About 4-5 years back when I would regularly do work for the SDGOP on some of their mail big projects and we had a number of them running at one time – think slate mailers, GOTV Mailers, absentee mailers, etc., there was one point where the outstanding bills owed to me were in excess of $150,000. Darn near all of that was postage and printing that I owed to someone else. As a small business, I can tell you that the sheer amount of that outstanding bill made my shorts pucker a bit, because I know I didn’t have $150,000 in my account.
But, of course they made good on it as invoices were processed. Maybe not the day before I sent the invoice as I might have liked, but they made good on it and paid their bills. It’s a challenge that’s nearly every small business faces, but I knew the risk was low because the Party was well managed financially and had always been a good partner to do business with so it was easy to have that kind of faith in them.
But, that’s not always the case with political parties. There are periods when they fall on hard times. If you’ve forgotten, South Dakota Democrats found themselves in a tough spot back in 2019:
South Dakota Democrats filed their latest federal campaign finance report yesterday, revealing that the party is carrying nearly $47,000 in unpaid debts and obligations against only $16,624.38 in cash on hand.
In response to the Democrat Party’s shaky finances, Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman encouraged Democrats as part of their debt management plans to take care of local South Dakota vendors first before their Washington, DC consultants.
Lederman said “a review of Democrat’s latest financial report makes it look like they went on a spending spree without having the money to pay the bills. They owe money to a number of people, including Maryland consultants, a Washington, DC Computer firm, a Washington DC Law Firm, and a number of local businesses.”
Read that here. (original press release on a site that no longer exists).
To set the ship right, new SDDP Chair Randy Seiler himself went out and signed a personal loan to help them get back on their feet.
Before you start saying “yeah! that’s how those Democrats roll,” about the mote in their eye a few years back, I’d also refer you to the stick in the eye of Republicans. That was the SDGOP not that terribly long before that as in 2013, recently elected chairman Craig Lawrence had to go out and do the same thing to keep the SDGOP afloat:
Both he and his wife each personally signed for $10,000 loans – $20k total – that they were personally on the hook for to keep the South Dakota Republican Party afloat. Why do I bring this up? The State Republican Party and those who make up the new SDGOP Establishment may very well be facing a similar situation in coming months. The question is whether or not they realize it?
Over the course of the last 2 years, the chaos in the Republican Party, and the non-participation of their county organizations has put the SDGOP in a bad spot. If you recall my post from a few weeks ago:
Despite the South Dakota Republican Party’s model of county quota donations as a system set up by the SDGOP Central Committee to help support the group, not a single county donation is registered in their year end report this year. Not one. Nor in the pre-general report. You have to go back to the pre-primary report, and only before the Primary the Meade County GOP sent in 2k. But nobody else. Why? And to add insult to injury, you had people like the Minnehaha GOP sending nearly $20k to “various PACs and organizations.”
This lack of donors willing to support the Republican Party organization should be scaring the dickens out of the South Dakota Republican Party. The Republican Party outnumbers the Democrats in South Dakota more than 2-1, yet the SDGOP is on the verge of financial and electoral collapse if they can’t get their act together and put their eye back on the ball.
I’d add to that, some notes from the SDGOP’s treasurer report submitted yesterday to the Central Committee:
As of 2-13-25, we have two accounts. The state account is subject to state rules, contains money that belongs to CR’s and YR’s for their ease of reporting, and has $35,323.44 in it. The next report is due in January 2026 under current law. The federal account is subject to federal rules, is all our money, and has $51,762.87 in it.
Basically, The SDGOP Has $87k on hand – not all of it theirs, because CR’s and YR’s own some of it – and nobody is donating to them. I did hear Meade and another county did a rare thing and paid their quotas, totaling around 4k, so let’s just say they have $85-87k to work with. In the big scheme of things, that’s not very much.
What expenses are they facing in the short term? Here’s just an estimate off the top of my head:
- Insurance; Liability and for the State Fair Building
- Redoing the website, which many noted as a priority
- Salaries & Payroll Taxes; closing out Reggie R, and potentially hiring new staff
- Rent, Admin expenses & Office overhead
- FEC Report Consulting & Occasional Legal fees (no more free lunch from May, Adam, as they aren’t involved anymore)
- Campaign finance software
- Repair of State Fair Building? Was put off last year.
- Travel costs for GOP Chair, others.
