Author: @SoDakCampaigns

The Hill website is reporting further on the Emerson poll South Dakota poll numbers, and getting further into the meat of how the poll is noting but good news for Governor Noem, and really, really bad news for Jamie Smith:

While Noem’s lead isn’t unexpected, the poll suggests that she’s drastically expanded her base of support since she first won the governor’s mansion in 2018. That year, she defeated Democrat Billie Sutton by fewer than 4 percentage points.

It also helps her case that she remains popular among South Dakota voters. A majority — 56 percent — said they have a favorable view of Noem, while 43 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

Smith, meanwhile, is underwater among voters. Forty percent of respondents said they have a positive opinion of Smith, the minority leader of the South Dakota state House, while 47 percent have an unfavorable view of him. 

Read the entire story here.

Smith’s negatives are higher than his positives? Well, when you talk about raising taxes, I think that’s a given.

The Hill is also reporting that Senator Thune is running away to victory over Brian Bengs on a 58-27% prediction, while Dusty’s is running over the Libertarian by 59-16%

Now these seem to be numbers we can take more seriously.

In a poll taken with telephone respondents on October 19-21 (versus the SDSUS e-mail in poll), KELOland is reporting this morning that Governor Kristi Noem has an utterly commanding lead among South Dakotans on a basis of 56% to 37% for Democrat Jamie Smith.  But no matter who you ask, except for a small group of Democrats, just about everyone expects the Governor will still be the Governor on November 9th.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Kristi Noem is the planned choice for 56% of voters compared to 37% for Smith. Three percent plan to vote for Libertarian Tracy Quint. Most voters have already selected their candidate as 4% are undecided.

However they planned to vote, 74% of the voters expect Noem to get re-elected. Forty-five percent of the registered Democrats expect Noem to win while 91% of Republicans do and 68% of Independents/Other party do.

Go read the entire poll here at Keloland.com.

Kristi for Governor Launches New Ad: “The Conversation Continues”

PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Today, the Kristi for Governor campaign launched a new ad called “The Conversation Continues.” The ad plays verbatim additional comments that Jamie Smith made at the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary where he stated, “We need more things to tax.”

At the Rotary event, when he was specifically asked a follow-up question about this comment, Jamie said, “New things to tax, right? Not all these things are actually – some of them are shifts as well. Does that makes sense?” The ad highlights these comments.

“No, it doesn’t make sense,” said Ian Fury, Communications Director at Kristi for Governor. “The people of South Dakota deserve to know – what ‘new things’ or ‘shifts’ is Jamie Smith looking to add to their tax burden?”

Jamie Smith has a record of raising taxes. He opposed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which then-Congresswoman Noem helped pass for the people of South Dakota. That bill put $2,400 back in the pockets of the average South Dakota family.

Jamie Smith also wanted to make it easier for counties to raise taxes on South Dakotans, and he cosponsored a bill to raise the state sales tax from 4.5% to 4.85%.

Governor Kristi Noem is proud that South Dakota has a low, simple tax code. South Dakota has no personal income tax, no corporate income tax, and no statewide personal property tax. Governor Noem has proposed eliminating the sales tax on food, which will lower the tax burden on South Dakotans by another $100 million.

To learn more about Jamie Smith’s history of supporting high taxes, visit JamieandJoe.com.

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From my mailbox, an important finding as we wind down to the final days of the campaign.. The Hughes Co State’s Atty has found no violations on South Dakota law on State plane use…

 

LaMie releases findings on Government Accountability Board complaints

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, October 25, 2022

PIERRE, S.D. – Hughes County State’s Attorney Jessica LaMie announced today the end of the Division of Criminal Investigation’s inquiry into complaints that Gov. Kristi Noem had misused the state airplane and that the plane’s flight records had been tampered with.

LaMie and the DCI concluded that there were no facts to support a criminal prosecution under current law for the use of the airplane and that the allegation regarding flight records was frivolous.

“I want to thank the DCI for conducting a thorough and professional investigation,” said LaMie. “There is no basis to pursue these matters further.”

