Category: Uncategorized

During Girls State this past week (where my #4 Daughter was in residence) the Girls Staters interviewed and featured Congresswoman Kristi Noem, where it went on-line in the Volante:

She couldn’t figure out why the government wanted to tax all of their farmland after the tragedy. That’s when she decided to peruse government.

Noem decided to run for the legislature in 2006.

In 2010 she ran for Congress and was chosen to represent South Dakota in Washington, D.C. When she went to Washington, D.C., she was surprised by how many South Dakotans were in the nation’s Capital.

and…

Delegates such as Brook Fraasch, Los Angeles, thought because Noem came from a similar background of many of the girls, that made her influential.

Elaine Hines, also from Los Angeles, said Noem represents South Dakota well by staying connected, and she keeps the values of the South Dakota residents.

At the end of her presentation, Noem gave advice: “Don’t be afraid of failing. This week you might be running for different offices and positions, and you might not get the first one or the second one or even the third one. Try again.”

Read it here.

From Politico, John Thune shows us that he doesn’t just run for office, he does push-ups for it:

DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY-TWO: Do you want to see senators doing pushups? Better yet, pushups for a good cause? Of course you do. Lawmakers around Capitol Hill have been challenging each other to participate in the 22 pushup challenge to bring attention to veteran suicide prevention. Here’s the latest from South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who not only rocks the challenge but does so in a cobalt blue bro tank: https://goo.gl/QF501h

Per @SenatorTimScott, took the #22pushups challenge. How bout it @marcorubio, @JerryMoran, @SenSchumer?

A video posted by Senator John Thune (@senjohnthune) on Jun 4, 2016 at 2:12pm PDT

Read it all here.

Just received this from a District 19 reader who was unfortunate enough to receive this Robocall over the dinner hour from State Senate Stace Nelson. They described it as “angry, and not just a little bizarre” going into the last day of campaigning before the vote on June 7th:

Ironically, I’m told that Monday there is a court hearing in the long quiet Robocall civil trial where Rushmore PAC is attempting to hold Nelson and others financially responsible for calling a number of cell phone numbers without permission a couple of years back. So using robocalls in attack ads for his campaign is familiar territory for the former State Representative.

Anyway, getting back to today’s Sunday dinner robocall, the sender wasn’t impressed, and found it an odd choice for the day when people are supposed to practice being a Christian, especially when Nelson is complaining that he’s not the one using negative campaigning….. in a very negative campaign robocall.

There is speculation that this past weeks’ Wollmann postcard and other campaign efforts by his opponent may have Nelson rattled. Going hard negative at a time when candidates typically keep it positive doesn’t do anything to dispel that rumor.

In yet another postcard issued for the primary, State Senate Candidate Lance Russell takes Bruce Rampelberg to task for his vote in favor of the educational tax plan passed by the state legislature – a plan that cost District 30 teachers.

In education funding formula changes, there will always be winners and losers, and in this case, it may very well cost Rampelberg his seat, as conventional wisdom has Russell running stronger than the incumbent because of this, and Rampelberg’s support for a Democrat-led State Income tax effort in 2015 & 16.

South Dakota’s Pheasants Depend On It
By Sen. John Thune

Particularly to locals, “South Dakota” and “pheasant hunting” are nearly synonymous. And for hunting enthusiasts around the country and the world, spending the third weekend in October in the pheasant capital of the world can be something dreams are made of. As important as pheasant hunting is to South Dakota’s traditions, it’s just as important – if not more – to the state’s economy. And while there’s an undeniable tie between South Dakota’s vast landscape and the bounty it offers, so too is there a critical link between the survival of the state’s pheasant population and the availability of adequate habitat for them to reproduce, grow, and thrive.

According to the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Department, pheasant hunting accounted for a $170.1 million infusion into the state’s economy last year alone. That includes obvious purchases like hunting licenses, shotgun shells, and hunting vests, but it also includes residual expenses like hotel rooms, meals at cafes and restaurants, and last-minute items purchased from local sporting goods or hardware stores.

