Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Maybe I’m not hearing the whole story, but I’m questioning how the PUC could keep any of what someone had to say when a woman from out of state fabricated testimony against the Navigator pipeline to the commission based on a falsified photo.

The PUC staff said that all of her testimony should be disqualified and tossed out.  Yet, it was ‘negotiated’ that she only lied in part of her testimony:

Bosma, who owns land in Lincoln County along the proposed pipeline route, submitted a picture of a tractor submerged deep in mud, which she told the commission she took on her land in South Dakota. The image was intended to suggest that a piece of farm equipment could sink deep in the mud and ultimately hit a carbon pipeline, triggering an explosion.

Problem is, Bosma’s picture appears to not be her’s at all, and was likely photoshopped.

and..

The PUC staff suggested that Bosma’s entire testimony be thrown out, which would have required a majority vote by the body’s three commissioners.

But rather than attempting to get Bosma back to South Dakota to tell her side of the story, Commissioner Chris Nelson managed to broker a deal between Navigator, landowner attorney Brian Jorde and his PUC staff that would only require the image and Bosma’s references to it to be thrown out.

Read the entire story here.

You have to wonder what other nonsense is being spewed to try to sway public opinion.

KEVN in Rapid City has a story on their website today regarding how The Monument is preparing for the SDGOP Trump Rally:

The South Dakota GOP originally contacted The Monument to rent space for a fundraiser dinner. The event changed from a dinner to a rally when Governor Kristi Noem and Trump both stated they would be attending. The Monument is working with the secret service as well as local law enforcement to set up a safety plan for the former president.

and..

The South Dakota Republican Party’s Monumental Leaders Rally will be held Friday, September 8th, in The Monument’s Ice Arena. The arena can hold up to 6,500 people, and tickets have already sold out.

Read the entire story here.

Johnson Awarded Democracy Award for Outstanding Constituent Service

Congressional Management Foundation Recognizes Rep. Johnson for Outstanding Constituent Service 

Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) was awarded the Democracy Award for outstanding Constituent Service by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF). CMF’s Constituent Service award recognizes non-legislative achievement and performance in congressional offices. This category honors offices for their outstanding practices or achievements acting as ombudsmen with the federal government or responding to constituent requests and inquiries. Only one Republican and one Democrat office is selected per each award category.

This marks Johnson’s second Democracy Award. Johnson’s office won the 2021 Democracy Award in the “Constituent Accountability and Accessibility” category.

“I came to Congress to serve the people of South Dakota,” said Johnson. “Being recognized as the winner of the Constituent Service award gives me confidence that my team and I go above and beyond to serve South Dakotans as their liaison to the federal government.”

“As a Democracy Award winner, Rep. Johnson’s office is clearly one of the best in Congress,” said Bradford Fitch, President and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation. “This designation demonstrates that Rep. Johnson has made a significant commitment to being the best public servant for his constituents in South Dakota. Rep. Johnson and his staff are to be congratulated for not only being a model for his colleagues in Congress, but for helping to restore trust and faith that our democratic institutions can work.”

South Dakota constituent testimonials:

“You all provided excellent service for me and my family. Took me 1.5 years of calling and emailing the IRS and your office got me on the right track in one week.” – Robert, Rapid City.

“I worked for three years trying to obtain a copy of my brother-in-law’s DD214. I needed this form to get a veteran plaque for his headstone. Your staff got this form in under two weeks. I promised my brother-in-law I would get this plaque for his headstone. Thanks to you and your staff for helping me fulfill this promise. He was proud of his military service.” – Ben, Wilmot.

“Thank you for a very speedy response to our request. It feels good to have a representative who genuinely cares for his constituents and follows up to make sure their issue is resolved.” – Marek, Sioux Falls.

Background:

According to CMF, Johnson’s office was selected for this award because their efficiency and effectiveness are reflected in the consistent, positive responses the office has received. In 2022, 96% of constituents had a positive experience with their office, 97.4% of constituents reported having a positive experience in 2021, and 95.5% had a positive interaction in 2020. The office sends quarterly casework review surveys to each completed case – asking about interactions with staff, overall outcomes, and timeliness of responses. 

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1977 dedicated to strengthening Congress and building trust in its work with and for the American people. CMF works to revitalize Congress as an institution; promoting best practices in congressional offices; and helps Congress and the people they represent engage in a constructive and inclusive dialogue toward a thriving American democracy.

Details on the process and the history of the Democracy Awards can be found here: https://www.congressfoundation.org/projects/democracy-awards

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Amidst the construction of the newest school in town adjacent to the park, the Brookings County GOP will be holding it’s annual Summer Picnic on Friday, August 18th at 6pm in Hillcrest Park. Check it out!

South Dakota Democrats are holding an emergency meeting to throw out chairwoman Jennifer Slaight-Hansen after a slew of allegations regarding her mismanagement and abusive leadership style of the party. As noted in an article appearing in the Argus Leader:

The meeting will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 19 at Drifter’s in Fort Pierre, where the petition to recall Jennifer Slaight-Hansen will be presented, according to a joint resolution from 15 county Democratic Parties and two state central committee members sent on Tuesday.

and..

As of Wednesday, at least 74 people had signed the recall petition out of a total of 120 eligible voters who can vote for the SDDP chair role, according to an email from Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba (Sioux Falls), and reviewed by the Argus Leader. The 74 signatures are more than enough for what is needed to trigger the recall election process. At least half of the 120 eligible voters had to sign.

Read the entire story here in the Argus Leader.

Do we think Jennifer’s tenure will make the meeting? Or will she abandon ship before August 19th?

