2026, Government, Uncategorized

Conflict Of Interest

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One of the more irritating things I had to do recently is register with the ND Secretary of State office to declare any possible conflicts of interest in my role on the ND Psychology Regulatory Board.

Even though I moved out of state in October, the Board’s attorney from the AG’s office said I would remain on the Board for six months, as that is how long it takes to establish residency after a person moves. I still find that hard to understand, but, oh well. We heard from the Secretary of State’s office in early January that we had to declare any financial or other conflicts of interest that could sway our votes on the Board by January 31. Anyone running for office, holding office, or appointed by the Governor to boards and commissions had to get this done by January 31 or face fines.

I understand why this is important, but I only have three more months on the Board. There are very few fiduciary conflicts for Psychology Board members that would sway our decisions regarding ethical complaints against the professionals we license. I think a greater conflict of interest is that there are so few of us psychologists in ND that we generally know all the licensees, and we might go softer or harder on folks depending if we do or don’t like them! In my 10 years on the Board I haven’t seen that happen, though.

Well, last week I printed off the 41 pages of instructions for filing my conflict of interest declarations on-line and got the deed finished. I had no conflicts to declare, of course. Between doing that and making sure any entity needing to send us tax documents had our change of address, I have been somewhat irritable and anxious. I shall be glad when May arrives, I am officially no longer on the Board, and all taxes are filed.

How comfortable are you doing business on-line? What’s irritated you lately?

32 thoughts on “Conflict Of Interest”

  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    THE LIST:

    1. Recently I tried a pattern for knitted moccasins. I had purchased the pattern from a knitter on Ravelry. I am an experienced, skilled knitter who will often make up my own patterns, so I know I can knit most patterns. This pattern was full of errors and miscounted stitches, plus some very basic skills, such as increasing or decreasing stitches, were made much harder than they needed to be. This pattern was a nightmare. After the third time frogging it(undoing it) and starting over and carefully counting, I was so irritated with it I scrapped the entire project. I knit for pleasure and relaxation and this was not worth the aggravation.

    2. I am also irritated with the lack of cribbage players in my life. I need to find someone with whom to play that card game.

    3. Catherine O’Hara died which I find to be just demoralizing. She was a year younger than I. She has a role in “The Studio” which I was wathcing when I walk on the treadmill. I was just getting attached to the entire thing and she is now gone. What a loss to comedy.

    4. I am pretty irritated/distressed/micturated off with the state of our nation, as well. That list could go on for a long time, so I will say no more.

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    1. This song makes me a little crazy. Not because there’s really anything wrong with the song but because many years ago, we asked the winners to send in their favorite song so that we could play a clip of it while they were walking up to get their award at the award ceremony. Out of 150 winners, a third of them chose this song (it was a popular song at that time). I think in the course of two weeks while we were cutting and editing this thing, I heard this song 1000 times.

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  7. I do A LOT online.
    Today was a ‘staff day’ at the college. The keynote speaker talked about AI. He was a good speaker, he was very entertaining. AI can certainly do some remarkable things.
    However one example for AI was “How many R’s in ‘cranberry'” and AI did not know that. A month later it did, but not at first.
    And he found an online interview of our college president. Copied 20 seconds of his speech, and made an announcement of the President asking us to all send him our email passwords.
    He created fake websites that looked authentic. Took him 10 minutes, five minutes was getting the logo correct.

    It was interesting and fascinating. And I suppose a little scary.

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  8. i’m fine with working online that’s what I have been doing for many years. I haven’t kept up to date with all the AI stuff although I’m very interested in look forward to learning how to use it as a tool rather than fearing it as an intruder.
    I get irritated for different reasons at different times a lot of it has to do with my overall spot at the moment sometimes I’m real low-key and sometimes I’m tight as a drum and that is what determines my irritability sometimes sleep sometimes it’s something I ate. i wish i was better at chilling but i do get a bit too intense regularly

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  9. I’m generally comfortable doing business online, as long as the business provides protection of the information I give them. I am more wary about the personal information I disclose on sites like these, wide open to the world and to anyone wishing to exploit that information.

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  10. I am great writing and doing anything with words on the computer, but am uneasy when it comes to official or financial stuff online. I’ve had enough experiences where I clicked a wrong thing and couldn’t undo it.

    I am irritated by most of the political stuff, but also heartened to see how much people are helping each other. Also irritated by a myriad of things in day-to-day existence, about which nothing can be done. One of them is having to come up with three meals a day.

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  11. I did my tax prep today and was very happy to have some online assistance in terms of finding statements online that have not been sent to me in the mail.

    I’ve gotten to the place where all of my bills are paid online with the exception of Bachmans because they still don’t have online payment. But since I drive by their main store (with their business office right next to it) four times a week at least I just drop off the check.

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  12. Online tax preparation is a perfect example of something that computers can do with efficiency and accuracy, if given the right information. It’s unfortunate that most of the software costs money, though. IRS fillable forms is a great free resource, but most people are not comfortable enough with their tax knowledge to use it.

    I like being able to set up autopay for stuff I have to pay for. I love the ability to pay for things without having to come up with cash. I have a couple of credit cards set up to pay the full balance automatically when due. Isn’t it lovely to go to a gas station and tap a card on the screen and not have to go into the store to pay? And then it just comes out of my account in a few weeks. When I first started driving, I didn’t have a credit card, so at some point in my past I must have had to actually look to see how much cash I had, to decide how much gas I could afford, and pay the attendent for it. That seems so quaint and inefficient now.

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      1. No. The IRS PIN numbers are not really new. I’ve had one for more than ten years. Just log into an IRS account and request one. If you don’t have an IRS account, you set one up using ID.me. If you already have a Social Security account using ID.me, you don’t need to create another one. In your IRS account you just apply for the PIN. EVERYONE should have one, especially since DOGE exposed everyone’s information a year ago.

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        2. Linda has prepared our tax returns for the last couple of years. She knows what she doing, is extremely helpful, capable, calm, and patient in he process. I can’t recommend her highly enough if you need help with preparing your tax returns.

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    1. I can’t resign. I am on the Board until the Governor appoints someone in my place or the 6 months are up for residency.

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