Governor Hoeven's student-led conference arranged by the Devils Lake Students Network
Devils Lake, North Dakota
January 24, 2002
Hello, I'm Daniel Webster with the Devils Lake School Network and I'd like to welcome you to a DLSN special report. Today we are fortunate to have with us a special guest, North Dakota Governor John Hoeven. Governor Hoeven has graciously agreed to meet with reporters from the Devils Lake High School newspaper, the Lake Ripples and members of our TV production class for a special press conference held here in our studio. Mr. Governor, welcome to Devils Lake High School and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us for this press conference.
Governor Hoeven:
Thank you very much, it's great to be here and I understand that there's a panel that's going to interview me and I look forward to that and I look forward to a great day here at Devils Lake High School. Thanks so much for the invitation.
Daniel Webster:
Governor Hoeven will be responding to a series of questions from our school reporters, with students alternating their questions. Now then, lets meet our reporters from the Lake Ripples school newspaper. First we have, Jeff Bryland, next to him is Erika Gilbertson, then Brett Svedahl, and finally Melissa Mack.
To get things started, we'll have our first question from Jeff.
Jeff Bryland:
Governor Hoeven, what are you planning to do to keep North Dakota students from leaving?
Governor Hoeven:
Well, first off, good morning Jeff. It's nice to be here. I had a state of the state presentation last week and I hope some of you were able to see it via the IVN network interactive TV or it was carried on a lot of the networks. Talked about Building our Future in North Dakota, and that rests on six pillars, Excellence in Education, and of course today I'm out with our Education Tour, Economic Development, Agriculture, Energy, Technology, and Quality of Life. I think if we as a state and all of us together, working to make sure that we build on those pillars here in North Dakota, those are the kind of things that can help us create new, good paying jobs, career type opportunities that will help keep our young people in North Dakota and bring others back to North Dakota.
Erika Gilbertson:
As governor, what would you like to see done to improve our already good university system?
Governor Hoeven:
Well, we're working on a number of things there. About two years ago we started a process call the Higher Education Roundtable and that involved a lot of people from education, from the private sector, businesses, from government, from all parts of North Dakota and we came up with a concept called flexibility with accountability. The idea is that we give our university system more flexibility in terms of how they spend their dollars and allocate their resources so that they can pursue excellence in education, in workforce development, in jobs training and so they can be truly entrepreneurial, working with businesses and getting federal grants to do more things, not only in the classroom, to make sure that we are producing the very best trained and highly educated young people, but also to create, help us create jobs and career opportunities.
Brett Svedahl:
Governor Hoeven, what have you already done & are planning on doing to bring new jobs to the State of North Dakota?
Governor Hoeven:
Well, hopefully you saw yesterday, that the Unisys Corporation in Bismarck is adding 100 jobs, that's one example of an area that we've targeted for growth and that's technology-based business services. Others are value-added agriculture to help create jobs in our small towns and rural areas and gain more income for farmers by moving them into processing, and marketing the crops they grow. Another area is advanced manufacturing, we're doing new things in energy to help solve this nation's energy needs, we're building our tourism, we're moving out in aerospace. So those are just some of the areas where we're building on our strengths here in North Dakota and creating new, good paying jobs.
Melissa Mack:
Since you're on an Excellence for Education Tour, what are you finding in regards to education in North Dakota?
Governor Hoeven:
What I'm finding is that we do a tremendous job in education. Whether it's K-12 or Higher Education, North Dakota does an outstanding job and that shows. Whenever they have any kind of survey or national test, such as the SAT test, you see that ND students always out-perform their peers. So we're getting outstanding results, we need to continue to emphasize that excellence in education through new funding methods and new ways of instruction, to make sure that we're producing the very best educated young people anywhere in the country. That's our competitive advantage that's how we compete in this new economy and win.
Jeff Bryland:
What are your plans for helping struggling farmers?
Governor Hoeven:
One of the things that's very important right now is the farm bill. As you know, Congress is hard at work on a new farm bill. And I think that we need a long-term, counter-cyclical safety net for our farmers, so that they can plan and invest for the future and so that young people can get into the business of farming and know that there's going to be some stability there. So we need to continue to lobby congress, I spent a lot of time this past year, lobbying both the Administration and the Congress to pass the right kind of farm bill with a long-term safety net and I'm hopeful that as they get back in session now, that they'll get that done.
Erika Gilbertson:
Governor Hoeven, what are your views on the Sioux logo controversy?