While $170.1 million is an impressive figure on its own, what’s more impressive is that 82 percent of that revenue came from non-resident hunters. That means 82 cents of every dollar spent statewide on pheasant hunting-related purchases in 2015 were spent by someone with a non-South Dakota zip code. If you take Tripp County alone as an example, the county in which the most pheasant hunting-related money was spent, that figure jumps to 93 cents on the dollar.

It’s with that in mind that we must continue to make South Dakota a lucrative place for hunters to travel and spend their hard-earned money. There are a lot of factors that go into keeping our state one of the world’s top hunting destinations, and South Dakotans go above and beyond to make sure that happens year after year. But without the pheasants, there’s no pheasant hunting, so here enters the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

I’ve been a frequent and vocal supporter of CRP because of the opportunities it creates for landowners and hunters alike. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a frequent pheasant hunter myself, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits this program creates for the pheasant population here in South Dakota. That’s why I was so disappointed to learn that during the most recent general CRP sign-up, just two out of the 727 general CRP applications in South Dakota were approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). To put it another way, of the 42,000 acres that were applied for, less than one-quarter of one percent were approved.

After learning about these disappointing results, I led the South Dakota congressional delegation, including Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Kristi Noem, in writing to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to reevaluate the selection process for the general CRP sign-up, because what happened in South Dakota this year shouldn’t happen again. We also requested that absent new general CRP sign-ups in South Dakota, continuous CRP acres – which are just as important, but have different qualifications – be allocated in a timely manner.

Conservation is an investment in the future, which means we should be focused on pheasants and their habitat in the off season just as much as we are ahead of opening weekend in October. I will continue to fight for CRP and encourage our farmers, ranchers, and other landowners to take advantage of this unique opportunity to literally help lay the groundwork for the future of pheasant hunting in South Dakota.

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The Future of South Dakota is Bright
By Senator Mike Rounds

This time of year, many South Dakota young people are preparing to enter a new chapter of life. High school graduates will soon leave home for the first time to attend college or technical school, and college graduates are putting their hard-earned degrees to use by entering the workforce. It makes me proud to see so many young South Dakotans pursue an education and advance their careers.

I was also impressed by the young people I recently met at Boys State and Girls State. Boys State and Girls State are weeklong leadership programs, hosted by the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, where some of the top students in the state gather to learn more about the political process and public service. It was great to see so many ambitious, talented South Dakota high school students and hear their ideas for making our state an even better place to call home. During our visit, I shared with them my hope that they would stay in South Dakota, make a home here and continue to enrich our communities.

South Dakota is a great place to live, work and raise a family. Jean and I have lived in South Dakota our entire lives, and we cannot think of a better place to call home.  Our way of life here is second to none. We still do business with a handshake, can count on our neighbors in times of need and have strong morals and values that guide our day-to-day life.

It is also a great place to work. According to Forbes Magazine, South Dakota is the number one state for business. Unlike many major urban centers across the country, our cities and towns are home to thriving small businesses.

Additionally, our tax rate is very low. This means that hard-working South Dakotans get to take home more of their paycheck each month. That is money that can be used to buy a home, save for the future, raise a family or be reinvested back into our economy. In fact, South Dakota has the fifth highest per capita disposable income, adjusted for cost of living, in the entire country. According to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, we also have the best business climate for entrepreneurs who are interested in starting their own companies.

When I am working in Washington, it is easy to get frustrated by partisan gridlock and political rancor. That’s why it is so refreshing to be home on weekends and spend our constituent work periods traveling the state, where common sense prevails and things get done.

It is also refreshing to see so many young and talented South Dakotans excited about their futures and the future of our state. As they grow into young adults and position themselves to become our next leaders, I hope they consider a life in South Dakota. Not only is it a great place to work and start a career, it offers a quality of life in which families can thrive and prosper.

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Women, Peace, and Security
By Rep. Kristi Noem

We live in very troubling times. Groups like ISIL are determined to destroy us and our system of values. Our allies, including Israel and South Korea, endure unremitting military threats.  Russia and China are using economic and military forces to expand their global influence.  Middle East instability – particularly as it relates to the Syrian civil war – is pushing millions of refugees into Europe and raising questions about the impact such an influx will have on their borders, economy, and safety as well as America’s national security.  With so much conflict occurring, it may go without saying that peace negotiations are ongoing.

