Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Former State Representative Marie C. Ingalls

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Sunday, May 7^th, 2023, in honor of former State Representative Marie C. Ingalls. She served in the South Dakota State Legislature from 1987-1992.

Memorial services for former Rep. Ingalls will take place at 11:00 am on May 7^th, 2023, at the Faith Community Center, 204 N Main St, Faith, SD, followed by a celebration of life at 2:00pm at Bethel Lutheran Church, 419 Main St S, Faith, SD.

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I just caught this story in the Pierre Capital Journal, and had to highlight it because it takes a crazy number of twists and turns, as an employee of the Board of Regents – who also coaches track – reportedly assaulted a student under his purview. Not to mention the story notes that this state employee was convicted stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and is still paying restitution.

A Stanley County High School student was “slapped in the face” by Buffaloes head coach Scott Van Den Hemel during a track meet in Todd County on April 14, according to witnesses and the student’s mother, who said she saw videos of the assault.

and…

In 2004, Van Den Hemel was found guilty on two counts of forgery and one count of embezzlement and served five years in prison. He was working as the comptroller at Wegner Auto and stole $284,000, according to court documents. He was ordered to repay the auto dealership; his most recent payment of $500 was docketed April 20, according to court records.

After being released from prison, Van Den Hemel was hired by the South Dakota Board of Regents as a financial compliance officer and is paid $93,504 per year.

and..

In a follow up phone call to the Capital Journal, Baldwin said there was no assault to report and the incident had been resolved by the school. He then said the Capital Journal should not report on the incident, then stated, “You want to have a positive relationship with the school.”

Read it here.

You have to love the fact the superintendent claims “there was no assault,” despite the fact he’s not an attorney. I think that’s up to a State’s Attorney to decide, not him. But it sounds as if there’s pretty some witnesses.. and video.. that might speak to the contrary. That’s bad. But then the story goes off the rails.

What the hell? Here’s someone who stole a little under $300,000 from a business, and as a convicted felon is paying it back at $500 a month, yet has the privilege of a fairly well-paying state job, making just under $100k a year with the State of South Dakota.

So many things to unpack here.

Aside from the assault of a student, and the School District’s light slap on the wrist; How does someone making $93,504 a year with the privilege of a job with the State of South Dakota – and has court ordered restitution for embezzlement – get away with only paying 6.4% of his salary to his victim?

I’m sure Stanley County athletics can find someone to coach who is less prone to use that kind of discipline with children.

And I know the state can do better for crime victims than requiring one of the State of South Dakota’s highest paid embezzlers to pay less in restitution than what’s charged for sales tax.

(Update – I did add the part in the article about the Supt. telling the paper they shouldn’t report on it, and making the thinly veiled comment about how the paper wants “to have a positive relationship with the school.” I’m sure that’s going to work well for him.) 

I hadn’t seen it mentioned, but former Republican State Representative Loren Anderson, who represented Yankton in the mid-late 1980’s through 1990 passed away on April 22, as noted by this obituary in the Pierre Capital Journal:

The Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m., on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at Kober Funeral Home in Vermillion. Burial of ashes will be at Bluff View Cemetery with military honors conducted by V.F.W. Clay CO. Post #3061. Our request is that any memorials be directed to a charity of your choosing.

and..

While at Yankton College, Loren opened and brokered Anderson Realty in Yankton until 2006. In 1983 he ran for the SD State House of Representative and served in that capacity until 1990. During that time, he was also brokering an office in Huron, SD, teaching Business Classes in Santee, NE, and teaching real estate courses throughout South Dakota to the people that wanted to become realtors, realtors that wanted continuing education and to auctioneers. Loren was elected by his peers as South Dakota Realtor of the year in 2003.

Read it all here.

Anderson had served in Pierre for 8 years, and was going for an additional term in 1990, when he lost to Democrats Garry Moore and Jim Abbott in what started to be a few tough years electorally for the GOP.

Thune Leads Colleagues in Fighting Back Against Radical Environmental Agenda

Senators’ bipartisan letter urges the FIO to abandon ESG policies that would increase premiums for policyholders

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raising concerns with the Federal Insurance Office’s (FIO’s) efforts to force the Biden administration’s unrealistic environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda onto the state-regulated insurance industry. This could result in state insurance regulators and insurers being coerced into adopting costly, one-size-fits-all climate-mitigation strategies.

“Across the nation, insurers work day in and day out to provide reliable coverage to the public to ensure they are protected when adverse weather events strike or accidents occur,” the senators wrote. “And, to be clear, it is in insurers’ best interest to take into account these various risks – whether it be weather risks or otherwise – that could affect their customers and integrity of their policies. Therefore, it is concerning that the Biden administration is ignoring steps insurers and state insurance regulators are already taking and instead utilizing the FIO to continue pushing ESG policies as part of its unrealistic environmental agenda.”

