Author: Pat Powers

After earlier erroneous reports started popping up, House Speaker Pro Tempore Spencer Gosch has officially announced he’s clear of the coronavirus:

The Argus Leader has filed a story re-opening an accusation that many had long thought over regarding 2006 claims against former Democrat State Senator Dan Sutton of Flandreau who was censured for actions that took place in his hotel room with a legislative page:

Nate LaLonde said he is revealing a secret that he has kept about Dan Sutton for two decades because he believes Sutton shouldn’t be running for higher office. LaLonde said he was stunned when he learned that Sutton, who is currently on the Flandreau City Council, was running for mayor.

“I can’t let him get to a public office where he has power to hurt others,” LaLonde said.

and…

LaLonde’s story includes details that were brought up during the earlier investigation, including that Sutton allowed high school-aged young men to hang out at his home, even giving some of them keys. They had access to alcohol and a candy drawer that Sutton kept stocked. They also had access to a computer and were allowed in the home even when Sutton wasn’t there.

and…

LaLonde says he wasn’t ready to deal with the trauma then. He had been a jock in high school. An athlete who had gone on to serve in the military. It was too embarrassing to admit that he had been molested.

Read the entire shocking story here.  (Subscription required)

Wow.  Apparently Sutton is running for public office again in Flandreau, which caused these allegations to resurface and take on new life, including the revelation of a victim that was not publicly known before who is talking to the media.

Keep watching this story, as it’s sure to not end here.

From KELO AM News, Governor Kristi Noem has shut down schools for the next week:

Gov. Kristi Noem has ordered all public K-12 schools closed next week for deep cleaning due to the coronavirus outbreak.

She also encourages private schools to follow suit. Noem says she’ll reevaluate the closures and whether to continue them next week.

Read it all here.

From Facebook, the South Dakota GOP is chiding the Argus for a recent editorial grousing at our state’s leaders because they want government to restrict people’s movements because of the coronavirus:

REPUBLICAN ERIN TOBIN RUNNING FOR DISTRICT 21 SENATE SEAT

Erin Tobin of Winner announced today that she is running for the South Dakota State Senate from District 21. Tobin, a Certified Nurse Practitioner, cited public health and agriculture as two of her main focuses in her campaign.

“The overall health of South Dakota is a tremendously important issue at all levels of government, and I want to help keep the public safe and healthy. With a renewed focus on our well-being because of things that are happening in the world today, everyone understands that public health is a very important issue. It would be beneficial for the district and state to have someone who understands and knows the importance of healthcare,” she said.

As a fourth-generation rancher, Tobin is also passionate about agriculture. She supports Country of Origin Labeling. “South Dakota ranchers have the best beef in the world, and they need to be able to market it,” she said. Tobin feels she would do a good job in representing ag production and value-added agriculture in Pierre.

Along with her husband Travis, Erin is part of the family cow/calf and custom feeding operation. Erin and Travis have two children: Gus in the 4th grade and Anna, kindergarten. “With two children in elementary school, education issues are also a high priority,” explained Tobin. Erin graduated from Colome High School in 2001 and from South Dakota State University in 2005 with a B.S. degree in nursing. In 2010, she received her master’s degree as a nurse practitioner.

Tobin works at Avera Sacred Heart in Yankton as a hospitalist. She also does hospice care through Avera in the local area. Tobin, a Republican, is the daughter of Brad and Kay Bolton of Winner.

Thune: Senate Focused on Coronavirus Outbreak and Response

“Everyone is focused on making sure we do what we need to do to limit the spread of this virus.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed the coronavirus outbreak in the United States and his hope for a bipartisan congressional response.

From the Argus comes a report of the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House being tested for the coronavirus:

Rep. Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, was tested on Thursday after falling sick on Wednesday and becoming more ill overnight, House Speaker Steven Haugaard announced at the start of the House’s floor session on Thursday. Legislators confirmed to the Argus Leader that it was for COVID-19.

Gosch can’t have contact with anyone for several days while waiting for his COVID-19 test result, Haugaard said.

Read it here.

Scary stuff. Please keep Rep. Gosch in your thoughts.

(From my mailbox – pp)

Janet Jensen to run for State Senate

Janet Jensen, a Republican, today filed papers to run for the open South Dakota Senate seat representing District 33.

A 5^th generation, native-born South Dakotan whose family homesteaded in Mellette County is no stranger to Republican politics as she has been the Precinct Committee Leader in Johnson Siding for over 10 years, and for the past 3 years, has served as the Pennington County State Committeewoman representing the County at statewide Republican official meetings.

Mrs. Jensen’s passion is to make South Dakota a place where future generations can grow and thrive by promoting job growth, encouraging personal responsibility, protecting South Dakota families from tax increases, and as a business owner, ensuring that government isn’t an obstacle for businesses or individuals. She is both pro-life and a Second Amendment advocate.

If you recognize her surname, it’s because her husband of 31 years, Phil Jensen, has served as a state legislator for the past 12 years and she is intimately aware of the ins-and-outs of the legislative process. That, along with the many friendships that she has formed with other legislators across the state, will allow her an easy transition to serve District 33 effectively on day one.

Sioux Falls City Council Candidate Alex Jensen had a postcard hit Sioux Falls mailboxes today, that a reader was nice enough to send me a copy of:

The postcard continues the theme of Jensen’s campaign (which are on billboards across town) talking about the fact he’s running for the office on a message of being “Positive and Proven.”

Unfortunately, not everyone is taking it that way.

Instead of trying to portray herself as being positive or proven, his opponent Theresa Stehly is… Well, let’s just say Theresa is portraying herself as “triggered:”

If Theresa is triggered this early in the campaign because her opponent sends out a single postcard talking about how he’s going to be positive and professional, I suspect she’s going to find it to be a long campaign.

So Sioux Falls City Council candidate and Democrat Julian Beaudion has posted a campaign video today, where he’s doing his best to attempt to give the impression of ties to a couple of notable Sioux Falls Republicans; specifically US Senator John Thune, and former State Representative and current At-Large City Council Candidate Alex Jensen:

Jensen appears to have been filmed by Beaudion’s people without having the benefit of actually being told that he was being filmed for use in a Beaudion campaign commercial.  From what I am told, that appears to be the case.  If it had been mentioned to Jensen that they were filming, it’s likely that they would have had more than footage of the back of his head from across the room.

I’m not sure what it says about a candidate who is filming people for use in a campaign video, and naming them in their video, if they aren’t telling them they’re being interviewed for the purpose of a campaign video. At the very least, it’s common courtesy.

But one thing that’s really evident – As he did with Senator Thune, Beaudion is doing his best to be seen with Alex Jensen, who is running on a campaign of being positive.

And you can’t help but notice that you don’t see Beaudion trying to be anywhere near the person that Jensen is running against, Councilwoman Theresa Stehly.