On Tuesday, President Biden visited the U.S. Capitol to address both chambers of Congress while 37 million Americans tuned in at home to listen to the annual State of the Union.

At the Rapid City crackerbarrel yesterday, House Assistant Majority Leader Chris Johnson (District 32) announced he will not be seeking re-election, creating an open seat in Rapid City.

A big chunk of the House GOP Leadership team will be vacated this next year with the Majority Leader Position (Kent Peterson) termed out, Assistant Majority Leader Johnson gone, and Majority Whip Tim Goodwin running for the Senate.

Who does that leave for next year? Speaker Spencer Gosch, who has been engaged in multiple controversies this last year, as well as open warfare with the Governor, Speaker Pro Tempore Jon Hansen who has also found himself at loggerheads with the second floor, and Majority whips Kirk Chaffee, Kevin Jensen, Rebecca Reimer and Marli Wiese.

Now that leaves a huge void for next year, and it’s entirely possible that the house may be a very different place with some very good candidates who are running this next year. Or it could be more of a dysfunctional mess than it is now. We’ll see.

I do note that current Senate Majority Leader Gary Cammack will be running for the House, so we’ll see if he enters into competition for legislative leadership this next November.

We will see.

Apparently, few words were minced in the cracker barrel in Watertown yesterday, as senate president pro tempore Lee Schoenbeck had some direct words for Steve Haugaard and Taffy Howard for being obstructionists in passing projects needed for South Dakota:

“I spent about half my time trying to deal with problems caused by Fred and his friends,” said Schoenbeck, referring to Deutsch and other House members. “If him and his friends would ever start paying attention to South Dakota and quit trying to kill stuff that’s good for our state, my life would be easier.”

and…

Schoenbeck pinned some of the Legislature’s resistance to pass needed bills on the House Appropriations Committee, which, at one point, he called a “wackadoodle crowd.”

He blamed Reps. Steven Haugaard, R-S.D., and Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, who are running for higher offices, for “doing everything they can to train wreck the Legislature.”

Read the entire story here.

It sounds like that was quite the crackerbarrel.

After referring to a drug-addicted Native American woman as a “wrung out whore” on the floor of the House of Representatives,  Steve Haugaard is apparently pushing back against Governor Noem’s calls for him to be censured for the remark:

Noem suggested that her Republican primary opponent should face consequences for his remarks.

“I am calling on the Speaker and the House to take a stand against this irresponsible and abusive behavior by formally reprimanding and censuring Mr. Haugaard.”

and..

“Sometimes on the House floor, to get points across, you need to be expressive and really get to the heart of the issue. Too many times we dance around the issues on the House floor.”

Haugaard also pushed back against Noem calling for him to be censured.

“The governor can do whatever she chooses to do,” Haugaard said. “Unfortunately, she has lied about some of the things I’ve done in the past. She has made comments that I’m some sort of a misogynist… That’s just an absolute false statement.”

Read it here.

So, there you go. He was just being expressive when he referred to a woman as a whore.

And it’s a false statement that he’s a misogynist.

As mansplained by Steve.

 

Had a note this afternoon from a politico asking me if I’d seen Janet Brekke’s new campaign photo in the Argus Leader story on campaign finance for the Sioux Falls City Election.  Yeah. It’s that bad:

Yes, most of us hate seeing pictures of ourselves. And I know it’s kind of a weird trendy thing on instagram and facebook to use filters to erase any facial feature you have. But WTF?

Political candidates, for God’s sake don’t do this. Ever.

This is not an instance where Photoshop is a candidate’s friend.

Unless you’re running for office in a city populated by mannequins. This does not look like someone that exists in nature.

It’s kind of crazy, as she has a number of photos that are good on her website.

But this? I’d go back and ask for the picture before they erased all of her facial features.

Legislative Incumbents Senator Mary Duvall, Representative Mike Weisgram, and Representative Will Mortenson are the featured guests at a District 24 fundraiser at the Missouri River Event Center in Pierre this coming Monday, March 7th from 5:30 – 7 PM.

 

Johnson Supports “American Energy Independence from Russia Act”

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) cosponsored the American Energy Independence from Russia Act which immediately approves the Keystone XL Pipeline, resumes permitting of energy and mineral development on Federal lands and waters, and boosts natural gas production in the U.S. The bill would also require President Biden to develop an energy security plan within 30 days to offset any disruption of Russian imports.

