Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Here’s a kink in the law being proposed to provide a legal cause of action for vaccine holdouts who refuse their employer’s mandate for vaccinations. By the time it gets in front of the legislature, in many cases it could run afoul of the Federal Government:

Flags at Half-Staff in Honor of Former Legislator Carveth Thompson

PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sundown on Saturday, August 28 in honor of former State Representative Carveth Thompson. Thompson served as state representative from 1969 to 1972.

A memorial mass for Thompson will be held on Saturday, August 28, at 11:00 am at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Faith, SD.

###

(BTW – Bit of trivia for you. Carv Thompson was a GOP Candidate for Governor in 1972 against Kneip. – pp)

State Representative Scott Odenbach is on twitter last night with a measure being proposed by himself & Jon Hansen to elevate a refusal to get a COVID vaccination to the same employment protections as race and religion:

It’s time to pass the COVID-19 Vaccine Freedom of Conscience Act. People’s right to determine when & if to get this vaccine must be protected. Should not have to choose to give up a career or college because of it! pic.twitter.com/68Yxh54oC9

— Scott Odenbach (@ScottOdenbach) August 18, 2021

Scott’s a good guy, but I can’t help but groan at this proposal. Why would we force someone running a nursing facility to accept employees who run the risk of killing their clients because they refuse to get vaccinated for COVID?

There’s also an article in the Argus Leader today on the topic, because some legislators want to go so far as a special session on the topic:

The South Dakota Legislature is not slated to take up new bills again until January. And despite the governor’s reservations to prohibit private organizations from requiring their employees get the shot, lawmakers are working behind the scenes to muster enough support for a special session sooner than later.

“Ask nurses who are pregnant who are about to get fired if they can wait until session,” Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, told the Argus Leader. “They feel like they’re cornered. They want to have the right to say ‘hold on’ or ‘I don’t want to take this.'”

Thus far, though, the governor and Senate leadership have been apprehensive to call a special session to address other controversial topics, like transgender participation in athletics and marijuana policy. Asked about the potential for a special session to address privately issued vaccine mandates this week, the governor’s office has been non-committal

Read that here.

You know, I’ve got to respectfully disagree on a lot of this. As well intentioned as it is, no one can deny that this is MORE GOVERNMENT on small business.

Scott notes in his tweet that someone should not have to choose to give up a career or college because of a COVID vaccination. But that’s like saying someone should not need to wear glasses to fly an airplane if their vision needs correcting.  Or nevermind worrying about being typhoid free if you’re a food worker.

If the job requires that someone be inoculated – against an infectious disease that’s killing people – to work in a nursing home or hospital setting, I don’t have a problem with it.

What I have more of a problem with is another proposal that expands government. And last I knew, small business owners were citizens of the state too.

I’m sure Taffy Howard is just exploring her options. With signage (as poorly designed as it is) and a staffed booth.

The Pennington County GOP just sent out an e-mail blast announcing a modernization project saying “It’s time to get with the times,” to help them attract “Millennial and Gen Z Conservatives.”

So what will this initiative to attract Millennial and Gen Z Conservatives involve? According to the press release, apparently it involves posting memes to social media.

Contact: Conner Tranquill Pennington County GOP
Phone: 918-766-1422
Email: press@penncogop.org

Pennington County GOP Modernization Project
It’s Time To Get With The Times

Rapid City, SD, August 18th — We all know how much America and its values are under attack. Today The Pennington County GOP is releasing a Modernization Plan for our party and social media channels. The world has changed a lot since 1995 and it’s time that republicans start using available technology to promote their ideas. The party will be going under several changes to attract Millennial and Gen Z Conservatives. This Modernization campaign is designed to solve decade long problems conservatives and the Republican party have been facing. This press release is filled with information regarding what’s changing. I’m proud to announce the key to our modernization program PenncoConservatives. PenncoConservatives is a free to join group of Conservatives in the Pennington County Area, More information on this great program can be seen below along with key elements of this modernization plan.

As stated, PenncoConservatives is a free to join group of Conservatives in the Pennington County Area. The Group will be asked to publish images essential to promoting our beliefs along with getting news article’s. PenncoConservatives was designed to be a modernized version of TAR’s for young students and Adults. The program is similar to PragerU’s PragerFORCE Program. It’s designed to attract Millennial and Gen Z Conservatives by showcasing facts about our nation’s history and how it was founded. Best of all, the program runs completely online and members are not forced to attend events in person, but can if they choose too. Members are awarded for posting monthly social media graphics and videos of themselves showcasing certain topics in American Politics. To Join Visit https://penncogop.org/penncocjoin

Social Media is important to any organization but for political parties it’s a connection with our voters and the people we represent. We will start posting content related to conservative conferences and events outside our jurisdiction such as CPAC and SAS in order to inform our followers of events outside South Dakota they may want to attend. We will be announcing more changes to better represent Republicans in Pennington County. Our team has also created more than one social handle. You can now follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at PenncoGop. We will also be releasing Groups for our followers to join. The following groups are being added: Penncogop News Center, Pennco GOP Memes and Pennco GOP Polls. The News center will be a place for followers to post news articles to share. The Meme Group will be home to a place where followers can post political internet memes. The Poll Group will be home to people who want to make their own political polls.

