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This is an important action by South Dakota’s Junior Senator, Mike Rounds:

Rounds Introduces Bill to Ease Regulatory Burden on Local Banks & Credit Unions

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today introduced the Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk (TAILOR) Act, a bill to require federal regulatory agencies to take risk profiles and business models of institutions into account when crafting regulations.

“Since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, smaller financial institutions in particular have been negatively impacted by burdensome, unnecessary regulations because of disproportionate compliance costs,” said Rounds. “These disproportionate costs and regulatory hurdles have hurt consumers the most. The TAILOR Act would ease the regulatory burden on smaller financial institutions so they can focus their resources on taking care of their customers, rather than spending time and money on regulatory compliance. This will allow them to better meet the needs of families and local businesses, which will in turn lead to a stronger economy and healthier communities across the state.”

“South Dakota is home to some of the smallest and the largest banks in the world, with wide variations in their business models,” said Curt Everson, President of the South Dakota Bankers Association. “Bankers from those institutions agree that today’s one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme doesn’t make sense. We applaud Senator Rounds for introducing the TAILOR Act to start the conversation about matching bank regulation to risk.”

The TAILOR Act would require regulatory agencies, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to take into consideration the risk profile and business models of individual financial institutions and tailor those regulations accordingly. Additionally, the bill requires the regulatory agencies to provide an annual report to Congress outlining the steps they have taken to tailor their regulations.

The TAILOR Act also requires regulators to conduct a review of all the regulations issued by the agencies since the 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. If the review finds that the regulations issued since 2010 do not conform to the TAILOR Act, the agency would be required to revise the regulations.

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This is pretty important news for our state lending institutions, which have seen themselves under increasing attack from the Democrats who have not only been extremely hostile towards the banking and finance industries, but have adopted a “one size fits all” solution in law and regulation, whether it’s J. P. Morgan Chase, or Bankstar out of Elkton, South Dakota.

It’s even more important in terms of the vocal commitment of Democrats to fight any regulatory relief for community lenders. Take a look at what their draft platform for the Democrat Party states with regards to how they want to paint banks with a one-size fits all brush:

from the draft platform section entitled “The Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality.”

 “We will also vigorously implement, enforce, and build on the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and we will stop dead in its tracks every Republican effort to weaken it. We will continue to protect consumers and defend the CFPB from Republican attacks. Our goal must be to create a financial system and an economy that works for all Americans, not just a handful of billionaires. We support a financial transactions tax on Wall Street to curb excessive speculation and high-frequency trading, which has threatened financial markets. We acknowledge that there is room within our party for a diversity of views on a broader financial transactions tax.”

“Democrats will not hesitate to use and expand existing authorities as well as empower regulators to downsize or break apart financial institutions when necessary to protect the public and safeguard financial stability, including new authorities to go after risky shadow-banking activities. Banks should not be able to gamble with taxpayers’ deposits or pose an undue risk to Main Street. Democrats support a variety of ways to stop this from happening, including an updated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall and breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that pose a systemic risk to the stability of our economy.”

Read that here.

If that doesn’t scare the pants off of the business community it should, because it’s going to only serve to limit the availability of credit and choke off lending services in your hometown under ever more burdensome regulations.

That is, unless you want to combine it with more government:

The effort is led by consumer advocates, financial reform groups, postal labor unions and some leading liberals, such as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). They say that offering services such as paycheck cashing, bill payment and free ATMs would provide cash-strapped consumers with an affordable alternative to payday, auto-title and other short-term loans that have been criticized for high fees.

and…

“We can have our Postal Service provide modest banking to low-income people where they can cash their checks and they can do banking,” Sanders said. “I think it will help the post office and it will help millions of low-income people.”

The Postal Service’s inspector general’s office agrees. It estimates that expanding financial services beyond the current limited offerings, which include money orders and international funds transfers, could pump $8.9 billion a year into the financially struggling agency.

“The Postal Service has a public mission to serve citizens and support the growth of commerce,” the inspector general’s office said in a report last spring that presented five potential approaches for expanded banking services. “And while it is required to cover its costs, profit is not its key motive.”

Read it here.

At the same time Democrats in Washington are intent on killing private industry with one-size-fits-all regulation, they’re also trying to replace private industry with yet an expanded government agency. Again. And it has got to stop.

Senator Rounds’ legislation is a common sense step to base regulation on those being regulated, as opposed to a top-down, one-size fits all government solution, which Democrats seem intent to wield as a mace to smash all that stand in their way.

