Author: Pat Powers

Mark Winegar of Vermillion apparently announced this past weekend that it is his intention to run as a Democrat for the South Dakota legislature. 

He might be off and running for office, but a letter to the editor in today’s Argus Leader gives us a hint as to who he intends to represent if he wins. Not the citizens of his district, but the labor unions he demands dues for, whether people want to pay them or not:

The premise of the venomous Right to Work legislation is the mistaken notion that it is unfair to require a worker to join a labor union where one is present. However, non-union workers in a union shop benefit from the collective bargaining paid for by the membership dues of his/her co-workers.

Something for nothing is a seductive proposition, but there is a catch. Unions weaken as one after another worker takes advantage of free-loading. Eventually, the union is either nonexistent or too weak to negotiate.

And…

Unions have a legal obligation to fully represent all assigned bargaining unit employees, members and non-members alike. But with Fair Share, non-members pay a fair share fee in the amount of no more than regular union dues. This fair fee covers the cost of bargaining, implementing, and enforcing the contract. Fee payers are non-members so they cannot hold office in the union, but they share in the expense and benefits of collective bargaining.

Read it all here.

“the venomous Right to Work legislation..” “the mistaken notion that it is unfair to require a worker to join a labor union where one is present.” And “Fee payers are non-members so they cannot hold office in the union.”

“The venomous…?” How far off in leftist field IS this guy? How is it a mistaken notion to require someone to pay for something they do not want?  And the best part is that he wants to mandate that people pay for that thing they do not want, at full price, with no voice.
That’s not citizen or constituent representation. That’s lobbying for labor unions, and open disdain for anyone who disagrees.

And the voters in his district should take great heed.

State To Honor Gov. Miller At Capitol Memorial Service Tomorrow

PIERRE, S.D. – A memorial service for former Gov. Walter Dale Miller will be held at 1 p.m. CDT Monday in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building.

Public viewing will be allowed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Those wishing to pay their respects may enter the Capitol Building via the north doors (parking lot side).

Access to the second-floor Rotunda will be closed at 11 a.m. to allow time to set up for the memorial ceremony. Access will begin at 12:30 p.m. for the ceremony, again via the north doors.

Those unable to attend may watch the memorial ceremony live on SDPB 2 or Oahe TV.

There will be a funeral procession leaving View 34 restaurant at 5:30 p.m. CDT tomorrow traveling west on Highway 34 to Rapid City. The public is welcome to pay their respects to Walter Dale Miller along the route.

Former Gov. Miller’s funeral service has been set for Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m. MDT at the Calvary Lutheran Church, 5311 Sheridan Lake Rd., Rapid City. Burial will follow at Viewfield Cemetery, near Miller’s Meade County ranch.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard has requested that all flags in the state be lowered to half-staff until sunset on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The flag is customarily displayed from sunrise to sunset, but may be displayed for 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

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Gov. Miller To Lie in State in Capitol

PIERRE, S.D. – Plans are pending for former Gov. Walter Dale Miller to lie in state at the Rotunda of the Capitol Building on Monday morning, Oct. 5, with a memorial service to follow. 

Public viewing will be allowed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. CDT on Monday. The memorial ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. More details will be released later this week.

Arrangements for Gov. Miller’s funeral in Rapid City are still pending.

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From my mailbox, as shared by a reader, comes Paula Hawks’ newest plea for money:

  
 My thought on this…. $5?  She’s asking for $5? 

She does recognize that it’s a race for Congress, and not the state legislature?

Why do I think this first report of hers (which we’ll see about the 15th or so) is going to be brutal?

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but my daughter number two has found herself in the interesting position of being a nominee for the University of South Dakota homecoming queen in her senior year.

I’m told that she is representing the Strollers group in the competition, despite a history of the Strollers group putting out some dubious USD graduates at best. (I’m talking to you Justin Rollins, and Governor Daugaard!)

