2010 Election Endorsements

By HPR Staff

Pomeroy vs. Berg:  Vote Pomeroy

The rhetoric is deafening and quite frankly, most North Dakotans are tired of the mudslinging. On both sides.

Earl Pomeroy is a voice of the people and has consistently stood for the people of our state when the chips are down. Health care reform is one prime example.  Rick Berg by his own admission would not have supported health care reform. Yet it’s a system run amuck, a system diseased with greed. Pomeroy deserves our vote for sticking his neck out for the people, not the insurance industry fat-cats.

Earl Pomeroy understands seniors and their predicaments better than Rick Berg; and his voting record shows it. Pomeroy knows Social Security and Medicare far and wide better than Berg. Pomeroy cares about how those issues ripple out to affect our state’s citizens. Whereas, Berg has left injured worker’s of the state awaiting relief in the form of fair legislation to better regulate the broken WSI system of North Dakota. Time and again, Berg has put his weight behind WSI and industry leaving the work force out in the cold.

Our sense of Rick Berg is that he’s a voice for business, more so than for the people. Yes, North Dakota has low unemployment, but the percentage of folks in this state who have second and even third speaks to an economic reality: folks here live on less, yet they deserve more.

HPR casts its vote for Earl Pomeroy, and we encourage our readers to do the same. Vote for the people, vote for their voice to be heard again in Congress.

Hoeven vs. Potter: Vote Potter

In the race for the U.S. Senate, the polls indicate that Gov. Hoeven will win by a large margin. [We endorse State Senator Tracy Potter.

We admire his game-changing plan to reform Social Security and the open, personal way he campaigns. See the article by HPR’s Tiffany Broden in this issue.

A vote for Senator Potter is not a wasted vote. Even if he loses, if he makes a better-than-expected showing, he’ll get more exposure and a higher level of name recognition for the next time he runs. Don’t forget that President Obama ran for Congress and lost; President Lincoln also lost elections.

Looking beyond the election: We hope Senator Potter doesn’t get discouraged and that he’s learned a lot in this election. As Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, “There are things you can only learn by losing.”

Having said that, we hope the people of North Dakota use their votes for Sen. Potter to send a message about the values they want their elected officials to possess.

Sales Tax: Vote No

Fargo voters overwhelmingly supported a half-cent sales tax for 20 years in an off-year election in 2010 for flood mitigation. A scant number of folks voted in the biggest tax in our history, best we can tell. Each yes vote represented $20,000 as they put in place a $200 million tax plan.

Now, voters are asked to cough up another half-cent sales tax for flood work, except this tax would be countywide. Again, it would go 20 years out and would raise $200 million.

We oppose it for a couple reasons.

First, it is regressive. It puts the burden of payment on the backs of the poorest people. Were it tweaked to tax higher value purchases, hence making it a progressive sales tax, we could give it our support. But that is not the case. And had there been any talk of any kind of property assessments for the flood diversion plan, we’d think differently, but that is not on the table either at this point in time. Property owners need to pay something for a plan that directly protects their assets, diminishes their costs, and increases their wealth.

Second, we do not know the plan. We have no idea whatsoever what this $200 million raised by Cass County would do, exactly.

Thirdly, we oppose taxing visitors to our region.

Vote NO on the County half-cent sales tax.

ND District 21: Vote Nelson and Zaiser

HPR leans left, that is no secret. HPR is also located in District 21, one of the most liberal districts in the state. Quite honestly, we could only wish as much for our other districts and then we guarantee North Dakota would be a more progressive place in which to live.

[That being said, we cast our votes in our home district for Carolyn Nelson for State Senate and for Steve Zaiser for House of Representatives in District 21. We are torn between Kathy Hogan and Rachael Disrud and feel the district will benefit from either being elected to serve. Hogan is a Dem and Disrud is a liberal Republican.

ND Dist 11: Vote Williams and Kelsh

Fargo City Commissioner Mike Williams is waging an independent campaign to get elected to the House of Representatives for District 11 in Fargo. Without belaboring the issues, and joining in the risk-taking for the sake of giving voice to the people, we endorse Mike Williams for District 11, despite his party affiliation, and maybe because of it to some degree.

No doubt, Williams will shake the tree in Bismarck, and in our opinion, that is necessary. Our confidence lies in the knowledge that his efforts will be for the public good and for the benefit of ordinary folks, as he’s certainly not beholden to big business or anyone else for that matter.

Incumbent Scot Kelsh deserves a vote for re-election for District 11. He’s a vibrant voice for change and for a better, more progressive tomorrow.

MN District 9A: Vote Greg Lemke

Greg Lemke’s years of service as a Fargo police officer and Moorhead City Council member have established him as a trusted leader. He’s up against a well financed opponent, but not one as well equipped to serve Distric 9A; and he deserves your support.

In a polarized political atmosphere, Greg knows how to compromise, how to work to get things done for people. He listens to everyone, yet he is unafraid when it comes to confronting tough issues head on.
For Lemke, the most important issue is “the nearly $6 billion state deficit. Most other issues are affected by that crisis, and until we come up with a long term, comprehensive approach that will provide stability, things are not going to get better.” See what we mean about tackling the issues?

Politicians have a short time horizon, from now to the next election, and don’t usually deal effectively with long-term problems. We know Greg Lemke is an exception to that rule.

District 13, West Fargo: Vote Sylvan Loegering

Sylvan is not the coventional politician. He readily admits that his son’s accident and subsequent mistreatment by the state’s Workforce Safety & Insurance, werre what compelles him to run.

He began by trying to help his son, then expanded his work to help run North Dakota’s first injured workers’ support group. But it was the visits to the state legislature that really clinched it for him.

“I am running,” says Loegering, “because I want to give a voice to the people that have been ignored for far too long. I will never forget that I work for you, the voters.”

He gets HPR’s vote, and should have yours too!

Measure 1: State Legacy Fund: Vote Yes

Would amend the ND Constitution, saving 30 percent of tax revenues collected during oil production and extraction.

The legacy fund would be unspendable until 2017, and after that, withdrawals would require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature. Spending would be capped at 15 percent of the fund in any two-year period.

There’s a lot involved in that 30 percent, in the hundreds of millions by the time the amendment allows access.

The state of the economy is always uncertain, and more so now. Conditions will probably recover slowly. It is prudent to save some of the oil tax money, to guarantee delivery of government services in future hard times. We recommend a YES vote on Measure 1.

The money would be invested by the State Investment Board, an 11-member board which includes the lieutenant governor, the treasurer, other state government heads and state employee representatives whose retirement funds are usually managed by the group.

Looking beyond the election: Senatorial candidate Tracy Potter and the North Dakota Farmers Union oppose Measure 1. The money, they think, should be spent on infrastructure in areas negatively affected by the oil boom. Though we support Measure 1, we believe that the membership of the State Investment Board should include representatives from the oil-producing counties.

Measure 2: Hunting: Vote Yes

Bans high-fence hunting such as game preserves where people pay to shoot big-game animals.

The HPR is pro-hunter, but this isn’t hunting. In real hunting, the prey has a chance to escape.

We don’t believe that the measure is an infringement of property rights, which have never been absolute or permitted to extend to the point where they infringe on the rights of others.

Including animals. We recommend a YES vote on Measure 2.

Looking beyond the election: We hold with Dimitri Merejkowski that “the time will come when men look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.”

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