“Insurance has been, and continues to be, regulated at the state level, including as it relates to what data is collected and reported by insurance companies,” said Nat Wienecke, senior vice president of federal government relations and political engagement at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA). “APCIA understands the potential national importance of the issue of climate and the possible impact on the financial services sector and agrees that FIO should be coordinating with the state insurance regulators when it comes to data collection from insurers, as Dodd-Frank requires.”

“FIO’s effort is a step back in understanding climate change rather than any sort of progress,” Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. “State regulators have been working with insurers for years gathering data on how climate has affected companies, their policyholders, and the communities they live and work in. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, FIO should seek to collaborate with existing research and build on the substantial progress already being made in understanding the impact of climate change.”

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

Thune recently reintroduced the Food and Energy Security Act, legislation that would prohibit the Biden administration from forcing its unrealistic environmental agenda onto the American economy.

Full letter below:

Dear Secretary Yellen:

In March, the Senate passed H.J. Res. 30, a joint resolution disapproving of the Department of Labor’s “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investment and Exercising Shareholder Rights” rule. Unfortunately, President Biden vetoed this resolution.

Though this was disappointing, it was not surprising given the persistence of the Biden administration in adopting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies as part of its effort to force its unrealistic environmental agenda onto the American public. And while there are countless examples of irresponsible and misguided efforts to adopt ESG through various federal rules, regulations, and guidance, we write today to highlight our concerns with recent climate-related actions taken by the Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO), including its proposed data climate call notice.

As you know, the FIO was created in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 111-203), and it is tasked with monitoring the insurance industry. In August 2021, the FIO published a request for information in which it sought public input on climate-related issues ranging from views on the FIO’s climate priorities, like assessing gaps in the supervision and regulation of insurers, to assessing how climate change could affect the insurance market. Furthermore, in October 2022, the FIO proposed an unworkable data collection effort to obtain certain insurance data that the FIO believes is necessary in determining what insurance coverage areas are most susceptible to climate-related risks.

Across the nation, insurers work day in and day out to provide reliable coverage to the public to ensure they are protected when adverse weather events strike or accidents occur. And, to be clear, it is in insurers’ best interest to take into account these various risks – whether it be weather risks or otherwise – that could affect their customers and integrity of their policies. Therefore, it is concerning that the Biden administration is ignoring steps insurers and state insurance regulators are already taking and instead utilizing the FIO to continue pushing ESG policies as part of its unrealistic environmental agenda.

Insurance is regulated at the state level and has been over 150 years. And though the FIO’s actions to date do not enact formal rules or regulations, they do place pressure on state insurance regulators and insurers themselves. We are concerned that this may ultimately result in state insurance regulators and insurers feeling coerced into adopting one-size-fits-all climate-risk mitigation policies rather than building on existing efforts to mitigate risks and manage policyholders’ exposure to changing weather patterns as deemed appropriate by the insurers and state insurance regulators on the ground, which has served the industry and public well.

State insurance regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have long focused on requiring insurers to examine exposures to financial risks, including climate and weather risks. Additionally, the NAIC has several tools at its disposal, such as the NAIC Climate and Resiliency Task (EX) Force, the Climate Risk and Resiliency Resource Center, as well as an Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey, which was adopted in 2010, and has been updated as recently as April 2022 to capture additional information.

We are not in any way writing to suggest that insurers and their state insurance regulators should not be conscientious of changing weather patterns and the industry’s exposure to such. However, it is vitally important that the FIO and the entire Biden administration understand that efforts strong arming insurers and state insurance regulators into potentially adopting certain ESG strategies, all in the name of climate-risk mitigation, would have real-world impacts. These impacts would come in the form of higher compliance costs on insurers and higher premiums on Americans, all while families and businesses across our nation continue to deal with a persistent inflation crisis.

As you continue your work, it is of utmost importance that the FIO resist pressures to insert ESG policies into the heart of its work and pressure insurers and state insurance regulators into adopting tenets of the Biden administration’s unrealistic environmental agenda. Instead, we hope that the FIO will recognize that insurers and state insurance regulators are best positioned to make determinations about what risk mitigation strategies (environmental or otherwise) to implement, as they have responsibly done up to this point.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns, and we hope that you will be receptive.

