In Grand Forks mayoral battle of opposites, 'nothing's impossible'

Grand Forks' two mayoral candidates see the city heading in two vastly different directions, and there are obvious differences between the two men. Mayor Mike Brown talks about investing in the community; his challenger, City Council member Terry Bjerke, wants a lean and focused city budget. Brown is an OBGYN at Altru; Bjerke is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. Brown says he's never used his mayoral veto; Bjerke is often the council's sole dissenting vote. The list goes on.
 Grand Forks voters choose between the two men on June 14. Randy Nedegaard, an assistant social work professor at UND, said he's already made up his mind. Brown has a solid track record as mayor, he said, and appears more willing to back city social programs. "I'm concerned on the flip side about the reactionary view of things that's coming from the opposition," he said, pointing out Bjerke's November comments that college campuses like UND are "dangerous" places for free speech. On the other side of the ticket, Grand Forks resident Sherry Fieber-Beyer said she's already made up her mind, too. "I just would like to see less taxation and less regulation and more freedom," she said. "Mayor Brown is a stand-up guy. He's a good mayor. I just think it's time for a change." Bo Wood, an associate professor in UND's political science and public administration department, said most Bjerke supporters have ideas somewhat like Fieber-Beyer's. They believe in lower taxes, less spending on making the city "something it doesn't need to be" and cheer Bjerke's lone dissenting votes. And as days until the election slowly slip away, Wood said there's one, all-important constant. "The question of (Bjerke's) whole candidacy is, how big is that demographic?" Wood said. 'Nothing's impossible' Sizing up Bjerke's or Brown's chances of success on Election Day means taking into account a whole range of factors. Dana Harsell, Bo Wood's departmental colleague at UND, pointed first to the turnout rates in June elections. They're low. "Sometimes it makes it hard to predict how local elections will come out if you have a small number of very engaged people," he said, pointing out that the 2010 and 2014 June elections drew less than 4,000 and less than 3,000 voters respectively, by his count. Harsell said the 2012 mayoral election fared better, with nearly 12,000 ballots cast in the mayoral race, but said those numbers still lag far behind a presidential election. At the state level, turnout for the presidential election in 2012 was nearly double the number of June primary votes from earlier that year. Despite the lack of clarity that comes with small size, Harsell says he sees Brown going into the election with an advantage. He's the incumbent mayor who has presided over years of growth and relative stability without significant scandals. "I think there's a lot going for Brown," Harsell said. "You look at (his) tenure as mayor-we've seen growth, we've seen programs people seem to like, we've seen taxes remain stable." There is a question of whether or not the same anti-establishment feeling that has given rise to candidates like Donald Trump will play a role in Grand Forks' election, Harsell said, especially because North Dakota gubernatorial candidate Doug Burgum, a Fargo businessman, is on the same ballot in the Republican primary against Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. That outsider-versus-establishment dynamic could mean more votes for Bjerke, but only if the people who are motivated to show up for Burgum do so because of that particular mood. "With everything else being even, based on these indicators, I think Bjerke has a lot of work to do if he's going to run a successful campaign," Harsell said That's not to say it's a sure thing. Harsell estimated that only about 15,000 people will hit the polls on June 14. "If you're successful in getting a lot of people to vote, nothing's impossible," he said. 'Until the baby's in the nursery' Driving out the vote is exactly what Bjerke hopes to do. At a city meeting in May, he showed a Herald reporter his knuckles; one of them had a thick callus, which Bjerke said developed after knocking on door after door. "Obviously, I can't control what people do," he said. "As you can tell, I'm pretty consistent with my message. I'm going to work hard, and I have a very aggressive advertising campaign schedule that's going to be hitting shortly. It's going to be up to the people." Bjerke also notes he plans to spend "in the same ballpark" as Brown, who has estimated that his campaign spending will come to around $18,000 to $20,000. Bjerke said the main thrust of his advertising campaign should be starting this week. "It'll be local TV, local radio, local paper, and (the Herald's) online edition," Bjerke said. "I believe that's 'covering all bases' in the media." Bjerke's campaign finance forms shed a small degree of light on his campaign, but not a great deal; candidates only have to disclose aggregate donations greater than $200 in a given time frame, among other rules, and don't have to report contributions from themselves. Bjerke's pre-election campaign finance forms, which stretch back to Jan. 1, list $3,100 in donations, including two separate $1,000 gifts from Ian Bjerke of Grand Forks and Badlands PAC. Within the past two years, Badlands PAC has received funding from the General Electric Company PAC, the General Atomics PAC and the Home Depot Inc. Political Action Committee, according to the Federal Election Commission. The election commission also