It appears as of this weekend that former US Attorney Randy Seiler is going to be challenged at the Democrat State Party convention by the daughter of Russell Means.
Tatwan Means had been rumored as expressing an interest in the past among a few attorneys. Apparently, she wasn’t kidding and jumped in the race, according to Liberal Dem insider Cory Heidelberger.
Normally, one might view Seiler as the automatic front-runner. But, Randy has a couple things in his background that might cause concern for Democrat purists. Such as his $1000 donation to the campaign of Republican candidate for Governor Marty Jackley in 2016:
As well as his donation to the campaign of Republican candidate Tad Perry in 2014:
Dem delegates are no less purists than those who attend the Republican convention. And they may not like the recent big dollar donations, especially to one of the GOP candidates who could be representing the Republican Party in the fall.
Stay tuned.
Donations to a neighbor and former boss. Big deal.
Regarding AG support and vote who the best candidate is over party.
Mr. Seiler could easily get many Republican votes in the general election over the nut jobs running for AG in the GOP side. Ms. Means would not. Seiler is the Dems only chance.
grudznick–thought you liked that handsome devil Russell?
I hope Means carries the day. No one on the GOP side cares about what we should care about. I fall asleep thinking about our AG options. They bore me and there is no recognition or concern for the greatest problems facing the state. Means would be a great step in the right direction.
Steve would a legislative body State and Federal be better paths to create the change you are seeking? The AG enforces the laws created by those bodies and ballot measures right?
It’ll be nice not to have a lock’em up and hang’em high AG. One who doesn’t let DCI thugs harass native people, one who outs state’s attorneys who brag about how many Indians they put on the hill, one who joins those of us who try to lift back off the arbitrary statute of limitations on child sex abuse giving the Catholic Church a free pass from their recent past, etc…
Brags about how many Indians they put up on the hill? Seriously? That makes no sense at all from a justice standpoint.
Because justice is blind?
There are people in our pen who shouldn’t be there and there are people in our communities who should be. Wells Fargo pays another billion in fines, execs get bonuses and no one ever goes to jail. Try to get a little break if you are a native in SD and they aren’t there for you. The little people go to jail, not the Hillaries of the world. And in our state, the little people are natives. The Janklow’s only get a 100 days, natives get life.
It would be great to have an AG who had a mercy streak for those who’ve been dealt a crappy life and an measure of comeuppance for those who enjoy every break they can afford.
Maybe I’ll run as AG next time and have a platform plank of setting captives free. Think of all the taxpayer money saved by letting out people who have paid 3 or 4 times more for crimes in SD than they would have in MN, ND or NE.
Elect another lock’em up/hang’em high AG and we will all get to build a new 300 million dollar prison to keep up with our inmate growth.
Meth, for example. Has being tough on drugs ever worked? The drug war is a epic fail for American law enforcement and government. Natives have told me they do meth to feel good because life sucks. Harsher penalties don’t dissuade people who seek an escape. Hope does.
Watch the documentary “13th” and maybe you’ll join me in being quite disgusted with things our types have supported in the past.
I’d love to see an AG join a few of us and get convicts a right to vote again, and measures to drop the felon stigma so after paying their debt to society they can come out and be a productive member of it again, get a job, a place to live, contribute, etc. As is, people do bad things because their situations are bad and we destroy them forever. Now who is doing the bad?
I have a dozen more ideas for the kind of AG we need but these are a few.
Have you tried to reach out to any of the campaigns to express your issues? Just an idea.
Wow- what initiatives did you champion for Native Americans while you were in the State legislature Steve?
You were so hung up on gay marriage vs. traditional marriage, that it seems as if you may not have had enough time to help tackle injustices in the judicial and criminal justice systems in the state.
I hate when politicians Monday morning quarterback after they left office…
Glad you decided to leave office when you did- a warm seat is not a productive seat.
Do you support Kristi because you want soft on crime politicians?
The GOP is running its weakest group of candidates for AG ever.
Randy Seiler is the strongest objective candidate by far out of all of them if you put party aside.
I disagree when any Republican gets nominated and links President Obama nominating Seiler together a thousand times he is toast in this state.
Plus a native American woman is an attractive candidate for an office that has never elected a native American or a woman to a 70+ year old white male
I can understand why Pat is attempting to derail Randy. He will be a formidable candidate. I wonder how many democratic activists read this blog?
Hmm.. there’s lot of pushback for pointing out some pretty public & well known information.
Clearly Ms. Means thought she could derail Mr. Seiler jumping in the race now.
Plus everything Pat has stated is easily found.
Another thought is that Ms. Means can fill the Democrat theme of running against and reforming Pierre….going to be a lot harder for Seiler to make that case when he lives there, is a career bureaucrat and giving money to the very people the rest of the Democrat part will be attacking.
Seiler = Obama Appontee. Nuff said.
Who?
I wonder if Minnehaha Democrat McGowan will rescind his endorsement now and stay in his own party’s contest?
#likelytogethisownprimary
Pat are you really going to censor my comments here? I’ve really been trying to warm back up to your big GOP tent but if I don’t fit in, it is indeed much smaller than I ever wanted to believe. Let the liberals at Google block and filter out voices they don’t like, the GOP should be for free political speech. Free political speech is a thing of the past in the UK and Europe. Lots of posts can’t be opened from here and there is always news of someone getting in trouble for comments on line, usually about Immigration and Islam. Don’t be like them.
People who use their real names should be welcomed on your blog.
Steve, what does you being on the State and Tribal Committee, and the legislation you put forth have to do with whether or not the vote of Democrat delegates will be affected by Randy Seiler’s support of Republican candidates?
A little latitude is one thing, but your monologuing is beyond being off-topic.
The subject is a Democrat AG candidate and I raised issues about it. In the course of comments my legislative record on Indian issues was misrepresented. Not off topic to correct it. Granted I did poke Sanford Health and the Catholic Church and I suspect those were the points you didn’t like.
I think both political parties in SD are sick and suck. I’m not alone I’m think so. But again talking issues in my post, issues relevant to our next AG.
Steve, you assume I dwell on your comments other than to try to keep things on topic. Which your monologues were not.
You could take us off monitoring, it’d be easier for you and more fun for others. If then you read something you don’t like, you could remove it;)
It’s not a matter of liking or disliking.
Steve- you literally were part of the problem…
Why don’t you go ahead and re-register as a democrat?
Steve Hickey complaining is like listening to Mike Huckabee… aside from his flock… his opinion lost its relevancy when he left elected office.
Too bad neither of them realize it…
Hickey loves the sound of his keyboard/voice