Governor candidate stops by the Wrangler
By Jerry W. Kram
It was a quiet morning at the Wrangler Cafe in Parshall when the big bus pulled into the parking lot.
The signs on the bus proudly proclaimed the identity of its occupant, Doug Burgum, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor against Wayne Stenehjem. Burgum said he was on a listening tour of the state and was stopping in every community with more than 1,000 people to meet with community leaders and the public.
"I believe that the best government happens closest to the people," Burgum said. "So I am trying to meet with city leaders, the private sector, people from the school district, local health care – I am trying to get a cross section of the community to find out what is working."
Burgum believes that state government has grown out of control because of the decade of high tax revenue from the oil boom. He thinks North Dakota has no choice but to scale back its expectations about what government can and should be doing.
"No government official can control commodity prices," Burgum said. "There is no magic wand. What the state can do is control its spending. Our state government has tripled in the last 10 years. We are spending more now that we are bringing in. We are covering that gap by draining our savings account, so that is not sustainable."