notes that, within the past two years, Badlands has contributed funds to Republican campaigns like that of U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. "I have connections to the PAC, and they support what I believe," Bjerke said. Though he didn't specify the connection, he said he has a "personal relationship" with a person who is involved with the group. "I didn't have any problem accepting money from them." It's a different picture than when Bjerke ran for reelection to the City Council in 2012. His pre-election campaign finance reporting, which lasted through the end of May from that year, is a nearly blank reporting form, with no contributions to note. Brown's campaign finance reports have changed as well. In 2012, his forms showed a smattering of contributions ranging from $50 to $500 from Grand Forks residents; this cycle, his forms show one $2,500 donation from retired Grand Forks attorney F. John Marshall, who was listed as a $500 donor in 2012. Brown said business donations to his campaign are up, which he linked to worries about a potential Bjerke mayorship. "They want (the city) to remain vital and vibrant," Brown said. "They're concerned that if we hunker down, they're going to lose their business." Brown added that he's nervous about the upcoming election, but noted that that's all part of his style. This is his fifth consecutive run for the mayor's office and he's been nervous every time. "I don't relax until the baby's in the nursery," Brown said, referencing his profession. "Then I can relax." Vision versus consensus On the issues, both men are far apart. Over the past several months, Brown has described a philosophy of community investment focusing on building the kind of city people want to move to. He's used phrases like, "if you're not growing, you're dying," and has defended his openness to calling for an increased property tax or sales tax to shepherd important city projects along. Bjerke's ideas stand nearly opposite. He's a self-described conservative who places an emphasis on efficiency, and he's called for a review of city employees' pensions, a search for unnecessary portions of city code, and questioned current spending on Cities Area Transit despite what he feels is its underutilization. "Are our roads fixed? ... The answer to me is no. Then I'm not doing public art," Bjerke said earlier this month, referring to the push for more arts and vibrant downtown that Brown has brought to the fore. Wood reads the biggest difference between the two men not as a policy difference, though, but of how they argue for their own ideas. Brown, he said, strikes him as someone who would tend to build consensus-even if that means forfeiting some of his ideas. Bjerke, on the other hand, is more strident with his vision. "Terry Bjerke has an ideology about how government should work, and he thinks we have gotten very off track ... no matter the City Council, he will fight them to implement that vision," he said, compared to Brown's willingness to reach agreement. "It seems to me that that's what Mayor Brown is more interested in: What's the overall direction that we want to agree on where we can all go?" In the weeks leading up to the election, both men are beginning to take questions on a variety of new issues, too. Responding to a questionnaire from the Herald on immigrants and refugees, the two candidates took a divergent tack on the effect they have on the city. "We don't know," Bjerke wrote. "Many of the agencies involved with this issue are not forthcoming with information. As mayor, I will call for a town hall meeting where I will request that that appropriate local, state and federal agencies send representatives. The citizens will be allowed to ask any question they want." Brown, on the other hand, struck a more welcoming note. ""We have a 2.9 percent unemployment rate with over 1,100 jobs open," he wrote. " We need workers and as we go into the future with UAS, new businesses and other industries, we need more. The second thing: we are a country, a state, a community of immigrants." Both men also took sharply different stances on the future of the Grand Forks Public Library. Brown made references to the council and mayor working together on a path forward while Bjerke called for "all four local taxing entities" to build a plan to remodel the current building without a tax increase. The road to June 28 New city leaders are sworn in on June 28. If Bjerke becomes mayor, he said his first day in office will mean budget cuts. "It's going to start in the mayor's office, and we're going to start the cut, and we're going to reduce spending. Some things the council is going to have to approve, but I'll remind everybody: it's the mayor's budget. I'll buy my own red pens, because I'll need a lot." Brown said his first impulse would be to pick up the phone, talk to other community leaders and start building a shared vision. "I think would reach out to our partners and see what we can do," he said. "As a community, that's what you want to do. That's the message. Leadership is that you have a vision and that we succeed together."Grand Forks' two mayoral candidates see the city heading in two vastly different directions, and there are obvious differences between the two men.Mayor Mike Brown talks about investing in the community; his challenger, City Council member Terry Bjerke, wants a lean and focused city budget. Brown is an OBGYN at Altru; Bjerke is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. Brown says he's never used his mayoral veto; Bjerke is often the council's sole dissenting vote. The list goes on.
