The Lignite Energy Council believes in the people that live and work in Coal Country making their own decisions about government. As a trade association, it is our duty to provide educational opportunities regarding the industry and members we represent. Lobbying is a part of our operations but there is no voice louder than the voice of the people.

For nearly fifty years, the Lignite Energy Council has been forging relationships, providing educational opportunities for elected officials, and spending time in the halls of the North Dakota Capitol. We are not always doing the teaching; those years also represent thousands of hours of us learning. What we have learned firsthand is that the North Dakota citizen legislature is beholden to the voters, not to lobbyists – but Measure One could change that.

Hollywood has glamorized the idea that backroom deals are made overlooking stacks of cash and that the “good ole boys club” rules like the mob in Vegas in the mid-1900s. It might seem fanciful to think that’s how things happen in North Dakota, but they don’t.

The elected officials North Dakota citizens place their trust in are your next-door neighbor, your children’s teachers, your podiatrist at the local clinic – they’re not hardened, career politicians. They get four months every other year to make the best decisions on highly specialized topics with no support staff to help them with research.

On election day, you will have to make a choice to change the North Dakota Constitution forever or use your voice to the best of your ability and exercise your duty to vote in every election for the changes you want to see long into the future. Measure One, toted as “term limits,” will not fix what rhetoric tells you is the problem.

We ask you to oppose Measure One to protect the Constitutional process, ensure the power resides with the people, and support Coal Country.