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From tonight at ArgusLeader.com, it sounds as if there’s a move afoot to push lobbyists out of the Senate chamber areas:

State Senate leaders are proposing new rules that would block lobbyists from the chamber and adjacent hallways during working hours.

Supporters of the rule change said lobbyists on the floor and in the hallway to one side of the chamber have become too much of a distraction. The committee deferred action Thursday but is likely to take up the proposal again next week.

and…

At least one member of the committee, Sen. Terri Haverly, R-Rapid City, said she wasn’t sure why the panel was taking up the debate Thursday.

“I don’t have a problem saying, ‘Leave me alone,’ so I don’t know why we need this,” she said.

The committee is set to reconvene as early as Tuesday to vote on the proposal. After the panel decides whether to adopt the rule change, Senate President Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, will have the authority to implement it as he sees fit.

Greenfield following the meeting told reporters that he would likely restrict state employee lobbyists during the full work day, as that is what senators have supported, and would restrict private lobbyists during the three hours before floor session, during session and in the hour following unless they have an invitation. He said if any problems developed that he would loosen the restrictions.

Read it here.

I read that story tonight with some mixed feelings.

In years’ past, there has been some discussion around moving many of the state employees/agency lobbyists or “blue badges” out, as many legislators see that as an encroachment of the executive branch upon their turf. They feel that branch of government is powerful enough without swarming the 3rd & 4th floors with their numbers.

But as noted in the story, pushing out other lobbyists…. well, that’s a bit more of an issue. Yes, there are industry lobbyists who try to get legislators to pass bills designed to help the company line. But there are also other lobbyists who want to have their say.

So, should legislators push out representatives for Right to Life from the hallway next to their chamber? Or the Concerned Women of America?  Or in the case of a group that I and other parents formed for the purposes of having our voices efficiently and collectively heard – should they kick the “Parents for Autism Insurance Reform” out of that side of the capitol because we organized as a group?

Absolutely not.  In fact, it’s a bit of an affront to citizen groups large and small, many of whom are the envelope lickers and door knockers for the people who are talking about kicking us out.

Do what you have to do to assert your independence among the branches of government.   And when it comes to citizen groups, If you’re busy, just tell the people trying to talk to you. That’s ok. We can handle that. That’s just good manners.

But don’t throw citizen lobbyists out with the bathwater.

Wow! That came unexpectedly and early. But as far as Dusty Johnson is concerned, I suspect it is nonetheless very welcome:

Congressional candidate and Mitchell resident Dusty Johnson will have a powerful ally on his quest to earn a seat in the U.S. Capitol in 2018.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard told The Daily Republic on Thursday he would endorse his former chief of staff of four years for the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives if Johnson enters the race.

Read it all here.

If you recall my post yesterday where the multiple domains for Shantel Krebs were pointed at the servers for Aberdeen media company production monkeys on November 30th of last year, apparently the naughty monkeys are at it again.

After my story, it looks like – possibly the same party – did the same thing to a couple of domains for Neal Tapio. Possibly to throw people of the scent, but if you look at the date when it was done (yesterday) it dispels any myth that it was done at the same time.

I’m in the process of sprucing up one of my long neglected features, the SDWC Daily Digest, as you’ll note the re-addition of a sign-up on the left side of the page. If you’re interested, all you need is a name (I’m assuming most have that) and an e-mail address to sign up. Also, note how you prefer messages, plain text or fancy with pictures.

Not everyone checks out the Internet on an hourly basis, so it’s a nice way to catch all the day’s activity at once, as sent out at 11pm nightly.

From the Argus Leader:

Argus Leader Media News Director Cory Myers was arrested Saturday night for suspected drunken driving following a traffic stop on Interstate 229 in Lincoln County.

and..

Myers has been news director since early December and has been with the organization for 11 years.

Read it here.

News Director since early December.  This might be a short tenure.

Dusty Johnson Campaign Raises $104,000 in First Few Weeks

Congressional candidate and former Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson raised more than $104,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016, despite being in the race for only a few weeks.

“People are excited Dusty is running,” said campaign treasurer Greg McCurry. “We are just getting started, but the response to his race is incredible.”

Johnson received significant support from donors large and small. More than two-thirds of his donations were for less than $1000 and his most common contribution was for $100.

Johnson lives in Mitchell with his wife and three sons. He works as an executive for Vantage Point Solutions, a telecommunications engineering and consulting firm.

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Thune to Secretary of Transportation Nominee: South Dakota Depends on Effective, Efficient Transportation System

“Without a robust and efficient transportation sector, rural states like mine would be unable to get their goods to market.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today stressed to President-elect Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao, how important that role is to South Dakota. Thune noted that there are 10,000 transportation-related jobs in South Dakota and that the state’s economy depends on an effective and efficient transportation system. Thune also suggested that a top priority for the next secretary of transportation should be safety. The agency should avoid one-size-fits all solutions and instead offer a wide range of tools to combat unique safety challenges, like South Dakota has done with its 24/7 sobriety program to combat impaired driving.

Excerpts from Thune’s prepared remarks:

On the transportation system’s importance to South Dakota’s economy:

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the transportation sector employs over 12 million people nationwide and contributes nearly $1.4 trillion to the nation’s economy, or 8.6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. In my home state of South Dakota, this translates into approximately 10,000 jobs. 

“But, these numbers only begin to tell the story, because so much of our economy is dependent on a thriving transportation sector.

“For example, without a robust and efficient transportation sector, rural states like mine would be unable to get their goods to market. 

“Increasing the capacity and efficiency of our nation’s highways, rail lines, pipelines, and ports is crucial, and will have to be a top priority for the next Secretary of Transportation.”

