The emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as the top-of-the-ticket candidate for Democrats, nationally, has created an undeniable wave of enthusiasm among our liberal friends.

North Dakota's Democrats are no different. "There's a new pep in our step," state Rep. Zac Ista told my co-host Chad Oban and I on this episode of Plain Talk.

Ista is a Democrat from Grand Forks and the House Minority Leader, and he had some very pragmatic things to say about the chances Democratic legislative candidates have on the ballot this year.

Ista pointed out that Democrats already elected to the Legislature have been punching above their weight. They have only 16 seats in the state Legislature, but saw over 50 bills sponsored by Democratic lawmakers passed.

He also praised his party's candidate recruitment efforts. Acknowledging that Democrats have struggled to fill all of the legislative races in past cycles, particularly in western North Dakota, he said his party has filled 80% of the races this cycle. Still, even if Democrats win every race they have a candidate in, they couldn't take a majority in either chamber of the Legislature.

It's not mathematically possible. "We don't have enough candidates on the ballot," Ista said, but he does see an opportunity for Democrats to make up some ground.

But that will require those candidates to get out into their communities and prove they're something more than "someone with a D in parentheses behind their name" on the ballot.

Ista also said he's opposed to a constitutional measure that would abolish property taxes, which will almost certainly be on the ballot in November. Asked why voters should trust lawmakers to address the property tax problem meaningfully, given that it's an issue that has rankled voters for decades, Ista said that while dangling "carrots" in front of local governments to inspire them to lower property tax burdens, "we have to get more serious about talking about sticks," he said, referencing possible caps on property tax increases.

Also on this episode, Oban and I talk about the controversy former President Donald Trump has created around Kamala Harris's racial background, and who Harris might choose as vice president.

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Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who is currently in the midst of a campaign to become North Dakota's next governor, has had a long career in public service. On this episode of Plain Talk, he told my co-host Chad Oban and I what his proudest moment has been from that career (so far, he's still a young man in political years).

He said it was helping his hometown, Dickinson, build a new baseball complex.

It was a reminder that Armstrong's track record of public service didn't begin in elected office. In fact, that's probably true of most of our elected leaders, even at the highest levels of government. We can be cynical about politics. We're certainly given good reason to be much of the time. But there's something nice in being reminded that political careers often start with public service at a granular level.

Unfortunately, much of what we discussed on this episode is the sort of thing that justifies our cynicism about political leadership. Armstrong expressed frustration about the House of Representatives going out on recess without having completed the appropriations process. "I don't think Congress has done a budget in 25 years that's an actual budget," he said.

"I get frustrated because we're pretending like we're doing something," he added.

Armstrong also weighed in on the presidential race, saying Democrats are enjoying a "sugar high" around their new candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, while acknowledging that the rollout of Sen. J.D. Vance as former President Donald Trump's running mate has been rocky.

Armstrong also talked about what his priorities in Bismarck might be should he be elected come November, and one of them is the state's budget. "Our growth in spending has been pretty significant since 2012," he said, and while much of that was "necessary" when it happened, it may be time to curb the growth.

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In 2018, North Dakota voters approved a ballot measure creating the state Ethics Commission.

The commission was implemented in 2019, and that first year, it received just 2 complaints. There were 3 in 2020, 9 in 2021, then a spike (right around election time) in 2022 to 14. There were 14 complaints again in 2023, and so far in 2024 (another election year) the number has spiked to 25 as of July 25.

Those numbers came from Rebecca Binstock, the executive director of the ethics commission, who joined this episode of Plain Talk to advertise the fact that the commission is currently accepting applications for new members (find more on that in their press release).

"Any North Dakota resident can serve on the ethics commission," Binstock told us, though there are some exemptions. For instance, if you're currently an elected official, or in a leadership position in a political party, you need not apply.

But Binstock also discussed with my co-host Chad Oban the fact that the Ethics Commission has become much more visible in North Dakota politics, and governance, and what it does, and what it should do, are becoming increasingly important questions.

"Ethics commissions alone do not create ethical government," Binstock told us, adding that it also requires a robust news media, and an engaged electorate.

The Ethics Commission gets the most attention from its complaint process, where members of the public can allege unethical behavior by state officials that is then reviewed by the commission, but Binstock argued that some of its other missions, such as educating state and local officials about ethics policies and promoting more transparency, are as, if not more, important. She also discussed the commission taking a larger role in enforcing state campaign laws.

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