Buchmann announces PSC run
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
Bringing the public back into the Public Service Commission - that’s Casey Buchmann’s goal, and his campaign slogan as he plans his 2018 candidacy.
Buchmann, a Washburn resident, is taking a swing at a PSC campaign, aiming to take one of the available spots opening in 2018. The PSC, which is made up of three commissioners on six-year terms, oversees various industries in the state, including telecommunications, energy, electric railroads and pipelines. Buchmann, a 20-year Union Iron Worker, said his experience in those fields would lend some perspective to the board and give blue-collar workers a voice.
“I went to Bismarck Junior College and graduated with a degree in process plant technology,” Buchmann said. He said after college, there was little work in the state, so he spent the next 22 years in Missouri in the Iron Workers Local No. 10. He returned to North Dakota in 2007, settling down in Washburn with his wife, Lois, and daughter, Greyson. Now he is looking to make some changes in the industries he has spent his life working in.
“It’s different when you’ve worked that job and spent your days with people who are living that kind of lifestyle,” Buchmann said. “I know what it takes to run these things and where the stressors are.”
