Oliver County has become one of the epicenters in the fight over data centers in North Dakota, and county State's Attorney Patrick Waters has become a lightening rod in that fight.

His is a fascinating anecdote illustrating how overheated the data center debate has become.

"If you look at the data center issue in Oliver County, there are a couple Facebook pages that are solely designed to create a discourse about data centers," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. "On these Facebook pages, there is an unbelievable amount of threatening behavior going on."

"I am talking about people that are posting threatening to shoot people, threatening to attack workers who are working on the data center. Posting photos of firearms and of guillotines," he continued. "And these people have become so emboldened that they think that this is appropriate behavior."

Waters denounced these behaviors, and the invective and name-calling in these debates, but has also used some of his own. When controversy came up over his stepson, and employee, operating a purported news website that has published articles about his private practice client, and data centers, he called the critic in an email to the newsmedia a "cowardly, anonymous, unscrupulous, bent, keyboard warrior."

He also called them a "sub-creature" and a "timid and gossip-ridden snake."

Asked about that language, in the context of his own criticism of intemperate behavior, Waters said it was justified by what he perceived as an attack on his stepson, particularly because the critic brought up his stepson's criminal record.

"People are free to have their own opinions about anything. People are free to report things to the media and people are free to ask difficult questions. And I respect that," he said. "What I don't respect is this idea that because I'm unpopular in Oliver County because I advise the county commissioners to follow the law that they can then do everything that I do and say becomes a target of attack. And by bringing my family into this, I thought that that was low."

Waters is also the subject of a removal petition that is currently under investigation by Attorney General Drew Wrigley's office. Wrigley will send a recommendation on removal to Gov. Kelly Armstrong when that process is completed.

"The petition to remove me is full of lies," Waters said. "I fully expect the governor to to clear me, and I suspect that there'll be a decision made this week."

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the beginning of this week's special legislative session, including the debate over banning kratom, banning nondisclosure agreements for data center projects, and unwinding the financial mess around a stalled military museum project.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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Martha Njolomole is an economist with the American Experiment North Dakota and the author of a new report on North Dakota's budget trends called "From Boom to Balance: Smart Spending for an Uncertain Future."

Her argument is that North Dakota is spending too much money. "We've seen in the last couple years that North Dakota is spending more money than it is collecting particularly in the general fund budget which is really what most people refer to as as the budget," she said on this episode of Plain Talk.

She said this "structured deficit" has been obscured by balances from the state's various funds, but contends "that at a certain point you're going to run out of those balances and you won't be able to maintain your current spending trends."

"It's pretty much like a family that earns $3,000 a month but they're living at $4,000 a month," she contends.

North Dakotans have been feeling the impact of this, she says, "I think probably because of the oil and gas industry a lot of taxpayers...don't feel the pain and the cost of big government in North Dakota."

Njolomole and her group aren't alone in flagging this spending trend. In April, when Gov. Kelly Armstrong released his budget guidelines for the coming biennium, he called the state's spending growth "unsustainable." Particularly in that a lot of the state's spending is based on reserve funds and not ongoing revenues.

In fact, in every budget cycle since the 2017-2019 biennium, most of the state's spending has come from these so-called "special funds" as opposed to general fund revenues from things like the sales and income taxes.

Despite this, the American Experiment North Dakota report also calls for eliminating North Dakota's income tax, something we challenged Njolomole on. How can you advocate reducing revenues at a time when spending is exceeding revenues? This report also criticizes North Dakota for being too dependent on revenues from oil and gas activity, but wouldn't eliminating the income tax make the state more dependent on those revenues?

We asked Njolomole about it.

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the Protect College Sports Act, and whether or not the status quo in college sports deserves to be protected.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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Gov. Kelly Armstrong was asked recently on a talk radio program about bigoted comments made by state Rep. Desiree Morton, a fellow Republican. "That's dumb," he said of her attacks on Somali immigrants and Muslims.

On this episode of Plain Talk, we dive into correspondence Rep. Morton had with one of her constituents in which she continues to stand by those bigoted comments.

"They have taken over city after city and have instituted Sharia Law in many areas. In their own words they have said that they hate America and everything she stands for," Morton wrote to her constituent. "They hate our Constitution and defy our laws. Their goal is to take over America and institute Sharia Law just as they have done in other countries around the world. This isn't just true for Somalians, but for many who hold to the ideology of Islam."

Also, co-host Chad Oban and I take some feedback from a listener who says that we're wrong when we say that Flock cameras are not a constitutional violation, and we discuss Sen. Kevin Cramer pushing back on President Donald Trump's administration harder than he ever has in the past.

The issue is wetlands policy from President Joe Biden's time in office, which have been allowed to linger under the Trump administration, and Cramer has taken a hard stand, putting a hold on confirmation all of President Trump's nominees until he addresses the matter.

We also discuss whether Cramer will seek re-election when he's on the ballot again in 2030. The Senator says he isn't sure. We discuss the implications.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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