Category: Uncategorized

If you missed this story from South Dakota News Watch last week, there’s an item in it that’s somewhat concerning regarding Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson.

Anderson advocated for petition circulators to be banned from the entrance of the Minnehaha County Courthouse, and pushed into designated petition zones in the parking lot, much like the maligned free speech zones of college campuses. And that they have to check into her office before exercising their free speech..  sorry, exercising their petitioning.

But the really bad part of this is the fact that Anderson appears to have skin in the game.

Anderson not just worked for one of the primary organizers of petition opponents at one time, but she donated money to the petition opponents, according to campaign finance reports:

Verbal skirmishes between the groups, and what some county employees and customers characterize as increasingly aggressive behavior from circulators, led the Minnehaha County Commission to adopt a new policy for petition gathering on May 2. It was based upon the recommendation of county auditor Leah Anderson, who was elected in November and sworn in on March 5.

The new policy would restrict petition circulation to two designated rectangular areas: one about 50 feet from the main entrance to the administration building, in the parking lot off Minnesota Avenue, and the other southeast of the main entrance to the courthouse.

The policy mandated that circulators check in at Anderson’s office prior to conducting political activity “to permit the placement of safety markers and to verify space availability within the designated areas.”

and..

Anderson, who proposed the rule changes, is a former secretary and treasurer for the Alpha Center, the Sioux Falls pregnancy resource center founded by Leslee Unruh, a leader of the state’s anti-abortion movement who also co-chairs the Life Defense Fund. Anderson’s campaign PAC, Leah for Minnehaha Auditor, donated $200 to the Life Defense Fund, according to campaign finance reports.

In court, though, Anderson testified that her motivation to change the policy was based on conversations with county staffers who observed an increase in aggressive behavior from petition circulators that made entering and exiting the administration building burdensome, including petitioners who stationed themselves inside the main entrance.

Read the entire story here at SD News Watch.

If Republicans oppose free speech zones on University campuses, they probably need to examine whether they should take the same position for free speech zones at the Minnehaha County Courthouse.

According to the South Dakota Register, the State Board of Elections is having a hearing on a number of topics around election tabulation and security, including voter registration file security, testing and sealing of automatic tabulation equipment, and a number of other hot-button items coming up on June 28th.

As detailed in the notice:

State Board of Elections (Office of the Secretary of State): (June 2, 2023) intends to amend rules to change the date for a statewide runoff; prescribe the oath for a county recount board; prescribe the notice for testing automatic tabulating equipment and prescribe the method for testing such equipment; describe how to seal automatic tabulating machines; prescribe ballot box storage and security; clarify how an auditor is to conduct absentee balloting at nursing facilities, assisted living centers, and hospitals; make changes to the voter registration form; add email address and telephone number to the precinct committeeman or committeewoman statement; change the acknowledgement notice for rejected voter registrations from forwardable to non-forwardable; clarify the procedures for voter registration file security; and prescribe the oath for a post-election audit board. The general authority for these rules, as cited by the board, is SDCL 12-1-9, 12-4-35, 12-4-37, 12-4-56, 12-17B-5.2, 12-17B-17, 12-17B-18, 12-19-9.1, 12-19-9.3, and 12-21-2.

A public hearing will be held in the Secretary of State Business Office, 215 East Prospect Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota, on June 28, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. (CT). Copies of the proposed rules may be obtained without charge from the State Board of Elections, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501, or at https://sdsos.gov or https://rules.sd.gov. Written comments may be sent to State Board of Elections, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501 or emailed to elections@state.sd.us. Material sent by mail or email must reach the board seventy-two hours before the date of the hearing. This hearing is being held in a physically accessible location. Persons with special needs for which the board can make arrangements may call (605) 773-3537 at least 48 hours before the public hearing.

Read the notice as found here.

A promotional image found out on the internet for Save South Dakota event, with former Minnesota and now Elkton South Dakota election conspiracist Rick Weible, is promoting Weible as “Rick Weible, South Dakota Hero.” The flyer advertises Weible at a meeting in Aberdeen this coming Saturday, declaring that Transparency is the incoluation (sic) to all conspiracies.  I’d note that both Save South Dakota and Midwest Swamp Watch are entities that Weible created.. so really, his groups seem to be declaring him as a hero without citing a factual basis for their declaration.

