Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Guest Column: Helping Veterans is the Right Thing to Do
By Mike Bekaert
December 6, 2021 

This guest column is written by Mike Bekaert. Mike is the Director of In-State Military and Veteran Affairs for U.S. Senator Mike Rounds. Mike served 30 years in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard. He graduated from the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy and retired from the South Dakota National Guard as the sixth State Command Sergeant Major.

I often tell people I am living the dream and I have one of the best jobs in the world. For 30 years I served in the military and now I spend my days trying to help the men and women who served beside me, the veterans I never met and the families of veterans who are unable to advocate for themselves.

I am humbled to be the boots on the ground for more than 72,000 veterans that call South Dakota home. And I am honored to work for a Senator who cares so deeply about our veterans.

In 2021, approximately 25 percent of the inquiries we received in our office were from veterans. Some needed help scheduling appointments through the VA, some needed help deciphering the medical bills they were receiving and others needed help retrieving their military records.

While on the surface these may sound like simple requests, for anyone who has had to wade through the bureaucracy of some federal agencies, you know that each request can bring its own set of challenges. Thankfully, I’m not alone. We have a team of constituent service representatives who serve the people of South Dakota. It’s a tough job that requires a lot of persistence and compassion.

Let me give you a couple of examples of the challenges we face on a daily basis. Our office worked with one Korean War veteran who did not have a copy of his military medical records. During his time in service, he sustained injuries that put him in the hospital in Japan, Hawaii and Denver, yet he was unable to use VA services because his records were lost.  This man had been injured defending his country – and all of us – but he was unable to get the medical care he needed.

Long story short, we were able to locate the records and not only did he receive the help he needed, he was also eligible for six years of retroactive pay for his full disability. It’s a happy ending, but he shouldn’t have had to fight for what was rightfully his.

Another example can be found in a veteran who contacted our office after a seven-year appeal to obtain the military benefits he earned. He was moving to hospice care due to terminal cancer and he wanted the benefits to make sure his family was taken care of. We were able to get the benefits in order the day before this man passed away. Surely someone who put his life on the life for us shouldn’t have to spend his final days fighting the government for the money he was owed.

The bottom line is, our country needs to do better by our veterans. As any veteran knows, the concurrent receipt issue needs to be figured out so that our veterans don’t have to lose their disability retirement income for their disability benefits. Veterans need more access to VA and VA approved doctors and health resources. And veterans need good health insurance from the day they enter the military until the day they die.

Senator Rounds continues to look for and promote legislation that will benefit our veterans because it’s the right thing to do. And he continues to push his staff to serve those people that served us. We truly are making a difference – one veteran at a time.

John F. Kennedy summed it up best when he said this of our veterans – “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” Or as I like to tell people – we don’t know them, but we owe them.

Gov. Noem Announces Themes of 2021 Budget Address

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced the primary themes of her 2021 Budget Address:

“South Dakota has the strongest economy in America right now, but that success does not stem from government. It stems from our people and from the Freedom that they enjoy. This year, as with years past, we will continue to focus on our people and their future.”

Gov. Noem will lay out her recommendations to lawmakers on how to responsibly manage South Dakota’s historic revenues, our strong economy, as well as federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.

South Dakota’s economic strength is reflected by Governor Noem’s recent “Best Governor in America” ranking by the American Legislative Exchange Council and South Dakota’s top-five ranking in “Freedom in the 50 States” by the CATO Institute.

The 2021 Budget Address will take place in the South Dakota House of Representatives at 1 p.m. CT on Tuesday, December 7. The address will be livestreamed on South Dakota Public Broadcasting, SD.net, and Facebook.com/GovNoem.

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• From the Mitchell Republican, February 26, 1892.

The latest edition of the South Dakota Register is posting a large batch of recent gubernatorial appointments made to boards and commissions by Governor Kristi Noem:

SDRegister_224164 by Pat Powers on Scribd

I was having coffee this morning with a potential new candidate for the State House of Representatives as part of their decision making process.  While many people are focusing on the impending holiday season, those looking at 2022 know the election cycle is well underway.

