(BISMARCK, ND) – In case you missed it, the High Plains Reader detailed how Harold Hamm, a “verifiable master of puppets” was a key player behind Kevin Cramer’s run for a promotion he hasn’t earned, and funneled buckets of money to Cramer and his campaign. Don’t forget, Cramer himself admitted that he decided to run because Hamm, an out-of-state billionaire, promised to help him fundraise – not out of a desire to serve North Dakotans.

High Plains Reader: Master of Puppets
By C.S. Hagen
August 1, 2018

Key Points:

• […] Hamm and his net worth of $19.5 billion became the decision maker for Cramer accepting Hamm as his national finance chairman.
• Hamm, with his billions in North Dakota oil profits, became Cramer’s national finance chairman in February, which was a deciding factor in Cramer’s flip-flopping stance on whether to run against Heitkamp, or not.
• Hamm’s company, Continental Resources, is based in Oklahoma, and has also contributed $1,204,950 in campaign funds in 2018, according to Open Secrets, Center for Responsive Politics.
• For years, Hamm’s money trails to Cramer branches like tributaries of the Missouri River. Sometimes donations are direct deposits to Cramer, at other times the funds are processed through PACs and committees. More than 50 percent of Cramer’s funds for his U.S. Senate run have come from large and primarily out-of-state contributors such as Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
• In 2018, Continental Resources has given $7,400 directly to Cramer, and Hamm has personally signed over $8,100 to Cramer in two different installments.
• The oil magnate also donated $50,000 to the Cramer Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, which then shoveled $155,282 to Cramer this year. Another $5,000 of Hamm’s money went to the Badlands PAC, also a committee for Cramer, which so far has sent $72,440 on to Cramer.
• Hamm gave $33,900 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a Republican campaign group for the Senate, which donated $80,376 directly to the Cramer Victory Fund.
• The joint fundraising committee supplied a total of $155,000 to Cramer’s campaign, more than $72,000 to the Badlands PAC, and $65,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to the Open Secrets, Center for Responsive Politics.
• Kevin Cramer is tied for the top recipient after receiving $47,000 from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Read the full article here.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – This column from The Forum’s Jack Zaleski speaks for itself.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Forum:

• Worst spot so far: Cramer. He uses his mother and two kids to assure North Dakotans he won’t mess with Medicare.
• The ad’s premise is false. Cramer has always wanted to mess with Medicare—cut benefits, privatize portions of the program, etc. He can’t fudge his record, although he is one of the best fudge masters in Washington, D.C.
• The ad relies on shrewdly ambiguous weasel-words: He will protect benefits for oldies like his mom (and me) and make sure Medicare is there for younger generations, like the kids in the ad. Sounds great. Notice the distinction? The distortion? He is vague about future Medicare for people currently in the workforce (would he gut benefits?), while he preaches to oldsters who are on the program now, who vote, that he’s their Medicare evangelist. It’s not blatant deceit; it’s duplicitous half-truth.
• The fib is bad, but exploitation of mom is worse. She probably wants to help her son. It’s what moms do. But in the ad she looks painfully ill at ease. It’s uncomfortably obvious she would rather not be at center stage in a phony drama. Unconvincing ad. Kinda creepy.

Read more on Cramer’s true record on Medicare here and here.

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(BISMARCK, ND) – Don’t let his TV commercials and spin fool you. Kevin Cramer’s history of disrespect for our service members and veterans is well-documented.

Here’s a look back at all the ways Cramer has disrespected our service members and veterans.

• Cramer said military service is often “a result of lack of other opportunity for employment or revenue.”
• Cramer claimed funding for active duty military was becoming a “very difficult pill.”
• During his 2014 campaign, Cramer was criticized for using footage of a VA cemetery in an ad without seeking permission from the VA or the fallen service members’ families. Cramer refused to take the ad off YouTube, and actually doubled down – encouraging folks to watch the ad on that platform despite the criticism – and drawing condemnation from veterans across North Dakota. Cramer’s use of footage of the cemetery jeopardized its funding.

“Kevin Cramer’s comments go so far as to question the patriotism of our service men and women and veterans – and that’s unacceptable.” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Cramer has shown his true colors time and again when it comes to what he thinks of our service members, and that’s why North Dakotans know his ads are an election year sham.”

