What if Grand Forks ran this country?
It's a slow news day for the City Beat. Let's play Fantasy Federal Government, people, except we'll stick to local government officials in Grand Forks and Polk Counties.
Here's my picks from the officials I happen to know. (A quick note: I'm not playing favorites, here. People that don't make it just don't fit the categories I'm looking at or I don't know them real well. Each position is important so I'm not allegorically saying somebody should be somebody's boss instead of the other way around.):
President: Grand Forks City Council President Hal Gershman. The presidency is a hot seat and who ever's there is going to take the heat from all sides. I see Hal as being versatile enough to crack knuckles when he has to and smooth talk when he doesn't.
Vice President: People used to call Grand Forks Council member Curt Kreun a "junior mayor" so I'm making a junior president. I'm sure Hal will give him something to do, otherwise he'll be stuck making speeches and being laughed at.
Secretary of State: Grand Forks city administrator Rick Duquette. Being city administrator these days require some diplomatic skills. You got council members knockin' on your doors demanding one thing. You got your boss the mayor wanting another thing. What you need to do is get the council people to give your boss what he wants. But you also need to be smart enough to know when to back down and give them what they want, too.
Secretary of the Treasury: Alerus Center commission chairman Randy Newman. Well, the man's a banker, so why not?
Federal Reserve Chairman: Grand Forks finance director John Schmisek. This isn't a political position and needs somebody who's really wonkish about finance. That's our guy, John.
Secretary of Defense: Grand Forks Mayor Mike Brown. I like the way the mayor trusts his staff and uses their advice. I don't like the way the current secretary of defense has ignored the advice of his generals. Plus Brown used to sit around in a missile silo so I'm sure he's had a chance to think hard about the implications of warfare. (No, that's not a backhanded criticism of the war in Iraq.)
Director of National Intelligence: The DNI's position is a tough one. There's 16 different intelligence agencies and most of them belong to one department or another, meaning they don't work for the DNI. All the responsibilities and none of the power? Man, this one is hard. I'd say Alerus Center commissioner David Evenson. Personality-wise, I see him being able to cajole different agencies into cooperating or, if need be, twist arms. Since he ran Mayor Brown's campaign and defense controls a ton of intel assets, it'll be nice to have some cooperation there.
Secretary of Homeland Security: Grand Forks Council member Mike McNamara. Mac, a Marine serving in Iraq, told me once that his job right now is to "babysit the city of Fallujah" meaning one day he's delivering water and the next day he's delivering artillery shells. Sounds like he can run FEMA and take care of security.
Attorney General: This one's about as hard as the director of national intelligence. Who would I want to run the FBI -- meaning his job is to ferret out terrorists -- and be responsible for an array of other legal matters -- everything from prosecuting crimes on Indian reservations to prosecuting white-collar criminals? I'm stumped. I don't know that many attorneys and I don't know any that has experience catching terrorists. Ah, what the heck. Let's make it Grand Forks Council member Doug Christensen. He's got that prosecutorial style of his, I'm sure criminals will be terrified.
Secretary of the Interior: Former Grand Forks Council member Dorette Kerian. Dorette's colleagues on the council praise her for her well-reasoned policy positions. I always feel that the use of federal land favors corporate interests too much. So I'm looking for balance here.
Secretary of Commerce: Economic Development Corp. president Klaus Thiessen. His job is to make jobs. He's doing a fine job to me so he gets the job.
U.S. Trade Representative: East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss. I've heard he's pretty tenacious in negotiations. When you're in a small town in a big state, it's sometimes hard to get the attention of state officials or federal officials. These experiences will serve him well when he butts heads with the Chinese and the Europeans.
What's the blogosphere think? Make suggestions please but don't attack people. That's puerile.