  
Anyway, if you happen to be enrolled at USD, whether it is for undergraduate or graduate level courses, you have the ability to cast a ballot. And I would just put in my plug tonight for the faithful readers of SDWC to cast at least one of your ballots for Meredith.

She’s already part of the court just by virtue of the organization having selected her, so she’s already a winner. But I would be a bad dad if I didn’t give it at least a mention and a word of encouragement prior to the coronation tomorrow night!

Wow. I mean, wow. From the Argus Leader:

Democratic Party chair Ann Tornberg repeatedly encouraged attendees to circulate a ballot measure petition aimed at creating an independent redistricting committee. She called the existing districts “entirely partisan and gerrymandered.” Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, told attendees about how she circulated the petition to other drivers who were stopped for hours near the site of a fatal car crash. “If I can do it there, you can do it anywhere,” Gibson said.

and…

The candidate challenging Thune in 2016 will be…

Just kidding. No news on that front. With just over 13 months before the 2016 election, the party has yet to select a candidate to run against U.S. Sen. John Thune. Party leadership didn’t acknowledge the hole on the ballot heading into next year, but they indicated individuals interested in exploring a run could go to next months’ training event.

Read it all here.

“Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, told attendees about how she circulated the petition to other drivers who were stopped for hours near the site of a fatal car crash.” And, she admitted it.

Wow.

If the rest of Dems follow Peggy’s crass opportunism, I think accident scenes and funeral homes are going to start putting a ban on petitioners.

Apparently I went to bed last night, and woke up in crazy town. Because, here’s one of the headlines this morning:

Part of the story reads, “People watching this new scandal/suicide/shotgun murder unfold are skeptical that we are getting the complete story, and perhaps not the ACURATE story.”

As we’re treated to a barely literate, incoherent and misspelled sentence explaining all of this, it’s illustrative of the defective and overwhelming leaps in logic that one has to take to believe any of the utter BS spouted by Howie, It’s little more than an exercise in throwing fecal matter against the wall to try to make anything stick against the opponent who delivered a 47 point loss to him in a 4-way race.

What did happen? A family tragedy occurred involving someone who worked for an educational co-op in Platte. This educational co-op, of which there are many across the state, administered a federal grant for an Indian education program, and subbed portions of that out here and there. The State of SD, who had the ability to direct funds, and ensure the program was working, at some point recently didn’t feel that they were getting enough bang for their buck, etcetera, so they yanked the funding.

A short time later, a man who worked at the educational co-op committed suicide, and took his family with him in a horrible tragedy.  What does that have to do with Howie’s claim that it’s all linked to his former political opponent, Senator Rounds? Absolutely and utterly nothing. It’s paranoid and slanderous.

Not to mention it has been over 5 years since Mike Rounds has been governor. 

If we’re to follow Howie’s logical progression, there’s more of a connection between Mike Rounds and executive branch state employees under him who received speeding tickets then there is between Rounds and an employee of the educational cooperative which received a federal grant directed by the Dept of Ed.

Mike Rounds didn’t hire him. Mike Rounds couldn’t fire him.  The only thing the Dept of Ed could do was to watch results progress over time. And at one point, they decided they didn’t like them.

Does the headline blare “Mike Rounds responsible for x% of speeding tickets during his tenure?” No. Because everyone instantly recognizes it as silly. But blare a headline like Howie does with an even more tenuous connection, and it takes on an air of salacious scandal. If the state reviews the results of a federal grant program, and finds it isn’t happy with the effectiveness of the program, and has questions about how it’s being run by the entity running it; I think one would argue that they’re actually doing their job by reviewing it. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

And if they yank the program because they’re not happy with how it’s being done – “Not doing the job I like, find someone else to do it.” – again, that’s what they’re supposed to do.

If an employee of the grant contractor has some sort of breakdown, that has nothing to do with state government. At all. And for Gordon Howie to use the murder of children as the basis for a political attack against an old political foe?