On the need for safety:

“While our nation’s pipelines, railroads, airways, and highways have a strong record of safety, improvements can and should be made. 

“Of course, it will be important to avoid one-size-fits all solutions on safety. 

“Instead, the Department must offer a range of tools to combat unique safety challenges, as South Dakota has done with its innovative 24/7 sobriety program to combat impaired driving.

“Many of the strong safety improvements this Committee advanced as part of the FAST Act and PIPES Act last Congress are yet to be implemented, and we will expect our next Secretary of Transportation to work with us to ensure speedy implementation. 

“We will also have the opportunity to collaborate on safety improvements when we revisit the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration later this year.”

On Elaine Chao’s nomination to serve as secretary of transportation:

“To my colleagues, I would say that, if you were to imagine an ideal candidate to tackle these challenges, it would be hard to come up with a more qualified nominee than the one before us. 

“In addition to serving for eight years as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Secretary Chao has also served as the Deputy Secretary of the department she’s now been tapped to lead. 

“Her extensive experience also includes leading the United Way of America, the Peace Corps, and the Federal Maritime Commission. 

“Secretary Chao, you have consistently proven your willingness to roll up your sleeves and address the challenges facing our nation.

“I would like to thank you for testifying today and for your willingness to continue your record of service to the country.” 

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I came across something interesting today.  Several web domains were quietly purchased on November 30th this past year in relation to the race for Congress in South Dakota…

All the domains were registered anonymously, and with privacy protection services…

…so you can’t really tell who registered the domains. Except for one thing.  Without exception, every single one of the domains are pointed to these servers: 

Interesting. That’s a name we haven’t seen for a couple of years in South Dakota statewide political campaigns.  If you aren’t familiar with productionmonkeys.com, you should be. Production Monkeys of Aberdeen, South Dakota is the media company that handled media and campaign promotion for Stace Nelson for US Senate in his third place Republican primary finish against US Senator Mike Rounds, and newly sworn-in State Representative Larry Rhoden.

You could speculate that these domains were purchased for …er, speculation on them, as Shantel Krebs could be simply musing over making a run for Congress. Or Production Monkeys might be looking to sell them to her, or preventing her from buying them herself. But there’s a couple of things that would give an indication that there’s more afoot.

First and foremost, I notice that none of these domains are parked in a generic manner.  When they registered them all this past November, instead of leaving them at the default settings, someone made sure they were directly pointed at the assigned name servers for productionmonkeys.com. So, all someone has to do is to add some numbers to DNS settings and *poof* they’re instantly live.

In addition, Kreb’s campaign aide, and office PIO Jason Williams hails from Aberdeen, the same town as Production Monkeys.  And I believe he knows the company principal, which could explain why Production Monkeys are getting the work for a possible campaign run.

Looking at the campaign finance side of things, while former PUC Commissioner and Daugaard chief of staff Dusty Johnson filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission on November 17th, as of today, there are currently no filings that have been made for the 2018 Congressional race to indicate anyone else is running. Yet.

I haven’t been able to suss out if there’s any partially finished web pages or videos out there, ala Paula Hawks’ ill-fated run 2 years ago.  But, at least on the surface, there definitely appears to be something afoot with all the Krebs related domains purchased on 11/30 pointing at the servers for a South Dakota media/web company who isn’t entirely unfamiliar with statewide campaigns as of late.

Out-of-State, Dark Money Attacking South Dakota Public Officials

Pierre, SD – January 11, 2017 – South Dakota Republican Party Executive Director Ryan Budmayr called on Represent.us to stop slandering respected public servants. 

“Represent.us lied to South Dakotans and put IM22 on the ballot knowing it was unconstitutional.  Rather than helping the legislature fix their flawed measure, this Massachusetts group is spending thousands more in out-of-state money to attack South Dakota’s public servants.” said Executive Director Budmayr.

Represent.us spent nearly one million dollars during the 2016 election to pass IM22.  The sponsors of the bill were told by the Legislative Research Council, a nonpartisan public body, that the bill was unconstitutional.  Rather than fixing the flaws, Represent.us carried out a misleading ad campaign about the contents of the bill, a 17,000 word, 64 section, measure.

In December of 2016, a South Dakota Judge enjoined IM 22, openly and intensely questioning its constitutionality.

“Many legislators make a commitment to our state at the cost of their professions, and time with families. These public servants do not deserve to be drug into the mud and lied about publicly by a dark money, out-of-state group”, Budmayr said. 

Represent.us is a dark money 501(c)(4) organization that is not required to report its donors. Of the nearly $1 million dollars spent in the 2016 election, 98% was donated from outside the state. Represent.us provided the vast majority of these out-of-state funds.

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On Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Noem Helps Introduce New Provisions to Support Survivors

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Kristi Noem today joined Rep. Ann Wagner and more than a dozen colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Trafficking Survivors Relief Act.  If enacted, the legislation would establish a process in which trafficking survivors with non-violent federal offenses could petition a court to vacate the arrests and/or convictions that were a direct result of being trafficked. 

According to a recent survey by the National Survivor Network, around 80 percent of trafficking survivors surveyed had lost or not received employment because of their criminal convictions.  Around half had suffered from barriers to accessing housing. 

“Traffickers often use drugs and alcohol as a means of control, deepening a victim’s dependence on the trafficker,” said Noem.  “Many survivors escape to face a stack of legal paperwork for violations committed while under a trafficker’s control.  That makes it extremely difficult for a person to get their feet back under them and move forward.  I’m hopeful this legislation will help relieve survivors of the past, open doors for them, and offer a path forward where healing can begin.

Introduced on January 11, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act has been supported by the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, the National Survivor Network, the District Attorneys Association, and others. 

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