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Nominating South Dakota Students to Our Nation’s Service Academies
By Senator Mike Rounds

This year, I had the opportunity to nominate 24 exceptional South Dakota students to our nation’s military service academies for the fall 2016 semester. Each year, I can nominate a certain number of students to the four service academies that require a nomination. They include the Military Academy at West Point, New York; the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland; the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. All academies offer a great opportunity for young people to become leaders in our nation’s military.

It is truly an honor for me to nominate young South Dakota students to become the next generation of military leaders. The United States service academies are looking for the best and brightest to join their ranks. Each of the students nominated this year exemplify the leadership qualities and academic excellence that our country’s service academies are looking for in their recruits.

Being admitted to the service academies isn’t easy. Only a small number of students are selected each year, and those who do get accepted are the best of the best. They must meet difficult eligibility requirements in leadership, physical fitness, character and scholarship. That being said, those who graduate from the academies can go on to do great things. They are among the highest caliber our country has to offer, and that is a direct result of the training and education they received at whichever academy they attended.

The multi-part process of applying to the service academies can be difficult and oftentimes confusing. I have staff members in my South Dakota offices who are experienced in the process. They can assist with the application and answer any questions students or their parents may have. Additionally, I have implemented “Military Academy Day” events throughout the state. We held a series of these events in 2015 and will do so again in 2016. At these seminars, my staff is joined by representatives from the academies to give presentations and answer any questions from interested students and parents. They are a good way for students who are thinking of attending a military service academy to learn more about the application process and see what life is like at an academy. Dates and locations for 2016 Military Academy Day events will be released in the coming months.

To learn more about academy nominations, visit my website at www.rounds.senate.gov or call any of my state offices. You can also email [email protected]. By attending an academy, not only will students have the opportunity to serve our nation and help lead the best military in the world, but they will receive an excellent education at a top-notch institution. It is an honor for me to be able to nominate South Dakota students to the U.S. military service academies.

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Back to Work
By Rep. Kristi Noem

There’s something so energizing about flipping the calendar from December to January.  It’s a fresh start, a new beginning, a clean slate.  I’m heading back to Congress this year with a renewed optimism as well.  We have a lot of work to do, but I’m hopeful we have momentum moving in our direction.

Truth be told, we’re going to need every bit of that momentum we can get.  2015 concluded with a heightened sense of unease about our national security – and rightfully so.  As we return, this is an issue that will need to be addressed.  I firmly believe the President, as Commander in Chief, has a responsibility to put forth a comprehensive plan to defeat and destroy ISIL.  Doing so is the most effective way to keep terrorism off U.S. soil.  Congress also must continue to ensure our military has the tools and resources it needs to be successful, while closing any security loopholes that may exist in federal law.  That is going to be at the top of my agenda in 2016.

Addressing the President’s health care law will be another area of focus during the first part of 2016.  Speaker Paul Ryan has already announced that the House, in coordination with the Senate, plans to place legislation on the President’s desk in the coming weeks that repeals the core tenants of Obamacare, including the individual and employer mandates.  This last December, thousands of South Dakotans saw their health care costs skyrocket.  I have supported and will continue to support the repeal of Obamacare, but until we can achieve a full repeal, I will do what I can to incrementally lift the burden for South Dakota families.

We are also working very hard on efforts to keep the Hot Springs VA Hospital open and fully staffed and operational.  In late-2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released an Environmental Impact Statement on a plan to close the VA facility in Hot Springs. From now until February 5, the VA will be accepting public comments.  I encourage everyone impacted by this proposal to let their voice be heard.  For my part, I have reached out to the VA Secretary directly, urging him not only to settle on a solution that will work for all involved – especially our veterans – but also to visit Hot Springs before making a determination about the hospital’s future.  Those who have served deserve nothing less.

The reality is that these topics are just the tip of the iceberg.  We have a lot of work to do because our country is facing a lot of big issues today.  I’m determined to find real solutions and produce the milestones that you seek and deserve.

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Former Congresswoman and potential 2018 Gubernatorial Candidate Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was mentioned yesterday at the Insider Trading Report website for grabbing 500 shares of stock with her employer, Raven Industries:

Raven Industries Inc (RAVN): Stephanie Herseth Sandlin , Gen Counsel & VP Corp Dev of Raven Industries Inc purchased 500 shares on Dec 30, 2015. The Insider buying transaction was disclosed on Dec 30, 2015 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were purchased at $15.77 per share for a total value of $7,883.00.

