472: 'Does he want to bankrupt our small towns with no farm program?'

Plain Talk

Former state Sen. Tom Campbell has a plan for getting the nation's finances in order should he be elected to Congress. "No new hiring," he said. "Let's use artificial intelligence."

He argued that many government jobs could be automated, resulting in dramatic reductions in the federal workforce, and savings for taxpayers.

Campbell is seeking the NDGOP's nomination for the U.S. House, and he had some sharp words for his opponent in that race, former state Rep. Rick Becker. He accused Becker of opposing the farm bill. "Does he want to bankrupt our small towns with no farm program?" he asked, going on to say that Becker is "just too radical far right."

Also on this episode, state Rep. Mike Nathe of Bismarck discusses why he and his fellow incumbents in District 30 skipped their own party's endorsing convention, something for which they were censured.

"Our [district] party was taken over a few years ago," he said, adding that district events had become so "ugly" that a police presence was necessary.

"A lot of good Republicans don't want to go because it is so disgusting," he said, adding that he and his fellow incumbents struggle to find delegates to attend the local convention because "a lot of them have PTSD" from bad experiences in the past.

He argued that other NDGOP district committees have similar problems across the state.

Nathe and the other incumbents skipped the endorsing convention, which was organized by a district chair who was also a candidate for the endorsement, and instead collected signatures to place their names on the June ballot.

Nathe says that if he's elected to another term in the House, he plans to introduce legislation to do away with the endorsing convention process.

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