State Rep. Rick Berg said Friday that he is not anti-Minot but he is against using government to solve problems that communities can address on their own.
Berg, the Republican challenging Democratic Congressman Earl Pomeroy for the U.S. House in November, was in Minot as part of his "North Dakota Way" tour of 18 cities and also met with the editorial board of The Minot Daily News. When asked to, he further responded to charges by Pomeroy at a news conference Aug. 17 that he has voted against Minot by opposing funding for a new State Fair grandstand, Swain Hall renovation at Minot State University and a proposed MSU Center of Excellence project.
"If you are in government your whole life, you think every solution needs to come from government," Berg said. "If you are in the private sector your whole life, you don't look at government to solve these problems."
Berg said he supported spending $9 million on a grandstand, with another $9 million coming from private fund raising. The Legislature passed a bill granting $15 million, with $3 million to come from private funds.
The more private sector money involved in a project, the better the project will be in meeting the needs of the community, Berg said. He supported the new grandstand and didn't believe lesser participation by state government would hold up construction.
"I knew it was going to happen," he said. "It's done. It's a good thing. It's a beautiful facility. It would have been done anyway with less state funding."
Renae Korslien, fair manager, said prior to the grandstand funding, the city and county had given $20 million to the State Fair since its inception while the state had invested $5 million. The fair board asked the state for the larger share of the grandstand cost because it felt the community already had given, she said.
Also during the 2009 legislative session, Berg voted against the level of spending in Senate Bill 2003, the higher education bill. Construction projects on various campuses, including Swain Hall, were part of the omnibus bill that funded the University System.
Berg sided with the opposition when the legislative budget committee voted 19-19 in June to reject a plan to spend $500,000 for a Center of Excellence project at MSU. The $1.5 million project had involved a collaboration between the university and Trinity Health to improve geriatric care. It was the only project of nine considered that failed to gain approval.
Berg said the project didn't fit the scope of the Center of Excellence program.
Legislative requirements are that a project involve research, create high-value private sector employment, create public-private partnerships, leverage other funding, create entrepreneurship opportunities, promote new products and hold potential to be financially self-sustaining. The MSU research would not have been involved in commercializing products or creating entrepreneurships but it would have identified products with commercial interest for others to develop, according to information from MSU.
Berg said he favors an approach of less government on the federal level as well. Among the North Dakota ideas that he wants to bring to Washington is the creation of a regulatory review board, similar to one that exists in North Dakota, with authority to approve or veto federal agency regulations with a financial impact of $100 million. He would like to see Congress develop two-year budgets six months before the start of a new fiscal year.
He said he expects to be part of a large group of newly elected Republicans ready to form a coalition for change. He hopes to accomplish change in six to eight years and then return to private business in North Dakota. Berg owns a real estate business in Fargo.
"I want to see the country turned around. It won't happen overnight, but I have a hard time down the road seeing myself in Congress," he said. "I am going to finish my career in the private sector in North Dakota. I am not going to finish my career in Congress."