The company shares have dropped 36.88% in the past 52 Weeks. On December 29, 2014 The shares registered one year high of $25.95 and one year low was seen on December 18, 2015 at $15.07. The 50-day moving average is $17.14 and the 200 day moving average is recorded at $18.21. S&P 500 has rallied 1.33% during the last 52-weeks.

Shares of Raven Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAVN) appreciated by 3.41% during the past week but lost 4.06% on a 4-week basis. The shares have outperformed the S&P 500 by 0.63% in the past week but underperformed the index by 2.7% in the last 4 weeks.

Read it all here.

Instead of New Years’ Eve, in South Dakota should we be calling this Campaign Eve?

Petition circulation kicks off tomorrow, and within a few weeks’ time, we’ll get to see who we have running for what office. If you’re considering it yourself, take a moment to read what I put together a couple of days ago to help you not to screw up your petitions.  (We don’t need anymore budding Bosworth’s, do we?)

The other thought that came to mind was the fact that Democrat Party Chairwoman Ann Tornberg had been promising for most of the year that Dems would have a candidate for US Senate. And yet we still hear crickets.  Any potential Dem challenger has managed to skip the entire preceding year where US Senate candidates typically scramble to meet people, raise their name ID and try to bring in cash.  Now, instead of noting the missed opportunity of days that they missed, starting tomorrow, we’ll have to start counting down the days they’re not out there gathering names on petitions to run.

If you can’t tell, I’ve been pretty doubtful that Democrats could live up to Tornberg’s boast that they had someone to run. And I still am.

With Tornberg so far unable to produce all these people she claims will be running, the downside for the leader of the Democrats is that with all of her continuous and boastful claims of Democrats running people in all statewide and in just about all 105 legislative races, she’s placed her credibility on the line.   She risks her name becoming an adjective for failure.

Truly, all of us who prognosticate on the future of the political scene do it without the benefit of knowing what events will occur in the intervening 11 months until the election.

You never know, we could experience the Rapture, and God could decide to leave the Liberals behind on a devastated and depopulated planet. With Democrats shifting further to the left in a conservative South Dakota that’s decidedly moved towards the right, that might give them a fighting chance to field candidates and win elections.

But short of that happening, I feel pretty secure in stating that Republicans are going to have a pretty good year in South Dakota in 2016.

Whether Democrats are able to find a warm body to take on John Thune for the US Senate is immaterial as to whether he, Kristi Noem, Chris Nelson, and a vast majority of Republican Legislators are going to win office in 2016.

In most instances, the races are inevitable, or they have already been won.

John Thune is featured in the Argus Leader talking about what the Senate has accomplished in the last year, as well as what we can see coming up in 2016:

The state’s senior senator spoke with reporters from Argus Leader Media to outline his office’s legislative successes and Congress’ accomplishments in 2015. Among them was the first comprehensive highway funding bill in 10 years, the first major overhaul of federal education policy since 2002 and trade agreements with Asia and Europe.

His office also ran political cover for the expansion of the Powder River Training Complex, which increases training opportunities for bombers at Ellsworth Air Force Base, making the base more relevant in the event of another round of closures.

and..

“There’s a whole long list of fairly consequential legislation that finally moved,” Thune said.

Congress also passed legislation that added new requirements to the country’s visa waiver program. That program allows visitors from 38 countries to travel to the United States without first having to obtain a visa. The program makes it more convenient for U.S. citizens and the citizens of the 38 countries who participate to travel internationally.

Read the entire story here.

Congresswoman Kristi Noem had endorsed Marco Rubio for president several weeks back. But, how important is that endorsement to his winning the presidency?

One theory is that it could make all the difference in the world.

Sen. Marco Rubio has occupied an odd place in the GOP race all year: Never the front-runner, but always — in theory, on paper, hypothetically — on the verge of breaking out.

On Tuesday, Rubio once again showed signs of imminent liftoff after snagging one of the biggest endorsements in the race so far in Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.

Gowdy, the high-profile chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, is the increasingly rare politician who’s popular in both conservative and establishment circles. He easily could have succeeded John Boehner as House speaker had he chose to run.

and..

Rubio has good reason to think his plan might work. The most prominent political science theory today is that party elites tend to pick the eventual nominee over the course of an “invisible primary” that takes place in the months and years before voters head to the polls, at which point rank-and-file partisans usually fall in line behind their choice.

and..

