Prairie Pulse | Prairie Pulse: Lt. Governor Tammy Miller and Holiday Music | Season 21 | Episode 9

(mellow upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Prairie Pulse."

Coming up later in the show, we'll hear some holiday music from our Prairie Musicians.

But, first, Matt Olien had a chance to interview North Dakota's Lieutenant Governor Tammy Miller.

Here's that conversation.

- Hello, my guest today is the lieutenant governor from the great State of North Dakota, Tammy Miller.

Welcome to "Prairie Pulse."

- Good morning, great to be here.

- Thank you.

First thing we always ask our guests, tell folks a little bit about yourself, your background, where you're from originally?

- Absolutely.

So my hometown is Brocket, North Dakota, current population 34.

Grew up there.

My parents had a business called Miller's Shopping Center on the Prairie.

Went to elementary school there in Brocket.

Had only six in my class in elementary school, then went to high school in Lakota.

Had a little bit over 40 in my class.

Graduated from Lakota, then went to MSUM in Moorhead, studied accounting.

My undergraduate degree is in accounting and I have an MBA.

Went on to pass the CPA exam and then started my career with Charles Bailey as an auditor working in public accounting.

And then went to work for one of my clients, Border States Electric.

Had a long career with Border States Electric.

Finished my career there as the CEO, was in that role for 14 and a half years, and then joined Governor Burgum at Team ND.

I have been a lifelong native of North Dakota other than a little bit of time in Minnesota, and I have a great husband, Craig Palmer.

We've been married for 35 years.

- Great.

Well, first question, and I'm sure viewers are wondering this, the governor has been, until recently, campaigning for president, out of the state a lot.

He suspended that campaign as we all know.

How did your job change when Governor Burgum was out campaigning?

This was a while.

I know you're busy anyway, but just take us through the day-to-day activities of how your job changed when you had to kind of fill in for him?

- So really it wasn't a change because I hadn't done this job before.

My first four months, January through April, were presiding over the Senate.

And then the plan was to be out and about around the state meeting individuals, touring businesses.

And that's what I've been doing.

Probably a little bit more of that in the governor's absence, but it was all part of the plan.

And then I do continue too to work very closely with the cabinet leaders.

I had responsibility for a lot of the work with the cabinet leaders as the chief operating officer.

So I continue with those duties as well.

- But were there any specific things that you had to do that Governor Burgum would've done had he not been in Iowa or New Hampshire or wherever he was?

- Sure, I can give you two recent specific examples.

The Green Bison soy processing plant had a ribbon-cutting a couple of weeks ago.

He was there for the groundbreaking, I was there for the ribbon-cutting, thanking the growers, ADM and Marathon for that great investment in our state.

And then one that was just recent was the turkey pardoning.

- That's a big deal, isn't it?

- It was a big deal.

- That's a crucial thing.

- [Tammy] Yes.

- What are your specific duties of lieutenant governor within the state constitutionally?

Kind of take me through- - Sure.

- If people don't know what, you know, what you do, what lieutenant governor does.

- Well, constitutionally, I preside over the Senate and then it's other duties as assigned by the governor.

Constitutionally, those are the responsibilities.

But I can tell you what some of those responsibilities include.

I chair a lot of boards and commissions, so State Investment Board, the Northern Plains test site, the TF Mines, which is a task force for military issues in North Dakota.

And the list goes on.

There's a lot of boards and commissions, some that are happening just about every month.

Some are on a quarterly basis.

I also am very involved in projects that are going on, like Red Tape Reduction, Business Gateway.

I worked very hard on the Department of Health and Human Services integration.

And then, as I said, worked very closely with the cabinet leaders.

And then just tons of events around the state, getting to know constituents and figuring out how we can help them be more successful, more prosperous in our great state.

- So I know some people have remarked to me over the years, like, what does the lieutenant governor do when the legislature isn't in session?

But obviously this job really never takes a break day-to-day, week-to-week, right?

- Yeah, so, just, you know, during a normal week a lot of what I do is attend meetings.

So we're working very closely with the agencies and the citizens of North Dakota right now on reducing red tape.

That was a big initiative during the last session.

We had over 50 bills that were signed into law to reduce red tape.

We're continuing to build on that now.

Trying to get more information specifically from the citizens of North Dakota and businesses to continue to reduce red tape and make it easier to do business with state government.