“President Biden has the opportunity to right wrongs and undo the damage his administration has done to America’s energy independence,” said Johnson. “On the first day of his term, President Biden cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline – the American Energy Independence from Russia Act will bring this back. The events happening in Ukraine and Russia’s unwarranted aggression is a reminder to us all: America shouldn’t rely on foreign adversaries for oil and gas.”

“Putin and Russia’s economy are dependent upon dominating energy production and exporting to other nations. He gains power by doing so, and it’s what funds his military and aggressive behavior,” said Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers. “To counter Putin, our bill flips the switch to promote American energy jobs, production, and exports. America must shut down Putin’s war chest and stop bloodshed in Ukraine, and this legislation is a vital step in achieving those goals.”

The Keystone XL Pipeline would have imported 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada into the United States, compared to the 595,000 barrels of crude oil the United States subsequently began to import daily from Russia at the end of 2020. Additionally, Johnson cosponsored H.Res. 940 which calls on President Biden to take immediate action to provide allies of the United States with an affordable and secure supply of energy to strengthen global energy security.

In February 2021, following President Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, Johnson hosted a roundtable in Philip with more than 20 South Dakota business owners and community members impacted by the Executive Order.

The American Energy Independence from Russia Act was introduced by Energy & Commerce Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5).

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They say hindsight is 20-20. Looking back at the year 2020 in hindsight, we now can say that South Dakota consistently made the right decisions during the pandemic. After all, our path has led us to the strongest economy in America, and we took care of people along the way. But with the two-year anniversary of COVID in South Dakota coming up, I want to dive deeper into how I made those pandemic-related decisions at the time I made them – without the benefit of hindsight.  

Melissa Klemann, our long-time health policy advisor, walked into a staff meeting on March 10 of that year and informed me that the first COVID cases had arrived, as well as our first COVID-related death. The news was bleak, and we did not know what was next.   

I focused on what we did know. We had prepared for the virus for nearly two months. Our emergency operations center would help us monitor the situation and keep South Dakotans informed. And I knew that we would get through this if we worked together.  

I stayed focused on what my authority as Governor was – and that, most importantly, I did not have the authority to close our state down. I advised the people of South Dakota to stay home if they were able, but we did not mandate it. On that first day, I said, “I encourage all South Dakotans to take this seriously. Now is the time to prepare and stay informed.”  

As the weeks passed, I focused on absorbing new information. I talked to medical professionals, my state epidemiologist, my general counsel, and other constitutional attorneys. I spent countless hours on the phone – and I hate talking on the phone! I kept gathering science, facts, and data because I knew the people of South Dakota were looking to me as their elected leader for guidance.  

We focused on Facts – not Fear. And over the next two years, we stayed true to that approach. We were the only state to never order a single business or church to close. The results speak for themselves.  

Those decisions were not easy – but they were simple. They were built on my trust in the people of South Dakota and on the principles that built our great nation.  

In the two years since, we have seen new variants of the virus come and go. As tends to happen as viruses mutate, COVID has become more transmissible over time – but it has also become less deadly. We have developed treatments and therapeutics. Vaccines became available in record time. And we have learned to adapt the virus – though it took other states much longer to figure that out than South Dakota.  

On that first day, I was asked, “How should South Dakotans handle this moving forward?” Today, the answer to that question is straightforward: exactly as we have been. New variants may come in the future. New variants of the flu come every year, too.   

I hope that other states can look to South Dakota and realize that they do not have to go too far when responding to any future variants. We have set an example that other states should follow. We have the strongest economy and the best educational outcomes of any state, and we have taken care of people along the way. We balanced freedom and personal responsibility. We focused on Facts – not Fear. In hindsight, I am glad that we did. 

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I’m thinking I’m going to have to find a new e-mail host at this point, as I’m on day 2 of my mail e-mail being on the fritz. If you need to reach out, send me a text or use my alternative e-mail address.

This morning, a post has been made on the SDGOP website where the State Republican Party has made a statement on the Haugaard speech which generated a firestorm for the gubernatorial challenger:

SDGOP Statement on Rep. Steve Haugaard’s remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives

The South Dakota Republican Party’s Executive Board issued a statement tonight condemning State Representative Steve Haugaard’s remarks made on the floor of the House of Representatives. “The language used by Rep. Haugaard to depict a Native American woman and the results of her drug addiction do not reflect the values of the Republican Party.”

Read it here.

That’s pretty remarkable that the State GOP’s executive board would issue a rebuke of a legislator, which is a hint as to how egregious that Haugaard referring to a woman as a whore is viewed.