 Grand Forks voters choose between the two men on June 14.Randy Nedegaard, an assistant social work professor at UND, said he's already made up his mind. Brown has a solid track record as mayor, he said, and appears more willing to back city social programs."I'm concerned on the flip side about the reactionary view of things that's coming from the opposition," he said, pointing out Bjerke's November comments that college campuses like UND are "dangerous" places for free speech.On the other side of the ticket, Grand Forks resident Sherry Fieber-Beyer said she's already made up her mind, too."I just would like to see less taxation and less regulation and more freedom," she said. "Mayor Brown is a stand-up guy. He's a good mayor. I just think it's time for a change."Bo Wood, an associate professor in UND's political science and public administration department, said most Bjerke supporters have ideas somewhat like Fieber-Beyer's. They believe in lower taxes, less spending on making the city "something it doesn't need to be" and cheer Bjerke's lone dissenting votes.And as days until the election slowly slip away, Wood said there's one, all-important constant."The question of (Bjerke's) whole candidacy is, how big is that demographic?" Wood said.'Nothing's impossible'Sizing up Bjerke's or Brown's chances of success on Election Day means taking into account a whole range of factors. Dana Harsell, Bo Wood's departmental colleague at UND, pointed first to the turnout rates in June elections. They're low."Sometimes it makes it hard to predict how local elections will come out if you have a small number of very engaged people," he said, pointing out that the 2010 and 2014 June elections drew less than 4,000 and less than 3,000 voters respectively, by his count. Harsell said the 2012 mayoral election fared better, with nearly 12,000 ballots cast in the mayoral race, but said those numbers still lag far behind a presidential election. At the state level, turnout for the presidential election in 2012 was nearly double the number of June primary votes from earlier that year.Despite the lack of clarity that comes with small size, Harsell says he sees Brown going into the election with an advantage. He's the incumbent mayor who has presided over years of growth and relative stability without significant scandals."I think there's a lot going for Brown," Harsell said. "You look at (his) tenure as mayor-we've seen growth, we've seen programs people seem to like, we've seen taxes remain stable."There is a question of whether or not the same anti-establishment feeling that has given rise to candidates like Donald Trump will play a role in Grand Forks' election, Harsell said, especially because North Dakota gubernatorial candidate Doug Burgum, a Fargo businessman, is on the same ballot in the Republican primary against Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. That outsider-versus-establishment dynamic could mean more votes for Bjerke, but only if the people who are motivated to show up for Burgum do so because of that particular mood."With everything else being even, based on these indicators, I think Bjerke has a lot of work to do if he's going to run a successful campaign," Harsell saidThat's not to say it's a sure thing. Harsell estimated that only about 15,000 people will hit the polls on June 14."If you're successful in getting a lot of people to vote, nothing's impossible," he said.'Until the baby's in the nursery'Driving out the vote is exactly what Bjerke hopes to do. At a city meeting in May, he showed a Herald reporter his knuckles; one of them had a thick callus, which Bjerke said developed after knocking on door after door."Obviously, I can't control what people do," he said. "As you can tell, I'm pretty consistent with my message. I'm going to work hard, and I have a very aggressive advertising campaign schedule that's going to be hitting shortly. It's going to be up to the people."Bjerke also notes he plans to spend "in the same ballpark" as Brown, who has estimated that his campaign spending will come to around $18,000 to $20,000. Bjerke said the main thrust of his advertising campaign should be starting this week."It'll be local TV, local radio, local paper, and (the Herald's) online edition," Bjerke said. "I believe that's 'covering all bases' in the media."Bjerke's campaign finance forms shed a small degree of light on his campaign, but not a great deal; candidates only have to disclose aggregate donations greater than $200 in a given time frame, among other rules, and don't have to report contributions from themselves. Bjerke's pre-election campaign finance forms, which stretch back to Jan. 1, list $3,100 in donations, including two separate $1,000 gifts from Ian Bjerke of Grand Forks and Badlands PAC.Within the past two years, Badlands PAC has received funding from the General Electric Company PAC, the General Atomics PAC and the Home Depot Inc. Political Action Committee, according to the Federal Election Commission.The election commission also notes that, within the past two