Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Happy Birthday to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who celebrates her 51st trip around the sun today!

Gov. Noem and Colleagues Urge Congress to Remove COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Military

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and 20 other governors urged congressional leadership to remove and prohibit the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on members of the U.S. Armed Forces. You can find the letter here.

“The Biden vaccine mandate on our military creates a national security risk that severely impacts our defense capabilities abroad and our state readiness here at home,” wrote Governor Noem and her colleagues.

The letter points to the fact that current servicemembers are leaving the ranks of the U.S. Armed Forces, and that new recruits are not signing up to join:

• On October 8, 2022, U.S. Army National Guard Chief of Staff Major General Rich Baldwin explained that the National Guard missed its recruiting target by 10% and announced that 7,500 members left service.
• On September 21, 2022, Deputy Chief of the Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Division Anson Smith revealed that the National Guard was preparing to discharge approximately 14,000 soldiers in the next two years for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
• On October 10, 2022, U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth revealed that the Army failed its recruitment goal by 25% falling 15,000 recruits short of the target.
• As of November 15, 2022, the Armed Forces discharged 8,000 Active Duty members since the implementation of the Biden vaccine mandate.

“As President Biden, himself, stated on September 18, 2022, ‘The pandemic is over,’” conclude Governor Noem and her colleagues.

The letter is cosigned by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

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Remember way back when, in March of 2021, when there was chatter about how Democrats were going to make a judicial recommendation based on “how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party?”

Seiler said he and the party discussed potential recommendations with former South Dakota members of Congress, current state Democratic leaders and federal judges.

“The political aspects of this matter” in addition to how qualified and experienced they are for the job, Seiler said. He said he considered how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party and if they’ve ran for office.

Read that here (via the RCJ).

That was back on March of 2021.  About 19-20 months ago.  So imagine the surprise when it came out just yesterday that they have finally submitted a name to fill the appointment:

The South Dakota Democratic Party has recommended a judge for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench in Rapid City.

Veronica Duffy, 58, has served as a U.S. magistrate judge since 2007, initially in the Western Division of the U.S. District Court of South Dakota.

and…

Duffy’s recommendation is not an assurance of success, but Seiler said the party is confident in her credentials and qualifications.

Read the entire story here.

Interestingly, while Randy Seiler had said the benchmark was going to be “how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party and if they’ve ran for office,” the outgoing judge, Jeffrey Viken, had originally said “The next federal judge serving western South Dakota should be culturally competent in Lakota culture and history.”

But in their nomination, I can’t say that I’ve ever really noticed Veronica Duffy running as a Democrat for office. Nor in a prior bio does it note any particular tribal affiliation.  In fact, two tribal members who had expressed interest seem to be taking a pass on commenting.

So if they weren’t going to pick someone who was strongly engaged with the state Democrat Party as they said they were, and they passed on someone with a strong tribal affiliation as the outgoing judge had requested, why exactly did it take 20 months for Democrats to move someone forward?

It’s almost as if they are running the nomination process for the federal posts as well as they run their elections for office.

Gov. Noem Signs Executive Order Banning TikTok

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2022-10, which bans the Chinese social media platform TikTok for state government agencies, employees, and contractors using state devices. This order is in response to the growing national security threat posed by TikTok due to its data gathering operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform.”

The order takes effect immediately and would apply to employees and agencies of the State of South Dakota, including persons and entities who contract with the state, commissions, and authorities or agents thereof. The order prohibits downloading or using the TikTok application or visiting the website on state-owned or state-leased electronic devices capable of internet connectivity.

“Because of our serious duty to protect the private data of South Dakota citizens, we must take this action immediately. I hope other states will follow South Dakota’s lead, and Congress should take broader action, as well,” continued Governor Noem.

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After dumping hundreds of thousands into state elections with highly negative advertising that didn’t ring true in many cases, the Convention of States has announced that they are coming to the State Capitol with their hat in hand, asking for legislation:

Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum will return to the South Dakota Capitol in December, marking his second trip to Pierre this year.

The Convention of States advocacy group, which is pushing for South Dakota to join 19 other states in calling for a constitutional convention, announced Monday morning that Santorum will make remarks from the Capitol Visitor Center on Dec. 6 ahead of Gov. Kristi Noem’s annual budget address.

Read the entire story here (Subscription required).

If you don’t recall the story from a few months ago…

The track record of the convention group’s spending is spotty. In South Dakota, where the group and its affiliates spent more than $200,000 targeting four state Senate seats, Duvall was the only one of its targets to lose. And the challenger who beat her, Jim Mehlhaff, said in an interview that he thinks the group’s intervention hurt him.

“I didn’t appreciate the negative tone of their mailers. It probably cost me some votes,” said Mehlhaff, a former member of Pierre’s city commission who had his own base of support in the district before the intervention of Convention of States. “This is South Dakota. People don’t like negative campaigns.”