I know Rick has been involved in his election conspiracy groups, and was involved in the Monae Johnson for Secretary of State race before Monae Johnson sprinted away from Weible and his spouse after the election (as Weible relates here at about 6:20).  But I can’t find any records of heroism on Rick’s part from a cursory check of Google. I wouldn’t want to cast doubt in an unfair manner, so I think we’d all agree that there are minor acts of heroism that don’t make the news media. If we want to be generous we can give Rick the benefit of the doubt and venture a guess that yes, maybe he might acted in an unsung heroic manner.. and maybe he saved a cat from a tree or something to that effect?

If you look at the rest of the poster, it IS kind of a mess, and needs a lot of work. The colon should come after Elections, and not on the next line. And I don’t think they should have capitalized Root or Save in the promo sentence for the event. But I’m guessing that the proofreader for the the poster is the same one who is establishing the qualifications of what constitutes heroism for the group’s purposes.

And in both cases, they should do a lot of reworking on it.

This might come as a shocker, but if you go visit one of the medical marijuana pop-up clinics, you too might find out that you have a debilitating condition you never knew you had.

And in a story that appeared a few days ago at Dakota Scout, that’s just what State Representative Fred Deutsch did. He went to one of the pop-up clinics being held across the state for this purpose.  And shocker – he was declared debilitated and issued a card.

At the appointment, held in a breakout room at the Watertown Holiday Inn, Deutsch met with a medical practitioner who determined he met a qualifying condition, he said.

Deutsch said was truthful throughout the consultation, telling the practitioner he’d been in a car accident last year and had some pain as a result.

“If you qualify for pain, it’s supposed to be debilitating. But she didn’t ask me if it was debilitating,” he said. “I went in to see if they’re following the law and they really aren’t.

Read the entire story here.

I’m kind of thinking the legislature might add a little more scrutiny to the “Holiday Inn-Doctors” declaring people as having medical marijuana qualifying conditions this next session.

South Dakota is home. It’s where I grew up, went to college, met my wife, and where I chose to raise my kids. June 5 holds a special place in the hearts of South Dakotans.

In honor of 605 Day, I asked South Dakotans what they like most about our state, and I think you’ll agree with a lot of their answers:

• Needles Highway
• Wide open spaces
• Garage sale season
• The best sunsets over the prairie—it seems endless.
• Every time I cross the border or fly back into FSD, it just feels like home, like you can breathe easier.
• Small town living and helping out at the family farm.
• The stars at night are amazing because the sky lasts forever.

There’s so many great things to do and see in South Dakota, but one answer that was the most common was the quality of the people. I got answers like the below:

• The people there are the nicest you will meet. If your car gets stuck in the snow, they will come out of their house to help you shovel it out and bring you hot coco to warm up.
• Anyone will talk to you, so you have a “friend” no matter where you go.

The people of South Dakota are what makes it so great. We take “Midwest nice” to another level. Being able to do our favorite things with our favorite people makes the memories more special. And whenever we have visitors to one of our unique state and national parks, I know they’ll be greeted with a smile and treated with kindness.

I hope you celebrate 605 Day with some chislic and fellow South Dakotans.

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The need to address the federal budget has only grown more urgent as the Biden administration has racked up trillions of dollars in more debt in the last two years alone. Recognizing that this level of spending is irresponsible and unsustainable, the American people elected a Republican majority in the House of Representatives last year as a check on the president’s policies and Democrats’ reckless spending. Although the president tried to avoid negotiating budget cuts for over three months, Republicans were intent on restoring fiscal sanity to Washington. Divided government requires compromise, and the spending reform deal that Speaker McCarthy negotiated shows what can be achieved when both sides work together.

The bill they agreed to, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, delivers on Republicans’ promise to rein in excess federal spending. It reduces the deficit by $1.5 trillion through spending cuts and by restoring budget caps – all without raising taxes. The Fiscal Responsibility Act also claws back more previously allocated federal funds than any other bill in American history, rescinding tens of billions of dollars in unused COVID funding. And it begins to chip away at the unnecessary influx of money that would have gone to hiring new IRS agents.

