According to reports in various North Dakota newspapers today, famed North Dakota serial plagiarist Ed Schafer is speaking on behalf of another fake grassroots organization in order to try to take money from infrastructure and put it in the pockets of his out-of-state funders and other big oil companies.

As has been pointed out by North Dakota state Senator Ryan Taylor, this fake grassroots organization popped up out of nowhere, and suddenly has a huge, custom touring bus and an expensive public relations firm.  Taylor also pointed out that the fake grassroots organization has a big, fancy website, too.  

Two things not pointed out by Taylor are:  (1) the "grass roots" "North Dakota" website is registered to a company based in Perham, Minnesota; and (2) the fake grass roots organization was created, out of nowhere, yesterday, and uses a secretive "corporate" agency business -- based in a Bismarck law firm -- to hide who's behind the company.  A quick check with the Secretary of State's Office -- more on this later, too, btw -- teaches that "Invest in North Dakota" was created by a guy named "Charles Nickoloff" who lives in...

Wait...

For...

It...

 ....

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 ....

 ....

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The Twin Cities area of Minneapolis.  That's right, kids.  The out-of-state, astroturf group called "Invest in North Dakota" is from the northern suburb of "Ham Lake, Minnesota."  They've come from the big city to tell North Dakotans how to run their state.  

InvestND

Nickoloff -- if it's the same guy -- apparently has a Minnnesota company that's -- ironically -- called "KeepItLocal.com".  

That's priceless.  Maybe Mr. Nickoloff should practice what he preaches. 

I'm a big fan of these fake, out-of-state, secretly-funded astroturf groups coming into North Dakota to hire serial plagiarist carpet-baggers like Ed Schafer who will tell us what we should do.  How about you?

Stay classy out-of-state Republican astroturfers and your semi-local plagiarist mouthpieces!

Comments (12)

Marko said:

	Grassroots... This is shocking --- absolutely shocking! I guess P.T. Barnum was right... And to think they want North Dakotans to contribute to this spontaneous, grassroots effort. First word that comes to mind: Shameless.
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January 25, 2011
Votes: +3

random said:

	... I don't if Schaffer has always been this much of a right wing reactionary or if it's just become more obvious the past few years. This guy makes the term "corporate whore" seem trivial. What a horse's ass!
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January 26, 2011
Votes: +3

nimrod said:

History If I recall correctly, when Ed was governor, he had a deep-seated reactionary streak. That might be why the GOP picked the more moderate Hoeven to succeed Ed as Governor, instead of the more reactionary Carlson. Does Ed's job count as a job made possible by the job-creating policies of the Hoeven/Dalrymple regime? It's nice to see the former Secretary of Agriculture was able to find a job riding a bus around ND.

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January 26, 2011
Votes: +0

Marko said:

	... I can't help but wonder who is getting on the bus. Maybe this pseudo-grass roots campaign should have bought a 1997 Honda Civic to bolster their credibility.
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January 26, 2011
Votes: +0

nimrod said:

	bus fuel I hope the bus burns biodiesel fuel.
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January 26, 2011
Votes: +0

What the Heck said:

	breakfast There should be a bus and breakfast tour through all the egg farms in the Midwest while they're at it. There's a big plate of over-easy eggs waiting for Schaefer at the egg farm his agency was monitoring while he was in charge of food safety.
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January 26, 2011
Votes: +0

Chuck said:

	... I find it curious that Meyer and Onstad (both D's from western ND) sponsored the bill to lower the extraction tax that Schaffer (R) is supporting, and further, that the (R) leadership in the legislature is pushing for the bill not to be introduced. Just doesn't seem to fit the sterotypes of the rants.
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January 27, 2011
Votes: +0

Chet said:

I may know the answer to this... The bill sponsored by Meyer and Onstad doesn't "just" propose to lower the extraction tax. It also includes the deletion of a bunch of exemptions from the extraction tax. One such exemption is of particular note and interest. It's the "stripper well" exemption. Stripper wells are wells certified as being low-producing wells. Once certified as a stripper well, the well is always -- forever -- exempt from having to pay the extraction tax. So... what's the big deal?!? Here's what's been going on for the past couple years: These oil companies come in and re-frac the already-certified stripper wells. They transform them from being low-producing wells to high-producing wells. And they never have to pay any extraction tax for any of the oil extracted from that high-producing stripper well. So... who cares?!? The counties care. They care because fracking -- and oil exploration, generally -- takes a huge toll on the county highways and access roads. The counties have to pay to maintain those roads and the other services used by the drilling companies. But they get no financial support (at least relating to these re-fracked stripper wells) through the extraction tax system that's supposed to be paying for the harm the oil companies are doing. I heard a caller call in to a radio station the other day saying it wasn't fair for people to criticize oil companies for wanting to pay lower taxes. Their defense of the oil companies included a claim that one of the companies came into a town and gave a backpack to every kid in the school. That got me thinking: How many kids in the school? Maybe 150? Let's say they drop $25 each for oil company SWAG backpacks. That's $3,750 for backpacks. Anybody know what Mountrail County says they're going to need each year in each of the next 5 years just to keep up with the highway maintenance in that county? $50 million. One study optimistically suggests the oil patch counties will only need $900 million over the next 20 years. Seems like a fair trade, doesn't it? $3,750 in backpacks for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of road destruction. Those kids deserve better backpacks.

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January 27, 2011
Votes: +1

nimrod said:

	World Turned Upside Down Republican leadership opposes the Meyer and Ohnstad bill because, as a matter of principle, any bill sponsored by Democrats will not get out of committee with a do pass recommendation.
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January 27, 2011
Votes: +1

Big Jake said:

... What a shock!!!!! Anyone surprised? Over the past 20 years or so, with virtually no opposition, Eddie and his boys, both here in ND and others across the nation have been emboldened to tell us what they really believe.. This is "THEIR" country. And they are going to take more and more of it always at the expense of those who do the work. Eddie always did believe that but he lack the guts to tell us so. His Daddy overcame his own iron curtain insecurities by buying the Governor's office. It has been transfered twice. The ruling class are in absolute control. Until the oil companies perceived that this brain-dead bunch at the Capitol was in total control, you never heard any complaints about being over-taxed. They were not but how could you pass up the chance to permanently reduce taxation when the legislature is chomping at the bit to "shrink" government. That is and always has been the buzz work for taking more from those who have nothing or little to give and enriching those who don't need it. The Republic only works if we want it to. Does anybody at the legislature have balls bigger than pea size? Not so far. At least they are consistent, no balls for the past 25 years. Dr. King was certainly right---it is the silence of our friends that is most harmful. This is a class struggle. And we are losing. This is about us vs. them. Eddie and his boys are so weak in every area except in their ability to use their money, please----call them out. Take them to task. Step up to the plate. A little backbone please.

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January 27, 2011
Votes: +3

nimrod's mouthpiece said:

	mystery meat Remember, kids, if its good for the Koch brothers, it must be good for ND. That's why they bought me this fancy bus. But don't tell anybody -- it's a secret. Fast Eddie.
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January 27, 2011
Votes: +1

Madlaue said:

... This looks like, reads like, and smells like Sal Russo's Tea Party Bus. Sal used the bus to usurp the Tea Party's popularity to raise money for his political consulting business, Russa Marsh & Rogers. It looks like Ed Schafer is doing Charles Nickoloff's dirty work of raising money for his consulting firm, no doubt, a consulting firm for the oil industry. This kind of work, taking us for dumb bunnies just has no end. They keep coming back and doing the same thing over and over again. Have we fallen for it again?

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January 27, 2011
Votes: +2

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