Category: Uncategorized

There’s an interesting story this AM from KCCR Radio that two of the people involved in the mishandling of GEAR UP program funds may also have some ‘splainin’ to do in terms of how Lower Brule Schools have been run for the Reservation:

A new report from the US Department of Justice indicates over 1.3 million dollars in federal grant money was spent on unallowable costs on the Lower Brule Reservation.

According to Arvind Ganesan from Human Rights Watch, two familiar names Scott Westerhuis and Stacy Phelps, were also a part of the flow of money…

Read, and listen to the story here.

Apparently, the entity under question, AIII, had been brought in to run schools for the reservation.

In the face of many primaries this year, there might be one less. According to the Secretary of State’s web site, Republican David Bergan has officially withdrawn his candidacy for the GOP Nomination for the Senate contest.

Alex Jensen had been looking at it, but had not filed papers, and decided to pass as well.  Unless another challenger emerges, Jack Kolbeck will have the opportunity to have the GOP Nomination all to himself up until the fall campaigns start. (Not that he’s going to complain).

Charles “Chuck” Haan is climbing up on that old horse to give it another try.

This past election, he had tried to sue to get on the ballot after being nominated by the Constitution Party. Not by filing petitions or anything mind you, he just did it on their say so.   And he just didn’t fare very well.

He also tried to sue Kristi Noem in 2013. And did about as well as he did getting on the ballot. In other words, he got his silly butt kicked all over the courtroom.

Fast forward to 2016, he has petitions to run as an independent candidate in the District 5 House race. And they’re actually filed in a proper manner.   Wonders may never cease.  But that doesn’t mean his candidacy is going anywhere.

Stay tuned.

Today, Milbank City Administrator Jason Kettwig announced his candidacy for the District 4 House race as a Republican.

Kettwig noted “I have been a Milbank resident for the since 2003. I have owned TJ since July of 2003. I have been the cut administrator since June of 2005. I have been in the military for the past 21 years. I spent 4 years on active duty and the remainder of the time has been spent in the South Dakota national guard. I have deployed twice once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. I am currently the battalion commander for the 139th Brigade Support Battalion in Brookings SD.”

“I am running for the District 4 house seat because I feel I bring a unique amount of experience to the job. With my experience in local government I feel that I can bring a real world perspective to Pierre that benefit the small communities in district 4. I love and appreciate the small town way of life and will work to ensure that the small communities have a voice in Pierre.”

When asked how it would affect his position with the City of Milbank, Kettwig noted, “If elected there will be an adjustment period for the city of Milbank however every business or employer that sends a representative to Pierre has a similar adjustment period. It is the nature of our representative form of government. I will still be available to the citizens of Milbank during the legislative session.”

The Wall Street Journal has an article this evening on Slick Rick Weiland’s proposal to eliminate party from the ballot, so he won’t have to run as a Democrat anymore:

In South Dakota, where the shadow of Mount Rushmore’s presidents looms large, political parties could become nearly invisible on ballots.

and…

Some Republicans in South Dakota say the ballot initiative is simply a desperate ploy by Democrats to overcome their struggle to win statewide elected posts. When Republicans swept all statewide races in the 2014 midterms, they reduced the party of former Sens. George McGovern and Tom Daschle to its lowest representation since 1962.

“This is ‘we can’t achieve power, so we’re changing the rules,’ ” said Sioux Falls resident Joel Rosenthal, a tractor parts salesman and former chairman of the state’s Republican Party.

Other Republicans see no need to tinker with a system that already works.

“I don’t believe there’s a problem with our current nominating process,” said the state’s senior U.S. senator, Republican John Thune.

Read it here.

And Joel is 100% correct. Dems have let their party go so badly they have to change the rules because they feel they can’t compete.

Maybe they should look in the mirror, instead of blaming the rest of us.

Posted on the UJS website today:

Media Advisory03/28/2016

Contact: Tony Venhuizen or Kelsey Pritchard  | http://sd.gov 

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS: Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Chief Justice David Gilbertson will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, March 30, to make an announcement. The Governor and Chief Justice will be joined by a special guest. The announcement will take place in the Governor’s Large Conference Room in the Capitol Building. 

That’s interesting…  And curious. Is there an impending retirement and new Chief Justice coming?

Wiik Announces Senate Bid

District 4 Representative John Wiik, (R) Big Stone City, is launching a run for the South Dakota Senate for District 4. The first term Representative served on the House Commerce and Energy Committee, the House Taxation Committee, and is currently the Vice Chairman of the River Basin Natural Resource District Oversight Advisory Task Force.

With the retirement of Senator Jim Peterson, (D) Revillo, the District 4 Senate seat is open. District 4 includes all of Grant and Deuel Counties, and the rural areas of Brookings and Codington Counties in Northeastern South Dakota, including 30 small towns and 10 school districts. “I hope to bring my record of common sense conservative principles to represent District 4 in the South Dakota Senate.”