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Welcome to Crooked Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

WILL CRAMER PUT POLITICS ABOVE A STRONG FARM BILL ON CONFERENCE COMMITTEE? If history is any indication, the answer is a resounding yes. His pattern of playing political games with farmers’ livelihoods is well-documented – Congressman Cramer will always put politics ahead of what’s best for North Dakota. A brief history:

• June 2013: After fighting for deep, partisan cuts, Cramer blamed everyone but himself for the bill’s initial failure, taking aim at both Democrats and Republicans before later complaining at a closed-door GOP meeting that failure to pass the legislation would end his congressional career.
• June 2013: The Williston Herald slammed Cramer for “knocks on his leadership,” which included choosing politics over fighting for a strong Farm Bill, and urged him to “take a lesson from Hoeven and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.”
• September 2013: The Grand Forks Herald Editorial Board admonished Cramer as an ‘ideologue’ who “rejects compromises and insists on policies that are ideologically pure” for prioritizing partisan efforts to carve food stamps out of the Farm Bill.
• May 2018: This year, Cramer enthusiastically voted for the initial House Farm Bill which enjoyed zero bipartisan support because of its huge cuts to SNAP, threatening food support for millions of Americans. And he practically shrugged at his support for including a poison pill provision in the first iteration of the Farm Bill, which resulted in its failure on the House floor – calling the effort “not inappropriate.”

5 FAST FACTS ABOUT CRAMER’S TRADE WAR. Kevin Cramer helped create and continues to fully embrace this reckless trade war and North Dakotans know he’s to blame for the devastating economic impact it’s having on North Dakotans’ bottom lines. While Cramer may try and spin during his trade town hall today, here are five fast facts you need to know:

1. The trade war is jeopardizing the livelihood of North Dakota’s farmers, ranchers, and businesses: 111,100 jobs are supported by trade and over $60 million in exports are threatened.
2. Cramer flipped and flopped and flipped again on the trade war, playing games with producers’ livelihoods, all to up his political capital with Washington.
3. Cramer is now a rubber stamp for this disastrous trade war. In fact, he’s one of its biggest cheerleaders – to the detriment of North Dakotans.
4. Cramer has repeatedly underestimated the economy-killing consequences of the trade war, proving just how out of touch he is with North Dakotans.
5. Cramer created a self-imposed deadline for when he’ll finally stand up for North Dakota against this trade war: September.

DON’T MISS: Editorials across the state are detailing how the Cramer-endorsed trade war, and $12 billion bailout, is harming North Dakotans.
Walsh County Record Editorial: Farmer Welfare Falls Short.
AgWeek Editorial: Trump trade aid just a bandage.
AgWeek: Economist: Prolonged trade war threatens North Dakota economic growth.

DEM-NPL LAUNCHES COUNTDOWN CLOCK UNTIL CRAMER’S NEXT BROKEN PROMISE. Instead of standing up and taking responsibility to try and blunt the effects of the trade war, Cramer kicked his responsibility down the road and, incredulously, created a self-imposed deadline of September for when he’ll finally stand up for North Dakota’s interests. Well, Cramer has less than one month until that deadline and the Dem-NPL is here to remind him every minute of every second of every day that he’s not standing up for North Dakotans. See how much time he has left here.

POLITIFACT: “EFFECTS” OF TRADE WAR “NOT PRETTY.” Earlier this week, Politifact took a look at the damaging impact of Cramer’s trade war:

• For workers in America’s heartland, the good news of savings from President Donald Trump’s tax cuts is getting overshadowed by concern over his disruptive trade policies.
• “My equipment manufacturers tell me whatever advantage they’ve gotten from the tax code change has been eaten up in the very early months of the steel and aluminum tariffs,” Heitkamp said on CNBC on July 20, 2018.
• Economists tell us the effects of the tariffs, while imprecise so far, are not pretty.

KEVIN CRAMER WORKS FOR WASHINGTON – NOT NORTH DAKOTA.Read our 100 Days Out Memo on the many times Cramer has voted however his D.C. bosses order, all to increase his political capital so he can enrich himself. That’s why he’s wrong for North Dakota.