Here's my picks from the officials I happen to know. (A quick note: I'm not playing favorites, here. People that don't make it just don't fit the categories I'm looking at or I don't know them real well. Each position is important so I'm not allegorically saying somebody should be somebody's boss instead of the other way around.):
President: Grand Forks City Council President Hal Gershman. The presidency is a hot seat and who ever's there is going to take the heat from all sides. I see Hal as being versatile enough to crack knuckles when he has to and smooth talk when he doesn't.
Vice President: People used to call Grand Forks Council member Curt Kreun a "junior mayor" so I'm making a junior president. I'm sure Hal will give him something to do, otherwise he'll be stuck making speeches and being laughed at.
Secretary of State: Grand Forks city administrator Rick Duquette. Being city administrator these days require some diplomatic skills. You got council members knockin' on your doors demanding one thing. You got your boss the mayor wanting another thing. What you need to do is get the council people to give your boss what he wants. But you also need to be smart enough to know when to back down and give them what they want, too.
Secretary of the Treasury: Alerus Center commission chairman Randy Newman. Well, the man's a banker, so why not?
Federal Reserve Chairman: Grand Forks finance director John Schmisek. This isn't a political position and needs somebody who's really wonkish about finance. That's our guy, John.
Secretary of Defense: Grand Forks Mayor Mike Brown. I like the way the mayor trusts his staff and uses their advice. I don't like the way the current secretary of defense has ignored the advice of his generals. Plus Brown used to sit around in a missile silo so I'm sure he's had a chance to think hard about the implications of warfare. (No, that's not a backhanded criticism of the war in Iraq.)
Director of National Intelligence: The DNI's position is a tough one. There's 16 different intelligence agencies and most of them belong to one department or another, meaning they don't work for the DNI. All the responsibilities and none of the power? Man, this one is hard. I'd say Alerus Center commissioner David Evenson. Personality-wise, I see him being able to cajole different agencies into cooperating or, if need be, twist arms. Since he ran Mayor Brown's campaign and defense controls a ton of intel assets, it'll be nice to have some cooperation there.
Secretary of Homeland Security: Grand Forks Council member Mike McNamara. Mac, a Marine serving in Iraq, told me once that his job right now is to "babysit the city of Fallujah" meaning one day he's delivering water and the next day he's delivering artillery shells. Sounds like he can run FEMA and take care of security.
Attorney General: This one's about as hard as the director of national intelligence. Who would I want to run the FBI -- meaning his job is to ferret out terrorists -- and be responsible for an array of other legal matters -- everything from prosecuting crimes on Indian reservations to prosecuting white-collar criminals? I'm stumped. I don't know that many attorneys and I don't know any that has experience catching terrorists. Ah, what the heck. Let's make it Grand Forks Council member Doug Christensen. He's got that prosecutorial style of his, I'm sure criminals will be terrified.
Secretary of the Interior: Former Grand Forks Council member Dorette Kerian. Dorette's colleagues on the council praise her for her well-reasoned policy positions. I always feel that the use of federal land favors corporate interests too much. So I'm looking for balance here.
Secretary of Commerce: Economic Development Corp. president Klaus Thiessen. His job is to make jobs. He's doing a fine job to me so he gets the job.
U.S. Trade Representative: East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss. I've heard he's pretty tenacious in negotiations. When you're in a small town in a big state, it's sometimes hard to get the attention of state officials or federal officials. These experiences will serve him well when he butts heads with the Chinese and the Europeans.
What's the blogosphere think? Make suggestions please but don't attack people. That's puerile.
posted by Tu-Uyen at 7:26 PM
5 Comments:
Wow, you put a lot of effort into this. Good picks, by the way. I wouldn't mind seeing Hal as "president".
Yes, nice article. The AG pick could be redone with a few more straws in the draw, though.
Hal would be a good pick, and Mac as SHC is good, too. How can we achieve this agenda???
Doug Christiansen would be a good choice for AG if we want torture to continue. Has he taken his ethics course yet from his last run in with the North Dakota Bar?
You fool! They pay way more taxes up there! Don't do it!
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