Also, working on the Business Gateway, you can imagine a business working with the state government.

They're working with the tax department, Secretary of State, Workforce Safety, Job Service, the list goes on.

For each of those interactions they may need a unique username, password, they have to put in their business information.

We're trying to create the Business Gateway.

We received funding this legislative session and we will have a solution.

So we have a one-stop shop for businesses as we move forward and really take the friction out of doing business with state government.

Additionally, we have several really big building projects going on in the state.

We're building a new state lab on the capital grounds.

We're adding onto the Heritage Center with a new military museum, and we are building a new women's facility for corrections.

We received $161 million of funding for that.

So, I am on all of those steering committees as well, representing the governor's office.

- How did your time as CEO at Border States and also COO in the governor's office kind of prepare you for this job, do you feel?

- Well, first of all, talk about the chief operating officer role in the governor's office.

In that role, I work very closely with all of the cabinet agencies, helping them to work as one and bring more value to the citizens of North Dakota.

It has been really, really rewarding and very helpful to understand exactly what those agencies are doing to serve the citizens of North Dakota.

So that has been very helpful.

I continue to work with all of those cabinet leaders and if we have a change in any of those offices, I lead the search and the interview process and make the recommendations to the governor for the final interview.

So very, very involved with cabinet agencies.

We also have a meeting every week on Thursday morning, again, to work as one as cabinet agencies.

So that has been very good background information leading into this role, as well as understanding the budgets.

I sit through every single budget meeting and every strategy review meeting.

Looking back a little bit to my role at Border States, really prepared me well for this work in state government.

We are trying to bring teams together, deliver more value, and that's what we did every day at Border States.

I have extensive experience running a multi-billion dollar organization, managing a multi-billion dollar budget.

And then going back to my old life in public accounting, I was an auditor, so I have a really strong financial background as well.

And then I did spend a large part of my career at Border States as a CFO.

Also at Border States, we did a ton of mergers and acquisitions.

So, bringing teams together, often from other states, helping them, you know, feel engaged, be part of the culture and deliver value.

And that integration of M&A has been extremely helpful dealing with the diverse agencies within state government.

- What's your working relationship like with Governor Burgum?

- It's outstanding.

I have known the governor for decades, with both of us being business leaders in the Fargo community.

We worked on the Valley Prosperity Partnership together, working to enhance research, work on water projects as well as workforce, as they related to businesses up and down the Red River Valley.

So I worked with him closely on that and just have known him a long time.

I have such great respect for the governor.

He is the most visionary and inspiring person I have ever met or worked with.

He also is a person who can inspire folks to deliver more than they ever thought possible.

And we're seeing that with a lot of our state agency leaders, which is great.

He also is, as we know, our state's biggest cheerleader.

He likes to win and he really inspires us to be number one in everything we do.

- And what is his management leadership style like, and what is your management leadership style like?

- Well, working with the governor is so easy because we each clearly understand each other's roles.

He, as I said, is super visionary.

He helps us set the vision and stretch and then he gets out of the way.

He doesn't micromanage, but when we do report outs, briefings, he always has a ton of questions, which is very helpful to think about everything from every direction.

And then he's super supportive and really always full of gratitude.

I think we heard Catherine on the campaign talk about how he never forgets a anniversary, a birthday, and that is absolutely true.

I'm on a lot of those messages that he sends and he is a super caring, supportive person.

- What are any specific initiatives you're heading up right now in your job?

You mentioned a few of them, but maybe just repeat those or- - Absolutely.

- Or other things going on?

- Yeah, so we have been working on Red Tape Reduction, as I mentioned earlier.

That is a huge initiative.

We want government to be more effective and we want to take the friction out of doing business with state government.

So I mentioned the work we did last legislative session.

We've launched Red Tape Reduction 2.2 recently.

Again, trying to gather more input from the citizens of North Dakota and businesses versus so much of the internal content that we received last time.

Granted, we want that as well, but we want more from the external public facing folks who deal with state government.

We've also engaged GNDC to help us with that.

They are surveying their businesses for input and we will follow up with them.

We have now with the Department of Health and Human Services, a pilot project where they are getting immediate feedback from their citizens that they're interacting with.

And then just this week we approved a little insert for any agency that mails information out to constituents.

We will have a QR code where they can scan that or go to the website and provide immediate feedback.

