From Facebook:

Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Joe Sneve announced today via Facebook that he “formally accepted a job offer today as the Argus Leader’s primary South Dakota politics reporter.”

Congratulations to Joe, I’m sure he’ll write things we agree with, and things that we don’t.

My only question is.. does that mean after a few years of doing the job, he’ll announce he’s moving to Minnesota, like the last 3 Argus political reporters?  (It just seems there’s a trend.)

This story caught my eye this noon hour, from the City of Vermillion:

Approval of 1st Reading of Emergency Ordinance 1419

Additionally, at the August 11, 2020 special meeting, to help promote the community culture of face covering/face mask wearing inside of buildings open to the public, the Council approved the first reading of Emergency Ordinance 1419 to Require Signage at the Entrance to Buildings Open to the Public Stating That Face Coverings are Expected to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). If adopted at the second reading on Monday, August 17, 2020, Emergency Ordinance 1419 would require all buildings open to the public to put up a sign at their entrance, no smaller than 8.5 x 11 that states, “Masks Expected.”

Read this here.

I can understand a city limiting numbers of people in a restaurant, based on public health authority, or similar action which is clearly within their licensing purview. But this ordinance just seems a bit chilling. Because they are making a blanket demand that all buildings post their sign. “Emergency Ordinance 1419 would require all buildings open to the public to put up a sign at their entrance, no smaller than 8.5 x 11 that states, “Masks Expected.” 

They literally will be voting on an ordinance to mandate speech.  So, law offices, accountants, etc., – all private buildings open to the public – would be required by ordinance to post a sign at their entrance based on the city council’s mandate?  Sorry, but I don’t think they can do that.

The US Supreme Court calls that compelled speech. And they’ve ruled on compelled speech, and they’ve said “no.”  There’s a great article about it at the First Amendment encyclopedia:

The compelled speech doctrine sets out the principle that the government cannot force an individual or group to support certain expression. Thus, the First Amendment not only limits the government from punishing a person for his speech, it also prevents the government from punishing a person for refusing to articulate, advocate, or adhere to the government’s approved messages.

and..

More recently, in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (2006), Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. reiterated the essence of the compelled speech principle: “Some of this Court’s leading First Amendment precedents have established the principle that freedom of speech prohibits the government from telling people what they must say.”

Read that here.

If they want to demand that these signs be posted at city owned buildings, so be it. They can do whatever they want on buildings under their own control.

But demanding that private businesses post a sign of their choosing?  Business owners should tell those overzealous city councilors to take a long walk off of a short pier.

Hot off the press, a legislator sent this over to me today, noting that these are the notes/handouts for State Representative Steve Haugaard’s plan on how to spent COVID19 cash from the federal government:

Steve Haugaard House Handout by Pat Powers on Scribd

One of the more concerning parts of the notes is under the criminal justice portion of his plan .. to give citations instead of jail time?

I suspect we’ll hear more about this at the upcoming executive board meeting.

*Update*

A House member calls me early this afternoon and claims that this all is being mischaracterized, and they claimed the document was actually an outline of “questions” that legislators should be asking about spending, as discussed as part of a conference call.  So I went back to look at the e-mail that was forwarded to me…

Clearly this went to the House of Representatives as a whole. And I would concede, this being a discussion outline is entirely possible. But as a correspondent noted to me, if this was part of brainstorming, “such brainstorming should get public input.”

If the entire House of Representatives is getting together on a conference call to discuss a legislative response, even on an interim basis, was this call pre-announced and broadcast to the public?

Just sayin’

*Another update*

Rep Haugaard also reached out to express it’s just an outline, noting

The outline you posted was only a collection of topics to consider for discussion.  It definitely is not my “spending plan”.

The comment about “citations instead of incarceration” was simply acknowledging that that is what is being done right now to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in the jails.  That doesn’t mean that’s the best way to handle crime, but the point was to identify what is being done and how that affects jail costs, food service, criminal cases of failure to appear, and a variety of other issues.

This is only a working document intended to elicit thoughts, concerns, ideas about what works or doesn’t work. “

Okay..

This is an interesting story out of the Argus this evening as a lawsuit has apparently been brought against Democrat State Representative Michael Saba for not paying a big campaign bill.

And even more interesting, it’s for a Congressional Campaign that no one knew about. Including the Federal Elections Commission:

Jaedon Kroger, a South Dakotan whose address is listed in Kansas City, filed suit against Saba in May for $12,000 for his work on Saba’s campaign. Saba is arguing that he doesn’t owe Kroger pay because they never reached an agreement on Kroger’s services and didn’t have a contract.

and…

Saba didn’t file a statement of organization creating a congressional campaign committee with the Federal Elections Committee, although he has a U.S. Senate campaign committee in North Dakota from 1980. He filed a petition to run for re-election to the South Dakota House on March 25. He filed a statement of organization for his legislative campaign committee, Vote Saba, on May 14. The following day, he filed a pre-primary fundraising report with the state Secretary of State’s Office showing $2,000 in campaign contributions and no expenditures.