Read that here.  Also very good reading on their assault on democracy here.

This group went scorched earth in the legislative primaries, and now are coming back with hat in hand asking for legislation?

I’m sure that’s going to go well for them.  Good luck with that one. Especially in the State Senate.

Reports are surfacing this morning that incoming Secretary of State Monae Johnson will actually be making efforts to ban machine tabulations of election ballots as part of her efforts as the state’s chief election official.

Changes like an audit of every precinct in South Dakota and a state-level push to convince county auditors to hand-count all ballots. She’s also suggesting that lawmakers consider barring the use of tabulator machines altogether.

and..

“I had people reaching out to me saying ‘no’ because anything can be hacked,” Johnson said. “That was the biggest thing. The people reaching out to me were IT people, military people.”

Johnson did not name the IT and military sources who expressed those concerns, but campaign manager Gretchen Weible did point to sources for the hacking claims.

and..

Johnson advisor Rick Weible said the issue in Tripp County wasn’t hand-counting ballots, but that the people counting those ballots grew tired. A fine-tuned process for hand counts would alleviate fatigue-related problems, he said.

Read the entire story here.

Oh my.  I’m sure this is going to go well.

Especially when 90% of the state’s county Auditors show up at a legislative hearing and question the sanity of legislators for even considering the notion of going back to hand counts.

Greetings!  Let’s start off with a big “Whew!” as the election is over.  Some states are still tabulating which makes no sense to me.  In South Dakota we do not have our voting machines hooked up to the internet, so it is IMPOSSIBLE to hack the voting machines.  A hard copy of the ballot is kept on hand and can be audited at any time.  The voting machines are just a faster automated way of tabulating the votes.

Listed are four areas we could implement the extra revenue South Dakota is realizing, basically from a booming economy.  Of course, the conservative point of view is that if extra taxes are collected over and above what was budgeted, the excess tax should go back to the taxpayers.  The other view is to grow government.  So, here are the 4 areas where we could use the extra tax dollars.

1. Eliminate tax on groceries.
2. Eliminate video lottery.
3. Pay for Medicaid expansion.
4. Reduce home assessment values by $100 thousand.

Let’s go through each one, shall we?

1. Eliminate tax on groceries.  Some call this food tax, but that would include restaurants.  The estimated $100 million is counting only groceries.  One question I always ask when some group approaches me about eliminating grocery tax is, “Why do you want to do this?”  The answer I’ve always received was, “because of the poor people.”  OK, fair enough.  However, poor people don’t pay tax on groceries, and for that matter, get their groceries for free via food stamps, now called EBT cards.
2. Eliminate video lottery. Yep, the video lottery casinos on every corner.  Not Deadwood.  Just the casinos that have video lottery machines.  The state gets 50% of the profit and the proprietor gets the remaining 50%.  I just have a hard time with our state running on losses from those who can least afford it.  That being those addicted to video lottery.  This is dirty money (in my opinion) and could be eliminated with this extra revenue.
3. Pay for Medicaid expansion. Yep, this was a ballot measure that passed in the General Election.  Initially, there are federal funds, but eventually, as early as next year, the federal government is going to pull the rug out from under the states, making each state responsible for funding Medicaid expansion.
4. Reduce home assessment values by $100 thousand. This, again, is about $100 million.  I included this one in here because of the Summer Study on Property Tax.  The committee came up with this solution.  I personally would like to eliminate Property Tax totally with a usage tax, but that’s an article by itself in the future.

The 50-dollar question is, “If it was up to you, which one of the four would you vote for?”  You can email me at TGoodwin1955@gmail.com.  Just pick 1, 2, 3, or 4.  If you want to explain your reasoning, that would be great, but not necessary.

To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you.

Representative Tim R. Goodwin
District 30
Majority Whip
Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired

For most of us, we hope to never need help from emergency responders. But when our darkest moments come, we depend on them to be there for us. And they answer the call. They put their lives on the line to help others every day. Wherever you live – whatever and wherever your emergency may be –every South Dakotan can be taken care of in an emergency.

I have taken action to support our emergency responders by making it easier to do their job and providing funding when necessary.

We have equipped our emergency responders with telehealth capabilities that will allow patients to get better treatment faster. We just recently announced a new partnership with Avel eCare to put these new services into practice, and we are excited about the possibilities. Together with Avel eCare, we are calling the new initiative “Telemedicine in Motion.”

This initiative will connect patients with physician and nurse professionals who can assist in assessment, treatment, and transfer to an appropriate facility. And the strong level of connectivity means that these services will help South Dakotans in even the most remote corners of our state.

Last year, we funded new LIFEPAKs for emergency responders across the state, providing $11.6 million to purchase state-of-the-art equipment that will literally save lives in a time of crisis. We are also providing training, distribution, implementation, and installation of this equipment to make sure that our first responders can put it to good use when they help folks in their communities. And we were able to secure these life-saving devices at a savings of $9.7 million to taxpayers. We always find ways to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money, even when we need to make important purchases.

