Category: Uncategorized

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.

Last week, we noted that Democrats had an unusually low number of people with petitions in. And it’s not that much better this week.

Right now among legislative races, Republicans are fielding 27 Republican Candidates in Senate races, with several facing off in primaries, and Democrats are up to 14 candidates as we head into the final week.  On the House side, Republicans have 60 candidates to Democrats’ 25.

At 39 candidates total, while it represents a doubling of the candidates they had a week ago, this leaves Democrats still woefully short of the 105 candidates that Ann Tornberg had promised her party followers.

While Democrats added twenty in the last week, the GOP added 25 from their previous week total of 62 to bring the total up to 87.

Planning Your Trip to Washington, D.C.
By Senator Mike Rounds

For more than 100 years, people from all over the world have been visiting Washington, D.C., during the spring to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossom trees lining the National Mall and Tidal Basin along the Potomac River. The Japanese cherry trees, a gift to the city of Washington from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo in 1912, are to represent the strong relationship between Japan and the United States. The official National Cherry Blossom Festival began in 1927 and has expanded over the years. The nearly five-week-long event now brings more than 1.5 million people to our nation’s capital annually.

Many South Dakotans visit Washington, D.C., to see the cherry blossoms each year. Whether you’re visiting on business, vacationing with your family or you’re on a school trip, spring is a great time to take in all the historic landmarks and cultural institutions our vibrant capital city has to offer. My D.C. office staff is happy to help arrange tours for you at some of Washington’s most iconic sites.

Members of my staff offer private tours of the U.S. Capitol building to visitors from South Dakota. We can also help line up tours for you at the White House, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Department of the Treasury, the Washington Monument and many more attractions. For a full list of monuments and museums, or to submit a tour request, visit the tour page on my website at www.rounds.senate.gov. You can also call my office at (202) 224-5842 and ask to speak to my tour coordinator. Keep in mind that while some tours require no reservations, others require reservations months in advance, so it is best to plan ahead.

One of the great parts about visiting Washington, D.C., is that most of the museums and all of the national monuments are free. Additionally, many of the sites are within walking distance of each other, and are easily accessed by several different metro stations and bus stops. My office can help supply you with metro maps and maps of the National Mall in advance to help you plan your visit.

If you are in Washington, D.C., during the workweek, you are invited to attend our South Dakota delegation coffee events. Sen. John Thune, Rep. Kristi Noem and I hold a “South Dakota Sunrise Coffee” on most Wednesday mornings when the House and Senate are in session to meet with visiting South Dakotans and answer your questions about our work in D.C. It usually takes place in one of the Senate Office Buildings located next to the U.S. Capitol. All South Dakotans are welcome, but you will need to RSVP ahead of time so we know how much coffee and pastries to bring. You can RSVP on my website under the page entitled “South Dakota Sunrise Coffee.”

While springtime in D.C. is a great time to plan your trip to the nation’s capital, the historical sites are open year round. With so much to see and so much history to take in, I hope all South Dakotans consider a trip to our nation’s capital. Don’t forget to reach out for help planning tours, and be sure to stop by our office in Suite 502 of the Hart Senate Office Building while you’re there!

###

Inscribing a Legacy
By Rep. Kristi Noem

It was 1942 – less than a year after Pearl Harbor and months after America officially entered World War II.  Tens of thousands of men had left their families to serve their country.  Millions more were standing at the ready to do the same.  And still, the United States faced a severe shortage of military pilots.  As businesses and factories had already done, the Army turned to women.

Throughout our military’s history, women have filled critical roles – even if they haven’t always been recognized for it.  In the American Revolution, women were nurses and cooks.  In the Civil War, women like Frances Clalin – a mother of 3 who enlisted in the Union Army as Jack Williams – disguised themselves as men just to have the opportunity to serve in this way.

By World War I, tens of thousands of women had joined the military in various roles, serving as nurses, telephone operators, stenographers, and clerks.  Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, every branch of the military created additional roles for women.  More than a quarter-million women stepped up to serve, including more than 1,000 young female aviators who came to be called the “Women Airforce Service Pilots,” or WASP.

The women in WASP, who logged around 60 million miles of flying, transported cargo.  They tested overhauled planes and flew new aircraft from the factory to a military base.  They often towed targets to help gunners in the air and on the ground train – with live ammunition, mind you.  38 of these women lost their lives during such missions.

Still, women from across the country volunteered for service.  Around a half-dozen South Dakotans served in the WASPs, including Ola Mildred Rexroat, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota who was the only Native American to serve in the group.

What’s more, women offered up everything they had to be part of WASP.  While male pilots would be trained once they joined the military, women had to have their pilot’s license before applying to join WASP, which cost about $500 – a significant amount of money at that time.

Many of the women hoped they would be absorbed into the military after the war, but instead, the program was disbanded.  The women were dismissed from their bases with no ceremony or fanfare, in many cases.  Because WASPs were considered civil service employees, the fallen women received no military honors or benefits.  In fact, it took 32 years after the end of World War II for WASPs to finally receive full military status, meaning they could use VA hospitals and had the right to be buried with a flag, among other things.  Thirty-three years after that, 300 of these women gathered in Washington, D.C., to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

Earlier this month, the House passed H.R.4336, which I helped sponsor, to grant WASP members a place in Arlington National Cemetery.  Should this legislation be made law, it would not only offer our nation’s appreciation for the women’s service, but inscribe their lasting legacy into this sacred ground.

