Author: @SoDakCampaigns

I’m watching in the aftermath of the Sioux Falls School Board election, and seeing that a former educator (Marc Murren) and incumbent (Kate Parker) won the evening.  And I’m not surprised.

Of the winning candidates, Murrren seemed to have broad based community support and consistent branding.

Kate Parker seemed to have phoned it in, but as the incumbent you can do that.  But, it also showed with how close Anthony Pizer came to her vote total, with Parker coming in second at 2322, and Pizer at 2120, just 202 votes shy.

Pizer seems to have had a clear message, as well as fairly good support. But I think I would have made that logo bigger on the sign. Subtlety has no place in a political campaign.

Looking at materials from others in the race, I saw awful yard signs, inconsistent logo use, and a few other missteps which did not help them.

Paulette Ludens had an ok and readable logo, and seemed to use them consistently.

But then from her facebook, I can see she also had nice 3-inch buttons. Which for what she spent on them, she could have bought door hangers.  In fact, if you look at the news story on what candidates spent – at $1320 in campaign spending, you can see one reason things did not gel for her at all.

In addition to being underfunded, and possibly under-advertised (at $2185 in expenditures) Cory Begley’s campaign might have been hurt by the fact he kept shifting his branding.  Because his design work just seems to have been a hot mess, with at least THREE different logos..

with the campaign choosing the worst one for their yard sign..

Sorry guys, but is someone supposed to be able to read any of that while going by at 25 m.p.h?  Because all they’re seeing is a star, a name with an odd & stretched font that’s challenging to read, and some other stuff they can’t make out.

Design sins aside, it’s pretty apparent that to be serious in a Sioux Falls School Board race, just to meet the basics to fully cover the land area and to cut through the competing chatter, they need to plan on raising/spending $15-20,000.

Fox news is covering the story of Spearfish, SD resident Mike Mowry telling media he’s entering the US Senate Contest:

South Dakotan Mark Mowry, who has never held elected office, announced this week he will challenge Thune in the state’s June 2022 Republican primary.

Thune won reelection to his seat in 2016 with 71% percent of the vote. Before being elected to the Senate, he represented South Dakota’s lone congressional district in the House from 1997 to 2003.

and..

Mowry also, without a clear explanation, said he is running against Thune due to his response to the Jan. 6 riot. “On the subject of running on the Republican ticket for the office of United States Senator- IT’S PERSONAL,” he writes on his website. “I believe that John Thune, [Sen.] Mike Rounds, and [Rep.] Dusty Johnson all know the reality of the January 6 breach, and I believe that these men need to be brought to account for allowing their constituencies to be left dangling in uncertainty regarding the serious consequences of inadequate and questionable security measures conducted that day.”

Read it here.

Um..ok..

Why do I get the feeling that GOP dinners are going to run off the rails this fall? And then Mowry is not going to get on the ballot.

Business, Agriculture, and Immigrant Leaders from Across South Dakota Will Discuss Urgently Needed Immigration Reform in Virtual Roundtable

South Dakota’s Immigrants, Essential Industries, and Economic Engines Need Congress to Act Now to Stabilize Our COVID-19 Response and Support Our State’s Economy

PIERRE, SD — Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, business and agriculture leaders from across South Dakota will join one of our state’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in a virtual roundtable to discuss urgently needed immigration reform and why Congress should act swiftly to fix our broken system. Featuring representatives from some of the state’s largest industries and business groups, the roundtable will specifically highlight the $678 million impact immigrants and immigrant workers have on our state economy and essential workforce.

In South Dakota and across the nation, undocumented immigrants are playing a significant role in our COVID-19 response efforts and have long been enriching South Dakota’s communities, culture, and economy. With more than 23 million undocumented essential workers in America — including more than 200,000 DACA recipient essential workers — contributing to industries such as agriculture, health care, education, construction, and sanitation, the stakes couldn’t be higher to enact commonsense immigration reform.

