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In
Search of the Great Pumpkin
Economic
Development Accountability in North Dakota
Economic
development subsidies can be as prolific as pumpkins. As anyone who’s ever planted
a pumpkin vine knows, once you get one growing, it’s hard to stop. But when
taxpayers look at the wide variety of economic development programs in North Dakota, how do
they know which ones are really working? Citizens don’t have to just believe,
like Linus in the pumpkin patch, that results will
be forthcoming if only they are patient enough. There are proven ways to
ensure that economic development programs are effective and accountable.
This topic is personally important to North Dakotans.
They are concerned about low wages and underemployment that force some wage
earners to take multiple jobs to support their families. They worry about how
to stop the outmigration of the state’s young
people. Communities such as Minot
have engaged in lively debate about whether the current approach to economic
development is working. Advocates of the current programs argue that at least
they are doing something (versus doing nothing), and that failures are a
natural consequence of taking risks. But others look for best practices in
other states, saying that it’s not enough to do something, but urgent to do
the right things. They are looking for ways to ensure measurable success, not
just add up dollars invested.
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The
Little House (and Senate) on the Prairie
North Dakota's 2001 Legislative
Debacle
2001 was a
landmark year for the North Dakota Legislature. Despite Republican control
over both houses of the legislature and the Governor’s Office, the session
was one of the two longest on record. The length of
the session did not, however, result in much real progress on any front.
There are those who would compare the 2001 Legislative Session to the goodness
and tranquility of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, but the truth is
another matter. Despite the appearance of civility early in the session, the
2001 Legislature was anything but subdued. They debated a number of crucial
and controversial issues. In most cases the outcome was appalling.
This report focuses on the outcome of a number of crucial legislative
initiatives in the 2001 session, their relationship to the influence of
powerful special interests and the wanton disregard for the principles of
democracy by the legislature itself.
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