We are also working on a comprehensive analysis of our state’s EMS resources so that we can plan for where our needs will be in the future. My Department of Health will have more to announce about that in the near future.

We will continue to support South Dakota’s firefighters. We have helped provide crucial training resources that will keep them well-prepared to serve our communities. And we have provided new equipment to South Dakota Wildland Fire to handle some of the bigger wildfires that can pose a threat, particularly in the Black Hills. If you are looking to give this holiday season, your local volunteer fire department is always a good investment.

We will also continue to emphasize our support and respect for law enforcement. I am proud to live in a state that places such a high priority on defending law enforcement officers – not defunding them. And we will continue to set that example for the rest of the nation.

We will continue to thank our emergency responders for everything they do to keep us safe. Give thanks for their service this holiday season – and try not to do anything that will require them to come save you!

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South Dakota Game Fish and Parks provided notice via the SD Register this morning that on December 8th they will be having a hearing to amend their rules to allow pets at their indoor facilities:

12-08-22 – Department of Game, Fish and Parks: Amend rules to allow people staying in a cabin, lodge, or suite within a state park to have their pet inside the facility during their stay; define what constitutes a pet; and establish a fee for pets that stay at cabins, lodges, or suites; 49 SDR 53, November 21, 2022.

According to existing Administrative rules, pets had previously been banned, with the exception of service animals..

41:03:01:13.  Pet prohibitions. A person may not allow or possess any pet in the state park system except as provided in this section:

(6)  The person may not allow or possess any pet inside enclosed public buildings managed by the department in any state park, recreation area, nature area, or lakeside use area except a person who requires the aid of a service animal or a person who has received prior approval of the park manager;

Read that here.

That’s a huge shift in policy which has been running under the radar.

Working in the insurance claim end of the hospitality industry as my day job, there’s good with it, (such as making it easier for employees to comply with federal housing and disability laws, by not having to figure out what constitutes a legitimate service animal, versus what constitutes an emotional support animal). And there are issues that may be challenges.

Pets biting people and each other generate more insurance claims than people think. And regardless of fault, the facility will get drug into it. Trust me on this.

If there is a simpler and more effective way of doing something, that’s how it should be done. Republicans put this principle into practice five years ago with our pro-growth tax reform that simplified the tax code, lowered rates, and reduced South Dakotans’ tax bills. The fact that most South Dakotans were able to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks while the federal government has collected record-high revenues helps prove that the Republican plan worked.

President Biden and congressional Democrats have pursued a different approach, one that is all but certain to add new complexity and burdens for taxpayers, especially their experience with the IRS. Democrats recently passed the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which included an unprecedented and unnecessary $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS, an amount six times greater than the agency’s current budget. Democrats intend to use some of the funds to hire as many as 87,000 new IRS employees.

Although there are a number of ways to make the IRS more efficient and accountable, the agency’s recent influx of cash is unlikely to do so given that more than half of the funding is directed toward enforcement, including audits, and only four percent goes toward improving customer service. If you made one of the 250 million phone calls to the IRS that employees failed to answer last year, or if you dealt with a delayed refund from the agency, you probably agree a stronger emphasis on customer service is warranted.

The lack of accountability for recent mismanagement of taxpayer data at the IRS is also greatly concerning. In the last two years alone, the IRS has inadvertently posted confidential information from 120,000 taxpayers on its website, destroyed 30 million unprocessed tax documents, and had troves of private tax information end up in the hands of the left-leaning news site ProPublica. These incidents are only a part of the mismanagement that has helped define the IRS in recent years, punctuated by little to no accountability from Democrats in Congress or the White House.

I’m skeptical that a supersized IRS won’t exacerbate many of these problems while also increasing audits of middle-income Americans and small business owners. For these reasons, I recently introduced legislation with my Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to give Congress a direct say in how these funds are used. My bill freezes access to the funds – other than those dedicated to taxpayer services – until the IRS submits a coherent plan to Congress, which would be empowered to reject it. If the agency fails to meet deadlines, funding will be automatically rescinded. If there’s one way to make a federal agency shape up, it’s by tightening its purse strings.

Common-sense principles like efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness should guide improvements for taxpayers. To this end, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and I crafted a bill that would require the IRS to meet certain customer service standards before the agency can hire new enforcement agents with these funds. And I worked with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) on a bill to protect taxpayers earning less than $400,000 per year from increased audits. Without the protection of law, ramped-up audits are sure to hit small businesses and middle-income taxpayers.

My Republican colleagues and I share a firm but simple view that the IRS needs to do better, not grow bigger. I will continue working to make measurable improvements to the IRS, hold the agency accountable for its actions, and ensure South Dakotans are able to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks without undue interference from bureaucratic red tape.   

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