Congress should enact needed reform that would allow our economy and communities to grow.

Join David Owen, President and CEO, SD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Debra Owen, Policy Director, Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nathan Sanderson, Executive Director, SD Retailers Association, Don Haggar, Executive Director, Americans for Prosperity — SD, Tom Peterson, Executive Director, SD Dairy Producers, Kari Karst, President and CEO, BX Civil & Construction and Dells Materials Company, and Karen Benitez-Lopez, a teacher and DACA recipient from Sioux Falls for this important discussion on the need to establish bipartisan, commonsense solutions to advance immigration reform legislation and the opportunity at hand for Congress and the Biden Administration to reform the U.S. immigration system.

What: Virtual Roundtable on South Dakota’s Urgent Need for Immigration Reform

Who:
David Owen, President and CEO, SD Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Debra Owen, Policy Director, Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Nathan Sanderson, Executive Director, SD Retailers Association
Don Haggar, Executive Director, Americans for Prosperity — SD
Tom Peterson, Executive Director, SD Dairy Producers
Kari Karst, President and CEO, BX Civil & Construction and Dells Materials Company
Karen Benitez-Lopez, Teacher and ‘Dreamer’

When: May 19, 2021 from 1:30–2:15 p.m. CDT

Where: Zoom — Register Here

XXX

While many look at the long stretch of months between the last legislative session and the end of 2021 as the doldrums of politics when little to nothing is happening, it’s actually an important planning period for those behind the scenes.

For potential candidates, it’s a time to float trial balloons about running.  Because next year, they have to actually produce, and get go collect signatures. Which is more complicated than just saying that you’re running.

Even more importantly, for serious candidates it’s a long uninterrupted stretch for fundraising, which is why you see those engaged in the process beginning their efforts. It takes a long time to gather the amounts necessary to sustain a statewide candidacy. This is the marathon part before next years’ sprint to the finish.

Same goes for political parties. This is the time when they build their machines to try to follow through to a successful next years’ election.

Now that we’re in the build-up for 2022, what are the parties doing?

South Dakota Democrats currently find themselves with two field directors, but still searching for the organization’s third executive director in so many years during financially and electorally rocky years.

Former State Senator Pam Cole had lasted approximately one year after historic losses by the party.  Before her, Stacey Burnette managed to last from early August to late October in 2019. (Before she and party Chair Paula Hawks abandoned ship because of disastrous party financial issues.) Before that Sam Parkinson lasted slightly longer as Executive Director from June 2017-April 2019, when state Democrats showed a few signs of life, but still lost the presidential race in the state by 30 points and were crushed in the state legislature.

While Democrats are claiming in recent interviews that they’re searching for an executive director, why is there is no job advertisement on their website anymore?  The job closed at the end of January, and remains unfilled.

They also made an announcement that the national party may dump some money into the state. This is nothing new, as National Democrats dumping money into the state on a monthly basis has been their life support. Literally, it is one of the only things that have kept their doors open over the course of the last three years. So, this will not be a big change in routine.

Comparatively, the electoral process for South Dakota Republicans has provided far more success than their Democrat counterparts have experienced with far fewer staff.

South Dakota GOP Chairman Dan Lederman is currently in the midst of his third two-year term of office, beginning in February of 2017. Favoring a more hands-on managerial style, he has been running a lean shop with a number of functions outsourced on an as needed basis.

In the previous two cycles, Lederman had been able to successfully coordinate party efforts, improving on them every time as he’s fostered an environment conducive for the GOP to expand their hold on the number of Republican voters in the state, which currently give an advantage of 144,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

Unlike Democrats who seem to be distracted with ballot measures, and many things which are not the function of a political party, Republicans under Lederman have managed to strengthen already historic highs of the number of Republican elected officials.