Equally as important as limits on spending are the common-sense policies in the bill that limit the size of government. The Fiscal Responsibility Act strengthens work requirements in federal assistance programs to ensure those who are able can move from welfare to work. It makes a down payment on permitting reform that will help get energy projects off the ground more quickly, encourage domestic energy production, and lower costs for American families. And it creates zero new federal programs.

This is not a perfect bill, but these cuts and reforms are important steps in changing the trajectory of the federal budget. At $31 trillion, our national debt is larger than the entire economy, and it continues to grow at an unsustainable rate. Just paying the interest on the debt is taking up an enormous share of the budget. In a few years, unless additional responsible fiscal policies are enacted, interest payments will exceed what we spend on national defense. Think about that – we’re on pace to spend more money on interest payments than what we spend to maintain our top-tier armed forces and other defense capabilities. And it’s out-of-control spending that is driving these concerning trends and jeopardizing our future prosperity.

The policies in this bill won’t magically correct years of wasteful spending, but they are meaningful reforms and spending cuts that mark an important step toward helping to get our fiscal house in order. Our spending problem didn’t emerge overnight, and it won’t be solved with a single bill, but I am committed to restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington, and I hope President Biden and congressional Democrats are as well.

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I first ran for public office for a handful of reasons, but the reason at the heart of everything has always been my kids – and now my grandkids. I ran to ensure that they would be able to live in the same South Dakota that I was born and raised in. I ran so that that they would understand why America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. I ran so that they would learn the small-town values that built the generations before them.

Today, South Dakotans can be confident that their kids will inherit the greatest state we can give them.

As Governor, I have prioritized building a stronger South Dakota that we will be proud to pass on to the next generation.

South Dakota has the strongest economy in the nation. Our people see it in the money that’s staying in their pockets. And the rest of the nation is seeing it too. Freedom-loving people from all over America are picking up their lives and moving to South Dakota.

Just recently, Moody’s Investors Service reaffirmed South Dakota’s AAA stable credit rating. The report reads that “South Dakota continues to stand out among US states in terms of its very healthy finances and its low debt, pension, and fixed cost liabilities. These will remain long-term credit strengths that bolster the state’s capacity to attend unforeseen challenges.”

South Dakota’s record-breaking economy is here to stay. We have continued to grow through challenges like a global pandemic and harsh winters – and our economy is equipped to face any challenges that come our way.

Unemployment in South Dakota is the lowest in the history of our state. More than that, it’s the lowest in American history. And we still have open jobs!

This kind of economic success doesn’t just happen overnight. I went into my first term as Governor with a goal to let South Dakotans make decisions for themselves. It is not the role of the government to tell people how to live their lives. And it’s thanks to South Dakota’s fiscal responsibility that our economy has been so successful these last few years.

The people of South Dakota made this possible, and we will continue to give back to them. We will keep supporting our state’s top industries like agriculture and tourism. We will keep passing policies that allow South Dakotans to keep even more of their money in their pockets. And we will keep empowering our citizens to make the best decisions for themselves and for their families.

I am proud of how far South Dakota has come. I am also proud of our work ethic. We are a kind of people that never settle, we never say “good enough.” Even though we have the best economy in America, we are still working to make it better.

I have never been more confident that we will give the next generation a South Dakota that is thriving and growing. Our kids and grandkids will inherit a state that embodies the American Dream – a state that will be a shining beacon of Freedom for years to come.

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Governor Noem Appoints Chris Schilken as Commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Krisi Noem announced that Chris Schilken will be the new Commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).

“Freedom-loving folks from all over the country are moving to South Dakota. It’s the job of my Office of Economic Development to keep our communities growing so that we are ready to welcome new South Dakotans, while continuing to care for our existing businesses,” said Governor Noem. “Chris understands this and will work to develop initiatives to create a South Dakota that we will be proud to pass on to the next generation. I am excited to work with him in this new role.”

Prior to being appointed Commissioner, Schilken served a dual role as GOED’s Deputy Commissioner and Director of Business Development. With a background and passion for economic development, he has overseen over 100 complex projects, valued at billions of dollars in capital investment for the state of South Dakota. Schilken’s actions aided in the addition of 7,000 jobs and 150 projects in the past five years, making him a key ambassador for promoting South Dakota.

