Monthly Archives: June 2010

Primary Election Day. Here’s a voter’s guide and how to find your polling place & sample ballot

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Today’s the day! Get out and vote. Once. 🙂 All kidding aside, this is a very important day. I’ve encouraged people to find out all they can about the candidates, which is not necessarily easy in the case of local races. A friend sent me his “voter’s guide” and because I agree with what he’s indicated, I’ll show you what he wrote below. I think he gives well-thought, informative reasons why you should or should not vote for particular candidates in Bismarck races.

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Judge:
Favor: Schwarz and Austin. Both have spent their 20+/30+ legal careers in the private sector, IN the courtroom (handling hundreds of criminal and civil cases).

Governor Hoeven and Schafer have tried to choose lawyers for judicial appointments with the most day to day experience of practicing law, so as judges they had a keen view of the impact their decisions had upon the men and women of North Dakota. Nearly all of their appointments followed that criteria (including two Supreme Court justices).

Grossman: has less courtroom experience, having spent most of the last 20 years in the attorney general’s office.
Feland: good courtroom experience, but almost exclusively as a prosecutor.
(I would add here that very serious allegations of misconduct have been documented against Ms. Feland in the Sandy Blunt/WSI case, which totally take her out of the running for me. -Cf)

Mayor:
Favor: Schwab. has been looking after the taxpayer and opposes doubling the sales tax. Looks to the private sector, and a fair playing field for all businesses in Bismarck.

Warford: advocated to double the sales tax last year. TIF funds were approved for quiet rail without another vote. Has served the public for 8 years for which we owe him a debt of gratitude. Perhaps 8 years is enough.

City:
Favor:
–Quist (promote fiscal responsibility and core responsibilities of government);and
–Schmidt (lower property taxes/no new sales taxes).

Not Support:
Askvig: lobbyist for NDEA; $500 contribution from DakPAC in Washington DC; voted for Obama and favors the new healthcare bill.
Smith: friends with the current administration (see campaign contributions– $250 from Mayor Warford); parroted a number of Warford themes of “bringing businesses to Bismarck”. No plan to lower property taxes.
Feldman: conservative; but there are only two open seats.
(Personally, I’m voting for Brad. Bummer we have more good candidates than open seats! -Cf)
Ebertz: pretty conservative; favors return of TIF, lower property taxes through economic development, but suggests the state should “send us all the oil money”.

Parks:
Favor: Nieters and Schwartz; both are fiscal conservatives, looking out only for taxpayers with no special interest to promote.

Not Support
Deforest: promoted the funding arrangement for the aquatic center; supported 3 week suspension of Parks Director Steve Neu for violation of state law; dismissed the question of “special assessments” in candidate forum as irrelevant. (Is not irrelevant).
Munson: also dismissed the question regarding special assessments for the park district, only to have other candidates correctly answer the question. (The park district does deal with special assessments).
Martinson: wants to promote more sciences and arts, particularly through the arts and science center, of which he is a board member. Jon is a good guy, but I disagree with advocating for a special interest group as an elected official.
Jeske: served on the fund raising committee for the Streamline Foundation that owns the Bismarck Aquatic Center. Same concern for additional special interest focus rather than broad public interest.
(There are three seats open here and two solid candidates. I plan to vote for Jon Martinson as the third. Cf)

Schools
Favor: Marquart; Fitter and Sagsveen.

Marquart and Fitterer have welcomed taxpayer support; Fitterer is concerned about the cost of busing. Sagsveen is a capable lawyer, who works at AG’s office and is concerned about the impact of building a new high school.

County (All four candidates will advance to the general election in November)
Favor: Peluso, Schonert, and Moszer.

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Take that, throw it into your hat of election information and advice, stir vigorously, and use what you see fit. I wanted to distribute this because I think the information is useful.

Again, I’m voting for Brad Feldman for City Commission. He’s perhaps not as tested a candidate as the other two solid conservatives, but I like him. I also like Jon Martinson mostly because I really liked dealing with him in my college days. He also seems to be the best of the candidates who are not endorsed conservatives.

You may agree with me (and the author of this list), you may not. Regardless, you need to make your voice heard today. Find your polling location here. You can even download a sample ballot so you know what to expect when you arrive at the polling place. Be part of our representative government and perform your civic duty! Oh yeah…print out a copy of this list if you want, too 🙂 And if you want to print out a copy of the Citizens for Responsible Government’s door hanger with the candidates they endorse, you may print do so by clicking here.