John Wiik is the Parts Manager of The Shop, Inc. in Big Stone City, a Truck and Auto Repair and Towing Business owned and operated by the Wiik family. John lives in Big Stone City with his wife of 14 years Chelsey, and their two sons, Connor and Cody, who attend Big Stone School. John and his family are active members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Henry, SD, where John serves as Mission
Treasurer/Secretary on the Church Council.

We’re finding out this morning that slick Rick Weiland isn’t just a snake oil salesman. Courtesy of a Weiland backed measure, we’re finding out that he’s actually a two-faced snake oil salesman!

A press release out this morning on Amendment V (allowing Democrats to hide their party affiliations on the ballot) notes…

Amendment V – Non-Partisan Elections will:

• Place all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, on one primary ballot for voters to decide.

• Advance the two candidates who win the highest number of votes to the general election.

• Prevent taxpayer dollars from being wasted on private party elections.

Take note of the part where it cites as a reason to support the ballot measure that it will “Prevent taxpayer dollars from being wasted on private party elections.”  The release goes on further to note Slick Rick Weiland as one of the campaign’s co-chairs.

An uninformed observer might take that all at face value. … But what about the other ballot measure that Slick Rick is sponsoring, Initiated Measure 22?  IM22, is described in part by the Attorney General as creating “a publicly funded campaign finance program for statewide and legislative candidates.“

So, out of one of his mouths, Weiland is grousing about taxpayer dollars being spent on party elections. But at the same time, the mouth on his other face is promoting a measure that sends taxpayer dollars straight into the pockets of politicians.

Did we forget to mention that the promoters of Weiland’s other measure tries to hide that major premise of their act?

You’ve got to love liberal politicians! And it’s little wonder why people don’t trust them.

With the final day of session for the year for the purposes of addressing the Governor’s vetoes coming on the same day as the final day of legislative petitions, there’s certain to be a significant pile of petitions coming in the door of the Secretary of State’s office tomorrow.

We’re still missing candidates who have announced, as well as a significant number of current legislators who haven’t said no. So, I’d anticipate an explosion in the number of candidates (at least on the Republican side) as well as an increase in the number of primaries.

I heard word of at least two new primaries over the weekend that could arise. But, talk is cheap. It all depends on who files, and – in their first test of the election – who managed to meet the first challenge of the election in following the instructions of “how to fill out an election petition.”

And as I think I note every election, if you’re going to mail it, do so REGISTERED MAIL. There’s a good reason for it.  As I noted two years ago…

Under South Dakota Election law, the definitions expressly note that “Registered mail,” does not include certified mail;”   and more specifically:

12-6-4.   Petition required to place candidate’s name on primary ballot–Place of filing. Except as provided by § 12-5-4 and as may be otherwise provided in chapter 12-9, no candidate for any office to be filled, or nomination to be made, at the primary election, other than a presidential election, may have that person’s name printed upon the official primary election ballot of that person’s party, unless a petition has been filed on that person’s behalf not prior to January first, and not later than the last Tuesday of March at five p.m. prior to the date of the primary election. If the petition is mailed by registered mail by the last Tuesday of March at five p.m. prior to the primary election, the petition shall be considered filed.

Read it all here.

and….

Basically, Registered mail is about the most secure form of mailing one can do. Most importantly, it provides a chain of custody at every step of the way. The posted item has its details recorded in a register to enable its location to be tracked.

Plus, it’s what the statute calls for. If you can’t pass the test of getting your petitions in to run for the legislature, is it really such a good idea to be making decisions that affect people’s lives?

So, now you can’t say you weren’t told.  If you’re mailing your petitions in – SEND THEM REGISTERED MAIL.

And you can read that here if you’re so inclined.

I was thinking about this over the weekend, and it reminded me of my first election working for the GOP.

We had managed to dig up a candidate at the last moment to run on the very last day for a seat held by a Dem in the district including Ft. Pierre. We ran all over town trying to find 50 or so Ft. Pierre residents to sign. We had enough signatures with the petitions being carried by the candidate himself.

And unfortunately, he strolled at a leisurely pace into the State Capitol, and met us at the Secretary of State’s office at approximately 5:05 pm. It was like a punch in the gut.

That night, I bolted up in bed. Hindsight always kicks in when you’re about to go to sleep. AAARRGGGHH! we could have driven his petitions out to Hayes and mailed them registered mail before the 5pm deadline.  Why? because the law is not specific on time zones.  It just says “by the last Tuesday of March at five p.m. prior to the primary election.”*

When I mentioned it the next day? The staff agreed that if someone can’t follow the simple instruction to show up before 5pm to turn in their own petitions… they probably weren’t a good candidate to begin with.

(* if anyone claims it’s 5pm Central Time, show me where it says that. The law is silent on it. It just says 5 p.m.)

In Saturday’s mail I received what I assume to first of many candidate mailings

This one was from the Secretary of State

There was also note telling me to file a Statement of Organization within 15 days of the filing of my petition.

I was okay until I came to this:

I do so many….

-Internet and Video Technician
-Sales person
-Journalist
-Social Media Manager
-Parent
-Master Control Operator

Some how, I don’t think I can include this entire list.