“I want to thank Governor Noem for the opportunity to serve as Commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development,” said Chris Schilken. “The work that I have gotten to do with GOED over the last five years has been life-changing for myself and for people across the state. I am looking forward to leading this group and working closely with Governor Noem to continue building a stronger South Dakota.”

Schilken and his wife, Erika, live in Watertown, South Dakota with their four children.

Information on GOED can be found here. A photo of Schilken can be found here.

Governor Noem Announces National Guard Deployment to Southern Border

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will be deploying at least 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to the southern border later this summer. Governor Noem joins a group of 12 other Republican governors who are answering the call from Texas Governor Greg Abbott to help Texas respond to the crisis at the southern border.

“The border crisis is growing worse under President Biden’s willful inaction. Across the country, crime rates, drug overdoses, and human trafficking have all skyrocketed because our border remains a warzone,” said Governor Noem. “Our National Guard soldiers are the best prepared to tackle this challenge. They have proven that they can serve with excellence in a situation such as this, and I am confident that they will do so again.”

Two years ago, Governor Noem was the first governor to deploy National Guard troops to the southern border at the request of the governors of Texas and Arizona.

Monthly border encounters have increased by 536% since President Biden took office. Average monthly encounters are up to 204,566 to-date in fiscal year 2023. Prior to the Biden Administration, recorded border encounters had only ever been higher than 200,000 in one month in history, which was 23 years ago.

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(Editor’s note.. Just a disclaimer that this is not an endorsement, as I am opposed to the proposal.- PP)

A Time for Term Limits
by Sen. Brent “B.R.” Hoffman

“If we have term limits here in South Dakota, how is it that your opponent has been in the state house for more than 15 years?”

It’s a question I was asked a number of times of my opponent (a nice guy, by the way) during the 2022 primary campaign, but I’m not sure you’re going to like the answer.  Though voters passed an amendment in 1992 limiting legislators to “four consecutive terms or a total of eight consecutive years,” that pesky word “consecutive” has made our term limits little more than a suggestion.  As long as a legislator has a break in service (whether a day, a year or a decade) or is elected to the other chamber, he or she may serve indefinitely, meaning “for an unlimited period of time.”  Some legislators have served more than 25 years.  There is no limit.

Given the widespread public support for term limits, which ranges from 65-85% (depending on the poll) and cuts across party and demographic lines, you’d think it would be an easy fix to remove the word “consecutive” and align term limits with public intent, but nothing is easy in politics.  My proposal in the state senate was placed on life support shortly after introduction and died in committee within minutes.  It was not unexpected, as to my knowledge, no state legislature has ever passed term limits upon itself, including South Dakota.  This is also true at the federal level, where Congress has passed term limits for the president, but will never pass limits upon itself.  You’re welcome to quote me.

Fortunately, there is a solution, as glorious South Dakota is one of 16 states whose constitution allows for direct initiative or amendment.  Not surprisingly, you may find it interesting there are also 16 states with legislative term limits.  The initiated amendment process sets a high bar to place an issue on the ballot, as it should, and it will require upwards of 35,000 signatures to place it on the ballot for the general election of 2024.  Our term limits team is preparing to do just that, and we hope you’ll have the opportunity to vote on this amendment in November.  The amendment language and explanation is pretty straightforward, as it simply removes “consecutive” and limits legislators to eight years in the senate and eight years in the house or a maximum of 16 years.  We believe eight years of service in each chamber is consistent with public intent, good government and the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In the coming months, you’ll likely hear some of the pro and con arguments regarding term limits.  Regardless of the opposition, we’ll be respectful, factual and working hard on those petitions.  Our team will be happy to answer your questions, and we also intend to sponsor debates in several districts across the state.  If we’re successful in placing the amendment on the ballot, we’re confident it will pass, as term limits have always passed in every state with an initiated amendment.

We’re hopeful term limits will improve accountability in our government and the people it serves, and you’re welcome to join us as we launch this effort in the next few weeks.

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The author served a career in the military, surviving the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.  He’s a published author, occasional newspaper columnist and currently serves as a state senator for District 9, which includes western Sioux Falls, Hartford and Wall Lake.