, Rep. Rick Becker called Burgum a “mafia boss.”
Rep. Jeff Magrum called him a “tyrant.”
(As an aside, and as I noted last week, Burgum’s messaging has been positive so far . Another group, the Brighter Future Alliance, has been running negative messaging, but that group isn’t affiliated with Burgum, a point seemingly lost on Rep. Magrum, as you can see in the picture above.)
Back in 2015, when Democrats were pushing a resolution, HCR 3030 , in the state Legislature seeking an amendment to the U.S. Constitution overturning U.S. Supreme Court rulings finding that political spending is protected free speech, Becker voted against it.