That's Red Tape Reduction.

So, obviously, we'll be gathering that and hopefully have a lot of great recommendations for the next legislative session.

Some of the things that are purely process improvement, we'll act on those immediately.

I mentioned the Business Gateway.

Again, being easier for businesses to interact with state government.

Once we get that Business Gateway set up, we will expand that to the Citizens Gateway.

So if you're dealing with Parks and Rec, Game and Fish, DHHS, it'll be one-stop shopping.

- Go ahead.

- I was also going to mention the Opioid Settlement Committee.

I have been asked to chair that committee as an non-voting member.

We have members who represent the state as well as local areas.

We're meeting to figure out how to spend what will be over time, about $60 million in opioid settlement funds.

We have 8 million to invest this legislative session.

And we just launched our grant application period that will close in December, I think, December 22nd.

And grants will be rewarded, I should say, awarded, in January, right around January 15th those notifications will go out.

All trying to help us just stop this opioid epidemic in our state and all the harm that it is doing.

Those funds can also be used to invest in workforce to help with that opioid work.

- What's the economic health of North Dakota right now, do you feel?

- We are in great shape in the State of North Dakota.

When we look at budget, all of our reserves, all of our buckets are full.

Folks are working.

We have the highest participation rate with workforce.

We are the second lowest in unemployment.

We had the highest GDP growth the first quarter of 2023.

So there is a lot of good economic activity in the State of North Dakota.

And we have a great environment with innovation and little regulation and with our tax structure.

During the last session, we did get approved the largest tax package for income tax and property tax ever in the history of the state.

And we will have the lowest state income tax in any state that has a individual income tax.

- What are the biggest challenges do you and Governor Burgum see in the next, you know, two, three years?

- Well, I think there are challenges and opportunities.

The biggest one is workforce.

This has been a challenge for a number of years.

Because of our environment, businesses are wanting to come to our state.

Businesses are starting in our state, businesses are expanding.

And workforce continues to be the greatest challenge.

- In terms of, like, government transparency too, I know, you know, the death of former Attorney General Stenehjem, and then the deletion of the emails is still kind of a process working its way through.

How do you, based on things like that, ensure the public that there is transparency in government and try to make sure something like that doesn't happen again?

- Well, in our state, we have some of the most stringent open meeting, open records laws.

And with our Attorney General Drew Wrigley, we know that he is very, very supportive of transparency.

We're working very closely with him on that.

And I think just over time we have had increased transparency in state government.

If you went out and looked at websites for OMB, RIO, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Corrections, Department of Transportation, the list goes on, you would see a lot of information available to the citizens of North Dakota.

- Talk about the energy and oil industry, Lieutenant Governor Miller, how is that sector doing?

And it continues to be a huge part of the state's economic engine.

- It absolutely is.

We know energy and agriculture are two main industries, in our state, both are doing very well.

Energy, with oil, we're producing 1.2 million barrels of oil a day.

I hope most citizens of North Dakota know that just about half of our general fund budget is funded by oil.

Additionally, we have the Legacy Fund, we should call it the Oil Legacy Fund.

All of that principal has been deposited from oil.

And we need to protect that.

As we know, we're moving to new forms of energy.

And as that happens, we maybe won't be able to be as dependent on our revenue from oil.

So we need to protect the Legacy Fund.

Also wanna say though, in connection with energy, we have an all-of-the-above energy policy.

The governor set forth a vision to be carbon neutral by 2030.

And we are working very hard to reach that goal.

We know we need an all-of-the-above policy, not one solution or the other, but all-of-the-above.

And we do believe that coal and oil will be part of that long-term solution.

- How about renewable fuels?

I know it's, you know, hard to switch over, but obviously this is a goal in the world to eventually switch over.

- Absolutely.

That's part of the all-of-the-above energy policy.

You know, if you drive around the state, you'll see wind turbines, and as I mentioned, I was just at the ribbon-cutting for the soy plant in Spiritwood, and they are processing corn into oil that will be used in renewable diesel fuel processed in Dickinson, North Dakota.

So, all-of-the-above, we need all-of-the-above and those options.

And I think folks in North Dakota know that no one is more passionate about having clean water, healthy soil, and clean air than the citizens of North Dakota.

And I think the all-of-the-above energy policy absolutely supports that.