It was particularly good reminder that if a person is thinking about running they’d best be preparing to launch their campaign publicly about January 1st, and to gather petition signatures right away.  Why am I firm about candidates getting petitions done so quickly?  Because the early bird gets to fix screw-ups.  And inevitably, there will be screw-ups.

According to the Secretary of State, Party nominating petitions may be filed no earlier than January 1 and no later than 5:00 p.m. local time March 29, 2022.   That’s a pretty generous window for candidates to go out and get things signed. The problem gets to be when people procrastinate and wait until the end, because only then do you find out that the person in the County Auditor’s office who you had do your petitions filled out a field incorrectly on your declaration of candidacy.  Or that the circulator also notarized it. Or that the notary’s commission expired, and they didn’t renew it. Or even better, the candidate waited until the last minute and sent the petitions in on the last day certified mail, and not registered.

These are all real errors that either caused or threatened to cause rejections of petitions submitted by candidates for office in the last few years.

When I admonish that the early bird gets to fix screw-ups, if petitions are rejected for errors nothing prevents the candidate from going back to the well and re-doing them correctly if they are within that nearly 3-month window. But once that 3/29 deadline has passed, the only possible way to remedy errors are to attempt to argue it in court and plead “voter intent.”

Candidates would do well to remember that there are absolutely people looking over the candidate’s shoulders and checking. Even if they pass the spot check the Secretary of State does, private individuals have gone in and reviewed petitions signature by signature. And I’ve heard rumors that in recent years State Democrats have on occasion gone in and pulled all Republican petitions to review.

It’s not just newbies who get stung by simple mistakes, either. I can point to examples on both sides of the aisle where incumbent legislators had petition problems, and found themselves having to run as Independents because the window had closed for a partisan ballot, making them have to campaign twice as hard to overcome that hurdle.

As they prepare to launch their efforts next month, candidates should familiarize themselves with the Secretary of State’s guide to Circulating a Nominating Petition, and be aware of the laws that guide the SOS on how petitions are to be circulated. As noted in the guide, “It is prudent to submit any petition to the filing authority with ample time prior to the deadline to allow you to collect additional signatures if there are not sufficient valid signatures presented on your initial petition.”

Good advice that candidates should take to heart.   Starting January 1, get your petitions done, get them in, and you’ll be that much ahead of the game.

Today marks the last day the press at the Argus Leader will run. Soon, all printing of the Argus Leader, Aberdeen American News and Watertown Public Opinion will move to Des Moines.
South Dakota’s largest newspaper @argusleader will soon be printed in Iowa. pic.twitter.com/I0leEbd7BO

— Morgan Matzen (@bymorganmatzen) December 6, 2021

The Argus Leader has a story today about the paper ending it’s print operations in South Dakota, where it, the Aberdeen American News, and the Watertown Public Opinion all moving their printing to Des Moines.

As I said back in November, Remind me again why it’s so important to have all those legals notices printed in those papers, when they’re moving production and jobs to Iowa?

If we are going to spend tax dollars on things required to be in print as part of the public record, seems to me that it would be a pretty easy addition to state law to require their publication in newspapers “printed in South Dakota” in support of South Dakota jobs.

Flags at Half-Staff in Honor of Senator Bob Dole

PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff statewide from sunrise until sundown, effective immediately through December 9, in honor of Senator Robert (Bob) Dole.

“Senator Dole exemplified statesmanship,” said Governor Noem. “He was a great American and a dedicated patriot. He will be missed.”

This order is in response to a proclamation by President Joseph R. Biden, which can be found here.

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Lower Prices Are at the Top of South Dakotans’ Holiday Wish-List
By Sen. John Thune

If you think you’re seeing the cost of everyday items skyrocket right before your eyes, you’re not imagining it. Prices across the United States have been steadily rising, and South Dakotans are paying more for food, utilities, and gas than they’ve had to in recent years. In fact, as a result of the policies that have been enacted this year, the country is facing the highest levels of inflation its seen in more than 30 years. We are coming off the most expensive Thanksgiving in history, and as we quickly approach Christmas, this holiday season is going force families to dig even deeper into their pocketbooks.