The original complaints were filed with the Government Accountability Board. The board referred them to Attorney General Mark Vargo on Sept. 9, 2022, asking that the DCI investigate. Vargo recused himself and the Attorney General’s Office and asked LaMie to oversee the inquiry and make any charging decisions.

LaMie on Monday informed the Government Accountability Board that she had concluded her inquiry and referred the matter back to the board.

LaMie said she would have no additional comment and referred any additional questions to the Government Accountability Board or the Attorney General’s Office.

South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman files campaign finance complaint against Smith for Governor

UNION COUNTY – Today, South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman filed a complaint with the South Dakota Secretary of State against Jamie Smith’s campaign. The complaint is regarding Smith for Governor’s more than 1,500 campaign finance violations in the Pre-General report last night. Smith for Governor failed to include the addresses, cities, and states of donors in each of these 1,500 instances.

“Each omission is a plain violation of basic, long standing, and well-settled campaign finance requirements, and each is a criminal act,” Chairman Lederman states in his complaint. “Given the importance of guaranteeing integrity in our constitutional election process, we are requesting immediate relief.

Last night, the Kristi for Governor campaign called for an immediate investigation into Jamie Smith’s campaign finance violations.

The complaint calls for two remedies from the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office:

• Commence a contested case pursuant to chapter 1-26 against Smith for Governor; and
• Refer the complaint to the Division of Criminal Investigation for an investigation pursuant to chapter 23-3.

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From my mailbox:

Tomorrow at 1:30 in Sioux Falls at the public library, the Next Generational Leadership PAC is hosting an event to provide more information as to why they are opposing Initiated Measure 27, featuring Sioux Falls and State Leaders.

As noted, they intend to voice their concerns about crime, drug addiction and the consequences of recreational marijuana.

Expanding on the press release from the group opposing the pot legalization measure, Protecting South Dakota Kids, I wanted to dig into their campaign finance report.. which is an interesting collection of odd bedfellows in South Dakota politics.

While on one side of the equation, with the Fred Deutsch led effort, you have donations from Tonchi Weaver and Citizens for Liberty, but on the other, you have donations from Al Kurtenbach and Daugaard for South Dakota. Which seems to say that despite differences within the various factions of the South Dakota GOP, on occasion disparate groups of Republicans can come together and agree on something. In this instance, that legalization of marijuana isn’t the way to go.

Read the report for yourself below.

Protecting SDKids PAC Filing by Pat Powers on Scribd

In it’s inaugural set of stories, news website South Dakota Searchlight interviews interim Attorney General Mark Vargo, who opines that South Dakota political parties should consider selecting their candidates for Attorney General in a different way:

“I will say that I do think it would be smart to consider whether or not that nomination process should be through a convention or through a primary,” Vargo said.

Currently, delegates at political party conventions nominate the candidates for the state’s top law enforcement job. Meanwhile, voters in primary elections choose nominees for some other statewide offices, including the governor and the state’s three congressional seats.

Read the entire interview here at South Dakota Searchlight. 

In what might be a rare occurrence, SD-EPIC, the political action committee for SDEA, the state teacher’s association has endorsed more Republicans than Democrats this election, declaring them “pro-public education recommended state legislative candidates” as published in a recent issue of the SDEA Educator’s Advocate:

Of 51 endorsees from an education group which has historically endorsed far more Democrats, in the 2022 election 31 of the endorsees are Republican.

Interestingly, I note that several of those endorsed are anticipated to potentially serve in leadership roles in both the House and the Senate, including 2 of the 3 current contenders for Speaker of the House (Hugh Bartels and Jess Olson), Will Mortenson who is said to be running for House Majority Leader and Taylor Rehfeldt who is said to be running for Assistant House Majority Leader. In the Senate, we’re also seeing anticipated leadership in Lee Schoenbeck (President Pro Tempore) & Casey Crabtree (Running for Majority Leader). It also includes Kyle Schoenfish, Jim Bolin, David Wheeler & Helene Duhamel who are said to be running for whip positions.