Author: @SoDakCampaigns

I spent this weekend out in the Black Hills, working on a couple of things that I’ll talk about later, but the big thing to share is that when I was in Spearfish, I located a couple of shops with political buttons, including an gubernatorial inaugural pin that’s been missing from my collection for quite some time:

So, the Snoopy for President tab will end up in the frame with other “Snoopy for President” items I have – including a flasher pin. Snoopy doesn’t have quite the top of mind popularity the Schultz cartoon characters had in my youth, but they’re still a fun item. The VOTE GOP ’74 pin was an off-presidential year, so a little more rare, and will go with my GOP items.  The Clinton/Gore is more unusual, campaigning for the native vote, but as it’s not specific to South Dakota, I’ll probably just speculate on that.

The big “Get” for me in this group was  the George T. Mickelson pin I managed to find for $25 – which is a very good price. Near mint condition, including the back paper, this is one that I have not been able to put back with my collection for YEARS. The other George T. Mickelson pin for ’49 is been a lot easier to find, but this one has been tough.  As a bit of trivia, the design for this is almost identical to the Joe Foss 1955 pin.

To complete my set, that leaves me the 1933 pin, the 1953 Sigurd Anderson pin, and the large 1975 Kneip pin.

The other find this weekend just came off of eBay, and no one really picked up on it except me. I was the sole bidder on a pin for Ed. S. Johnson for US Senate, a pin I’ve never stumbled across before in over 30 years of collecting:

Edwin Stockton Johnson, was an unsuccessful candidate for SD Governor in 1912, and you see those pins around, and they pop up on eBay several times a year. I might even have an extra.  But this pin is for Edwin’s US Senate race, in which he had far more success:

(Johnson) was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1914 and served from March 4, 1915 to March 3, 1921. He was the first Senator popularly elected from South Dakota and also the first Democrat to represent South Dakota in the Senate.

From Wikipedia.

So noted, the US Senate pin for Johnson is one I’ve not come across before. Looks like it might have a rust spot or two, but not having it my collection, it was happy win to the sale for this 7/8″ pin for me.

Great items from South Dakota’s political past!

Rules of the Road for Artificial Intelligence
By Sen. John Thune

The launch of a new wave of consumer-facing artificial intelligence (AI) applications over the past year has ushered in a renewed focus on AI. Amazon chatbots, Netflix recommendations, and even directions on our phone all use AI, but recent developments demonstrate that the technology is about to take a giant step forward. While the applications with which most people have already interacted are trained to perform narrow tasks, the next generation of AI is designed to produce original content and make complex decisions based on massive amounts of data.

This new technology brings with it seemingly endless possibilities. It promises potentially tremendous advances in medicine, farming, and manufacturing. It can improve everything from national defense to daily life. But, as with any sophisticated technology, this next generation of AI also presents risks. The challenge, then, is how to encourage the promise of AI while ensuring there are basic safeguards in place to minimize potential dangers.

I believe the light-touch approach the United States has taken on internet regulation is a good model to follow for AI. The explosive growth of internet innovation in our country is in large part a result of government not weighing down a new technology with heavy-handed regulation. Leadership in AI will benefit our economy and make America more competitive, so we need to be sure we’re promoting innovation while protecting consumers from the riskiest applications of AI.

To this end, I recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would establish some basic rules of the road for artificial intelligence. Our proposal focuses on two things: transparency for consumers and risk-based oversight of high-impact AI applications. On transparency, our bill would require big internet platforms to clearly inform consumers if the platform is using generative AI to create content. For AI being used to make high-impact decisions – such as those related to health care or critical infrastructure – our bill establishes an oversight framework to ensure it meets certain standards. This bill won’t be the last word on AI, but it’s the right place for Congress to start to preserve space for innovation while protecting against serious dangers and the knee-jerk reaction from Washington to overregulate.

It’s clear that a race to regulate AI has already begun. President Biden has issued a sweeping executive order that empowers multiple government agencies to regulate AI systems. The European Union is pressing forward with a heavy-handed regulatory regime. But this is the wrong approach. It risks stifling innovation just as it’s getting started, which we cannot afford to let happen. If we fall behind adversarial nations, particularly China, there will be profoundly dangerous implications for our national security and economic prosperity.

Unlike these heavy-handed approaches, the bipartisan bill I’m proposing does not assume the worst about artificial intelligence, and it doesn’t rush into sweeping regulation of all uses of AI. Instead, the bill puts guardrails in place to mitigate dangers on high-risk, high-impact AI applications, while leaving American innovators and entrepreneurs free to move forward. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to get this bill across the finish line, and to ensure the United States is once again the leader in an important new technology.