What I’m hearing is that Republicans don’t have any significant revisions planned, and according to their chairman are going to be doing many of the same things that have brought them good fortune in the past several cycles. Chairman Lederman recently commented to me that “Candidate recruitment is key to success,” indicative that the party is already in that part of the planning cycle.

With the Sioux Falls area having had more attention from the GOP last cycle, I’d watch for efforts to continue along that vein.

There’s likely more brewing, but that seems to be the undercurrent of discussion at the moment on the GOP side.

While it continues to be quiet on the surface, we’ll continue to keep an eye on things as bubbles of activity begin to form.

 Public Invited to Discuss Strategies to Expand Homeownership in Sioux Falls 

Sioux Falls, SD: Councilors Alex Jensen and Christine Erickson will hear from citizens on how the city can make homeownership more accessible in Sioux Falls. Ideas gained from this outreach effort could be used for future legislative efforts intended to tackle the lack of homeownership opportunities. 

When: Thursday, May 20th 

Where: HyVee at 37th and Minnesota 

Time: 7:30am to 9:00am 

Visit https://www.siouxfalls.org/council for more information on the city council. 

# # # 

If you start digging into the social media for US Senate Candidate Mark Mowry (who announced his candidacy in the mainstream media today after becoming a Republican) you quickly see that my offhand derision that he’s the QAnon candidate might not be too far off the mark.

Because if it walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck.. well…

For starters, Mowry noted that he was in attendance at a certain US Capitol Rally earlier this year. One that eventually went a bit… sideways.

Of course, aside from his attendance, we also have him promoting claims that the Nashville bombing was done to hide fraud with Dominion voting machines.

Repeating the conspiracy claim was bad enough, but then we have Mowry explicitly stating that he believes the bombing “happened intentionally?”

(Of course, it didn’t exactly happen as Mowry speculated.)

If you like Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, I suppose that Mowry might be to your liking.

But for the rest of us, I prefer our US Senators not promote crazy facebook conspiracies.

From Fox News comes more chatter that everyone wants South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on their speaker list, and she’s hitting some visible and notable events that you might see presidential hopefuls speaking at:

The influential Iowa based social conservative group The FAMiLY Leader on Wednesday announced that Noem will headline their 10th annual Leadership Summit on July 16th in Des Moines.

Gov. @KristiNoem Iowa Bound in July To Headline @theFAMiLYLEADER Event https://t.co/0c0sEXdder #FITN #iapolitics #IAcaucus

— Iowa Field Report.com (@IAFieldReport) May 12, 2021

For a half century Iowa’s caucuses have kicked off the presidential nominating calendar, and any stop in the Hawkeye State by possible White House hopefuls generates more 2024 buzz.

Read it all here.

Mark Mowry, the Q-Anon candidate of choice has finally gotten around to changing his political party to Republican, and has announced his candidacy against US Senator John Thune in the media:

Thune, Johnson Lead Colleagues in Urging Department of Justice to Continue Investigation into Beef Industry

“We urge the DOJ Antitrust Division to continue vigilance and where possible, provide updates of findings.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D) today led several of their colleagues in urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to continue the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the nation’s four biggest meatpackers. Thune and Johnson’s bicameral letter also requested that DOJ provide Congress with updates on its investigation and encouraged ongoing vigilance on this issue.

“It is critically important that producers have fair and transparent markets for the commodities they produce,” the members of Congress wrote. “We urge the DOJ Antitrust Division to continue vigilance and where possible, provide updates of findings.”

The letter was also signed by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Liz Cheney, (R-Wyo.), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.).

Full text of the letter below:

The Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20250

Dear Attorney General Garland:

We want to bring to your attention our concerns with potential instances of improper and anticompetitive activities in the live cattle and beef industry. Nearly a year ago, on May 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division sent civil investigative demands (CIDs) to the nation’s four biggest meatpackers. Since that time, the American people have seen no public results from the investigation. In fact, there is no information to even suggest whether the investigation has concluded or is still ongoing. Due to the change in leadership at DOJ since these CIDs were issued and the new allegations of anticompetitive activities since that time, we encourage the Antitrust Division to continue its civil investigation of these entities. Additionally, to the extent allowed by statute, we request that DOJ provide Congress updates on any investigations or ongoing vigilance.

