Author: @SoDakCampaigns

I have a few campaign items that came home from the State Fair.

Unfortunately, for US Senate Candidate Mark Mowry, it looks like it could be an expensive state fair for him (and his hat.)

While his campaign card does picture Mowry in his ubiquitous black hat that seems to go everywhere with him, it what his campaign material lacks that’s going to get him in trouble. And besides the fact that it’s just a god-awful pile of gobbledygook, the problem is that it completely lacks the disclaimer required by Federal Election Law:

Any public communication made by a political committee—including communications that do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate or solicit a contribution—must display a disclaimer. Furthermore, disclaimers must also appear on political committees’ internet websites that are available to the general public, and in certain email communications. Political committees must also include additional information on their solicitations.

As explained on this page, in addition to the requirements for public communications, printed communications, radio and television communications (or any broadcast, cable or satellite transmission) may have additional requirements.

Disclaimers must be “clear and conspicuous” regardless of the medium in which the communication is transmitted. A disclaimer is not clear and conspicuous if it is difficult to read or hear, or if its placement is easily overlooked.

Read that all here.

The problem is that literally none of his communications have the required disclaimer in the manner prescribed by the federal government.  Not the materials he hands out, nor his website, which has a disclaimer, but not as required.

How expensive is the price of poker in that situation? Well, it’s not good:

On February 27, the FEC announced that former Congressman Martin Frost’s campaign committee would pay a $6,000 civil penalty for failing to include the proper disclaimers on printed communications.

The FEC began its analysis of the campaign literature by noting that each mailing contained a disclaimer, “Paid for by the Martin Frost Campaign Committee,” that properly identified the sponsor.

and..

Finally, the Commission’s regulations provide that disclaimers on printed, public communications must be contained in “a printed box set apart from the other contents of the communication.” Because the disclaimer in the Frost committee’s mailings was not set apart in such a box, the FEC found that the committee had violated the law.

Read that here.

So in this case, they HAD the disclaimer, but it cost them a staggering $6000 because THEY FORGOT THE BOX around the disclaimer. (That’s an expensive darn box!)

But in Mowry’s case, he’s omitted the disclaimer in its entirety.

For starters, he might end up having to pitch everything he’s printed to date. The other part might be if someone tattles on him to the Federal Elections Commission.

Either way, it could be interesting. And maybe a less than successful State Fair for Mowry (and his hat.)

(From SDWC’s new companion website, South Dakota Political News.)

Are business owners in danger of being pushed to the side as some politicians attempt to appeal to populist elements on COVID vaccination?

In 1946, a state constitutional amendment was passed to prohibit a person’s right to work from being “denied or abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in any labor union, or labor organization.” Since then, state laws have continued to promote a laissez faire stance towards business, including provisions that labor unions cannot demand that an employer hire certain employees and not others.

Yet many years later in 2021, a movement has begun in the South Dakota House of Representatives to appeal to a populist brand of politics that considers businesses and their owners as subordinate to the demands of workers.  Representing a continued wedge being driven by some conservative elements of the Republican Party who at times view business owners derisively as ‘elitist,’ and ‘chamber of commerce’ types who somehow oppose the interest of their concept of a working man, COVID politics threaten to increase the rift between economic conservatives and business owners who have traditionally been allied forces in Republican politics.

While the battleground has been previously waged in areas such as tax increment finance districts, or TIFs, or qualify of life/public amenity projects to draw business growth, the latest battleground might be one of the most fiercely fought ones – whether businesses have the right to consider an employee’s vaccination status as an element of their employment.

In recent weeks, conservative lawmakers such as Rep. Scott Odenbach (R-Spearfish), Rep. Taffy Howard (R- Rapid City), Jon Hansen (R-Dell Rapids) and Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch (R-Mobridge) have advocated and prepared proposals which would discourage private employers from COVID vaccine requirements, outlaw them, or hide the health status of employees from those who place them in public forward positions. 

The conservative firebrands making these proposals have been met with criticism, as when Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck quipped  “They can wait and have their bills killed in January. We don’t need a special session.”

The business community also has the support of one of the State’s most powerful political figures, Governor Kristi Noem. After the legislators began demanding a special session, the Governor launched a fusillade of criticism via social and traditional media against those who sought to bring a solution to what they saw as a problem that needed immediate government intervention, terming the proposals as “not conservative.”

Businesses have been cool to the proposals as well, according to South Dakota Retailers Association Director Nathan Sanderson.  According to Sanderson, “The South Dakota Retailers Association has long supported the right of business owners to determine the practices and policies best-suited for their own business and employees. The vast majority of South Dakota businesses are not mandating vaccinations for their employees, or even considering doing so, but a business owner should have the right to make the decision based on their own circumstances.”

