Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Owner-Occupied Property Taxes Update

The drafting of property tax relief legislation has already begun in preparation of the 2025 legislative session. Representatives Trish Ladner, Mary Fitzgerald, Dennis Krull, and legislative candidates Tim Goodwin, and Amber Hulse met on July 19th to discuss options, and begin drafting legislation to present in Pierre in January. Also in attendance was Robert Paul, Fall River County Commissioner Joe Allen, business owner Don Olsted, Legislative Representative for SMART, Keith Grieser, and lobbyists Matt Krogman and Lisa Gennero.

The members met in Hot Springs to work on property tax reform. Rep Mary Fitzgerald commented, “I am excited and honored to be a part of this group. We are a determined group, and we will have legislation drafted and ready to go in January.” Representatives Trish Ladner and Mary Fitzgerald are also members of the interim legislative committee that is studying Property Valuation Methodology with nine other legislators this summer in Pierre.

In June, Rep. Ladner attended a Tax Academy in Omaha, Nebraska, where she learned that several neighboring states are also facing the same property tax dilemma as South Dakota. Legislators from all states present were able to exchange ideas, share where they are in the process of property tax reform for their state’s including taking a hard look at their valuation methodology protocols, entitlements, budget reduction, and mandated commitments.

Last year, legislators made substantial progress toward getting property tax reform for our homeowners in South Dakota. This year the newly formed group plans to hold regional roundtables across South Dakota where citizens will have the opportunity to learn about the newly drafted legislation and how they can help to promote and garner support for the bill. Representative Ladner stated, “Homeowners are financially at a tipping point, and it is time to take the next step. Homeowners must join together with their legislators if we want to see property tax reform passed and signed into law by the governor. It is time to stop talking and roll up our sleeves and get to work!”

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Something is happening on the Democrat side of the aisle. Because Democrats are starting to withdraw from legislative races, most significantly in District 7.

ALL THREE Democrats running for the SD Legislature in District 7 have now withdrawn from their contests. Patty Bacon in SD Senate, Cole Sartell and Penny Hauffe in the House are now not running. And in District 5, Democrat Russell Ronke has withdrawn from running for D5 Senate.

According to the Secretary of State, the deadline to withdraw from the 2024 November 5th General Election is August 6, 2024 at 5:00 pm local time, so we could see more coming. The deadline for the party central committee(s) to fill vacancies is August 13, 2024 at 5:00 pm local time.

Stay tuned, because I’m sure we’ll see more changes coming.

With few statewide races on the ballot for the fall of 2024, the bigger speculation is what’s going to happen in 2026.  Because it’s going to be a big, big election with a significant turnout. And the results are not going to be what you might expect if the top-two/jungle primary measure passes.  Without further ado, let’s push the season, and talk about what you might expect 2 years from now:

Attorney General Jackley Joins Attorneys General Group in Opposing Biden Proposal to Reschedule Marijuana as Schedule III Drug 

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley joins other Attorney Generals in opposing a Biden Administration proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Attorney General Jackley is one of 11 Attorneys General to submit a public letter opposing the proposal. If approved, the classification would be a step towards fully legalizing marijuana at the federal level.

“South Dakota voters have legalized medical marijuana and will have the opportunity this election to determine whether to legalize recreational marijuana in our state,” said Attorney General Jackley. “The Biden Administration’s attempt to reschedule marijuana right before the election without proper authority will be harmful to states like South Dakota that have not fully legalized both medical and recreational marijuana.”

Attorney General Jackley said if the reclassification occurs, it will not impact the way local authorities enforce the state law.

Other Attorneys General who are part of the public comment letter are: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and South Carolina.

The letter can be found here:

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This weekend, Congressman Dusty Johnson took to facebook and read District 31 State Representative Scott Odenbach chapter & verse on how principles matter in the face of what Congressman Johnson termed Odenbach’s ‘selective outrage,’ when Johnson refused to go along with money already appropriated elsewhere being spent on a border wall.

Somehow I doubt Dusty is going to be Team Odenbach in the 2026 elections. 

I caught wind of this last week, and had it further confirmed today.

