Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.08.2004, Blaðsíða 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 27 August 2004
canViking blood
help in politics?
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULIER
DeAnn Bjornson, originally from Cavalier, ND, headed up Bjornson Consulting in Fargo.
David Jón Fuller
Fargo, ND
When it comes to grass-
roots advocacy in public poli-
cy, DeAnn Bjornson may have
an advantage: she’s of Ice-
landic descent.
“Stubbornness helps,” she
says, with a laugh. She adds
that the Icelandic institution
of Althingi, the world’s oldest
existing parliament, is a natu-
ral fit for exercising democrat-
ic rights.
“If you look at that whole
idea of that type of govern-
ment that is by the people, a
people’s government, and the
whole belief in the individual,
and the whole ‘independent-
ness’,” she says, “I think
there’s a lot of personal
responsibility in Icelanders.
They take responsibility for
themselves and their fami-
lies.”
Bjomson heads up Bjom-
son Consulting in Fargo,
North Dakota, though she and
her family will soon be mov-
ing to Florida. “I do grassroots
advocacy and public lobby-
ing,” she says. “What it ends
up being, is basically, promot-
ing an issue; it’s the sale of
ideas.
“Government is neces-
sary, in certain aspects, but we
always have to make sure that
our government is not doing
things that are actually detri-
mental, rather than positive.
Keep it in check. And I think
it is the responsibility of the
individual to keep our govern-
ment in check. In general, I’m
an advocate of limited and
responsible government.”
Bjornson’s ancestry is Ice-
landic on both her parents’
sides. “It’s a source of pride,”
she says, “because I think it’s
an incredible country.” She
points to Iceland’s culture and
historically high literacy.
Her parents, both North
Dakotans, are June and the
late Deane Bjornson. Her
mother was the youngest child
of Friðbjorn and Guðlaug
(Samuelson) Bjornson of
Mountain, ND, and her father
was the oldest child of Math-
ias and Gudny (Dinusson)
Bjornson of Cavalier, ND.
Her father, Deane Bjorn-
son, was the great-grandson of
Gudbrandur Erlendsson, who
lived in Markland, Nova Sco-
tia and was the author of
Markland — Endurminningar
frá Árunum 1875-81.
DeAnn Bjornson grew up
in Cavalier, and attended
North Dakota State University
(NDSU) in Fargo. There she
completed a degree in Speech
Communication, with a minor
in Business. Those years
planted the seed of her future
career.
“I was involved in student
politics and several other
organizations when I was a
student,” she says. “I found it
a very postive experience, the
opportunity to have those
leadership roles and the
accomplishments, and I felt
NDSU did a very good job of
giving students the opportuni-
ty to really develop in that
sense.”
She worked in student
affairs in Defiance, Ohio, and
after meeting her husband,
retumed to Fargo.
Though uncertain whether
advocacy would be a sustain-
able career, other vocations
such as sales only confirmed
her true calling. “I realized
that while it was a very good
career, it wasn’t where my
passion was,” she says. “My
passion was for grassroots
government and responsible
policy, and I just
went and decided
to go off on my
own and do con-
sulting.”
She started
out by working
with a coaliton of
individuals and
businesses to
promote phone
competition. “I
would do com-
munication with
the members, I would lobby
on behalf of that organization,
do some media contacts, and
try to get the message out and
promote phone competiton,”
she says.
Bjornson is a firm believ-
er in participation in the polit-
ical process.
“There are a lot
of people who
are very intimi-
dated and it’s so
unfortunate,”she
says. “They’re
intimidated to
call their senator
or congress-
man’s office.
Some people are
even intimidated
to talk to their
local legislators. In North
Dakota, we have this amazing
citizen government where our
legislators and our leaders that
are elected are very accessi-
ble.”
One of the things she has
noticed is that people are
often reluctant to make their
wishes known to elected offi-
cials. It’s something she
always encourages them to
do.
“The other thing that I
really have noticed over the
last few years is the civility in
politics has, I think, been get-
ting lost. And I think, unless
we can maintain the civility,
we’re losing the most enjoy-
able and educational part. The
way you learn is to have a dis-
cussion with somebody who
maybe doesn’t think the way
you do. We can’t be afraid to
just chat about it, civilly.”
“The way you
learn is to have a
discussion with
somebody who
maybe doesn’t
think the way you
do. We can’t be
afraid to just chat
about it, civilly.”
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