If you would like more information about this topic, please call Jeff Holbrook at +1 605 348-8396, or email press@penncogop.org

I can imagine conversations starting like this.  Riinngg….   “Hello Republican Party, I’m a 35 year old small business owner who has an interest in politics, and I’m sick of all this government red tape. How can I get involved in the Republican party?”  “Well, the best way to get you involved is to have you post a meme to facebook, and you can make your own political poll.”  Click   “Hello… hello?”

If they’re trying to attract Millennial and Gen Z’s and limiting to those who self-identify just as conservative only, their Lincoln Day Dinner keynote speaker in a couple of weeks, Rikki Schlott, will be the first to tell them…

In short, the GOP should work on rebranding as the modern, reasonable, solutions-oriented party. If Republicans succeed in crafting this new identity, it will make enormous strides with young voters and secure its future.

Read that here.

Back when I was with the Pennington County GOP thirty or so years ago, the main concern was “How do we win elections, and how do we raise money to help us win elections.”  And a lot of that was doing the hard work.  Yes, absolutely, websites and social media are part of that, but it’s like frosting on a cake – it’s not a substitute for just getting in there and banging it out.

Not to mention that basing a modernization plan on political internet memes – even in part – is idiotic.

While the Pennington County GOP wants to accomplish “modernization,” I’d recommend they get back to basics. Don’t turn over their press function over to a 17-year old (seriously, this is what I’ve heard) living in another state, as they’ve apparently done.  That might be a start.  What about the Pennington County Republican Ambassadors? I haven’t heard anything about their formerly strong connection to business-oriented Republicans (who got things done) in years.  Get back to expanding the base for all the people who call themselves Republicans.

And as I have to remind people from time to time NOT EVERYONE is on social media. Out of a family of six kids, I have two siblings who aren’t on Facebook, and have no interest. One of them teaches classes on-line for Universities nationwide, lest he be accused of being a luddite.

Getting people involved who call themselves Republicans who want to improve their community would go a lot farther than claiming that you’re somehow modernizing by encouraging the “shit-posting” of memes on Facebook.

But don’t listen to me. I only care about winning elections.

Seriously?

11 days after it was brought into the light on twitter by the Deputy Chief of the Washington Bureau of Business Insider Magazine,  It appears that I’m the only one who wrote anything about South Dakota Democrats being fined $7200 as part of the financial fiasco which brought their party to it’s knees.

Again, seriously? Because two years ago, the financial mess was the hottest topic around.

Especially considering that it triggered a hard crash for the South Dakota Democrat Party with a cascade of resignations and austerity measures which led to at least the temporary shuttering of their offices. And arguably, problems from which the party has yet to fully recover, leaving it for dead on the side of the road just in time for the state’s redistricting process. Even liberal commentators talk about the state Democrat Party as something still needing to be revived.

Considering it dominated South Dakota political news over the past couple of years, I’m not sure how the state’s political media has decided to ignore it without even a passing notice.

In case you’d like to read the closing documents, you can read here and make your own judgement about the messy affair.

South Dakota Democrat Party 7200 Fine by Pat Powers on Scribd

There. Now you’ve gotten far more than you’re apparently going to get anywhere else when it comes to the state’s political media letting you hear a discouraging word about the Democrat Party.

Update.. in the midst of all of their financial issues, I think we all missed the fact the Dem party also appeared to also have been fined 5k for just not filing a report:

SDDP Fined 5k in 2020 – 3721_2 by Pat Powers on Scribd

Had someone send me a note that Taffy Howard was doing more “considering” and “exploring” a race for Congress. By having a booth at Dakotafest:

I have to say that it looks like she’s doing more actual running than considering and exploring the congressional race as she claimed she was last weekend.  But there’s a couple of problems she’s setting herself up for.

Because with getting her campaign committee organized, a website attacking Dusty Johnson set up, and now hitting the campaign trail with “Taffy Howard for Congress booths,” no one is taking the “exploring” thing seriously.  She’s running, so claiming she’s not is.. well, it’s disingenuous.  Not to mention that already being in the race but campaigning in a half-hearted way, and kicking things off in the middle of the July-Aug-Sept 2021 FEC reporting cycle, she’s going to have bunch of start-up costs against a month, month & 1/2 of fundraising.

Now, it’s good for Congressman Dusty Johnson, because he’s already geared up for scheduled events and fundraisers. Instead of campaigning against a hypothetical, his donors now have a solid reason to write a check to help keep him in office.

And the campaign “exploring” keeps rolling along.

From Facebook:

If there are any redditors who read South Dakota War College, as a long-time redditor, I recently set up a space that you can access posts, discussion and more.  Head over to https://www.reddit.com/r/dakotawarcollege/ to read and join the community!