years, Badlands has contributed funds to Republican campaigns like that of U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado."I have connections to the PAC, and they support what I believe," Bjerke said. Though he didn't specify the connection, he said he has a "personal relationship" with a person who is involved with the group. "I didn't have any problem accepting money from them."It's a different picture than when Bjerke ran for reelection to the City Council in 2012. His pre-election campaign finance reporting, which lasted through the end of May from that year, is a nearly blank reporting form, with no contributions to note.Brown's campaign finance reports have changed as well. In 2012, his forms showed a smattering of contributions ranging from $50 to $500 from Grand Forks residents; this cycle, his forms show one $2,500 donation from retired Grand Forks attorney F. John Marshall, who was listed as a $500 donor in 2012.Brown said business donations to his campaign are up, which he linked to worries about a potential Bjerke mayorship. "They want (the city) to remain vital and vibrant," Brown said. "They're concerned that if we hunker down, they're going to lose their business."Brown added that he's nervous about the upcoming election, but noted that that's all part of his style. This is his fifth consecutive run for the mayor's office and he's been nervous every time."I don't relax until the baby's in the nursery," Brown said, referencing his profession. "Then I can relax."Vision versus consensusOn the issues, both men are far apart. Over the past several months, Brown has described a philosophy of community investment focusing on building the kind of city people want to move to. He's used phrases like, "if you're not growing, you're dying," and has defended his openness to calling for an increased property tax or sales tax to shepherd important city projects along.Bjerke's ideas stand nearly opposite. He's a self-described conservative who places an emphasis on efficiency, and he's called for a review of city employees' pensions, a search for unnecessary portions of city code, and questioned current spending on Cities Area Transit despite what he feels is its underutilization."Are our roads fixed? ... The answer to me is no. Then I'm not doing public art," Bjerke said earlier this month, referring to the push for more arts and vibrant downtown that Brown has brought to the fore.Wood reads the biggest difference between the two men not as a policy difference, though, but of how they argue for their own ideas. Brown, he said, strikes him as someone who would tend to build consensus-even if that means forfeiting some of his ideas. Bjerke, on the other hand, is more strident with his vision."Terry Bjerke has an ideology about how government should work, and he thinks we have gotten very off track ... no matter the City Council, he will fight them to implement that vision," he said, compared to Brown's willingness to reach agreement. "It seems to me that that's what Mayor Brown is more interested in: What's the overall direction that we want to agree on where we can all go?"In the weeks leading up to the election, both men are beginning to take questions on a variety of new issues, too. Responding to a questionnaire from the Herald on immigrants and refugees, the two candidates took a divergent tack on the effect they have on the city."We don't know," Bjerke wrote. "Many of the agencies involved with this issue are not forthcoming with information. As mayor, I will call for a town hall meeting where I will request that that appropriate local, state and federal agencies send representatives. The citizens will be allowed to ask any question they want."Brown, on the other hand, struck a more welcoming note.""We have a 2.9 percent unemployment rate with over 1,100 jobs open," he wrote. " We need workers and as we go into the future with UAS, new businesses and other industries, we need more. The second thing: we are a country, a state, a community of immigrants."Both men also took sharply different stances on the future of the Grand Forks Public Library. Brown made references to the council and mayor working together on a path forward while Bjerke called for "all four local taxing entities" to build a plan to remodel the current building without a tax increase.The road to June 28New city leaders are sworn in on June 28. If Bjerke becomes mayor, he said his first day in office will mean budget cuts."It's going to start in the mayor's office, and we're going to start the cut, and we're going to reduce spending. Some things the council is going to have to approve, but I'll remind everybody: it's the mayor's budget. I'll buy my own red pens, because I'll need a lot."Brown said his first impulse would be to pick up the phone, talk to other community leaders and start building a shared vision."I think would reach out to our partners and see what we can do," he said. "As a community, that's what you want to do. That's the message. Leadership is that you have a vision and that we succeed together."