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From facebook, State Treasurer Josh Haeder is featured along with Governor Noem in South Dakota’s latest commercial to arrtact workers to the state:

From Facebook:

Back in the saddle after a weekend in the hills!  And if there is one thing that had my phone blowing up while I was on the road, it was State Representative Kevin Jensen’s facebook post which seems to have him lamenting over a potential legislative pay cut of $1300 in 2024, as legislative pay is tied to median income:

Oh my. It’s kind of hard to figure out where to start here.

One of my correspondents took issue with his statement where Rep. Jensen notes “Many of us fund our campaigns out of pocket,” as I had a note fired off to me that they couldn’t “resist to see how much of Kevin Jensen’s campaign he funds himself.”  They looked:

It ends up being (according to itemized amounts) that he’s given $5000 to himself out of a total of $42,486.4 or just around 11.7%. That is not including the $7619.74 that he has loaned his campaign but it does not appear that his campaign has paid back. Meaning that donations for his campaign today may go to paying debt owed to Kevin himself.

Even if you count the loan, I’m not sure how that costs as “mostly.”  Also, and more of a technical item for the SOS.. the campaign finance form really doesn’t provide for loan carry-over information from reporting period to reporting period.

But by and large, the main comments were with regards to another issue that’s more in the news. Noting where Jensen brought up..

I cant think of a day in the last 7 years I have not been involved in issues at some level. Many legislators will tell you the same. Most of us do this out of a sense of duty, not for the money.

Maybe we can’t speak to the last seven years of his involvement in issues at some level, but I and others can’t think of a day over the last few years that a member of his family hasn’t been on the receiving end of a number of state contracts (totaling $528k+), with several that Kevin himself was named as the business fiscal contact.

(You can go look up all those contracts here).

Is Kevin really going to go on facebook and crab about legislative pay when he and his spouse have been involved in state contracts during his tenure to the tune of a half-million dollars?

If he doesn’t care for the legislative pay, he should not run again. Somehow, I think his family has other lucrative income streams which will prevent his starvation.

I found this quote interesting today, as State Representative Karla Lems provides advice on how to preserve the ethanol market:

“What would it mean if ethanol plants only purchased corn from farmers doing sustainable practices,” Lems asked, “like no-till and cover crops, which pull carbon into the ground?” – State Rep. Karla Lems, SD Searchlight 12/1/23

Which sounds a lot like what we hear from some groups..

“New research shows that farming practices that protect and conserve the soil, like no-till farming and raising grass-finished beef, can keep soils healthy and greatly reduce the amount of CO2 lost to the air.” – Sierra Club Debuts at ‘Soil Not Oil’ International Conference, SierraClub.org.

and this guy..

“If farming practices are changed through the use of cover crops, low-tilling and tree-planting,” Gore said, agriculture could fight climate change. – Al Gore, Bloomberg 11/4/19 

Just sayin’.

Protecting South Dakota
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
December 1, 2023 

BIG Update

The border crisis continues – and it extends beyond the southern border.

This week, House Republicans passed the Protecting Our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act to block the Biden Administration from housing undocumented migrants on National Parks and other public lands.

The need to act came after the Biden Administration set up makeshift shelters for migrants to stay in at a public park in New York City. This park used to be a place for families to play and the public to enjoy. Now it’s filled with thousands of migrants whose backgrounds are not known. This housing is in the middle of a floodplain – it’s not even a safe place for the migrants to stay.

I enjoy using our public lands in South Dakota. They should remain accessible and safe for all Americans to use. Passing the Protecting Our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act this week will help safeguard our parks for our communities.

BIG Idea

I spent Monday in Indian country meeting with Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Peter Lengkeek and Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Clyde Estes and heard about ways they are improving their communities.

We talked about the new boat dock at LBST, their upcoming grocery store, and CCST’s emergency facilities, mental health resources and law enforcement. Law enforcement in Indian country faces unique challenges such as too few officers, slow emergency response times – as long as thirty minutes – and officer retainment. I’m working on this issue so tribal police departments have the resources they need to keep their communities safe.

BIG News

Investments of state funds across America could be invested in companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party – financing the growth of our biggest adversary. These dollars are available to the CCP to make spy balloons, steal Americans’ personal data on TikTok, and grow the CCP’s military. Some states like South Dakota have attempted to divest their funds, but have trouble doing it. Divesting from these companies requires express consent from Congress.

I introduced the PRC Accountability and Divestment Act to give states the authority to pull their funds from Chinese companies of concern that have humanitarian and military values antithetical to America. We shouldn’t be giving our adversary capital to increase their tyrannical power.

You can read more here.

Securing America: The Fight Against Communist China
By: Governor Kristi Noem
December 1, 2023

South Dakota has been drawing the blueprint for state-led response to the threat from Communist China. The Biden Administration’s failure to protect Americans from nations that hate us has required states to do the job themselves. We’ve taken steps to secure our state from Communist China, including banning TikTok on state devices. But we can’t continue without some federal legislation.

