…but you have to make it look that way. Yet we’ve got the 21st century version of the carpetbagger in North Dakota. I consider Dorgan a Virginia resident, although I’m sure he has a nominal address here in ND to hang on to his cushy Washington gig. He comes around to express concern about all the problems his fellow North Dakotans face, then zips back home. Yet our water intakes along the Missouri River system are sucking mud, farm prices and inequities with Canada haven’t gotten better, and he votes with his California Cronies™ instead of in line with the more level-headed folks he’s supposed to represent.

So what about Senator Conrad? At least he cast North Dakota’s vote when it came to confirming Judge Alito, but would that have happened in 2004 or 2005? I think it was an election year vote. The biggest thing about politics is being there…whether you’re a Republicrat or a Demican. So I trust all Congressmen to vote in one way: whatever lengthens their stay.

Back to the point of this post: Check out this picture. Supposedly our Senators Conrad and Dorgan inhabit these two meager little 8-unit apartments paired up in North Bismarck. It’s not exactly prime real estate. They’re not even security buildings. I lived here once…I wonder if the Senators and their wives have the same 70s-throwback olive green carpeting and appliances I did?

Hardly the kind of digs you’d expect for United States Senators, unless only their names live there. I’ve never seen them there. I haven’t lived there in years, but their names were on the mailboxes when I got there in the mid-90s and it’s still there today. So, I guess that makes them North Dakota residents…technically. Unless it’s some random schmucks with the same name (and living with a Lucy Calautti and Kim Dorgan. It can happen…right?)

I recently looked up who owned these buildings, and they’re owned by GKC Apartments, LLC. It appears to be a partnership set up by Kent Conrad, and I don’t know who else is involved. When I lived here the lady managing the property told me that the Senator’s brother owned them; I originally thought that would be Dorgan’s brother, but a little further investigation showed that “Conrad Brothers” was listed in the county records. In 2004 a quit-claim deed was filed to transfer the property to GKC Apartments. I assume GKC stands for Gaylord Kent Conrad, which is Kent’s real full name.

Anyway, it’s good to see that our two Senators get along so well that they decided to be neighbors. After all, that will help them coordinate their efforts to bring all those federal dollars home. Maybe then we won’t care if they sell our state’s soul to the devil and Nancy Pelosi.

Note: I promised (see the upper right panel) that this isn’t going to be a political blog, although I might be prone to a rant infrequently. Chalk this one up. Now it’ll be a while until you see another.