Read the entire story here.

So Saba was going to run for Congress, allegedly hired this kid for months, raised $1300 for the effort, and didn’t bother to file anything with the Federal Elections Commission.   (Never mind the fact he’s trying to outflank the kid by taking it from small claims to circuit court).

As he ran for US Senate in North Dakota in 1980, he’s not unfamiliar with filing federal paperwork. The question is whether he should have this year.

I’m sure this isn’t the last we’re going to hear about this.

Governor Kristi Noem’s office announced today that a RFP is going to be coming out for a security fence around the Governor’s residence, which her security team has deemed absolutely necessary, due to threats against the Governor.

In a note from Senior Advisor & Policy Director Maggie Seidel to members of the media this morning, Seidel noted that at least part of the cost would be offset by donations from South Dakotans, many of whom contributed to the construction of the residence itself:

It’s no secret that a few individuals don’t like some of the decisions the Governor has made on behalf of the people of South Dakota during this pandemic and otherwise. In America, we debate issues; we don’t turn to violence. But it only takes one, and per the Governor’s security team, putting up a fence around the residence is critical at this time.

The good news is that there are a number of South Dakotans, many of whom supported the construction of the Governor’s Residence, who have told us that they would like to support this construction project. While this will not cover the entire cost, we are pleased that their generosity will help to reduce the state cost. Their support will also help us ensure that the design is suitable for the Capitol complex grounds.

As I’ve noted in the past, the biggest surprise is that it’s taken until now to install a fence. But, these are the times we live in.

Continue to read this site for more information on the project!

Ben Carson to speak to SD Federation of Republican Women Convention

As the hosts of the 2020 SDFRW bi-annual convention, Minnehaha-Lincoln Republican Women are proud to announce that Dr. Ben Carson has accepted our call to be the keynote speaker in Sioux Falls at the Convention Center on September 26, 2020.  Dr. Ben Carson is a former neurosurgeon and a published author of 10 books and is well known as a Presidential candidate in the 2016 Republican primaries.

Dr. Carson is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School.  He was the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1984 until his retirement in 2013.  As a pioneer in neurosurgery, Carson’s achievements include performing the only successful separation of conjoined twins, joined at the back of the head; performing the first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus inside the womb; performing the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins; developing new methods to treat brain-stem tumors; and revitalizing techniques for controlling seizures.  He became the youngest Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery in the country at age 33.  Dr. Carson has received more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, dozens of national merit citations and written over 100 neurosurgical publications.  In 2001, he was named by CNN and TIME magazine as one of the nation’s 20 foremost physicians and scientists, and was selected by the Library of Congress as one of 89 “Living Legends” on its 200th anniversary. In 2008, he was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Both SDFRW and MLRW thank Megan Assman for her tenacious efforts in bringing him to Sioux Falls!  She worked on Dr. Carson’s presidential campaign in 2015 and 2016.

Please follow this Eventbrite link to get tickets (or go to Eventbrite.com and search on SDFRW Carson)

Word comes from Minnehaha County this early afternoon that Marsha Symens of Dell Rapids was elected by the Republican precinct members of District 25 to replace State Senator Kris Langer on the ballot in the fall.

I haven’t seen a release, and I can’t otherwise tell you anything about her, but that’s who I’m told is moving forward to the fall election for the Senate seat, and will be running against independent candidates Seth  Van’t Hof and Rick Knobe.

I’m hearing this morning that after the withdrawal of Bill Hines from the District 27 State House contest, the candidate that lost in the Republican Congressional Primary of 2020, Liz May, successfully ran to be Hines replacement in the contest, despite having placed 4th in the D27 House Race in 2018.

Moving on.

Remember the Attorney General’s race between Randy Seiler and Jason Ravnsborg just two years ago? There was a lot of back & forth between the candidates about being tough on drugs:

According to Seiler, if drug abusers don’t want a stiff sentence — if they want treatment and perhaps mental-health assistance, they will need to give up their suppliers.

“It’s not enough to prosecute addicts for crimes, we need to review the underlying causes of drug abuse and find ways to ward off addiction.

Read that here.

But there were hints of Seiler’s real position. And we had Randy telling us in the public television debate that meth should be a misdemeanor – a point that Jason Ravnsborg drove home to win the race:

Of course, Seiler denied he wanted to weaken drug laws. Until he did a web commercial for just that purpose.

Fast forward a couple of years, and now as the Chair of the South Dakota Democrat party, Seiler’s shirt is untucked, and advocating for the marijuana legalization measure which would add pot to the South Dakota State Constitution:

 

So much for Randy arresting suppliers and being ‘tough on crime.’

First he said that users “will need to give up their suppliers.” Two years later as chair of the South Dakota Democrat Party, Seiler is advocating for the drug suppliers to move next door.