Being an old Midwesterner myself, I confess a sneaking preference for people from the Midwest for important tasks. Us Midwesterners (well, outside of Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul) are generally solid, stable, and come with a good helping of common sense. So, when President-elect Donald Trump named his former election rival, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, as his nomination for Secretary of the Interior, I reckoned that it was a pretty good choice.
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Burgum, 68, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota, population 328. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University and his master’s of business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
He went on to become a wealthy software executive. He led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum stayed on as a vice president until 2007. He’s also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
As I wrote earlier about Chris Wright, Trump’s nominee for Energy Secretary, Doug Burgum has one attribute that I find encouraging: He has run a business, he has produced a product, he has covered expenses and made payroll. That’s a skill set lacked by too many in the federal apparatus; there are too few of the apparatchiks in Interior and elsewhere who just plain don’t know what this is like.
Doug Burgum’s entry into politics was marked by a sensible campaign and a winning message:
In 2016, Burgum ran for governor, his first campaign for elected office. He touted a message of “reinventing” government as the state dealt with a massive revenue shortfall.
In a major upset, Burgum defeated North Dakota’s longtime attorney general in the Republican gubernatorial primary. He handily won his first term in the strong Republican state, which has about 784,000 residents.
He was easily reelected in 2020.
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In fact, Doug Burgum is a great choice for his role. Here’s why.
His terms as Governor of North Dakota were successful; Governor Burgum has shown he can carry out executive tasks in and out of government. While “experience in government” shouldn’t be a deciding factor – I consider it a negative – this does head off some of the inevitable criticism from the left.
Burgum has taken a business-oriented bent as governor of North Dakota, where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He’s pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.
And:
When he entered office in December 2016, he dealt with the final months of the sometimes-chaotic protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. He’s led the state through terrible droughts and crippling storms.
A good man in a storm, a man who is well-versed in agriculture and the energy sector, a man with proven executive experience in both government and the private sector.
Previously on RedState: President-Elect Donald Trump Chooses 2024 Rival to Head Up Department of the Interior
Trump Formally Taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for Interior Sec, Seat on National Energy Council
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The federal government, not exclusively but notably during the Biden administration, has been the center of a crisis of competence. From the White House on down, the federal government has had too many key players, both elected and appointed officials as well as employees, who couldn’t find their butts with both hands and written directions. It’s time that stopped; it’s time we had key people who are intelligent, capable, and competent. Doug Burgum gives every indication that he’ll do a good job at whipping Interior into shape. He’s experienced in public and private sectors and his conservative bona fides are good.
Governor Burgum’s confirmation hearings are currently scheduled for Thursday, January 16th. Stay tuned.