From Kathy Tyler’s election facebook page comes a somewhat odd stream of consciousness:

And the best part is that she claims “reputable sources have stated that voter fraud is basically a non-issue.”  Except…it isn’t.  Such as this story from last Friday.

A grand jury indicted Leticia Sanchez, Leticia Sanchez Tepichin, Maria Solis and Laura Parra on Wednesday.

Paxton’s office said the women harvested votes, by filling out applications for mail-in ballots, with forged signatures. Then they would either “assist” the voter with filling out the ballot, or fill it out themselves, and use deception to get the voter to sign the envelope the ballot would be sent back in.

Political consultant Aaron Harris said Friday the case stemmed out of information he provided to investigators back in 2016.

“The harvesters sit around and fill these out by the hundreds, often by the thousands,” he said Friday.

and…

The indictments show several of the ballots in question were for Democratic candidates.

Read that here.

From the Dem affiliated website “Drinking Liberally Sioux Falls,” it sounds as if South Dakota Democrat Chair Ann Tornberg is keeping Republicans happy with her performance:

Turning to the South Dakota Democratic Party (SDDP): While I hate being the bearer of bad news, someone has to report it. The SDDP held a State Central Committee meeting in Rapid City on September 22nd in conjunction with its annual Buffalo Round-Up Dinner and they failed to make a quorum. They needed 14 counties for a quorum but only 12 attended the meeting. Notably, except for Charles Mix, no representative from a County with a dominate Native American population attended the meeting.

Which brings me to a matter of accountability: In April, Ann Tornberg, the SDDP Chair, announced she had received a $50,000.00 grant from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for voter registration in South Dakota with a particular emphasis on registering Native American voters. Six months have past since Ann’s announcement and a check of the South Dakota Secretary of State’s voter registration numbers suggests that the DNC didn’t get much bang for its $50,000.00. Since May 1st, Statewide Democratic voter registration declined by 42 voters, from 157,160 to 157,118. In contrast, Republican registration increased by 6,698 voters, from 247,235 to 253,933.

Read it here.

Keep up the good work Ann……

From the Rapid City Journal comes an interesting story about who some of the people closest to Billie Sutton are supporting this election – Kristi Noem.

The report filed Monday by the Noem-Rhoden Victory Committee shows that Linda Lillibridge, of Burke, gave $500 to the committee’s Sept. 7 fundraiser featuring President Donald Trump in Sioux Falls. Linda Lillibridge is the grandmother of Sutton’s wife, Kelsea

The Noem campaign said Linda Lillibridge has subsequently given an additional $9,000, for a total of $

And…

Noem’s campaign manager, Justin Brasell, also issued a written statement in response to a request for comment.

“Kristi is grateful for the support she’s received from those who know Billie Sutton best,” the statement said.

Read it all here.

South Dakota Family Heritage Alliance Action Endorses Kristi Noem for Governor of South Dakota

Having already served in the South Dakota House, Kristi Noem burst on the statewide political scene in her 2010 U. S. House campaign against a popular Democrat incumbent. Her perfect pro-life, pro-family record and an unshakeable faith in Almighty God was evident in her campaign and the people of South Dakota responded approvingly.

Over her nearly eight years of service in Congress, she has enhanced her perfect record of advocacy for issues of Faith, Family & Freedom.

Kristi’s outspoken support for life from conception to natural death, her consistent work to strengthen families while walking-the-walk of exemplary parenthood herself and her steadfast defense of freedom in the public square caused Family Heritage Alliance to recognize her as the recipient of the William Wilberforce Elected Leadership Award in 2014.

Her long record of standing for His righteousness with grace and commitment to her Family First Initiative has made FHA Action’s choice easy.

Family Heritage Alliance Action enthusiastically endorses Kristi Noem for Governor of South Dakota.

Well, that must hurt. After pulling in a number of donations for the general election, after her primary loss, Shantel Krebs finds herself in the unenviable position of having to give a bunch back. $34,375 to be precise.

Krebs Oct 2018 Fec by Pat Powers on Scribd

In Hypocritical New Ad, Sutton Accuses Noem of Doing Exactly What He Did

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Billie Sutton’s latest ad claims the Noem campaign transferred certain funds “even though South Dakotans voted to make it illegal.” Beyond the fact that Noem’s transfer was fully compliant with South Dakota law, Billie Sutton fails to mention he did the exact same thing, accepting $100,000 from Tim Johnson for South Dakota and transferring more than $27,000 from Sutton for Senate.