On average, inflation is costing a typical household $175 every single month. Utilities in South Dakota, including home heating costs, are projected to increase by up to 100 percent, consumer prices have hit a 30-year high, and the cost of beef is up 20 percent this year alone. It doesn’t end there. Folks are also being hit at the pump with seven-year-high gas prices. This is a serious problem for working Americans – or any American who relies on automobile transportation. And if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, these price increases may mean the difference between putting food on the table or paying an electricity bill. For coastal elites, $175 per month might not seem like a lot of money, but I’d encourage them to visit small-town South Dakota where the value of a dollar truly means something.

At its most basic level, inflation is created when there are too many dollars chasing too few of goods in the economy. Democrats helped trigger this ongoing inflation problem earlier this year when they decided to pour trillions of dollars of unnecessary government money into the economy – despite being warned by me and many others that their partisan $1.9 trillion spending bill would stoke inflation. Now, as inflation is clearly becoming a longer-term problem, Democrats are preparing to double down on the same kind of irresponsible government expansion with a partisan, multi-trillion-dollar tax-and-spending bill.

If you think inflation is bad now, the massive government spending the Democrats’ bill would authorize would all but guarantee a more persistent and widespread inflation problem. What’s just as concerning to me is that Democrats are actively trying to fool the American people by saying that their bill costs zero dollars. South Dakotans are smarter than that, and all of the various budget gimmicks Democrats are trying to use to disguise the true cost of their bill won’t fool them. This is not rocket science. Flooding the economy with more government dollars will not solve America’s inflation problem. It will make it worse.

As the holiday season gets fully underway, South Dakotans are increasingly worried about how these price increases are going to impact them. Everything from feeding their family to heating their home to making sure their son or daughter gets his or her desired toy for Christmas. The reality is, even if products are available on store shelves, they will likely cost more as a result of inflation. Unfortunately, it is not going away anytime soon, and if Democrats pass their reckless tax-and-spending spree, they’ll be doubling down on these failed policies. I will continue to fight on behalf of all South Dakotans to stop this misguided, irresponsible, and partisan tax-and-spending spree from becoming law.

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Inflation
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
December 3, 2021

I’m sure most of you have noticed the rising costs of just about everything—gas, groceries, restaurants, coffee, home appliances, electricity, etc. Prices have risen steadily since January and we are all feeling the effects of inflation on our wallets and bank accounts. Gallup reported that 45% of Americans have experienced financial hardship triggered by these increased prices.

In South Dakota, gas prices are currently at $3.39 per gallon – one year ago a gallon was $2.10.  This is a cost increase many Americans can’t avoid even if they wanted to. You can skip the latte at Starbucks, but you can’t skimp on gas if you want to drive to work. Americans are also experiencing high prices when buying appliances. In February 2020, to purchase a dishwasher plus tax, delivery, and installation, a consumer would pay $1,086.28. Compare that price tag to today, for the same dishwasher, a consumer would pay $1,805.13. That’s a 66% increase.

While many experts had been hoping this inflation would be transitory or short-lived, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell admitted on Tuesday it was time to retire that idea. This is bad news – inflation is on track to be 7.4% – the highest rate since February 1982. Unfortunately, three in 10 lower-income households are already saying inflation is impacting their ability to maintain their current standard of living. I grew up in a low-income household, I know firsthand that every dollar counts.

Congress and the White House need to stop spending. Inflation has been exacerbated because of the reckless government spending throughout the year. That’s why I consistently opposed the more than $5 trillion of irresponsible packages advanced by the Biden Administration in a single year. It’s unacceptable the Biden Administration is spending our country deeper into debt, expanding the role of government, and making it harder for families to pay their bills. 

I remain committed in Congress to supporting policies that will lower spending and ease the burden of inflation on everyday Americans.

From Twitter:

BREAKING: Bob Dole, who overcame severe injures in World War II to lead the Senate GOP and run for president, dies at 98. https://t.co/3OkSEY7EFb

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 5, 2021