Category: Uncategorized

If you hadn’t thought the school bills were crazy enough this year, then hold my beer – because there’s still time left for bill introductions! The latest is another bill from Rep. Manhart.

This time his House Bill 1201 proposes making everyone who works in a school, from the principal on down to the janitor, mandatory reporters of gay thoughts in school children.

And I wish I was kidding. But I’m not. As stated in the proposed measure:

Section 2. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 13-32:

A school counselor, or another school staff member, must notify a student’s parent or guardian:

(1) When a direct counseling service is provided to a student;
(2) If a subject is discussed during a direct counseling service that is substantially different from those discussed during previous counseling sessions; and

(3) If questions regarding any of the following topics are discussed with a student during a direct counseling service:

(a) Gender;
(b) Gender confusion;
(c) Gender dysphoria;
(d) Homosexuality; or
(e) Transsexuality.

Is ‘counseling session’ defined that bill? Well sort of in section 1:
“direct counseling service” means an interaction, between a school counselor and a student, pertaining to mental, medical, or emotional health and does not involve career planning or academic discussions.

But section 2 says another school staff member.  So if a lunch lady has an interaction with a kindergartner in the lunch line, and a girl says “they wish they were a boy,” the lunch lady is subject to the mandatory gay thought reporting law?

With all this errant gay thought policing schools HB 1201 will demand schools to take on, I’m not sure when teachers are supposed to get any teaching done. Maybe we need to drop wood shop and accounting?

Remember when people used to say “The government is best which governs least?”

That’s not happening in Pierre this year.

(It might seem like a pick on Scott day, but I’m not the one who is putting his name to these things.)

State Representatives Karla Lems joined by Scott Odenbach have introduced House Bill 1191, a plan to provide property tax relief.  Unfortunately, the devil is in the details, as while it isn’t in the title, the bill is proposing a brand new sky-high 10% tax on “advertising services” for prescription medicines.

The meat and ‘taters of House Bill 1191 is this passage:

Section 2. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 10-45:

There is imposed a tax of ten percent on the gross receipts of all sales of advertising services for a drug, as defined in subdivision 34-20B-2(1) or (2).

The department shall transfer all moneys collected pursuant to this section to the state treasurer for deposit into the property tax reduction fund established pursuant to section 3 of this Act.

And what is 34-20B-2(1) or 2?

So they want to increase the prices we pay for prescription drugs in the amount of an incredible 10% sales tax every time this catchy jingle runs?:

They avoided affiliating the tax to be derived from advertising of medical equipment too which if I recall taxing medical equipment was a huge bone of contention in a session under Janklow, but in their new big tax on advertising, if Karla’s new tax would pass, it’s full speed ahead against advertisements for Jardiance, Aspirin, or hard right favorite Ivermectin.

Okay, that ad was a parody, but you get my drift.  Why do Karla and Scott think that tax relief is an excuse to come up with targeted sky-high taxes that no one in their right mind has ever proposed before?

If this is what constitutes the new conservative leadership as handed down by the Speaker Pro Tempore, I have to think that Karla “Tax and Lems” might be facing some postcards in the 2026 election.

Tony Venhuizen Confirmed and Sworn In as Lieutenant Governor 

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Tony Venhuizen was confirmed as the 40^th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota. Pursuant to Article 4 Section 6 of the South Dakota Constitution, he was sworn in on the floor of the South Dakota State Senate. A photo of that swearing in can be found here. 

“It will be such an honor to serve as presiding officer in this Senate that means so much to me and my family,” said Lieutenant Governor Venhuizen. “I am ready to get to work to help Governor Rhoden keep South Dakota strong, safe, and free.” 

Lieutenant Governor Venhuizen was confirmed by a unanimous vote of both the House and the Senate.

“I am grateful that the legislature accepted my nomination of Lt. Gov. Venhuizen by such resounding margins,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “Now we have our team put together – let’s get to work.”

More information about Lieutenant Governor Venhuizen can be found here.

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According to year-end reports, Congressman Dusty Johnson is coming out of 2024 with a not insignificant campaign kitty built up across his various campaign committees, not the least of which is his primary federal account, Friends of Dusty Johnson.

2024 FEC Dusty Johnson Year End by Pat Powers on Scribd

And Dusty’s friends were very, very good to the Congressman, as after expenditures, the Congressman was left with $5,245,125.00 in his main account. But it doesn’t end there.  Because that’s not his only committee.

To the total, you can also add $253,431.82 cash on hand from the Dakota Leadership PAC, Congressman Johnson’s leadership committee.

Dusty Leadership PAC 2024 Year End Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

And it doesn’t stop there, as Dusty has a State PAC which he mainly uses to support candidates:

2024 Year End Dusty State PAC Sdcfdisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

After lending a hand to a long list of Republican candidates, and spending around $48k to personally oppose Amendment G..

Congressman Johnson ended the year with with $277,651.47 in that account.