Sincerely

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Gov. Noem Expands Paid Family Leave for State Employees Rules Package to Expand Benefit to 100%

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and the Bureau of Human Resources expanded Paid Family Leave benefits for state employees to 100% for up to 12 weeks. This benefit covers birth and adoptions. The rules package was passed by the South Dakota Legislature’s Rules Review Committee.

“I want to make sure that South Dakota continues to be the best state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family – and that starts with making sure our state employees have the resources they need to care for their families,” said Governor Noem. “By expanding South Dakota’s Paid Family Leave opportunities, we will give our state’s hardworking moms and dads the chance to bond with a new child during the precious first few weeks after birth or adoption.”

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Governor Noem Appoints James V. Lochner and Doug Morrison to Board of Regents

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Krisi Noem announced that she will appoint James (Jim) V. Lochner and Doug Morrison to serve on the South Dakota Board of Regents.

“For South Dakota students attending our state universities, we have a responsibility to provide an excellent, high-quality education at a cost that they and their family can afford. The more we provide opportunities for education excellence, the better we will set them up for their future. In turn, they will help build an even stronger South Dakota for years to come,” saidGovernor Noem. “I am confident that Jim and Doug will work hard to continue improving our education system for our kids and grandkids. I look forward to working with them.”

Jim Lochner served as Chief Operations Officer of Tyson Foods from 2009 until he retired in 2014. Prior to that, he was given responsibility for Tyson’s Fresh Meat Business in 2001. Lochner also served on executive committees with various trade organizations including the American Meat Institute and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. He lives in Dakota Dunes and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meat and animal science. A photo of Lochner can be found here.

“I want to thank Governor Noem for selecting me to serve on the South Dakota Board of Regents,” said Jim Lochner. “I believe my business experience in numerous technical support and operational areas will enable me to serve as an asset to the goals and missions of the Board of Regents.”

Doug Morrison served as director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 2003 to 2006. He has also served on the Sioux Falls School Board from 2008 to 2017, and has been the director of data services for the Sioux Falls School District since 2017. He is a certified public accountant and certified management accountant.

Morrison graduated from the University of South Dakota. He is the co-founder of the Sioux Falls Hope Coalition, a nonprofit that provides preschool opportunities for underserved children. He lives in Sioux Falls with his wife, Deb, who he has been married to for over 40 years. They have two children and four grandchildren. A photo of Morrison can be found here.

“I am passionate about providing children with high quality, affordable education opportunities,” said Doug Morrison. “I am appreciative to Governor Noem for appointing me to this position and giving me the opportunity to serve the students of South Dakota.”

Information on the Board of Regents can be found here.

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While I was over in the Boston area this last weekend visiting a couple of my children, South Dakota’s Chapter of Americans for Prosperity were apparently busy, as a number of these postcards appeared across South Dakota from the group thanking a number of legislators whom they had supported in the last legislative primary cycle:

The QR code lets you add your name to mailing lists, in case you are wondering.

Any thoughts?

From the Brookings Register, Summer Schultz, the current Dell Rapids Superintendent, has been hired to take the helm for the embattled Brookings School District, which recently ousted it’s current leader fr his poor performance:

Summer Schultz, currently the superintendent in Dell Rapids, verbally accepted the board’s offer Saturday afternoon. Pending a signed contract, Schultz will take over as superintendent for the Brookings School District in July.

“It was a good day, there was a lot of really positive energy,” School Board President Keli Books said Sunday. “The board is pleased to announce they have offered a contract and that Dr. Schultz verbally accepted.”

and..

The superintendent position came open when Klint Willert abruptly resigned at a School Board meeting on March 22. Documents subsequently released by the board showed Willert had been notified March 8 that he must resign or be terminated for cause.

Read the entire story here.

We’ll see how this goes, as it’s going to be a time of rebuilding and fixing a lot of messes. Test scores are down, most all administrative positions have rolled over, significant hiring needs to be done – AND we’ve got a couple of schools in the process of construction.   My wife has good things to say about the incoming Superintendent, so hopefully she’ll have the tools she needs to right the ship.

There’s No Substitute for Energy Security
By Sen. John Thune

A reliable, affordable, and secure energy supply helps to reduce energy costs, strengthen the economy, and protect our national security. Over the last few years, though, the Biden administration has used the heavy hand of government to discourage production of conventional energy in the United States, shocking utility and fuel prices, increasing our dependence on foreign energy, and imperiling our energy security now and into the future.

In his first week in office, the president canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and froze new oil and gas leases on federal lands, sending a clear signal to American oil and gas producers that his administration would take little interest in increasing domestic energy production. The president, with the help of congressional Democrats, continued this hostile agenda by raising taxes on domestic energy producers, which will further increase South Dakotans’ energy bills. And now, the president is pursuing a host of regulations that will effectively require two out of three new cars to be electric in the next 10 years, increase costs on truckers, and shutter power plants in 22 states.

