Sioux Falls residents – there’s a great opportunity to meet your next Sioux Falls City Councilor Alex Jensen this coming Friday.
On Friday January 31, from 10-11 AM at the Queen City Bakery, Alex Jensen will be hosting a “Signature Party” to fill his nominating petitions, making his run for Sioux Falls City Council official!
Noem Introduces Anti-Rioting Legislation to Keep South Dakotans and Their Property Safe
PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem today sent the final version of her anti-rioting legislation to legislators, tribal leaders, state’s attorneys, and other stakeholders.
“As governor, my duty is to protect South Dakota’s people and property,” said Noem. “In unprecedented fashion, consulting with stakeholders, we’ve put together legislation that promotes law and order, protects the community against violence, and safeguards our state’s legitimate interest in protecting our people and their property, all while upholding constitutional rights of free speech and lawful assembly. I look forward to working with the legislature to make sure we give our law enforcement the tools they need to keep our people and their property safe.”
Noem’s legislation accomplishes three objectives:
Click here to download Noem’s legislation. Click here to download an explanation of Noem’s legislation.
Once filed, the legislation will be available at sdlegislature.gov.
Former State Representative Liz May has filed her candidacy for Congress with the Federal Election Commission as of today:
Liz May FEC Filing by Pat Powers on Scribd
Not too much that’s interesting in the filing. Fairly boring stuff, but it’s confirmation that she’s in the race.
What does the filing tell us that we didn’t already know? The campaign’s website is lizmayforcongress.com (which is not active yet), Paula Livermont of Spearfish is noted as her campaign treasurer, who I believe may be her former district mate’s (State Rep Steve Livermont’s) spouse. And her campaign account is in a bank in Ohio.
The Liz Marty May for Congress campaign has yet to officially launch, but clearly she’s in (sans announcement) and running at this point.
SOUTH DAKOTA RETAILERS ELECT OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS
PIERRE, S.D. – Earlier this month, the members of the South Dakota Retailers Association (SDRA) have elected a slate of officers and board members for 2020. Those elected include:
R.F. Buche* of Wagner Named President-Elect
R.F. Buche of G.F. Buche Company, based in Wagner, has been elected President of the SDRA Board of Directors. Buche officially received the gavel from outgoing President Terry Van De Walle of Sioux Falls during SDRA’s Awards Banquet in Pierre. Buche has served on the SDRA Board since 2012.
Other 2020 Officers:
Steve Beck of Pierre Named President-Elect
Steve Beck of Beck Motor Company in Pierre has been named President-Elect of the SDRA Board of Directors. Beck has served on the board since 2011.
Eric Sinclair of Sioux Falls Elected Secretary-Treasurer
Eric Sinclair of Montgomery’s in Sioux Falls has been elected Secretary-Treasurer of the SDRA Board of Directors. Sinclair has served on the Board since 2014.
Twelve Board Members Elected:
SDRA board members are responsible for setting policy, determining the organization’s legislative positions, and implementing membership programs and services.
The SDRA Services Corporation Board oversees current SDRA member services and considers options for new services.
Outgoing board members include Terry Van De Walle of WR Hospitality in Sioux Falls who served as the Association’s president in 2019, and board member Dick Murphy of Mrs. Murphy’s Irish Gifts in Sioux Falls.
From Todd Epp at KELO AM Radio comes a story about House Bill 1001, and the efforts of legislators to make a more independent body:
House Bill 1001 would remove a number of statutes passed in 1939–50 years after statehood–that put into state law the operation and organization of the legislature. In short, HB1001 would remove those laws and depend upon the state constitution and House and Senate rules to set things like hiring legislative staff and pay, how they organize their bodies, and other procedural issues.
For proponents of the change like House Speaker Steve Haugaard (R-Sioux Falls), the matter goes to the independence of the legislative branch from the executive. If the House and Senate rules are in statute, then they then have to be signed–or vetoed–by the governor.
“We want to get things to the point where we run our own affairs,” Haugaard, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in the hour and a half debate.
I don’t think it’s inappropriate for the legislative bodies to set their own rules as governed by rule and the state constitution.
And in fact this seems to be one of those unusual members where they can make for a stronger legislative body without being at the expense of infringing on the executive branch.
Dusty Johnson sent out a note this afternoon welcoming his opponent to the race, noting that he’s not going to attack Liz May as people might expect, noting “I’ll spend a lot more time talking about the issues facing our country than I will talking about the weaknesses of my opponent.”
So this post making the rounds made me laugh:
Apparently, North Dakota is the state to hate if you’re a South Dakotan, and vice versa.
Can’t we all just get along?
From a release posted on the SDGOP website:
Argus Leader Columnist Stu Whitney spews forth Anti-Republican biases and attacks against President Trump, Governor Noem
After the Argus Leader website posted an opinion column this week from Argus “coach and columnist” Stu Whitney attacking President Trump and Governor Noem, South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman offered the following statement:
“It was brought to my attention that Stu Whitney of the Argus Leader recently authored a column of what was billed as “satire,” but was actually just another attack on President Donald Trump and Governor Kristi Noem complete with sexist tropes and large doses of Donald Trump derangement,” Lederman said.
Lederman continued, “Whitney’s well of creativity ran dry a long time ago, so as the paper’s resident liberal Democrat, he’s down to resorting to cheap attacks based on his political biases. You can chalk it up as another example of Whitney trying to grab attention, such as when he declared the ‘National Anthem starts games on a bad note,’ and claimed the Pledge of Allegiance is ‘brainwashing.’
“If the state’s largest newspaper consists of editorial leadership which spews out attacks because he doesn’t agree with people politically, I would suggest they could save the cost of his salary by just posting anti-Trump memes they’ve copied off the Internet. Otherwise, they should clean up their act, and remove the ‘raw Stu-age’ from the paper so they have a product that appeals to more than the State Democrat Party’s Central Committee.”
Well, look what I just found out on the Internet. The “Liz Marty May for US Congress” campaign is confirmed and appears to be very much active.
Liz May’s Congressional campaign is confirmed via a Facebook page that appears very much “under construction” complete with logo, and scenes from a “video photo shoot” showing her on a fence and a horse.
It’s interesting that Liz May is using “Liz Marty May” as her name in her official campaign logo, much like former Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin did after she was married. But that came after Sandlin had first established her branding as a Congresswoman while single.
I would note that as some campaigns often make the mistake, she does obfuscate her last name by turning part of the “A” in her last name into a cow graphic. As a candidate, you’re after readability, not simply being fancy. But, I’m sure she’ll figure that out at some point.
So. looks like things are off and running. Spurs and all.
Fred Deutsch’s House Bill 1057 is a hot topic on the Internet, and one of the latest stories, an interview of Deutsch by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, titled “Son Of Holocaust Survivor Brings Bill That Would Ban Surgical, Chemical Sex-Change Treatments For Children Under 16” is garnering particular attention:
He concluded, “If you care about kids, I think you have to prioritize them. And in South Dakota, we don’t allow mutilation of our children. I don’t care if it’s doctors. I don’t care if it’s parents. You know, these kids on the Internet, they share pictures of themselves that just blow you away — of all these surgical scars, and it’s terrible. That should not ever be allowed. To me, that’s a crime against humanity when these procedures are done by these so-called doctors… that dance on the edge of medicine… You know, I’m the son of a Holocaust survivor. I’ve had family members killed in Auschwitz. And I’ve seen the pictures of the bizarre medical experiments. I don’t want that to happen to our kids. And that’s what’s going on right now.”
House Bill 1057 will likely be heard on the House floor this next week.