Cannon in D…HD, thanks to my Canon

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As a video professional, I’ve watched with guarded optimism as digital SLR “still” cameras have begun to shoot HD video. While I admit the quality is amazing, it does have come with some caveats. Since this is my line of work I’m well equipped to deal with ’em. While I’d be just fine if my camera didn’t even shoot video, I have to admit the idea of being able to post moving versions of the photos I shoot is pretty keen!

How do you know who to vote for in local races? By the company they keep

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Selecting the right local candidate can be tricky. In many cases you don’t know who people are or who they stand for, and advertising for local races doesn’t typically involve a big media buy. So what do you do? Start doing some sleuthing.

Take Josh Askvig, for example. I see his signs all over town and know nothing about him, but there’s a clue. His sign is up in the yard of some deranged person who’s put up one of those signs in favor of the government’s unconstitutional health care takeover. So if someone who wants the government to force their healthcare decisions thinks that Josh Askvig is a good candidate, maybe I need to look into this a little more.

At first glance, Josh Askvig’s website is all about “preserving our heritage” (whatever that means. I guess he’s trying to appear as a values candidate). Yet if you read a little more, you find out some interesting things. First off, he worked for Senator Kent “Countrywide Mortgage” Conrad, recently under ethics investigation, who votes with the Democrat Party more than he does with the wishes of North Dakotans.

Next, the site says, “Josh currently works on behalf of teachers and public school employees as a UniServ Director and Co-director of Government Relations for the North Dakota Education Association.” That means he’s making a living by organizing public employees (ie, unions). UniServ (according to the NEA website) is like an advocacy movement for these unions, helping the circle the wagons in defense of each other as well as recruiting new members.

Going to the NDEA website and reading one of their PDF newsletters reveals that they are cheering on (with ads, even) Congressman Earl Pomeroy for his vote in favor of the health care “reform” bill. No wonder; unions, especially government employee unions, are breaking the bank all over the country. The only way to try to rescue these bankrupt plans is to force non-union citizens to start paying into the same pool (ie, a national one.

Government employee unions are a scary thing, and they’re the impetus behind Barack Obama’s assault on this country. Government employee unions are now a majority while union membership is at an all time low in the private sector. They’ve got people like Josh Askvig earning a living as their advocate, helping them advance their agenda.

Speaking of the NDEA, let’s not forget what their building has looked like in recent past, with windows full of union-sponsored propaganda and signage supporting the government healthcare takeover.

One other thing on the Askvig website that caught my radar is talk about “smart planning” and “sustainable growth.” Those are keywords for people who like to tell everyone else where they can build a house, how they can develop their property, and what zoning they will be receiving. There’s nothing “smart” about it.

So here we have a candidate talking about heritage and values, but digging deeper appears to associate him with typical liberal Democrats who do not agree with America’s heritage and values. If that holds true, I would advise against advancing this person’s political career even one inch further.

Speaking of candidates and who their friends are, I saw a door hanger the other day that made sense to me. It’s from the local group of Citizens For Responsible Government. I know what these people stand for, and therefore know why they would endorse a candidate. They’ve got a list of candidates they support, listed above, and I’m inclined to go with them on their research.

Finally, ask around. We’ve all got a variety of friends, and certainly some of them are “in the know” when it comes to certain people. Bismarck-Mandan is still a pretty small town in many ways, and it seems so many people know (or know of) each other, that you can get a pretty good idea simply by asking. Take the time to be informed, do your own research, but ask others as well.

Please bear in mind that I make no insinuations about Josh Askvig’s character…how could I? There’s not enough information out there. That’s my point by recommending that you look at a candidate’s associations. While I don’t know this particular candidate, I’ve had plenty of time and information to shape my opinion of the NDEA, public employee unions, the government healthcare “reform” takeover, and so-called “smart planning” and “sustainable growth.” The fact that he’s up to his armpits in these things gives me all the information I need to know in order to decide that this is NOT the type of candidate I want in any sort of political office, local or other.

You may agree with me and vote for candidates such as the ones endorsed by Citizens for Responsible Government. You may disagree with me totally and vote for Josh Askvig and people of similar idealogical persuasion. So be it, that’s the American way. Just make sure you’ve done your homework and know something about the person you vote for, so that you do your part to elect someone who shares your political beliefs.

Corona

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As I was chatting it up with a guardsman at the Veterans Cemetery on Monday, I looked up to see a blazing ring around the sun. I took the opportunity to get a little artsy with the new camera, and this is the result.