The 2024 Teenage Republican Summer Camp which (except for COVID) has been convening in the Black Hills every summer for decades to help train our state’s future leaders isn’t meeting this year.  Going back well over 30 years I’ve gone to it as a party employee, or speaking. Or even more importantly I’ve had six of my seven kids attend at one point, with my #4 daughter being a counselor many years.

Literally, this has been a Republican institution and one of the Republican Party’s greatest success stories over decades for getting the next generation of young people involved and participating the political process.

It was supposed to start today. Now you can’t help but wonder if it’s forever gone.

With it not being held for lack of interest, effort, or organization, or whatever, it’s kind of shocking.  They had a registration page, and Republican Women had been promoting it, but the effort seemed to end there. The SDGOP didn’t really talk about it. Nothing from most county groups, including the Minnehaha & Pennington GOP.

This is yet another symptom of the malaise that has infected the South Dakota Republican Party. Too many people are concerned with using the Republican Party organization to make pronouncements, and not enough are concerned with making sure there’s a functioning GOP organization in 5 years.

At this rate, it may dissolve into dysfunction sooner than that.

As we inch closer to the fall elections, both Democrats and Republicans are raising money through their Federal accounts. This month, Democrats had a nice bump with money coming in in the lead-up and post State convention period, with a big influx of in-state donations that don’t seem to be coming the way of Republicans in their latest report:

July 2024 Sddp Fec by Pat Powers on Scribd

Dems raised a total of $56,329.82 against $41,020.86 of expenditures, leaving them $80,491.04. in cash on hand to fund their activities.

Big takeaways – regular donors. Look at the report. They have lots of in-state donations rolling through. Their people are writing checks and being involved.

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South Dakota Republicans tell a tale of fundraising that we saw last month from Democrats, where national funds passed through and they got to catch a little of it as it went in and out:

July 2024 SDGOP Fec by Pat Powers on Scribd

The SDGOP Federal account brought in $577,189.50. But don’t get excited, that’s all presidential money that rolled through, as $559,293.36 in expenses instantly went back out the door. $550,352.27 was for “Transfers to Affiliated/Other Party Committees.”   

BUT, that little accounting trick left the GOP with nearly $18,000 more in cash on hand than it ended last month in, with $57,370.02. 2 donations went into the party for the state convention fundraising ($5k for John Thune, and $500 for Heidi Engelhart), but otherwise everything was from out of state via the Trump campaign, as Dems did with Biden last month. 

That small cash injection was important for the SDGOP, as intra-party chaos has literally shut down many donations. So this allows them to keep paying staff and expenses for another 2-3 months.

Again, I hate to be the canary in the coal mine, but I have to point out that the SDGOP has a SERIOUS donor problem. Looking at the FEC report – they don’t have any. Rolling presidential donors through brings in a little one-time cash, but there are no regular donors sustaining the GOP, and it’s going to catch up at some point.

Add staff expenses, as well as all of the other costs of running a party, and there’s trouble in River City. Trouble that starts with T, which rhymes with D, which stands for donations!

The hard right wave of populism that has been roiling the SDGOP might be bringing in new people who take over county GOP groups, but they have no interest in a healthy Republican Party. If they somehow manage to take over next February, they may find themselves trying to dig up someone to sign a promissory note to keep the party afloat.

Stay tuned.

The landscape of the 2024 elections just completely rewote itself in one fell swoop as President Biden has announced he is dropping out. From Fox News:

President Biden announced Thursday that he will suspend his 2024 re-election campaign amid mounting pressure from his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill, top donors and Hollywood stars after a disastrous debate performance last month.

The unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers had begun to publicly call for Biden to step aside and the party’s leadership reportedly was engaged in efforts to convince Biden, 81, he could not win in November’s general election against former President Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who Biden defeated four years ago to win the White House.

Read the entire story here.

Your thoughts?

Looks like the Minnehaha GOP is getting along as well as ever, as GOP Activist and Minnehaha County Precinct Committeewoman Shamra Johnson is letting the Minnehaha GOP Vice-Chair Jennifer Foss have it with both barrels because she allowed Democrats to sponsor their Lincoln Day Dinner:

What brought this on?  Allegedly, an owner of one of the businesses had a ‘not cool’ comment on social media with regards to the recent assassination attempt against former President Trump.

Minnehaha County Republicans, get your popcorn ready..