Cattle producers have faced significant challenges over the last few years. In 2019, a fire at a single beef plant in Kansas, a facility that accounted for approximately 6 percent of our nation’s beef processing capacity at the time, created significant market disruptions.  In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic-related plant closures led to additional processing capacity shortfalls and supply chain disruptions throughout the country. It appears plant labor shortfalls remain an issue today. While black swan events do not always prove wrongdoing, additional attention can reinforce confidence in the system.

Cattle producers, especially small feeders, are again experiencing difficult conditions that are threatening their ability to stay in business. With a tight supply chain, any changes in processing capacity can have a dramatic impact on cattle prices, preventing producers from capturing margin from boxed beef rallies.

It is critically important that producers have fair and transparent markets for the commodities they produce. We urge the DOJ Antitrust Division to continue vigilance and where possible, provide updates of findings.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.

Sincerely 

###

Let the Scorecards Begin
by State Rep. Trish Ladner

As a freshman legislator, it has been a very interesting year. I have met new colleagues and have made some amazing new friends. It was refreshing to learn that they are just like you and me. Serving in the legislative session is a small, bracketed amount of time for all of us and after session we go back home to our farms, ranches, families, businesses, or jobs. During session, we are approached by lobbyists who are paid to be either proponents or opponents on certain issues. One morning I arrived in chambers to find 10 lobbyists lined up at my desk to give me their pitch about one bill out of 10+ that were on the docket for the day for us to vote on. As a new legislator, I have made a point of listening to both sides of the argument, did my own research, and spoke to select constituents in District 30 who had knowledge about specific issues related to agriculture, education, commerce and more. Then I’d decided my stance on the issue based on what I believed was best for the people of District 30 and our state. As some of you may know, I am for less government and in some cases I had to ask the question, “should this be a law, a protocol or remain a local issue?”

At the end of each session most lobbyist organizations come out with what is called a scorecard ranking legislator’s voting performance from 0% to 100%. They take the issues they were advocating for, or against, and rate the representative or senator based on how they voted for their special interests bills. Call me naive, but I believe that I was elected to go to Pierre to represent you the people, not special interest groups or causes. One local group gave me a score of 73% because I voted against three of the sixteen bills they supported and were advocating for. I looked over the three bills I voted against and quite frankly, I would vote the same way today as I did during session. For example, one of the bills I voted against was SB96 – to revise certain provisions regarding the use of telehealth technologies. At first blush, you think that would be okay. It worked well throughout the pandemic. When this bill came to the floor for a vote, I specifically asked the Representative carrying the bill if the expansion of telehealth technologies extended to the prescription of controlled substances (i.e., medications that can cause physical and mental dependence). When the answer was yes, I knew that I could not vote in favor of the bill. Having come from a background in the behavioral mental health arena, I know that none of the doctors I have worked with would prescribe or renew a prescription for a controlled substance (ie., narcotics), without seeing the patient in person and evaluating all aspects of their physical and mental wellbeing.

After reviewing some of the scorecards generated by special interest groups, I’ve decided that I wouldn’t put much credence in them. No disrespect to these organizations, but when all is said and done, I can live with a 73% score knowing that I have worked hard for you in Pierre to protect and defend our common sense, down to earth values and I will continue to do so.

Next session, we will inevitably face new challenges for our nation and this great state of ours. Challenges, that we will address one at a time as they present themselves. In the meantime, this is such beautiful time of year in the Black Hills. I’d like to encourage you to take the time to get out and enjoy the fresh, clean air and the natural scenic beauty that is South Dakota!

Under God, the people rule!

Rep. Trish Ladner, District 30
trish.ladner@sdlegislature.gov