Either Democrats care about what main street needs, or they don’t. It’s as simple as that. And services to main street are best provided by those living there. And Rounds’ TAILOR act is a step in the right direction to meet those needs.

Now that primaries are over, I would like to a few minutes to say ‘Thank you!’ to everyone that ran. It take a huge amount of courage to get the signatures and to offer yourself as a servant to the people. I don’t believe there are any real losers, just some who didn’t get the votes to go on. Everyone whose name was on the ballot deserves a congratulations and thank you.

The primaries are over, the state conventions held, and the nominees have been named; now we move on to the general election. Since I didn’t have a primary, I sat back and watched the process. A couple of things I’m learning; almost everyone has some advice for me, sometimes they even want me to pay for that advice. Each election cycle, each district, each town is different. Any campaign needs to flexible and customized.

The Plan:
Like all good successes, winning elections just don’t happen, there needs to be a plan. This being my first time I looked for help from former winners (now elected) folks. I also scrubbed the internet for some ideas. So far I have:
– This is a marathon, not a sprint, pace yourself, and the money.
– Plan backwards from November 8th 7:00 PM. This is the goal line.
– Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. There are going to be a lot of things that takes you out of your comfort zone.
– Have Fun!
We all know from about labor day going on to November it will be hard core campaigning , any campaign will have to compete with school activities, weather, national campaigns, news and lots of other noise. The best tactic is the simplest, face to face, door to door. Beyond that, there is social media, and traditional media. During the summer months I am doing some door to door as well as some of local events like fairs and such, simply, getting my name ‘out there’. My friends at Parkridge Shoe Repair may be seeing me a bit more often.

The Team:
Besides a plan there needs to be a good team in place.
– The campaign manager – This should not be the candidate, ever. They handle all the day to day functions. They keep the campaign focused and on track.
– The volunteer Coordinator – This can be a tough as you don’t want to burn out the volunteers before you reach the goal line, yet keep them motivated.
– Fundraiser Coordinator – sends out all the letters asking for money, plans those big fundraiser events.
– Finance chair – The one who controls the purse strings. They also line up the big money donors.
There are other positions that will be filled as needed.

The Money:
Signs, brochures, buttons, they all cost money. After talking to several other candidates they all say the same thing, it is a bit uncomfortable asking people for money. The ugly truth is money is needed. There is a couple of ways to raise money for a campaign:
– Sent out letters asking for money
– Dialing for dollars
– Fundraising events
– Political Action Committees (PAC and Super PAC)
– Social media
Every little bit helps. Here is a link to help.

Of course there is much more to learn, and like Senator Peters told me, every year there is something new. Meanwhile I am attending as many local social events, fairs, parades, forums, etc. as I can to put my name in the public.

WOW. How did anyone miss this?

I was poking around on the Dem’s website looking a topic to write on, and found their set of resolutions from the 2016 Democrat State Convention:

SDDP 2016 Approved Resolutions by Pat Powers on Scribd

Of course, as you might expect, there’s the usual stuff mixed in with flights of fancy. A state holiday for ACT testing, because someone doesn’t want to get up early on a Saturday like the rest of the students. Demanding an ethics commission (but omitting anything about publicly funded campaigns), following our Congressional delegation’s lead on IHS funding, expanding medicaid, supporting the legalization of marijuana…..

Wait, what!?!  The South Dakota Democrat Party actually adopted a resolution calling for treating pot like alcohol because “existing South Dakota marijuana laws violate the commitment to meeting every individual’s basic human rights to promote respect for diverse lifestyles and viewpoints and to live in a community without fear of discrimination.”

Who’s “diverse lifestyle” do South Dakota Democrats think is being cramped & discriminated against? Potheads and drug dealers?

It’s been demonstrated that marijuana supporters could not garner the necessary number of petition signatures to put even the medical marijuana measure on the South Dakota ballot, which is a measure that could arguably have broader appeal, if it wasn’t for the fact that the “illness” rate goes up when such measures pass.

But supporting wholesale legalization is another story. That puts people such as Paula Hawks and Jay Williams as the face of a party that wants to put pot stores on main streets in every little town in South Dakota, regulating it “in a manner similar to that of alcohol.”

Such a move might garner the Democrat Party the support of those drug-using diverse lifestyle practitioners who’s support they may be seeking. But it’s going to cement the impression that modern South Dakota Democrats are a bunch of out-of-touch liberal hippies who have no relation to most South Dakota voters.

