Town hall meetings matter. There’s nothing like walking into
a room full of constituents that have the ultimate access. Face to face with
the very people that voted you in office. They get to ask you anything and you
don’t know in advance what the questions are going to be.
I loved coming home from Bismarck and doing these meetings.
Getting the chance to look around the room and size up friend from foe. Trying
to figure out what issue they’ll bring to the table. In the end, if you were
just honest and sincere, the meetings always came out OK. Sometimes tense and
combative, but OK.
Senator John Hoeven just came back to North Dakota and held
some meetings. Not as open and welcoming to the public as they should have
been, but there were meetings. After those meetings, the Senator came out with
a statement. As a man who usually doesn’t make statements with any level of
risk, it was surprising. The statement was about tariffs. The Senator stated he
was negotiating to have the 10% additional tariffs stay off if China agrees to
purchase soybeans.
Senator Hoeven knew that there were members of a Chinese
delegation visiting local elevators. They were talking about soybeans. They
were talking about the
purchase
of soybeans. Not nearly as many bushels
as they used to buy or needed to buy, but the
intention
to buy nonetheless.
President Trump didn’t delay the additional 10% tariffs
because of Senator Hoeven. He delayed the 10% because Walmart and Best Buy
wanted to buy your Christmas gifts at a lower rate. They wanted to compete. It
was a coincidence that all of this happened at the same time. An opportunity
offered to a Senator that he took. Most politicians from either party would
have done the same. It’s an opportunity for them to take
credit
.
It just wasn’t much of a
risk
.
Good riding with you.
(Joel Heitkamp is a talk show host on the Mighty 790 KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. His award-winning program, “News & Views,” can be heard weekdays from 8 – 11 a.m. Follow Joel on Twitter @JoelKFGO.)