The biggest difference? While Noem’s support – which was largely contributed by South Dakotans – came from those who believe in her low-tax vision for South Dakota, Sutton’s contributions were collected from a D.C. Democratic insider who voted for one of history’s largest tax hikes, Obamacare.

“The hypocrisy coming from Billie Sutton is unending,” said Justin Brasell, Kristi for Governor Campaign Manager. “Whether it’s his stance on pro-life issues, a state income tax, or campaign finance, the only thing consistent about Billie Sutton’s record is that he says one thing and does another.”

After IM22 passed, certain routine committee-to-committee transfers were no longer allowed. Both candidates transferred money outside of the roughly three months that IM22 was effective.

From my mailbox:

From my mailbox comes a pledge of support for Kristi Noem in the form of three of the top elected officials in the state encouraging people to vote for (and to support the campaign of) the 4th:

Thune Rounds Daugaard Pledge for Kristi Noem by Pat Powers on Scribd

After seven years of appeals after his murder conviction, two months ago Attorney General Marty Jackley announced that “the warrant of execution for Rodney Scott Berget has been issued by Second Circuit Court Judge Bradley Zell. Berget is scheduled to be executed between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., during the week of October 28 – November 3, 2018.”

This execution will take place in the run up to the November 2018 election, and represents a key difference between the two candidates running to be Governor.  Because Kristi Noem supports the Death Penalty. And Billie Sutton clearly and absolutely does not.

If you’re not familiar with Berget’s capital crime, this 2012 Associated Press story relates the details:

..he was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder and kidnapping. He headed back to the South Dakota State Penitentiary — this time for good.

Then Rodney got to talking with a fellow inmate named Eric Robert about a goal they shared: to escape — or die trying.

And…

On the morning of April 12, 2011, the timing seemed perfect. Ronald “R.J.” Johnson was alone in a part of the prison where inmates work on upholstery, signs, custom furniture and other projects. Johnson wasn’t supposed to be working that day — it was his 63rd birthday. But he agreed to come in because of a scheduling change.

After attacking Johnson, Robert and Berget made it outside one gate. But they were stopped by another guard before they could complete their escape through the second gate. Both pleaded guilty.

Read that here.

Berget had already escaped from prison once. And now that he was back serving a life term, he was going to escape or die trying.

And as planned, they took corrections officer Ronald “RJ” Johnson – a 23-year veteran of the Department of Corrections – and as planned, they beat him with a pipe, and wrapped his head in plastic wrap.  Johnson died at the hospital from his injuries.

For this April 12, 2011 crime, Berget who had escaped from prison on an earlier occasion, and who was already serving a sentence of life in prison for attempted murder and kidnapping, was sentenced to death for the murder of Officer Johnson.

While Billie Sutton has been following out a carefully mapped plan to run for Governor, running to the right of many of his fellow Democrats, there’s one issue where he’s always tacked hard to the left. In fact, Sutton has tacked harder to the left than many in his caucus at times. And that issue is on South Dakota’s Death Penalty.

If you look at the history of the issue during his time of office, Democrat candidate Sutton’s name has been attached as sponsor of nearly every anti-death penalty measure that has come through the legislature since he’s been elected.  Even when other Democrats avoided the issue like the plague.

Sutton went so far as to help sponsor a measure to include expressing political statements about the death penalty on drivers licenses.

Measures to remove the death penalty did not just have Sutton’s moral support,  they had Sutton’s explicit sponsorship, time and again.  While not all of the Sutton sponsored measures acted retroactively – one of them, (Senate Bill 94 from 2016) sponsored in part by Sutton had it passed would have released Rodney Berget from the death penalty he was sentenced to by a South Dakota court of law for killing Ronald Johnson.

And think about that.

The problem with Sutton’s hard-left stance on the death penalty is underlined when the state is faced with punishing a criminal like Rodney Berget.  Already in jail for life for attempted murder & kidnapping, Berget intended to escape from jail, no matter the cost. And it was a high one, as he killed a law enforcement officer in the process.

Compare that to Republican Kristi Noem, who has been vocal in her support for the “Thin Blue Line Act,” a measure to make targeting or killing a police officer or first responder a determining factor in potential death penalty cases.

If the death penalty is taken off the table, what is there to stop a man already serving a life sentence, since a life sentence obviously served as no deterrent to murdering a corrections officer?

As we move closer and closer to Berget’s execution date, it’s a strong reminder that there’s a clear difference between the candidates for Governor in the next election. One supports the Death Penalty for those who kill, including those who target law enforcement officers.

And the other one has been a leading advocate for repealing it.