So how’s Rubio been doing on that front? Sure enough, he’s made gains as rivals like Bush and Scott Walker have fallen. Bush took an early lead in endorsements from top donors and federal lawmakers that he still holds, but Rubio has racked up more support from both in the last three months than anyone else in the race. Among the big names: Rising stars Cory Gardner and Steve Daines in the Senate, well-known figures like Kristi Noem, Darrell Issa, and Mia Love in the House, and major party funders like billionaire Paul Singer.

All this is good news for Rubio, who surely has more names ready to roll out before voting begins, but it’s still a long way off from a tipping point.

Read it all here.

Could Kristi be helping to coalesce the party around the man who might be our nation’s next president?

Governor Appoints Olson To Game, Fish And Parks Commission

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today that he will appoint Russell Olson of Madison to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission.

“Russ will be a great addition to the Game, Fish and Parks Commission. He is an avid outdoorsman who is committed to conservation,” said Gov. Daugaard. “I appreciate Russ’ willingness to serve in this important role.”

Olson is the chief executive officer of Heartland Consumers Power District, based in Madison. He served in the State House of Representatives from 2007-09 and the State Senate from 2009-13, serving for three years as senate majority leader.

“As a lifelong resident, with generations of hunting and fishing traditions on both sides of my family, I want to do my part to make sure that the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts are able to enjoy the outdoors as I have,” said Olson. “It is vital that we continue to build better relationships with landowners as they hold the key to access and stewardship of one of South Dakota’s most precious resources.”

Olson will replace Duane Sather of Sioux Falls, who is retiring after four years on the commission. Olson’s term ends January of 2020.

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I was just speaking with a member of the appropriations committee today, discussing legislation and the state budget, when they brought up a point on trying to formulate the budget, and how a monkey wrench could be coming coming up with the cash to pay for K-12 Education, etcetera.

Governor Daugaard has noted that any Medicaid expansion is going to have to come from existing funds, but that’s going to put a lot of pressure on appropriators to come up with “existing funds.” But what about those other areas? Some legislators are talking about raising the sales tax for education, and Representative May has her name as prime sponsor on a committee bill that has been introduced to allow counties to add to their coffers through sales tax.

You can introduce anything, but the question is going to be whether it will pass. And will your constituents burn you in effigy for it? So, to informally put our finger in the air, you can vote in this years’ last SDWC poll, and let us know – Do you support an increase in the Sales Tax?

We’re giddily counting down the hours until the 2016 election season officially kicks off in the new year. According to state law, January 1 marks the first day that petitions can be circulated in South Dakota.

While petitions are not required for running for President, the rest of you don’t get off so easily.

Currently, signature requirements under state law are based on the amount of the vote the political parties received in the previous Gubernatorial election. A law was passed last session to change that, and base it on registration numbers, but a bunch of liberal activists didn’t like it, so we’re going to be voting on that as a referred law this coming November.

For those wondering how many signatures you will need, as retrieved from the Secretary of State’s web site:

U.S. Senate, U.S Representative

• Republican: 1,955 (1% of the vote for the 2014 Republican Gubernatorial candidate: 195,477) (SDCL 12-6-7)
• Democrat: 706 (1% of the vote for the 2014 Democrat Gubernatorial candidate: 70,549) (SDCL 12-6-7)
• Independent: 2,774 (1% of the total vote for Governor in 2014: 277,403) (SDCL 12-7-1)
• Newly Recognized Political Party: 250 (SDCL 12-5-1.4)

To Form A New Political Party

• 6,936 (2.5% of total vote for Governor in 2014: 277,403) (SDCL 12-5-1)

State Legislators

• Republican and Democrat: 50 signatures or 1% of the vote for their party’s Gubernatorial candidate in the 2014 election, whichever is less (SDCL 12-6-7.1)
• Independent candidate: signatures equal to 1% of the total vote for Governor in 2014 in their district (SDCL 12-7-1)
• New Political Party: Five (5) signatures (SDCL 12-5-1.4)

Legislative District	Democrat	Republican	Independent	New Political Party
1	50	50	195	5
2	50	50	181	5
3	39	50	121	5
4	45	50	152	5
5	19	50	78	5
6	20	50	93	5
7	28	50	93	5
8	23	50	91	5
9	18	45	65	5
10	18	50	71	5
11	22	50	92	5
12	22	50	79	5
13	26	50	91	5
14	26	50	92	5
15	16	23	41	5
16	18	50	81	5
17	21	45	71	5
18	21	50	78	5
19	18	50	90	5
20	18	50	81	5
21	19	50	81	5
22	21	50	78	5
23	17	50	92	5
24	16	50	96	5
25	19	50	88	5
26	26	39	68	5
26A	16	11	29	5
26B	11	28	40	5
27	25	29	57	5
28	19	50	74	5
28A	13	16	30	5
28B	7	36	44	5
29	13	50	76	5
30	21	50	105	5
31	20	50	89	5
32	22	50	89	5
33	18	50	82	5
34	22	50	92	5
35	14	42	58	5

County Officials and Party Delegates (filed with county auditor)

• Partisan Candidates: whichever is less, 50 signatures or 1% of the total vote for your political party’s candidate for governor at the last gubernatorial election in the county or commissioner district (SDCL 12-6-7.1).  May only gather signatures from the political party the candidate is registered to vote with.