- And I know I’m missing a lot. It will be more if they revive TAR camp, etc.
The SDGOP was running a burn rate of around $10k a month just in dormancy after the election. Clearly the new GOP Establishment is going to want to show they are in control. But are they going to have money to do anything?
Little known fact, the SDGOP does not have their own “Republican Party credit card,” so they are either paying invoices where businesses have extended them credit, or someone – the SDGOP Chairman, the Executive Director, etc., ends up personally footing the bill and expensing it for reimbursement, whether it for the gas and a ticket to drive across the state to go to a Lincoln Day Dinner, or an event is being held and the sound system guy wants cash up front, as is the rule when it comes to most political accounts.
This will be interesting to watch, as the next two years are all on them. This is the house they spent the last 2 years trying to take over, and now they have it. And on top of it, they’re being handed off $85,000 to start.
Much like the dog that has finally caught the car, and is now faced with answering the question “what do I do with it?” The new GOP Establishment may find themselves quickly running up against the difference between their want list, their needs, a.k.a keeping the lights on, and their bank account as they approach the coming months.
We’ll see if they have to figure out “who is willing to sign the bank loan?”
Own a promotional company and a wise individual told us right away. Never do business with bars and never ever do business with a political candidate. We have been able to avoid them both. 🤣🤣
I dont know how the new officers will do but the fact that Craig Lawrence and his wife had to sign operating loans to cover debt that the previous leaders had created is nuts. Thune, Daugaard and Noem should have stepped up and fixed it. They all had over $1 million in hand.
The populists and NIMBYS who are now the GOP establishment have alienated the business and professional community that historically paid all the bills. Good luck finding new sources of revenue!
The county GOPs are typically responsible for contributing to the SDGOP. With the growing far right taking over, good luck getting communities to give to their county and well, I think we’ve already seen certain counties not giving… Good luck to the far right counties getting incoming contributions given their boards and the new SDGOP boards. Many individuals won’t consider giving a dime.
If one looks at this group of conservatives(aka cheapies), I cannot imagine anyone wanting fund this group.
You’re absolutely right, Pat. If it fails, it’s on ALL of them. Because I guarantee we’ll hear Janet, Tina, Heidi, etc. whining about how it’s the chair’s job to raise money so they should be reelected even though the party crumbled.
Dumpster Fire Doeden makes sure everyone knows he thinks he is a big wheel. Is he going to fund the SDWackadoodle Party or to be renamed SDDump?
No one is donating now and they certainly won’t in the future, what with these derelicts running the clown show. Maybe, just maybe, after the SDGOP ship has run aground will the loons in the party realize that they need to move closer to the middle philosophically while stopping their never ending assault on fellow Republicans whom they say “aren’t conservative enough.” In the meantime, Dems will continue to have a few minor wins across the state.
Sadly, I agree. The writing is on the wall.
The CRs and YRs need to get their money back from the SDGOP now before Brett gets Tina on the SDGOP bank account!
Since this is the same crowd who claimed tbat charging delegates to attend a convention was making them pay for the right to vote, and they wanted their money back, there might be a silver lining.
They aren’t going to have enough money to hold a convention in 2026, and the legislature will have no choice but to take the nomination of constitutional officers away from them and put the names on the primary ballot.
The party stopped raising money 2 years ago. Very hard to restart that effort especially with a ship of fools at the helm. This Republican hopes these idiots don’t raise a dime because it will be used for attacks against our own candidates. These folks only know how to tear things down, not how to build things up.
I for one hope the new leaders are able to raise exactly what they donated to the party over the last two years.
..Wait? There’s no donations from Jim Eschenbaum? There’s no Donations from Tina or Janet Jensen..None from the executive board either?
Well, there you go. Here’s where they can put a biblical verse about reaping what you sow.
Sounds like too many church councils I’ve been on. You’ve stated the problem well, Mr. Powers.
As someone who lives in Hand County, I can tell you that Jim Eschanbaum is the opposite of generous.
Actually 3 counties have contributed to the state GOP over the past several years. Meade, Custer and one east river county…I believe Clay. That Pennington County and Minnehaha County do not contribute is a disgrace. It should be mandatory that every county GOP contribute a sum commensurate to their population.
The party made a big mistake in allowing county delegations to be seated on the last day of the convention without paying in.
The counties should have to pay to have their delegations seated.They had better start raising the money.