Politicians battling over the issue aside, is South Dakota set to become a hotbed of employers demanding that their employees be vaccinated? According to industry leaders, not really. And if they are considering a requirement to do so, they are looking at such requirements with great caution. Nathan Sanderson points out that this is not a new topic for businesses as the months have gone by under the shadow of COVID and the employment market is a significant factor in how business owners determine what’s best for them.

And it’s not just retailers who are treading cautiously on COVID vaccination requirements for employees. South Dakota’s health care organizations are acting with caution. As noted by Tim Rave, President/CEO of the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, his group “has members on both sides of the issue,” and “we respect the rights of all our members having the freedom to make the decision that works best for them, their employees, and most importantly their patients.”

Both businesses and legislators will be avoiding the question of vaccination restrictions on employees until next January, with neither the Governor nor the State Senate willing to call a Special Session for the topic.

Senator Lee Schoenback recently pointed out that the “phrase ‘special session’ has been getting thrown around like parade candy lately.”  And while legislators will be gathering in October for a special session for redistricting, there will be no discussion of vaccinations, as the state’s Legislative Research Council pointed out in the same article that “The only legislation that can be passed is what is detailed in the proclamation.”

Until then, we will continue to see posturing from those trying to appeal to what they see as a base of voters, as well as others postulating that “that government is best which governs least” in an ongoing appeal for the hearts and minds of South Dakotans.

United States Congressman Dusty Johnson is all over the State Fair this weekend according to Facebook:

And rumor has it that Congressional “explorer” Taffy Howard might be there as well.

Although, she should probably hang around her booth…

Help Wanted
By Sen. John Thune

This summer, as I’ve visited small and big towns across South Dakota, there have been a lot of issues on the top of people’s minds – from Afghanistan to border security to keeping our communities safe. As I visited local businesses, though, one issue stood out above all else: worker shortages. No one can seem to find enough workers to meet the growing demand as our economy continues to get stronger. In some cases, unfortunately, the inability to find workers has led to reduced capacity or hours of operation. Fewer employees means fewer people to serve customers.

These worker shortages are not just an illusion. At the end of June, job openings in the United States had reached 10.1 million – a record high. The national employment rate currently stands at 5.2 percent. In South Dakota, our unemployment rate is even lower. This low rate, which means the available workforce is small, paired with our booming economy in South Dakota, which means consumer demand is high, has created the workforce shortages that South Dakotans are seeing and feeling.

To be clear, an expanding economy and near record-low unemployment are good things. They are positive signs of a strong economy. That said, they are not without their challenges, which is why it is so important to keep our eye on the ball and implement positive solutions so these resulting workforce shortages don’t stunt economic growth. I support allowing free market forces to adapt and address these shortages over heavy-handed government intervention, but we can implement common-sense changes to help specific areas that have been hit particularly hard. That’s why I’ve made expanding the H-2B visa program a priority. Many South Dakota businesses rely on workers who temporarily come to the United States through this program. South Dakota businesses in industries from tourism and hospitality to construction and forestry have benefitted tremendously from it.

A low unemployment rate like we have now means a high number of South Dakotans who want to work have jobs, but it can present challenges for states like ours that rely on a seasonal, supplemental workforce. The H-2B visa program gives our businesses an additional employment pool to pull from when there is a high seasonal demand. I’ve introduced multiple bills that would help raise the cap on this program. My Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act would set aside up to 2,500 H-2B visas for states like South Dakota that are at or below 3.5 percent unemployment with a capped increase of 25 percent over the previous year’s H-2B total. It’s a new approach that I hope will be considered as we evaluate ways to improve the worker shortage in South Dakota’s seasonal industries.

Another industry that has struggled to find workers, even before the current shortage, is telecommunications. South Dakota is helping to lead the way in these technological advancements. As we work to deploy 5G technology and provide more of rural South Dakota with a reliable internet connection, we cannot afford a lack of qualified workers to hold us back. My Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, which recently passed the Senate, would help address the shortage of trained workers who will be necessary to fill next-generation jobs in the telecommunications industry.

These bills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to addressing the workforce shortages in our state. There is certainly more work to be done, and I will continue to look for light-touch ways to help South Dakota businesses find workers. All things considered, I would rather see “help wanted” signs posted in shop windows than long lines at the unemployment office. A low unemployment rate means that more South Dakotans have a steady paycheck to support themselves and their families. But we cannot ignore these workforce shortages. I am focused on continuing to develop solutions in Washington to address the side effects of low unemployment so our economy can continue to grow and create more opportunities for South Dakotans.