I have said many times that food security is national security. And right now, Communist China is using fear and control to perpetuate their agenda. If they successfully control our food supply, they will be able to control the United States of America.

I sent a letter to U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher supporting his bill to protect our farmland from foreign adversaries. I am also working with South Dakota’s Congressman Dusty Johnson on a bill that prohibits hard-earned taxpayer dollars from bankrolling China’s threats.

Over the last decade, China’s holdings of American agricultural land has increased by 5,300%. Chairman Gallagher’s bill protects our farmland by giving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States greater jurisdiction over land purchases tied to foreign adversaries. The foreign adversaries listed in the bill are the same six countries, including Communist China, that I listed as “Evil Foreign Governments” in a bill earlier this year. Congressman Dusty Johnson is a co-sponsor of this legislation. Chairman Gallagher’s bill also contains more protections for our agricultural land than the Senate amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

In December 2022, I wrote to congressional leadership calling for legislation to protect taxpayer dollars from the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout the summer, I had multiple conversations with Congressman Johnson about what this legislation could look like and how it would benefit not only South Dakota, but the entire nation.

Congressman Johnson’s PRC Accountability and Divestment Act of 2023 allows states to divest taxpayer funds from China by giving state and local governments the authority to pull their assets out of and prohibit investments within Communist China. Any penny that ends up in China’s bank account is a cent against America values, Freedom, and strength. This bill gives states the opportunity to divest. And it gives Americans the peace of mind to know where their tax dollars are going and what they are supporting.

The Chinese Communist Party is a clear and present threat to America. They hate everything we stand for. They fight against our political, economic, and military values. They are attempting to infiltrate many facets of American’s everyday lives.

Where America stands for Freedom – Communist China fights for tyranny.

I am glad that Congressman Johnson and Chairman Gallagher see the national security threat that China poses. I am also grateful that Senator Mike Rounds is taking action. States cannot continue to secure American citizens by ourselves – it is time for the federal government to take action.

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Sioux Falls Democrat Sonja Mentzer filed paperwork this morning with the Secretary of State to organize a campaign committee for the purpose of running for District 11 House:

SonjaMentzer_sdcfdisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

This provides a full slate for the House in D11 for Dems, as Democrat Aaron Matson had previously announced he was running.

Mentzer and Matson would most likely be running against incumbents Republican Representatives Brian Mulder and the open seat that will be vacated by Chris Karr, due to term limits.

Johnson Continues Commitment to Secure the Border 

Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) cosponsored three bills to strengthen security and policies at the southern border.

“Under the Biden Administration’s weak border policies, every state has become a border state,” said Johnson. “An increase in drugs and crime is seen in communities across America. I remain committed to securing the border to keep South Dakota families safe.”

The Biden Administration’s border policies have increased the monthly average of illegal crossings by 368 percent from September 2020 vs. September 2023. Although South Dakota is 1,000 miles from the southern border, illegal immigration has cost our state $56.9 million in 2023. In May, Johnson voted in support of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, when it passed with some of the strongest border security measures to be voted on by the House.

Legislation:

The Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act, led by U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), would:

• Give CBP the authority to fingerprint non-citizens under the age of 14 in order to combat trafficking and child recycling;
• Require DHS to publicly report the number of apprehensions in a given month involving child traffickers who falsely claimed that an accompanying child was a relative;
• Require DHS to submit an annual report to Congress identifying the number of minors who were fingerprinted pursuant to this Act;
• Remove the Attorney General’s authority to waive fingerprinting requirements for those illegally crossing the southern border; and
• Criminalize child recycling.

The Southern Border Transparency Act, led by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), would require Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report:

• Number of migrants paroled at each POE and each Border Patrol sector, broken down by nationality and demographics.
• Number of migrants apprehended at each POE and each Border Patrol sector, and how many were granted voluntary departure, placed into expedited removal, or entered another process (likely humanitarian release).
  • For each POE and Border Patrol sector: the number of migrants that entered into expedited removal, how many claimed a fear of persecution, credible fear of persecution, and were either removed, detained, or entered another process (likely release).
• The number of petitions for parole received and granted by USCIS.
• The total number of aliens paroled into the US, broken down by nationality and demographics, and of these for each fiscal year—
  • How many granted employment authorization;
  • How many still had a valid employment authorization;
  • How many have not had parole expire;
  • How many had status adjusted or parole extended;
  • How many had parole expire, and of these, how many exited the United States;
  • How many were returned to DHS custody from which they were paroled.

The Migrant Protection Protocols Permanency Act, led by U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), would reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, requiring those seeking asylum at the southern border or without proper documentation to return to Mexico to wait for their immigration proceedings.

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