CRAMER STILL BACKED BY OUT-OF-STATE DARK MONEY. The Koch Network’s snub of Cramer made news this week, but North Dakotans know that Cramer is still backed by out-of-state special interests. That includes the billionaire Uihleins from Illinois, who gave Cramer the maximum primary contribution and also contributed to accused child molester and former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.
**DON’T FORGET why Cramer got into the race in the first place: An out-of-state billionaire pledged to bankroll his campaign.**

CRAMER WON’T STAND UP FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITION COVERAGE.Washington’s latest scheme to expand skimpy, short-term health plans could mean that North Dakotans who have pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer, or depression wouldn’t be guaranteed coverage and could be priced out of affording care. One insurer warned that these plans have “the potential to harm consumers, both by making comprehensive coverage more expensive and by leaving some consumers unaware of the risks of these policies.” Yet Cramer supports this dangerous agenda.

ICYMI: GRAND FORKS MAYOR ON WHY HE’S SUPPORTING HEIDI.
“Put simply, this Senate campaign should be about the candidates’ records. It should be about the results they’ve actually brought home to North Dakotans during their time in office. Heidi has distinguished herself as an effective legislator – she’s informed, she’s engaged and she gets the job done for North Dakota. She’s never lost touch with her roots. And that’s pretty rare in Washington these days.”

CRAMER’S PLAYING POLTIICS YET AGAIN – THIS TIME WITH VETS.Cramer’s voting record on veterans’ issues isn’t anything to write home about; in fact, he’d rather cover it up – so he’s desperately trying to conjure up some support from North Dakota’s veterans by spending campaign funds on a social media blitz targeting them. There’s just one problem: the ad he’s promoting features a California stock photo rather than a real North Dakota veteran. Veterans’ groups have always known about Cramer’s record – and now North Dakota vets are starting to notice his cheap political tactics, too.

(BISMARCK, ND) – Before Congressman Kevin Cramer’s trade town hall in Grafton, the county paper published an editorial highlighting how the trade war is hurting North Dakota’s farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers – and how the $12 billion bailout “bandage” isn’t what they need. We bet Cramer will hear more about this today – we hope he’ll listen rather than again dismiss their concerns as “hysteria.” Remember, North Dakotans are waiting for him to finally stand up for them.

Walsh County Record Editorial: Farmer Welfare Falls Short.

• “Our farmers, our producers, they don’t want bailouts,” Simon Wilson, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Office, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday. “They don’t want this help in the short term. They want long-term stability.”
• North Dakota, and specifically Grafton, are highly dependent on the success of area farmers. This $12 billion plan is that of a social economy, perhaps even reminiscent of a Soviet economy. Soybean prices have dropped almost 20 percent since April when China announced a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans. That means farmers are getting lower prices for goods and are not making enough to cover bills… When government gets involved in the market at that degree, it is disruptive and the agriculture market may never recover.
• The emergency aid program is pointedly timed to possibly help Republicans in midterm elections. Many of the states that supported Trump in the 2016 president election, like Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, North Dakota and South Dakota, have been impacted by the punitive tariffs from China and other countries.

AgWeek Editorial: Trump trade aid just a bandage.

• Agriculture has become collateral damage for the ongoing trade war, which some experts predict could last another year.
• No one wins in a trade war, even when you try to fix it with a bandage. So, the $12-billion trade compensation package falls short of helping farmers at a time when they need markets and higher commodity prices after five years of a depressed farm economy.
• Many in agriculture have labored for decades to develop and expand international markets for their products. It has taken millions of dollars and countless hours to build relationships that have led to U.S. sales… The trade war has dismantled those years of work in just a few weeks. What dollar amount can be put on those future losses?
• A $12 billion bandage for a wound of his making is still a bandage. Now, with congressional elections nearing, Trump wants us to focus on the bandage. Far better, we think, if he would focus on the wound.
• Many farmers have questioned how market losses can be assessed equitably since some farmers sold crop ahead while others didn’t. They also are questioning if these payments will be adequate if the soybean market continues to stay depressed.
• Soybean farmers aren’t the only ones hurt by the trade war. It has impacted the dairy, cotton, corn, wheat, sorghum and pork sectors.
• While a trade compensation package on the surface may seem like a positive move by the Trump administration, it will be too little too late for many farmers who are financially strapped after five years of low commodity prices. These farmers will become casualties of the trade war and won’t be around to see the great outcome Trump is promising.

Reminder: While Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue said the $12 billion government bailout is “obviously… not going to make farmers whole,” Cramer claimed farmers may not “need all 12 billion [in trade aid], if we need any of it.”

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