Hardworking Americans are feeling the consequences of the president’s anti-conventional energy agenda. Since the president took office, the cost of energy has increased by more than one-third, and the national average for a gallon of gas hasn’t been below $3 in nearly two years. Rather than shifting to policies that deliver for working families, the president has doubled down on his Green New Deal-style agenda at home and sought foreign oil from countries that often don’t share our interests.

I’ve long been a supporter of renewable energy, and I’m proud that South Dakota is a leader in clean energy sources like hydroelectric and biofuels. But the president’s singular focus on transitioning to green energy is a problem because we still need conventional fuels to deliver dependable and affordable energy to Americans. The nation’s largest electricity grid operator recently warned that fossil fuel power plants are being forced to retire twice as fast as renewables can be brought on line, which is a recipe for blackouts, brownouts, and power rationing.

The Biden administration made the right decision by allowing the summertime sale of E15 fuel for 2023, an effort I led in the Senate. Filling up with E15 saved Americans $57 million at the pump last summer, and renewing this policy will provide relief from an expected surge in gas prices, especially as the summer driving season gets fully underway. But more needs to be done to secure reliable and affordable energy in the long-term, including making year-round E15 sales permanent.

Republicans are committed to supporting alternative energy while responsibly developing and deploying the conventional energy we need to keep the energy grid reliable and Americans’ energy costs down. The Republican-led House of Representatives recently passed a comprehensive bill to advance conventional energy development and clean energy technologies while reversing some of the president’s most harmful actions. Unfortunately, Democrats have declared this common-sense bill to bolster U.S. energy security “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

The dangers of President Biden’s misguided green transition are clear. It’s time for the president to work with Republicans toward an all-of-the-above energy policy that balances clean energy development with maintaining our energy security today. Doing so will bring down costs for South Dakotans in the short-term and promote America’s economic strength and national security in the long-term.

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Encouraging Work, Not Cutting Funding
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
April 28, 2023

A couple weeks ago, this opinion piece was published on CNN. It’s directed at my bill, the America Works Act. In the piece, the writers make broad, misleading claims about welfare work requirements legislation.

Let’s debunk their claims:

MYTH: The America Works Act “take(s) food from the mouths of babies.”

FACT: My bill does NOT affect any family or able-bodied adult with children under the age of seven. This bill won’t take benefits away from people who are able-bodied without dependents, as long as they work, go to school, or participate in training programs.

MYTH: The America Works Act cuts funding to SNAP.

FACT: My bill doesn’t reduce funding or reallocate any funding. This bill makes no changes to the SNAP budget.

MYTH: The America Works Act hurts needy families.

FACT: The America Works Act doesn’t take aid from needy families. It encourages able-bodied adults who don’t have children under the age of seven in their house to work, go to school, volunteer, or receive training for 20 hours per week. It doesn’t restrict any benefits for families who cannot work, have a disability, or have young children. At seven years old, children are in school full time and eligible to receive free or reduced lunch. I know life is complicated and not all difficult situations will fit into these exemptions. That’s why my bill maintains flexibility for states to exempt an additional 12% of their caseloads from the work requirements.

MYTH: The America Works Act creates burdensome work requirements.

FACT: These work requirements currently exist. However, the requirements were paused for the last three years because of COVID-19. In May, they will be enforced again. My bill aligns with these requirements that have been law for decades, but my bill will close the loopholes that states have used to ignore those existing federal work requirements.

MYTH: People on SNAP are doing everything they can to make ends meet.

FACT: My bill is targeted to encourage the approximately 1.36 million people who are able-bodied and don’t have any dependents who reported zero dollars of income. There are 11 million open jobs in America that can be filled by these same 1.36 million people.

MYTH: SNAP funding is already being cut. Now Republicans are cutting it even more.

FACT: SNAP received additional funding throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, understandably, to help families and individuals who were suddenly faced with financial difficulty. But now, we all agree the pandemic is over. SNAP funding levels are reverting to normal, pre-pandemic numbers, not below. This provision was passed last year by a Democrat-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Biden.

During no part of drafting or leading this bill were my colleagues or I trying to take benefits away from people who need it. The America Works Act is an attempt to incentivize those who can work, to work, and to contribute to our society, fill job openings, and better their own lives through work and education.

We want Americans to have better lives. We want people to achieve the American dream—leaving our country a better place than when we grew up and leaving our kids to have a better life than we did—that’s what my bill will help achieve.

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