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Update already! I had an observant reader suggest I google the name of the resolution author…. and let’s just say it was interesting:

Sioux Falls police have confiscated 18 marijuana plants, ten thousand dollars in cash, grow lamps and drug paraphernalia from an eastside home.

Police arrested Paul and Kristina McSweeney last night, after discovering what they believe to be a growing operation in a storage area in their garage. The call initially came in as a family offense, but when police entered the home they got suspicious.

Read that here from KELO in 2007.

Interesting.

One question that inevitably comes up in campaigns from candidates is “If you’re a candidate, should you aggressively pursue money from lobbyists?”

Well, that’s a darned good question. Most lobbyists worth their salt know who the players are out there, and where they stand on issues. Or at least where they say they’ll stand. Some organizations give a little to many candidates, and might get involved if there’s a race they’re particularly concerned about.

But, some candidates don’t consider it a bad thing to throw a line in the water, and see what bites. Such as this letter from Democrat State Representative Karen Soli, who send a letter to her ubiquitous lobbyist “Friends.”

In her first race in 2012, Soli didn’t exactly make a big impact from PAC’s, raising only $763. But fast forward to 2014, after she’d served a term of office, and she had a bit more success:

ksoli_2014general by Pat Powers on Scribd

In 2014, Soli managed to raise $5200 in Political Action Committee funds (both in-State and Out of State), providing her with a far bigger bankroll than she’d had in her previous race, and almost double than she’d been able to raise on her own.

And, she did win by 500 votes, so it’s likely that big influx of cash made a significant difference.

I’m not exactly sold on candidates using the always awful “Dear Friends” generic letter for something like this. I think it would be more important to personalize and point out how your views align with the organization. Or better yet, speak to the organization you want to raise hundreds or thousands from, and let them make the call for support.

What do you think?

Initiated Measure 22, Slick Rick Weiland’s measure to have taxpayers pay for political campaigns, has an official opposition group, “Defeat 22,” which at the onset is comprised of groups such as Americans for Prosperity, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the South Dakota Retailers Association who have banded together to fight this awful legislation to divert taxpayer funds.

And they have a radio ad already prepped and ready to go. 

Update! I have a note from coalition leader Ben Lee of Americans for Prosperity that the Radio ad started running across the state on Friday, July 8th.

Give it a listen, and tell us what you think:

Want to join the fight against 22? Sign up to defeat it Defeat22.com.

An Audit of IHS is Necessary to Improve Health Care of Tribal Members
By Senator Mike Rounds

Over the past year, my office has been looking into the financial, structural and administrative problems at Indian Health Service (IHS) so that we can better understand how to reform the agency and provide better health care for tribal members. As our tribal members know all too well, the IHS has been failing to live up to its trust responsibility to provide health care to Native Americans. Its shortcomings have been documented in a number of Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, yet there has never been a systemic review of IHS to address the health care crisis currently going on in the Great Plains Area, which includes South Dakota. Furthermore, IHS fails to adequately consult with the tribes when making decisions about their health care.

I recently requested an audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the financial aspects of hospital and health care, medical services and overall financial management at IHS. Based on my office’s discussions with tribal leaders, we believe an audit is the appropriate first step toward identifying areas of concern and finding solutions to fix the ongoing problems at the agency.

The audit is supported by both tribal members and officials within HHS. The Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association recently passed a resolution calling upon Congress to demand an audit of IHS. Additionally, during the Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing in Rapid City on June 17, 2016, that I participated in, HHS Acting Deputy Secretary Mary Wakefield said that HHS “would welcome” an audit of IHS.

As I wrote in my request, despite the agency’s well-documented history of failing to meet trust obligations by not providing quality health care, there has never been a systemic review of IHS to address and ultimately reform these issues in attempt to improve health outcomes for tribal members. Furthermore, there has been a continuing lack of consultation with the tribes. I believe an audit – similar to what was recently conducted at the Veterans Health Administration, which identified shortfalls and recommended solutions – is a potential model for addressing these critical financial and quality issues within IHS.

The problems at IHS are serious. The Great Plains Area IHS has the second highest mortality rate among all IHS regions. We also have the highest diabetes death rate, more than triple the average among IHS facilities. Our life expectancy rate is the lowest of all IHS regions, at 68.1 years. The U.S. average life expectancy is nearly a decade longer at 77.7 years. It is clear the IHS is failing our tribal members, who are suffering and in some cases dying due to this inadequate and disgraceful care. We are hopeful that the audit will show us specific areas we can focus on to begin making significant changes.

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