• Independent Candidates: signatures equal to 1% of the total vote for all candidates for governor at the last gubernatorial election in the county or commissioner district (SDCL 12-7-1).  May gather signatures from any registered voter.

• Newly Recognized Political Party: Five (5) signatures (SDCL 12-5-1.4)

Independents might seem to have a much heavier burden, but in actuality, not so much. Whereas members of organized parties have to go to the extra step of determining who is a member of their party, Independent candidates can obtain petition signatures from everyone, regardless of party.

The minimum number of signatures that a candidate for the legislature has to obtain is 50 signatures or 1% of the vote for their party’s Gubernatorial candidate in the 2014 election. For Democrats, they are only required to hit that high bar of 50 signatures in only two legislative districts. Republicans are required to obtain that number in 29 of the state’s 35 legislative districts.

On the low end of the spectrum, Democrats are only required to pick up 7 signatures to run for office in District 28B, and 14 in District 35.

Republicans have a low mark of 11 and 16 signatures in the split house legislative districts of 26A and 28A, and a minimum of 23 in the Sioux Falls Cathedral area comprising District 15.  (We don’t run a lot of candidates in those areas, BTW).

Obtaining signatures to run for office is actually not that terribly difficult.  What’s probably more challenging is doing it correctly, as Annette Bosworth might attest.   What can’t be stressed enough is “DON’T FUDGE YOUR PROCEDURES, AND TURN THEM IN EARLY.”  Seriously.

As Annette can attest, courtesy of her felony convictions, is that the circulator is required to witness each and every signature, and to attest to the fact they did on the back of the petition in front of a notary. You cannot fudge this procedure. There’s a good chance you could get stung for it.

I also admonish you to turn them in early. You have until March 29, 2016 for Primary Election candidates (meaning partisan political candidates) to turn them in. Those who turn them in early get a sucker. Actually, no. They don’t get anything – but if the petitions are screwed up, you still have time to go back and fix them, or to obtain more signatures.

There are always 3 or 4 candidates who screw up something, whether it’s they, or someone else filling out the header of the petition. I’ve even seen it coming from County Auditor’s offices, where an employee of the County Auditor screwed it up. If you turn them in early, you have plenty of time to go back, and fix it with new signatures.  If you turn them in on March 29th…  Well, not so much.

You could write a book about the information you should be aware of when you circulate petitions for office. And actually, someone has.

How to Circulate No m Petition State Leg County Candidates

The above guide provides some basic information about circulating and turning in your petition, as posted on the Secretary of State’s web site. Everyone taking out a petition from the state or county generally receives one of these, as well as a guide on reporting your campaign finances to the appropriate entity.

It’s not rocket science. It’s just an election, and it comes with an instruction book.   So read up, start early, circulate it correctly, and don’t fudge your signatures.

What else do you need to know?  🙂

Secretary of State Shantel Krebs Certifies Third Ballot Measure

Pierre, SD – Today, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs announced that an Initiated Measure To Set A Maximum Finance Charge for Certain Lenders (36% rate cap) was validated and certified to be on the November 2016 general election ballot as a ballot measure the citizens will vote on. The sponsor turned in 19,936 signatures to the Secretary of state’s office. An initiated measure requires a minimum of 13,871 signatures from South Dakota registered voters. Once the signatures were delivered to the Secretary of State’s office, a 5% random sampling was conducted. It was determined that 86.4% or 17,222 of 19,936 signatures were in good standing. This will be Initiated Measure 21.

This is the third initiated measure to be approved by Secretary of State. A total of 8 measures were submitted for review. This office will continue the signature validation process of the remaining 5 measures in the order they were submitted to the Secretary of State. A total of 275,000 signatures were submitted among all petitions.

Those looking to challenge the Secretary of State’s certification of a ballot measure have 30 days from the date they are certified, which would be January 27, 2016.