###

Gov. Noem Bringing South Dakota National Guard Troops Home from the Southern Border  

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that the South Dakota National Guard troops on state active duty at the southern border will be returning home later this month. Governor Noem gave the following statement:   

“I want to thank our dedicated troops with the South Dakota National Guard who have served honorably in this deployment to the Mexican Border. Our troops delivered on their mission, providing boots on the ground to supplement the efforts of Texas state troopers, National Guard, and Customs and Border Patrol agents. They directly assisted in stopping human trafficking and drug smuggling into our nation.

“The end of this deployment comes at a key transition point  Thanks to our troops, Texas had time to organize and will now increase its financial commitment and manpower from within the state. Additionally, this deployment has made two things very clear: what happens on the border doesn’t stay there, and President Biden’s policies are enabling this crisis to continue. 

“The South Dakota National Guard encountered more than 6,000 individuals crossing the border. Unfortunately, because of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies, the system has become one of facilitating the crossing of illegal immigrants into our country.  

“Over the course of this mission, the scope of the drug smuggling and human trafficking taking place has been made clear to us, and it is staggering. Every state in the nation, including South Dakota, is made less safe as a result. The cartels are taking advantage of the humanitarian crisis – which is soaking up virtually all of Border Patrol’s efforts – and using it as a distraction for their criminal activities. So long as the border remains unsecure, this crisis will continue. 

“The end of this deployment, however, is not the end of our commitment to secure our southern border. South Dakota is sending an additional 125 troops next month on a federal mission.  

“President Biden’s approach is an utter disaster. As border crossings continue to climb, I am reiterating my call for President Biden to focus on America first and secure the border.” 

### 

The South Dakota House of Representatives has been provided a hard drive full of material related to the State’s investigation of last September’s traffic accident involving the Attorney General, and cautions that it will take months to review the material:

Gosch said Thursday that his staff in Pierre received the hard drive late Wednesday and that he hadn’t had a chance to see what it contains. He’ll have to sort through files that contain nearly 1,300 photos, cellphone data extraction reports, roughly 10 hours of video and audio of interviews, more than 1,500 pages of investigative reports and a crime scene map that requires special software to view.

“We’re still evaluating what the process is going to look like,” he said, adding that lawmakers would “allow an ample amount of time and an ample amount of due process.”

and..

“It’s so difficult to know how long it would take to sort through all that evidence,” said Republican state Rep. Jon Hansen, who is a member of the legislative leadership.

Read it all here.

If the legislature decides to move forward, this may be something that has to go beyond next winter’s legislative session as they try to make a case for impeachment beyond the traffic offenses the Attorney General pled no contest to.

I’ve had a concept banging around in my head for a long time about something slightly different, in a more magazine style and longer form articles than many of the posts at Dakota War College tend to be. It’s not that I’m abandoning things, as much as creating a slightly different sandbox. There will be a lot of cross-pollination, as articles will appear in both places, but sometimes I just want to try things in a different format.

And with that, I’m “officially” kicking off the South Dakota Political News, with an article on the battle over threatened COVID vaccination legislation:

The business community also has the support of one of the State’s most powerful political figures, Governor Kristi Noem. After the legislators began demanding a special session, the Governor launched a fusillade of criticism via social and traditional media against those who sought to bring a solution to what they saw as a problem that needed immediate government intervention, terming the proposals as “not conservative.”

As reported by South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Governor Noem noted in some of the sharpest criticism to date during her time as Governor that “It is not conservative to tell businesses what to do and how to treat their employees. Most of the Republican legislators get that in South Dakota—they get that. But, there are the vocal few, like Jon Hansen and Scott Odenbach, who are chasing headlines and are trying to tell South Dakotans how to do business. They want to make government bigger and more powerful in your life. It’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Businesses have been cool to the proposals as well, according to South Dakota Retailers Association Director Nathan Sanderson.  According to Sanderson, “The South Dakota Retailers Association has long supported the right of business owners to determine the practices and policies best-suited for their own business and employees. The vast majority of South Dakota businesses are not mandating vaccinations for their employees, or even considering doing so, but a business owner should have the right to make the decision based on their own circumstances.”

Read the entire article here.

Hunting Season is Serious Business in South Dakota
By Gov. Kristi Noem
August 27, 2021

I love the fall. Cooler days. County fairs with youth livestock shows going on almost every weekend. And, of course, heading out to the fields to shoot the state bird.

As tourism season draws to a close, hunting seasons are beginning to open around the state. Dove, Antelope, Deer and Canada Geese seasons recently opened, kicking off the fall 2021 hunting calendar.

Over the next four months, South Dakotans and non-resident hunters will flock to the fields and forests in search of fertile grounds. Thanks to the enthusiasm brought by our hunter-friendly policies, both hunters and the state are reaping benefits from seasonal outings.