Governor Hoeven:
Well, I've been asked that question a lot of times and I think the key is that it's handled with dignity and that it's handled, you know, in a very responsible way. And I think that's what the University is trying to do. And as long as they are handling it that way, I think it is appropriate; and at the same time they are doing tremendous things with Native American, with their Native American programs, like their Native Americans in Medicine program, which is one of the leading programs moving Native Americans into training to be doctors and nurses and that kind of thing. One of the leading programs anywhere in the country. So again, it's how you handle it, with dignity and respect, which I think they're doing, I think that's the right thing to do, and at the same time, look for opportunities to build their Native American programs.
Brett Svedahl:
How do you foresee the State of North Dakota in ten years?
Governor Hoeven:
How do I foresee it in 10 years? I think those are the things that we are talking about right now, when we talk about Building our Future in North Dakota. We're talking about excellence in education, so I see an outstanding educational system, both K-12 & Higher Ed. I see us creating new jobs and new opportunities, we'll be, our people will be employed in ways very different than they're employed now, in these areas that I'm talking about, technology based business services, advanced manufacturing, value-added agriculture, all these types of things. I see us continuing the be a leader in agriculture and in energy, we already are one of the leading states in terms of our use of technology, we have more farmers on the internet than any other state. And in terms of quality of life, I think we'll continue to build and maintain that tremendous quality of life we have in North Dakota. So I see it as a bright future and a very positive future for our state.
Melissa Mack:
What is your opinion on NAFTA? How has it helped or hindered the farmers in ND?
Governor Hoeven:
I believe in free trade and trying to promote free trade. But at the same time it has to be fair, so I think we have to be aggressive in terms of making sure that our farmers and that our manufacturers and anyone else that exports out of this country gets a fair shake. So, if we run into a country that has trade restrictions, or duties, quotas, that type of thing, we need to make sure that we step up and either get those duties, quotas and trade barriers eliminated, or we make sure that we provide the same thing for our folks here in this country. So it's a level playing field. So again, free trade, but fair trade. And the thing that I'm concerned about with NAFTA is that we haven't been aggressive enough in terms of enforcing fair trade, I think we need to do that. A good example is the challenge that we have in front of the Canadian Wheat Board right now, and I think that that is a monopolistic practice, that we as a country need to push to have changed.
Jeff Bryland:
What is your opinion on minimum wage, change it or keep it the same?
Governor Hoeven:
You know, the minimum wage really is no longer the driver in this state, and I think throughout much of the country. The key is that we create more jobs, so we create a demand for labor and better paying jobs, so that the minimum wage is not an issue, and I really don't think it is the issue now. Any of the new companies we're working with are starting at a wage well above minimum wage for the people they hire. And so our goal is good paying jobs and really the minimum wage shouldn't be an issue, because the demand for labor should create a much higher wage level, the demand in the marketplace.
Erika Gilbertson:
How do you plan to bring new people, and industry or businesses into North Dakota?
Governor Hoeven:
We're doing that in a number of ways, we're trying to, you know we've completely changed the Economic Development structure of the state, we now have what's called the Commerce Department. We brought all the entities that work with economic development together into one place, one-stop shop, whether it's marketing, or finance or jobs training. The federal money we get for economic development, we're trying to market the state much more aggressively and then provide much better support through this one-stop shop, the Commerce Department, to help our businesses and our entrepreneurs grow and expand. And that means providing good financing programs, good technical assistance, whatever they may need to help them grow and develop here in North Dakota.
Brett Svedahl:
North Dakota has a reputation as a low wage state, how would you remedy this problem?
Governor Hoeven:
By working hard to do just what we're doing, creating more jobs. As you create more jobs, targeted in the areas that we're talking about to pay higher wages, that pulls the wage level and salary levels up. You're seeing that starting to happen, we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, this year, wages and personal income both grew by five percent over the course of 2001, that's faster than the national average. We need to keep doing that.
Daniel Webster:
And now it's time for the last question for Governor Hoeven from Melissa.
Melissa Mack:
Do you plan on seeking re-election when you're term is up?
Governor Hoeven:
Well, you know, I was just elected in 2000, so last year was my first year in office, I'm just starting my second year, so that's a long ways off before I need to confront that decision. Right now I'm just working on doing a good job.
Daniel Webster:
Thank you students for your questions. Governor Hoeven do you have any final comments you would like to make?
Governor Hoeven:
Yes, outstanding questions. I appreciate it very much. As I said earlier, it's great to be here at Devils Lake High School. I'm looking forward to getting around the community, and seeing not only the elementary, the middle and high schools, but also Lake Region Junior College, State College as well. Great to be here, looking forward to my day.
Daniel Webster:
Again, we want to thank Governor Hoeven for participating in this Devils Lake High School press conference and thank you to our student reporters. This has been Daniel Webster for DLSN. I hope you have a nice day.
