BISMARCK — The newest chairman of North Dakota’s Republican Party is from Dickinson.
Sen. Kelly Armstrong was unanimously elected by the party Saturday afternoon during a statewide GOP committee meeting at the Doublewood Inn.
Armstrong will serve a two-year term as he chairs the GOP’s executive committee. The position primarily takes the lead for Republican messaging and candidate recruitment in the state.
“I think I can bring some things to the table that help the Republican Party experience success in the future,” Armstrong said.
Former GOP Chairman Robert Harms announced to party officials Friday morning that he would not seek re-election to a second term.
Sometimes, you just have to rant. Every once in a while, as Peter Griffin once so eloquently said, there are aspects of life that tend to “grind my gears.” Here are a few of them that popped up last week:
A glitch in North Dakota’s polling system prevented a former Dickinson resident from voting Tuesday in the general election, the Secretary of State’s office said Wednesday.
Kyle Thiel moved from Dickinson to Bismarck in August. When he did so, he updated his address on the state Department of Transportation website. However, Thiel did not change his driver’s license, which still says he lives in Dickinson. His change of address online should have been enough to allow him to vote, said Lee Ann Oliver, an election specialist with the Secretary of State’s office.
Submitted Photos At top is the North Dakota Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks ad with the slogan “Our natural heritage makes North Dakota special.” At bottom is a photo from iStock titled “Badlands National Park — South Dakota.” Opponents of the measure criticized advocates for using the South Dakota Badlands instead of the North Dakota Badlands.
Images of the wrong state’s Badlands were used on a direct mail advertisement paid for by the proponents of North Dakota’s Measure 5, the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks Amendment that would funnel millions of dollars in oil tax revenue toward enhancing outdoor recreation and conservation efforts.
The ad, paid for by North Dakotans for Clean Water, Wildlife & Parks, was sent to addresses throughout the state last week promoting “North Dakota heritage.” It features two photos taken in the South Dakota Badlands, according to numerous online image searches.
Steve Adair, Ducks Unlimited’s director of operations for the Great Plains Region and spokesman for North Dakotans for Clean Water, Wildlife & Parks, stated in an email Tuesday that the photos were incorrectly labeled by a stock photo vendor.
“Yes, we made a mistake, and used the photo provided to us by our vendor,” Adair wrote. “It is the North Dakota way to fess up to a mistake and we are doing that. … This is just more grasping at straws by our opponents to divert the people of North Dakota from the real issues of how are we going to maintain our clean water, recreation and world class fish and wildlife resources in the face of such drastic changes.” Continue reading “Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks Amendment advocates used South Dakota images on ads”
I had a front-row seat to debates for two of North Dakota’s most hotly contested elected positions on Thursday night, serving as the timer for U.S. House and agriculture commissioner debates while Press Publisher Harvey Brock moderated the event sponsored and organized by the North Dakota Newspaper Association on the opening night of its annual convention at the Radisson hotel in Bismarck.
These debates weren’t so much about who won and lost as they were an opportunity for the candidates to feel each other out on stage, establish talking points and set the tone for what will likely end up being the state’s two closest races of the year.
Dustin Monke 