If you recall yesterday’s legislative session when Julie Frye-Mueller skipped session, denying her district representation at both a hearing on one of her bills, and the entire day on the Senate Floor…
…then I’m not sure you can make this press release up, which actually ignores the fact she was absent from session yesterday and instead of “representing her constituents” issued a press release complaining about her suspension preventing her “ability to fulfill her duties of office”
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SENATOR FRYE-MUELLER ISSUES STATEMENT ON REINSTATEMENT
Rapid City, SD (Feb.3, 2023) – The South Dakota Senate has reinstated Senator Julie Frye-Mueller, with a public censure and restricting her interactions with the Legislative Research Council. Senator Julie Frye-Mueller has issued another statement:
Press Statement: Senator Frye-Mueller made the decision to withdraw her federal lawsuit, as initially filed. She was given extremely short notice “suspending” the Senator from her elected office based upon unsubstantiated hearsay.
The Senator’s counsel is reviewing both the unauthorized actions of the Senate as a body, and Senate President Pro Tempore, Lee Schoenbeck, individually, in interfering with the Senator’s ability to fulfill her duties of office. She was stripped of her committee assignments; her Senate email account was closed to thwart communicate on with her constituents; she was barred from introducing or guiding legislation in the face of fast-approaching legislative deadlines; and was prohibited from casting any votes on behalf of District 30.
The Senator adamantly denies accusations which were deliberately undisclosed until just prior to a very public hearing on the matter, as they were simultaneously presented to the press. The Senate’s “reinstatement” of Senator Frye-Mueller’s elected office has proven a hasty but nominal announcement to save face, given the absence of any authority to “suspend” the Senator’s office. As of the date of this release, the Senator has not been restored to her committee assignments (which committees have simultaneously been stacked with questionable legislation) and has been given an undefined restriction on her use of essential legislative staff and resources, effectively hamstringing her ability to steer legislation on behalf of District 30.
Senator Frye-Mueller greatly appreciates the outpouring of support and is determined to continue serving the constituents of District 30 and the State of South Dakota.
If JFM actually wants to serve the constituents of District 30, then she might want to start with showing up for work.
She makes me think of a lot of 4 letter words, holy nutmeg! How is she actually real? How does a person do these things?
Do you think, Mr. PP, that Mr. Schoenbeck is sending bills to Ms. Frye-Mueller’s committees that are questionable or might force her to take a public vote which showcases her insanerism?
I think Julie puts the aw in awful.
JFM missed 6 days in 2021 and 5 days in 2022. Mostly the last day of the week. She was only suspended for 3 days.
in harassment allegations, those involved are under a separation arrangement until unsubstantiated things can be either substantiated or not. some rather big substantiation came out of this suspension event, as per appropriate processes. now – let – it – go geez.
Perhaps with the stress of the harassment based on trumped up charges, she needed a break! This had to be a very emotional time for her, as they would be for any person being falsely accused, sentenced before a hearing and still being restricted from her former duties.
falsely accused?
Dream on
Then why was she absent 11 days her last term? Sounds like she gets elected for the paycheck but doesn’t show up to do the work
The poor thing. She did weird stuff, and folks called her out on it. Hopefully lesson learned… If you are elected to a job like she was – dont be weird. Also, don’t bring in your hubby to multiply the creepiness…
Hold on, folks, it is not appropriate to kick people when they are down…enough piling on. The Senator’s remarks may have been in “bad taste” but it sounded to me like an exchange between a young person and an older person, who was trying (unsuccessfully) to be helpful. It was an awkward conversation and the presence of the Senator’s husband added another dimension of “inappropriateness” but I’m not sure it was harassment. I wasn’t there. I didn’t hear the exchange. It may have been an inarticulate choice of wording by the Senator, but more symptomatic of the generation gap existing in that discussion than intentional harassment.
Or it may have been a lack of any intelligence on her part.
What you call piling on the rest of the world calls exposing her failures. Kicking her when she’s down means giving voters in D30 information so they can make an informed choice in the next election.
I would agree with Anon at 10:36, in that the Senator’s harangue on vaccines and vaccination was in bad taste and not based on anything factual. It should be obvious to people by now that the vast majority of people value the opinion of their Doctor over the blatherings on the internet.I just don’t think it was intentional harassment. The LRC staffer should be commended for her restraint.
The staffer’s restraint was caused by intimidation. In her original complaint she stated that JFM’s husband had sent her a message that he was coming to see her about a bill, and he had made it clear, on prior occasions, that he was very protective of his wife and she should not do anything to upset either of them. Then they showed up in her office and he proceeded to block the only exit from the room. At that point it didn’t matter what the conversation was about. They created a hostile work environment before they even started talking, and the staffer had to take whatever they hit her with.
What they hit her with was a tsunami of stupidity. It might have been well-intentioned, but it was still stupid.
orwell and ayn rand didn’t fantasize about the practice of infusing a person’s behavior with instinctive political correctness, useful for keeping themselves and others on the right narrow thought-path. it’s a sad truth of our modern era, and the best thing we can do to prevent an orwellian existence for ourselves and each other is to NOT blast forth our political ideas and biases in each others faces at every turn. that’s the notion this whole debacle has left me with.
“infusing a person’s behavior with instinctive political correctness?”
How about courtesy? etiquette? The husband sent a message demanding to see the staffer in her office, and once there, asking personal questions, blocking the only exit, fingerpointing, etc, it’s all uncalled for, then add to that a torrent of craziness about vaccines, the World Health Organization, religion and breast feeding, it was all too much, every bit of it. Were these people raised by wolves?