A couple of my friends are in the news this morning, both regarding their careers. And there’s a third guy in the news that could just be a possibility. Here’s this morning’s news.
Purdon
Tim Purdon, it appears, is going be the United States Attorney for North Dakota. We’ll be in good hands. I’ve watched Tim since he first came to Bismarck as a young attorney. He’s good. He’s one of the two best criminal defense lawyers in town, maybe in the state (I’ll let each lawyer reading this decide if you’re the other one).
This will be a new role for Tim. He’s been defending people who were (just ask him--he’ll tell you) wrongfully charged with a crime (or charged for the wrong crime, based on the number of plea agreements he’s gotten). Now he’s going to be putting them away. Lucky for him, I say, that he won’t be taking on Tim Purdon in court.
Potter
My other friend in the news today is North Dakota State Senator Tracy Potter. Tracy and I have been friends for a long, long time. We’ve been good friends since that first round of golf we played together back in the spring of 1981 at Lincoln Park Golf Course in Grand Forks. We were both unemployed at the time, the victims of the Reagan landslide which knocked the Art Link Administration out of office in 1980. Tracy and I had been young public servants, he in the North Dakota Insurance Department, I in the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, and the newly elected Republican bosses of those departments decided they did not need our services for the next four years. So we went golfing, and then found new jobs, hung around, did some more public service in the George Sinner Administration, and then got old and moved onto careers in the private sector. We’re still golf mates. After about 600 rounds or so, I think I’m up two strokes on him.
Tracy, I guess, is going to run for the United States Senate this year, abandoning his State Senate seat in Bismarck. I say “I guess” because I haven’t talked to him for a week or so—I think he was afraid to call me for fear I’d talk him out of this. I wouldn’t have, of course. When we did talk about it two weeks ago, I said “Tracy, it’s a bad idea, but sometimes you’ve got to just say ‘What the f**k?’ Why not?”
I mean, lightning can strike. If your name is not on the ballot, you are not going to get the job. So I say, today, Tracy, “Good for you.” I want to be on the team. If you win, I do not want to go to Washington to work for you, but I promise I’ll keep an eye on things back here and let you know what is going on. And I’ll make the tee times (although I would like to play Congressional Country Club some time).
For the record, Tracy will be a good candidate, and a better Senator. Based on life experience, he’s at least as qualified for the job as Gov. Hoeven, maybe even better qualified. I hope he ends up being the candidate. I hope he wins.
Possibility?
I noticed in the paper yesterday there is a fourth Republican candidate to challenge Earl Pomeroy for the U.S. House seat. His name is J.D. Donaghe, and there’s nothing really remarkable about him, except for this: According to the Minot Daily News, he holds an “honorary degree in bible theology.” Huh?
Oh, and his position on health care. Here’s part of his platform (excerpts):
The National Health Care Act
• Effective January 15th 2011, all Medicare, Medicaid and Veteran Administration health care benefits shall be replaced by The National Health Care Program.
• All citizens of the United States of America shall be afforded full and complete unfettered access to The National Health Care Program.
• All legal temporary guest workers shall have the same access to the National Health Care Program as naturalized citizens.
• Temporary visitors to the United States of America shall not be denied emergency or preventive care by any medical facility but shall be fully responsible for payment of services rendered.
• All National Health Care Program recipients shall have the full and exclusive “Right to Choose” the health care service provider or facility that will best fulfill the needs of the individual without regard to location.
• The National Health Care Program shall provide the following list of health care benefits to any and all citizens of the United States of America without regard to age, sex, race, religion, color, creed, origin, location or medical condition:
• Primary Care
• Prenatal Care
• Preventative Care
• Testing and Diagnostics
• Non Elective Surgeries
• Emergency Services
• Hospital Stay
• In Home Health Care
• Hospice Care
• Effective January 15th 2011, any and all health care providers operating within the United States of America shall submit any and all invoices for services rendered to the Social Security Administration office located within their respective county of operation.
• Effective January 15th 2011, any and all invoices submitted to the Social Security Administration county offices for health care services rendered shall be paid in full within 15 days of receipt.
Huh, again. It’s on his website. Check it out. http://www.freedomin2010.com/Health_Care_Reform.html.
I think I’m for him. We could even be friends. I can live with the honorary degree.
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