One of the more interesting bits of research that’s been done on our conflict-resolution processes in recent years indicates that a peace agreement is 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years when women are involved.  We’ve seen this to be true in places like Northern Ireland, Africa, and Asia, for instance.  Still, women are often underrepresented when it comes to preventing conflicts and building peace.  During recent talks in Afghanistan, Burundi, South Sudan, and Uganda, for example, women have been asked to fill only small roles, if any at all.  This strategy misses out on the important perspectives that women bring to the table.

Women can be very influential forces within a community.  They are often times empowered to encourage healthy choices within the home and advocate for their children to be armed with an education – both of which help lead to greater stability by giving young people opportunity outside of conflict.  Women’s roles in the global economy also help raise countries out of poverty, which again promotes stability.  In fact, women are the sole income-earners in nearly one-third of all households worldwide.  By bringing these perspectives to the negotiating table, different priorities often rise to the top, making peace negotiations more likely to address a conflict’s underlying causes.

With all this in mind, I introduced a bill called the Women, Peace, and Security Act recently.  This bipartisan legislation – which has the support of the leading Republican and Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee – ensures women have a seat at the table during peace negotiations through meaningful congressional oversight.

In 2011, the Obama administration issued a “National Action Plan” on women’s involvement in conflict resolution.  However, despite pledges to work with Congress and monitor progress, the administration has provided very little visibility into what, if any, progress has been made and what has been done or spent in accordance with the plan.  Our legislation will help introduce that necessary level of accountability and by doing so, I’m hopeful we can produce more sustainable outcomes during future conflict resolution and peace negotiation processes.

Particularly in areas where increased stability creates greater security for the United States, we need to make sure the work we are doing produces lasting results.  My legislation is but one instrument in a toolbox our military and diplomatic leaders can use when looking to produce long-term peace.  Nonetheless, given that about half of all peace agreements fail within the first five years, U.S. foreign policy and security interests could benefit from deploying this tool more consistently.  If the Women, Peace, and Security Act is enacted, that’s something we’ll be able to much better monitor.

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Supporting Renewable Energy in South Dakota
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

In the past decade South Dakota has seen tremendous job creation and capital investment in renewable energy. Wind power has led the way by contributing over $2 billion in direct capital investment and directly creating well over 500 new jobs. Those wind power jobs are in operations and maintenance, construction, manufacturing and many support sectors. In addition, wind projects produce lease payments for landowners and increase the tax base for local governments and school districts.

Wind power provides a secure, domestic, and sustainable source of energy for our state and nation. On average, over 25 percent of South Dakota’s power generation comes from wind power. Currently in South Dakota and across the globe wind power is reducing our electricity prices. Wind power works well with our baseload power resources like hydroelectric, coal-fired and natural gas fired power plants. In fact, if you add hydropower generated in South Dakota, we generate over 75 percent of our power from renewables.  Having a diverse energy portfolio like South Dakota’s can help to protect against volatile prices and changing national and global policies.

South Dakota today has over 980 megawatts of wind power capacity that produce enough energy to power over 260,000 homes. Our wide open spaces and high quality wind resource can provide much more wind power for the citizens of our state and for those in the eastern United States that do not have a great wind resource.  Today, South Dakota is ranked number three in the nation for wind energy development potential, but only ranked eighteenth in installed wind power capacity. We have come a long way but we still have the opportunity to improve our rankings by continuing to grow this industry in South Dakota in the years to come.

This past year I supported and signed a bill which provides a new incentive to develop solar power projects by taxing them similarly to how wind projects are taxed. This change makes South Dakota’s tax system much more competitive with neighboring states that have already developed solar projects. Although our state’s solar power potential is small in comparison to our wind power potential, I still believe we have room for solar development. Recently I have been encouraged to learn about several solar power projects being developed now in South Dakota.

South Dakota has an excellent business environment, as shown by numerous national rankings.  Renewable energy development will continue to play a crucial role in creating new jobs and growing our economy. I will continue to promote the expansion of renewable energy, including South Dakota’s excellent wind resource, within our state given its many economic and environmental advantages. It needs to be part of South Dakota’s answer to the nation’s future energy needs. I hope you can join me in support for more renewable energy development in South Dakota.

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