It’s estimated the annual hunting season brings in about $500 million to the state economy, benefiting businesses of all sizes. When combined with fishing and other outdoor activities, the total economic footprint of our Game, Fish, and Parks Department is about $1.33 billion. A new study going on now is looking at this season’s figures and will give us a better post-pandemic picture of how hunting is benefiting local economies.

The fees collected from licensing alone bring in nearly $28 million each year to support our Game, Fish, and Parks Department. Those funds go to our conservation officers, habitat improvements, grassland restorations, and much more. Our Hunt for Habitat raffle raised $329,000 this year — the raffle has raised more than $1 million total over its first three years — to support more than 6,500 acres of habitat restoration and improvement across 18 counties. Since 2013, the Bighorn Sheep auction has raised nearly $1 million for bighorn sheep reintroduction projects, wildlife disease testing labs and research, and water development projects.

All but one of the winning tags from this year’s Hunt for Habitat raffle went to South Dakota hunters. That’s because hunting is serious business in our state.

Last year, South Dakota was No. 1 in the nation for the percentage of residents obtaining a hunting license (nearly 25%) — we were No. 11 overall based on total non-resident hunting licenses issued. And while we are known for our premier pheasant hunting, we also are favorites among archers coming in at No. 4 on BowHunting.com’s most hunter-friendly states.

We’re not taking these accolades for granted, either. Since 2019, the Second Century Initiative has fought to maintain family hunting traditions by introducing kids to the adventure of the outdoors, while conserving our outdoor culture for the next generation.

Thanks to the Second Century Initiative, we are seeing remarkable pheasant numbers, which increases interest in South Dakota as a hunting destination. Our Nest Predator Bounty program is getting more youth involved in trapping while also helping to boost our pheasant numbers through increased nest success.

All of these actions are meant to protect and sustain our rich outdoor legacy in South Dakota. Hunting, trapping, and living off the land are all valuable skills that should be handed down to the next generation. Hunting also provides a great outlet for exercise, positive mental health benefits, and the value of knowing exactly where your food is coming from.

To learn about hunting in South Dakota, or how to obtain a license, go to gfp.sd.gov/hunt/ and click the “Purchase License” banner. While at the website, you can also learn about our youth mentor program, which was recently expanded by the legislature. There’s also information about accessing hunting areas.

Good luck to all the hunters gearing up for another fun season! Thank you for what you do to keep our state’s traditions alive and thriving for the next generation of hunters.

###

One of South Dakota’s worst legislators is apparently doing everything she can do to ferret out new crazy things to bring to Pierre next year.  As you can read in State Senator Julie Frye Mueller’s latest column in the Rapid City Journal:

August was extremely busy as well. Sidney Powell came August 5 to speak at a SD Citizens For Liberty meeting on the Arizona voter fraud. She did an excellent job and discussed what her team was dealing with regarding the process they were going through. The courts have refused to hear the evidence, so reports of no election fraud are not factual. I was blessed to be able to spend four days on and off with her and her team. We have stayed in communication with each other and I feel fortunate for that connection.

On August 9, my husband and I took off for Sioux Falls for the Mike Lindell Cyber Symposium. The event venue was well-suited for what was going on there. Eventually legislators from all 50 states showed up and a large group of us went into a private room to discuss what we can do to help. We had our first Zoom meeting last Tuesday and will be continuing every two weeks. Another great part of this is we are connecting to help share ideas for bills that will help “We the People”.

Read it here.

Jesus wept.   Are we actually reading this?  First Frye-Mueller claims through some connection with Sidney Powell that “reports of no election fraud are not factual.” Despite Powell arguing through her attorneys in court filings that “no reasonable people would believe her election fraud claims.”

Even worse, the legislator who said parents accepting a school handbook might inadvertently be giving permission to give transgender surgery to your children wants to share ideas for bills with other people who went to the looney MyPillow Cyber Symposium. The 3-day conference which most elected officials across the nation avoided like the plague because predictably, it fell flat on it’s face and became a national circus of mockery.

Lindell, who is a diehard Trump fan and prominent voter fraud conspiracy theorist, launched the pseudo-conference with the hopes of definitively proving that the Don was robbed of the presidency last November by a band of Deep State goons and Chinese hackers.

and..

Unfortunately for Lindell, the man he hired to assess that data has now admitted that it can’t possibly show what he says it does.

Read that here.

I might be showing my age, and opening up myself for razzing from my daughter who claims I’m old, but I remember a time when our Senators and Representatives came to the legislature every year to solve problems of the people who elected them to office.

Not to support people on the Internet spouting nutty conspiracy theories reinforced by reading too much facebook.

Ah, the good old days.