We owe everyone who has served and sacrificed in service to our country a great deal of gratitude.  While there is certainly more that should be done on all fronts to ensure veterans receive the care, respect, and dignity they have earned, the WASP legislation rightly recognizes the courageous actions of a few good women. I am humbled to have been a part of its passage.

To all those who have served, thank you.

###

Michael J. Fitzmaurice and the New State Veterans Home
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

Until he went abroad to serve his country, Michael J. Fitzmaurice had never left the Dakotas. Fitzmaurice was born in Jamestown, North Dakota, and grew up in South Dakota. Coming from a family with a history of serving, Michael carried on the tradition by joining the Army in 1969.

On March 23, 1971, Michael was on the ground at a Marine base in Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. When an enemy soldier threw three grenades into Michael’s bunker, Michael threw two of the explosives out and then used his body to cover the blast of the third. Absorbing the blast to shield the other soldiers left him seriously wounded and partially blinded.

Michael then charged out of the bunker. Figuring he wouldn’t survive the engagement, he wanted to do what he could to protect his fellow soldiers. As he was fighting, his weapon was destroyed by another grenade. Unable to find another weapon, Michael resorted to hand-to-hand combat and successfully took down a number of adversaries.

In sustaining the blast from the grenade and refusing to be evacuated until the battle was finished, Michael saved multiple lives that day. He later received the Medal of Honor for his acts of heroism.

I am reminded of this story as we are preparing to cut the ribbon on the new state veterans home in Hot Springs, which has been named after Michael J. Fitzmaurice.

Overcoming a few setbacks along the way, the home has been completed on time, under budget, and it’s debt-free.

The new 133,000-square-foot facility contains 76 nursing care beds and 24 residential beds, and is home to World War II, Korean War, Vietnam and peace time veterans. The residential areas of the veterans home are divided into eight neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own laundry room, living room, dining room, kitchen and whirlpool suite. Elsewhere in the building, residents have an in-house library, mini mart, barber shop and beauty salon, post office, pharmacy, bistro and chapel.

This first-class facility is exactly what our veterans deserve. The layout of the building will give residents more privacy and control over their lives. It will be a normalized environment where residents can do their own cooking and shopping, and where they can socialize or keep to themselves as they please.  It is an outstanding facility named for a remarkable man.

Of his acts of bravery Michael later said, “I don’t know what made me do it. I was just doing the job that I was supposed to be doing and I do not regret it a bit. I guess your friends aren’t only your friends. They’re almost like brothers. I’m glad that they can still be alive and enjoy the rest of their life.”

Now, at the new state veterans home that carries this local patriot’s name, South Dakota’s veterans not only have a nice place to live, but a home where they can “enjoy the rest of their life.”

-30-

Governor Rounds’ Chief of Staff Rob Skjonsberg recently submitted a letter to the editor in the Pierre area, and posted the same to his facebook website, regarding how State Senator Jeff Monroe and State Representative Tim Rounds voted on House Bill 1182.  (Not speaking for his employer, obviously).

And agree or disagree, one thing Rob wanted to point out that it wasn’t an easy decision, and people fell on either side of the issue, because there are some districts where this made sense, and some not.

One sentiment that Skjonsberg is trying to convey is something Ive always believed in – that men of good character can disagree on the issues, and they can remain good people. As opposed to the chair throwing that seems to take place all to much in recent times. As Rob noted in an e-mail to me, “a return to civil discourse and respectful disagreement would have helped this discussion a bit.”

So, have a read, and let us know what you think:

The Mitchell Daily Republic interviewed Stace Nelson about his return to electoral politics in this weekend’s paper. Let’s just say it was…. Interesting.

Nelson seeks to replace Sen. Bill Van Gerpen, R-Tyndall, who is not running for re-election after more than a decade in state politics.

Nelson believes his decision to run played a role in Van Gerpen’s choice to bow out from the 2016 election. He said his fellow District 19 residents have expressed unhappiness with Van Gerpen and the other two district representatives for their support of the recently-passed half-percent sales tax increase for education funding.

And…

“When you see corruption this brazen, this blatant, where people are ending up dead under mysterious circumstances because of state corruption, I don’t know how much more evidence you need that we have a problem here in South Dakota,” Nelson said.

If elected, Nelson will fight to make cabinet positions subject to public vote. Nelson said officials serving in the governor’s cabinet should be elected to two-year terms at the hands of the people rather than selected by the governor. He believes this could help eliminate the “negligence” and apparent lack of oversight over programs like GEAR UP.

Read it all here.

Is there something in the water in that area? Former area Democratic State Senator Frank Kloucek was a proponent of electing cabinet officials as well, such as when he proposed bills to elect the secretary of game fish & parks, and the secretary of agriculture. Those ideas didn’t get very far when Frank brought them up, even among his fellow Democrats.

Somehow, I don’t think resurrecting failed Frank Kloucek ideas, and having people campaign for those jobs makes any more sense now than it did when Frank put bills in for them nearly a decade ago.

But, it’s a whole new campaign season. Stay tuned.

United States Senator John Thune’s petitions for office were filed, and approved today by the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office.

Still no word from any of the Democrats running for federal office.

Dang, they’re quiet.