Former Republican legislator Robert ‘Bob’ A. Roe of Brookings passed away on Friday, November 18, 2016 at his home from pancreatic cancer.
Roe was appointed November 28, 1989, to fill the vacancy of Dean M. Krogman, and served a total off 12 years from 1989 to 2000. He also served as Majority Whip 1995-1998.
After several days, State Dems are sort of shunning Reynold Nesiba after his arrest for unwanted sexual contact, dropping the news late Friday, when they hope no one is paying attention.
At least, they’re going to pretend to sort-of shun him, hoping he’ll get off on the charges:
In a statement Friday, party leaders said Augustana University Professor and Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, would not be allowed to participate in caucus activities pending the outcome of the charges.
And
Party officials said they would reconsider allowing Nesiba to caucus with Democrats following the conclusion of his legal proceedings.
Nesiba was arrested Monday on one count of sexual contact without consent for allegedly making unwanted sexual advances on a woman in September.
From the Argus Leader:
A pair of state Transportation Commission members resigned this week following the enactment of Initiated Measure 22.
Tim Dougherty, a Sioux Falls lawyer and the commission’s chair, and Kathy Zander, executive director of the South Dakota Agri-Business Association, stepped down from their positions on the board because provisions in the new law bar elected and appointed officials from accepting more than $100 in contributions from lobbyists annually.
and…
“IM22 is very badly drafted and it could have all sorts of bizarre unintended consequences,” Venhuizen said.
This is just the start…
From my mailbox:
From: “Wilcox, James C”
Date: November 18, 2016 at 9:11:14 AM PST
Subject: SD Electric Utility Company annual dinner slated for Dec 8 at the Holiday Inn is cancelled.The South Dakota Electric Utility Companies has traditionally held an annual Christmas legislative social in December at the Sioux Falls Holiday Inn. We have been holding this event every December since before World War 2. It has been well attended and I believe folks really look forward to the gathering.
I regret to write to inform you that because of the uncertainty that Initiated Measure 22, recently passed by a vote of the people, has caused, we have decided to cancel this year’s event.
I was told by my mentor Angus C. Anson many years ago that if you think you are going to buy a vote with a meal both you and the legislator involved are in the wrong business. I believe that the folks who devote their lives to public service in South Dakota are of the highest character and in a state like South Dakota where we don’t have enough public funds to support staff for legislators that events like this provide a service to the state as we seek to communicate issues of importance to legislators. In the past the lack of statutory limits on these kinds of events has given lobbyists the knowledge that we have a special obligation to never lie and as importantly never speculate as if you speculate and are wrong it may appear as if you are lying. A lobbyist will get to tell one lie to a legislator and that will be it.
As I do not have email addresses for the newly elected legislators, you will likely also receive a paper letter from me with this same message.
So, we are cancelling this year’s event. I hope to see you again somewhere. My best to you and your family for the holidays. Thank you so much for your service to South Dakota and best wishes for a productive legislative session in 2017.
Sincerely,
Jim Wilcox, Principal Manager
Xcel Energy, South Dakota
Here’s one more you can blame Weiland and Frankenfeld for.
Between this weeks’ political announcements as as well as the ongoing coverage on IM22, traffic is way up, even past that of election week.
Clearly, like me, you’re all excited by elections. As well as confused and concerned as to how IM22 is going to affect you.
That’s contributed to traffic anywhere from 6500-8500 viewers daily. Not hits, but sustained views. That’s over twice how it has typically been running.
Thanks for reading. (And don’t forget we have advertising slots available.)
A reader pointed this out to me this AM. And he made a good point.
So Rick Weiland sponsors a ballot measure that renders it criminally illegal for a state legislator to be married to a lobbyist that earns over $100 in salary from their employer?
If he feels so strongly about it, when he was back working for Tom Daschle, where was his outrage over his boss committing the same type of conduct by being married to lobbyist Linda Daschle who earned a significant salary by lobbying?
Taking a break from our continuing coverage of the problems with Initiated Measure 22, the House Caucus is scheduled to be held this weekend (if the snow doesn’t keep them away).
Here’s how I’m hearing things are shaping up at the moment for the caucus races. This could change on a dime, so don’t hold me to it.
Your thoughts?
As I’m lying in bed, not displeased I get a few extra minutes of downtime from today’s snow day in Brookings, I just had a sickening thought. The whacked-out provisions written by out-of-staters in Initiated Measure 22 may affect me directly. Why?
As part of a loose affiliation of parents who have lobbied for insurance coverage for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), we formed a PAC as the easiest type of collective organization to have a lobbyist speak for us collectively.
You can go to the Secretary of State’s website, and we’re all there. A PAC that has no funds, with our only expense an in-kind donation from the parent who volunteers her time as a lobbyist for her lobbyist registration fees.
But now, IM22 has put a doubly whammy on us for being a PAC, but more importantly for utilizing a lobbyist to speak for our parent group. Because like everyone else, we’re going to be “Section 31’d”:
So, it clearly infringes upon our parent-lobbyist’s right to donate to political campaigns, as well as her husband’s. But if I’m part of the parent group, which raises and spends no money collectively, there’s a question as to whether that applies to me as well. And if it does, I know I’ve donated more than $100 in cash or services to candidates over an election.
And if it’s a collective, aggregated thing for an “employer of a lobbyist,” there’s a question of whether it may have just made our entire group of parents of kids with ASD a pack of outlaws.
Those are the questions little groups like ours have to face as a result of this poorly written and tangled up mess that Initiated Measure 22 is. At the least, we may have to cease using a lobbyist.
It won’t affect the big insurers we have to argue against; they’ll still have lobbyists there. But IM22 will remove our ability. The big guys win, and the small parent groups suffer. Courtesy of Slick Rick Weiland and Don Frankenfeld.
Thanks guys. Thanks for nothing.
That’s great. Keep it all coming!
