Reflections on the Election

The Morning After

The election is over. It’s time for some reflections and some hindsight; time also for some new chapters to unfold for this writer, chapters that to some degree will directly affect some of what is done on this page editorially for the next four years.

The turnout locally and across the state was high. “Change” permeated many of the contest results. The populist mindset of North Dakota’s days past is everything but gone. The people upended some trends and forged new pathways for others.

We are so blessed to be in a country free to give voice to our preferences in the ballot box.

Though you would not have known through the High Plains Reader editorially that this writer was on the ballot for Fargo School Board, you perhaps eventually saw a couple paid ads giving you that message.

Since voters gave a nod of approval for a four-year term, you’ll see this editor carefully delineate the roles of being an elected public official and of being a co-owner of the High Plains Reader.

You won’t see editorials addressing Fargo Schools activities, policies, funding and budgeting data, and a whole gamut of potential topics if they would potentially present a conflict, real or perceived, between newspaper and school board domains.

This is the last time you’ll know from reading this particular page in HPR that our editor is also an elected servant of the public.

So, while the opportunity presents itself and before the official term commences, please know the debt of gratitude accompanying this new journey. To have nearly 9,500 folks vote you into public office is a humbling and inspiring experience.

Looking back at HPR’s few editorial recommendations in last week’s paper, we are pleasantly surprised in some regards while in others we join the chorus in welcoming newcomers to the fray of elected office.

We are thrilled Mike Williams was re-elected to Fargo City Commission.

We congratulate successful challenger Dave Piepkorn for doing an outstanding job getting his name out there such that he was top vote getter in the race.

We heartfully thank outgoing Commissioner Linda Coates for four years of significant public service.

We congratulate Fargo School Board incumbents Robin Nelson, Paul Meyers and Jim Johnson on their reelections.

We join in thanking Meg Speilman-Peldo for her public service, especially for providing visionary arts leadership that will continue to unfold for years.

We were pleased to see the county sales tax proposal for economic development not fall on the backs of the little people with a regressive sales tax. We hope that gets reinvented and we are not kidding when we say Gov. Hoeven can work creatively with our region as well as the rest of the state in fostering forward-thinking economic development, while funding it out of the state’s billion-dollar surplus.

We did not favor the full smoking ban but are not surprised that the seemingly inevitable took place here in North Dakota, as is happening around the country. People are snuffing smoking out of public activities and space.

The good news here is that local businesses will hopefully not get hit as hard as Moorhead bars got hit when their state law forced establishments across the river to try to survive on an uneven playing field. There were indeed many casualties. We hope that is not the case now as Fargo’s smoking ban is put in place.

A Funny Thing Happened over at the Forum

On an entirely different front, we were stunned to see what was perhaps one of the most disturbing examples of election day electioneering on Tuesday. That the Fargo Forum intentionally published a list of endorsements on election day, represented what we’d professionally consider reckless disregard for professional ethical standards and even state laws about electioneering on election day.

We do not know of any instance in North Dakota where any member of the media has so blatantly disregarded the time-honored tradition of de-politicizing election day activities. Endorsements are fine, but not on election day.

North Dakota law says the following:

16.1-10-06. Electioneering on election day - Penalty. Any person asking, soliciting, or in any manner trying to induce or persuade, any voter on an election day to vote or refrain from voting for any candidate or the candidates or ticket of any political party or organization, or any measure submitted to the people, is guilty of an infraction...

However, we also understand that a U.S. Supreme Court case would likely render North Dakota’s Electioneering law unconstitutional. Meanwhile, our legislature has at least twice in recent years intentionally left N.D. law on the books as is, because they like the idea that electioneering on election day is not acceptable.

While individuals for public office were being held to the letter of the law regarding the removal of political yard signs, the state’s largest daily set a dangerous precedent by giving a list of endorsements on election day, and printed its own “yard signs,” tens of thousands of them.

We don’t know if the Forum’s recommendations would survive a test case. It is indisputable that they violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our laws and traditions.

The Forum owes all of us an apology.

Please follow the Cass County States Attorney’s evaluation of this particular incident. We hope it does not open the door to electioneering on election days henceforth in our fine state.