- What about the farm sector?

What's the economic health of that right now?

- Well, Mother Nature has been really good in the last 12 months, and I think most farmers had an exceptional harvest this year.

We know that we are leading the nation, the world, in production of many commodity products and we wanna have more value add processing here in the state.

And very excited with the corn and soy crushing plants that we have that will allow us to add value to the products that are produced right here in the State of North Dakota.

We also had some changes in legislation this spring, which will allow farmers and ranchers to have more access to capital and hopefully bring in livestock to help us with demand for those commodities.

- And obviously the Farm Bill, things like that, very important.

Is the health of the farms fairly good in the state right now?

Or does it always need to be, you know, tweaked and looked at?

- Well, I think there's always things to be tweaked and looked at, but I think generally farmers and ranchers are doing fairly well.

We hear that not only from them, but also from our community bankers around the state.

- Depending on what the governor decides in this coming year.

What are your future plans?

Would that ever be an option to run for governor or too early to say?

- Well, it is definitely too early to say.

The governor has a lot of decisions to make and we'll wait to see what he has to say.

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying this job and will be completely focused on these responsibilities.

- What's the best part of your job?

Or there are lots of 'em?

- There are so, so many great parts of this job.

In fact, I always say, "Choice not chance determines destiny."

And I do this because I made a choice to do it.

I love being out across the State of North Dakota, getting to visit with the citizens of North Dakota, touring businesses, it's also really fun to be with students to see what's on their mind, as well as the young professionals.

And, really, at the end of the day, we're trying to make a difference and really empower people, improve lives, and inspire success.

- We're just about out of time.

If people want more information, where can they go?

Website, I assume?

- Yes, absolutely, ND.gov.

- That's the one, okay.

Thank you Lieutenant Governor Miller for being here.

- Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more.

(mellow upbeat music) - Holiday music is a refreshing sound during this time of year.

Sarah Morrau and Rebekka DeVries, grace the Prairie Public sound stage with their performance of "I Heard the Bells."

And Annabelle Maher performed her own arrangement of "Christmases When You Were Mine."

Enjoy these seasonal favorites.

(gentle piano music) ♪ I heard the bells on Christmas Day ♪ ♪ Their old familiar carols play ♪ ♪ And wild and sweet the words repeat ♪ ♪ Of peace on Earth, good will to men ♪ ♪ I thought how has the day had come ♪ ♪ The belfries of all Christendom ♪ ♪ Had rolled along the unbroken song ♪ ♪ Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ And in despair I bowed my head ♪ ♪ There is no peace on Earth I said ♪ ♪ For hate is strong and mocks the song ♪ ♪ Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ Then peeled the bells more loud and deep ♪ ♪ God is not dead nor does he sleep ♪ ♪ The wrong shall fail, the right prevail ♪ ♪ With peace on Earth, goodwill to men ♪ (gentle piano music) (mellow guitar music) ♪ Please take down the mistletoe ♪ ♪ Cause I don't wanna think about that right now ♪ ♪ Cause everything I want is miles away ♪ ♪ In a snow covered little town ♪ ♪ My momma's in the kitchen worried about me ♪ ♪ Season's greetings, hope you're well ♪ ♪ Well, I'm doing alright if you were wondering ♪ ♪ Lately I can never tell ♪ ♪ No, this shouldn't be a lonely time ♪ ♪ They were Christmases when you were mine ♪ (mellow guitar music) ♪ Well, I've been doing fine with out you really ♪ ♪ Up until the nights got cold ♪ ♪ And everybody here's except you, baby ♪ ♪ It seems like everyone's got someone to hold ♪ ♪ But for me it's just a lonely time ♪ ♪ Cause they were Christmases when you were mine ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas everybody ♪ ♪ That will have to be something I just say this year ♪ ♪ I bet you got your mom another sweater ♪ ♪ And were cousins late again ♪ ♪ When you were putting on the lights this year ♪ ♪ Did you notice one less pair of hands ♪ ♪ No, this shouldn't be a lonely time ♪ ♪ But they were Christmases ♪ ♪ When I didn't wonder how you are tonight ♪ ♪ They were Christmases when you were mine ♪ ♪ You were mine ♪ - Well, that's all we have on "Prairie Pulse" for this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(mellow upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008.

The North Dakota Council on the Arts.

And by the members of Prairie Public.

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