Totaling them all, we end up with $5,776,208.29 cash on hand, plus a minor amount ($17,500) in another, minor federal PAC.

Walking into the next election cycle with just under $6 million in hand is not exactly a bad position to be in if you have plans to run again.

Regardless of what office that may be.

 

I’m not sure what to say about that which has not already been said..

 

While listening to the testimony for House Bill 1020, the somewhat mainstream conservative school voucher bill which fared more poorly than HB 1009, the extreme hard right school voucher measure, one of the things that I couldn’t help but key in on what was being said.  I also had a legislator confirm that view, when they commented that they thought Scott didn’t do himself any favors by demonizing his opponents.

Despite Odenbach serving as the Republican House Majority Leader, where he should feel the confidence of taking the lead on the legislation, Scott felt the need to take unnecessary swipes at his opponents such as public education, South Dakota Retailers, the SD Chamber like this is a grudge match or he’s preparing mailings.

As you’ll hear from this clipped testimony, it’s as if he can’t help himself from making it personal:

Right on the outset.. opponents have a “monopoly” on money, taxpayer paid lobbyists..  later in testimony another claim of an army of lobbyists paid with your tax dollars and running push polls.

But if you look at how everyone lined up, I tend to think Scott is ignoring the stone in his own eye, while he complains about the mote in that of others.

There were a lot of people representing themselves, and organizations, who took their time to drive to Pierre to raise their objections.

But somehow, I was not able to find in the audio Scott mentioning his own measure’s taxpayer paid lobbyists or special interest groups who were there in favor of his bill:

Blue badges, special interest groups, and I noticed the list of proponents also included Julie Tipton, the person who was in front of the basketball game the other day telling the crowd in a microphone “This is about getting money from our state for non-public schools!“

Let’s not kid ourselves. Under our state laws and constitution, public schools are publicly funded, and private/parochial schools are not. The have nots want access to bleed funds out of that pot of money we’ve reserved for the public education of our children, even though we’re not great about keeping that pot filled in pace with inflation.

If Scott is going to continue to swipe at the public schools he represents in favor of the special interests he wants to pander to, he should at least recognize that he’s not coming to the debate with any more holy righteousness or moral authority than his opponents to school vouchers have in defending education.

And he might find himself more successful if he keeps the campaign postcard rhetoric to himself.  Because you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Attorney General Jackley Announces Sioux Falls Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement of Funds From Lincoln County Police Organization

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Sioux Falls man has pleaded guilty to one count of Grand Theft by exercising unauthorized control over the Lincoln County Fraternal Order of Police Union’s funds.

Matthew Wilson, 39, entered the guilty plea Tuesday in Lincoln County Circuit Court. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine when he is sentenced at 9 a.m. March 25.

The theft occurred between July, 2024, and September, 2024. Value of the property involved is between $2,500 and $5,000.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) investigated the case, and the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted.

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Girard Auction of Wakonda runs a number of sales of South Dakota memorabilia, and right now they have an on-line auction underway of a lifetime collection of South Dakota license plates. The collection includes ten vintage gubernatorial licence plates ranging from Governor Kneip forward with some having been used on their physical vehicles.

In case you wanted Governor Harvey Wollman’s license plate, here’s your opportunity:

Plus many more..

 

Per the website,

THE HARRY GUTHMILLER ESTATE – THE MOST COMPLETE SOUTH DAKOTA PLATE COLLECTION ASSEMBLED!

Saturday, February 1st at 10:00am – LIVE & Online Auction: We’re extremely honored to be offering the lifetime collection of license plates from the Harry Guthmiller Estate of Tripp, SD. Harry amassed arguably the most complete collection of South Dakota plates known to exist! We kick the morning off with an On-Site Early Bird auction to on-site bidders only, no internet bidding. At approx. 10:30am we’ll go LIVE online with full catalog of truly amazing plates! Shipping available world-wide!

The Auction lots will start to close at 10:00 on February 1. Items can be viewed, and you can register, and bid now on the auction at Girardbid.com.

 

No disclaimers needed at the moment for the Hughes County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on Feb 18 in Pierre, except you’re eating mass-produced food at the Ramkota. Why do I bring it up? The Hughes County LDD is typically viewed as one of the kickoff events to the political season, and more than once fledgeling campaigns have neeb known to kick it off here in the race for the big election, this one coming up in 2026.

As noted on Facebook:

$30 a ticket is actually one of the better LDD prices.

And it’s usually not a bad event unless people can’t keep their speeches light & tight.  It’s a banquet hall room full of political nerds, so don’t give us facts and figures.

Give us something to laugh at or at least chuckle about, because tomorrow we’ll all be back fighting. 5:30 PM om Tuesday Feb 18 at the Ramkota in Pierre.

I guess these are the times we live in, as the new group in charge of the Lincoln County GOP believes it can tell their legislators how they are supposed to vote. (Isn’t that cute?)