That’s about as slimy as you can get. And it’s little wonder why he can’t poll beyond 3%.

From my mailbox, I have to confess, I did not see this one coming from South Dakota Democrat HQ.

Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 23, 2015
Contact: Suzanne Jones Pranger, (605) 271-5405; [email protected]

Pennington County Democrats Call for Renaming of Harney Peak
Rapid City, SD (September 22, 2015)-

On September 22, 2015, the Pennington County Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for the renaming of Harney Peak, the highest mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The resolution, entitled “PENNINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT FOR RENAMING HARNEY PEAK TO ‘BLACK ELK PEAK,’” encourages the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to approve the formal request of Lakota elder Basil Brave Heart to change the name of Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak.

The resolution states that public comments received by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names included support of the name change by a descendent of General William S. Harney and a descendent of Little Thunder, a leader of a Lakota village destroyed by Harney in 1855. The resolution further states that the existing name of the peak is highly offensive to Native people.

Historian Eric Zimmer, a doctoral candidate at the University of Iowa and a research fellow at the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, provides historical background regarding General Harney, after whom the peak is currently named.

Zimmer notes that Harney “likely never set foot on the mountain. Harney’s actions before and during his time in the Black Hills, moreover, were deplorable under any standard of human decency. While living in St. Louis in 1834, Harney murdered a slave child named Hannah. He was well known for his short temper, and historians have surmised that the girl’s only transgression may have been as minor as misplacing the soldier’s keys. Even in the antebellum South, the attack sparked a public outrage and Harney was indicted for murder. He was ultimately acquitted because, in the repulsive logic of their time, he was a decorated white soldier and she a forgettable slave girl.”

“Harney,” Zimmer continues, then “resumed his military career. Over the years, Harney fought against American Indians in Florida and Illinois, and later against Mexican forces during the US–Mexico War. But it was his exploits at Ash Hollow along Nebraska’s Blue Water Creek that earned Harney the nicknames ‘Mad Bear’ and ‘Woman Killer’ by regional Lakotas.

Following the 1854 Grattan incident, the Army sent Harney to arrest the Lakotas. On the morning of September 2, 1855, Harney’s forces found the Natives camped along Blue Water Creek. Tribal leaders again attempted peace, but Harney ordered an attack that killed eighty-six Lakotas, more than forty of whom were women and children. Aided by two Howitzer machine guns, the soldiers launched their assault then pursued on horseback.”

Changing the name of Harney Peak would follow the historic renaming of North America’s highest mountain, “Mt. McKinley,” to its indigenous name, Denali. President Obama announced that change last month.

The Pennington County Democrats will transmit their Resolution to Mr. Lou Yost, Executive Secretary of the US Board on Geographic Names, Domestic Names Committee by the September 30, 2015 public comment deadline. The public can submit comment, as well, to

Mr. Lou Yost, Executive Secretary
US Board on Geographic Names/Domestic Names Committee
523 National Center
Reston, VA 20192-0523
by September 30, 2015 or via email at [email protected].

###

After we just got done with one round with ‘the board of changing mountain names,’ or whatever they’re called, Democrats are right back at it with a false sense of political correctness.

Unfortunately for them, they don’t seem to know any history with the renaming of Mount McKinley. They forget that the state of Alaska has been asking for this for 75 years or better, and it was long requested by a majority of the state’s residents.

But in South Dakota, the movement to rename Harney Peak represents a fragment of the population, at best, and they can’t even decide amongst themselves what they want to call it. This movement from the South Dakota Democratic Party to put their muscle (and I use that term very lightly) behind renaming the mountain not only seems strange, it would put them at odds with the majority of the population in the state.

Arguably, there would probably be about the same number of people in South Dakota want to change the mountain name as there are who would want to give the Black Hills to Native Americans.

And given how liberal the South Dakota Democratic Party apparatchiks have become, we shouldn’t be surprised if that’s going to be the next press release we see from their leadership.