From Facebook, the South Dakota Secretary of State announces a new political party in the state:

And over on the Secretary of State’s official website, where we are supposed to go to look for information about the new political party they announced on facebook three days ago:

*chirp* *chirp*  (simulated crickets).

From Facebook, Team Dusty was out in force walking a rainy parade route in Aurora, South Dakota.

In a story this last week on August 3, embattled South Dakota Democrat Party Chair Jennifer Slaight-Hansen was fairly defiant with regards to the demands for her to resign:

Annie Bachand, chair of the Pennington County Democrats, told KELOLAND News she met with Slaight-Hansen this week. Bachand said Slaight-Hansen told her she won’t resign unless she’s voted out.

and..

Slaight-Hansen confirmed to KELOLAND News she does not plan to resign her position.

and..

Slaight-Hansen said she was reluctant to share her side of the story but she is now reaching out to people inside the South Dakota Democratic Party to combat the recall effort.

Read that here at KELOland.com.

But, in a story a short time later, it sounds as if Slaight-Hansen may be seeing the handwriting on the wall:

Jennifer Slaight-Hansen said she is taking some time to think about calls for her to resign as chairwoman of the South Dakota Democratic Party. The former member of the Aberdeen City Council said she wants to have more individual conversations and work through the process before she makes a decision.

Read that here at Aberdeen Insider (Subscription required).

It looks like it took Slaight-Hansen a day to move off of “won’t resign” and “does not plan to resign” to “think about calls for her to resign.”

Wondering if we’ll see that happen this week or the next.

Monday, the day I was returning from vacation, also happened to coincide with the deadline given by the State of South Dakota for State Senator Jessica Castleberry to repay COVID relief finds totaling $603,000 that were received by her business. However, it appears that the deadline passed without an announcement of repayment, but the Attorney General did provide an update on the matter:

Monday is the deadline for state Sen. Jessica Castleberry to return $603,000 in pandemic aid to the state.

Attorney General Marty Jackley said the incident involves a significant amount of money. Because of that, he wants to review documents from Castleberry and the state.

“The Attorney General’s Office continues to receive and review documents related to this issue, and we are still awaiting documents from the State Department of Social Services,” Jackley said. “Sen. Castleberry and the State Department of Social Services have been cooperating with this office.

Read the story here, according to South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

South Dakota Searchlight did provide a few more details, including comments from Senator Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck about clarifying conflicts with the state, and indications that the Castleberry might not be the last person who finds themselves in conflict with the constitution:

“We’ve got, and I suspect you’re going to hear it in the news in the next month, more instances of people that are in transactions (with the state),” Schoenbeck said. “We have to do something for potential candidates and current legislators so that they’re not getting in trouble.

Read that here.

Who might those other instances be?

I would venture an educated guess that the first example might be one that I pointed out in January, where State Representative Kevin Jensen‘s name was on Grants/Contracts for his wife’s business through DSS, and no one has pursued it as of yet:

 

(You can go look up all those contracts here).  And go read my entire story here.

With Senator Jessica Castleberry being required to repay $603,000 in funds received by her LLC, It is no less arm’s length than the funds received by the family business that State Representative Jensen serves as fiscal contact for.

And Rep. Jensen could be the next legislator who finds themselves under the spotlight for being involved with a business that receives state funds.

Lately, the president has taken to touting his economic policies. With consumer prices up 16 percent since he took office, though, there’s little for which he should be proud. In that time, inflation has cost the average South Dakota family $895 per month. The president calls it “Bidenomics,” but it’s more like “Bidenflation,” and it has only caused economic pain for a lot of Americans.

One year ago, Democrats passed what they would consider to be a key element of the Biden economic agenda, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which has proven to be little more than a reckless tax-and-spending spree that expanded the federal government and contributed little to nothing to bringing down inflation. Instead it focused on raising taxes, supersizing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and spending lavishly on taxpayer subsidies for Democrats’ Green-New-Deal priorities. The best that can be said of this bill is that it was less damaging than the president’s first choice: a multi-trillion-dollar spending spree that included more tax hikes and new entitlement programs.

From the outset, it was questionable whether the Inflation Reduction Act would live up to Democrats’ sales pitch, and it has not aged well. The bill’s costs have ballooned. Its Green New Deal provisions were originally projected to cost an already staggering $400 billion, but they are now expected to cost as much as $1 trillion or more. And that’s just one part of the bill. Democrats also promised the bill would reduce the deficit, but these new estimates suggest it could actually increase the deficit.

So, for all this spending, what are taxpayers getting in return? It’s not an economy growing “from the middle out and the bottom up,” like the president talks about often. In fact, 90 percent of the bill’s green energy subsidies will go to companies with sales exceeding $1 billion. And, it turns out, some of the biggest beneficiaries of these programs are not American companies, but companies based in foreign countries, including China.

Also included in this bill was nearly $80 billion to expand the IRS, an amount six times greater than the agency’s fiscal year 2022 budget. But, while the IRS has struggled to do as little as answer taxpayers’ phone calls in recent years, only 4 percent of this new funding goes to improving taxpayer services, and more than half of it is earmarked for increased audits and other tax collection efforts.

Unfortunately, South Dakotans are all too familiar with the reality of the president’s economic policies, which continue to strain family budgets month after month. Twelve months after one of their marquee legislative accomplishments, it’s clear Democrats’ priorities do not align with the American people’s needs. I hope Democrats in Washington can finally acknowledge what common sense has told us all along: bigger government and higher taxes are not in the best interest of American families. Republicans will continue working to rein in wasteful, inflationary spending and pursue pro-growth policies that help working families, small businesses, farms, and ranches succeed.

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