Category: Uncategorized

Judge Sentences Joel Koskan to 10 Years In Prison

PIERRE.S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has announced that Joel Koskan of Mellette County was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in the state penitentiary after pleading guilty to two felony counts of incest.

Koskan pleaded guilty Tuesday before Circuit Court Judge Margo Northrup in the Hughes County Courthouse in Pierre. The defendant waived his right to a delay in his sentencing and was immediately sentenced by Judge Northrup. He was remanded to the custody of the Mellette County Sheriff to begin his prison sentence.

The charges stem from a relationship that the defendant had with a minor. Each incest charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Judge Northrup ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. The defendant also was ordered to pay more than $20,000 in fines.

“Justice has been served in this case because the victim overcame extraordinary conditions to cooperate with the prosecution,” said Attorney General Jackley. “We applaud the victim for her courage and praise the difficult work of the investigators and prosecutors.”

Agencies involved in this case included the Attorney General’s Office and its State Division of Criminal Investigation.

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(Editor’s note – Here we find out that the sentences are consecutive – my emphasis. I was also informed when I inquired that being on the sex offender registry is part of the sentence.)

More coming on this story.

I think they staked out this location for the photo..

Koskan leaving court after sentences pic.twitter.com/Hfyi39QC6f

— KELO Bob Mercer (@pierremercer) April 11, 2023

Joel Koskan plead guilty to two charges of incest. Judge Northrup gave him the max penalty, totaling ten years in prison and a little over $10k in fines owed to the state. pic.twitter.com/UrTQKvlIbW

— Austin Goss (@AustinGossSD) April 11, 2023

While Easter Monday was a slow news day (except for the tremendous rate of snow melt) today will be more of a bombshell in South Dakota politics, as former State Senate candidate Joel Koskan will be arraigned on alternate charges on allegations of sexual abuse in Pierre after the rejection of a plea agreement.  The arraignment starts at 10 a.m. before Circuit Court Judge Margo Northrup in the courtroom of the Hughes County Courthouse.

No indication of what the alternate charges are, as the Attorney General’s office cannot legally file the alternate charges until the defendant waives his right to a preliminary hearing. That will happen today.

I suspect the content of the new charges may hinge on whether they were able to obtain testimony from the victim, and their willingness to participate in the prosecution of Koskan, a three-time legislative candidate who ran in the State Senate race in District 26 in 2018, 2020, and most recently in 2022.

The allegations of abuse were particularly graphic and shocked the conscience.  And South Dakota is a small state. There are a lot of people in political circles, myself included, who had met the victim. I believe she served as a legislative page, and she is well thought of. No one would wish that kind of violence or violation of her person on her.  The accusations are of such that if true, they are the ultimate betrayal of a person who said they would nurture and protect the alleged victim.

Aside from allegations of a terrible crime on a child, this case brings a sense of betrayal for many Republicans – including myself – as in past elections we’d supported Joel’s efforts to run for office.  Only to find in 2022 as charges against him were being investigated – and apparently negotiated – no one on the political end knew or suspected anything until it was too late. We found out when everyone else found out. When all of the plea agreements and investigation supposedly started, there would have been time for him to withdraw from the ballot and be replaced.  Instead, Koskan remained mute while people put time and money and resources into his race.

As the news broke, luckily for the Senate GOP Candidate PAC, their donation of $10,000 had not been cashed.. and they were able to stop the check the day they heard. Crazy people on the internet might claim they sent him money to fight the charges or for bail, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Unfortunately for others, such as the State GOP, postcards had already gone out in the race, and were far enough in the postal chain that they were impossible to claw back.  I have a postcard I could show you.. but unfortunately, I’d be compelled to blur significant portions, as this one went out with a picture of the alleged victim on it.

For those involved in the political process, there’s a lot of us feeling disgust at being used. It doesn’t compare to what the victim is said to have gone through over nearly a decade, so  the best you can hope is that today will provide healing for them.  The rest of us will always be left standing around wondering why any of it happened in the first place.

I don’t know if today will bring closure for anyone, as much as an end to a process.

More than two years ago, President Trump recognized that TikTok threatened U.S. national security and moved to ban it, but courts ruled the president lacked authority to do so. TikTok’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and questionable handling of data are reason enough for concern, but various instances have also arisen that confirm our worst fears about its malicious potential. It’s no surprise that many Americans agree that TikTok should be banned. And it’s why I recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would codify President Trump’s forward-looking effort to confront foreign-adversary technologies like TikTok that threaten our national security.

It’s widely acknowledged that TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security. Intelligence agencies, tech experts, and a majority of Americans recognize this. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is headquartered in China, has access to its 150 million American users’ data and devices. Under Chinese law, the government just has to ask for it and ByteDance would be required to hand over this data to the CCP. After a Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States in February collecting intelligence, it’s obvious that the CCP seeks to spy on Americans. TikTok is just another iteration of this threat. Before TikTok, Huawei and ZTE deployed technology in the United States that included “backdoors” that gave China access to global communications networks.

These risks aren’t going away. Four out of the five most-downloaded apps in the United States last month are Chinese-owned. We need to be able to confront foreign-adversary technologies in a holistic and dynamic way. My bipartisan bill, the RESTRICT Act, would establish a comprehensive process for identifying, evaluating, and mitigating foreign technology threats. The RESTRICT Act would allow the secretary of commerce to address technologies that have been determined to threaten U.S. national security and to do so in a timely manner. This process would end the whac-a-mole approach that has left the United States playing catch-up as potentially malicious foreign technologies establish footholds in the U.S. market

The RESTRICT Act is the most effective option to address both TikTok and future technological threats. President Trump’s efforts to ban TikTok were struck down in federal court because they relied on a 1977 law that doesn’t suit the digital age we now live in. Other attempts to simply ban TikTok would likely face a similar fate, but the RESTRICT Act offers a rules-based process that is narrowly tailored to foreign-adversary companies, which is more likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. It builds upon President Trump’s executive order, modernizes the president’s power to fit the digital age, places guardrails on presidential authority, and gives Congress a clearly defined oversight role.

My bill takes a tailored approach to address foreign companies and technologies that threaten U.S. national security. Specifically, the RESTRICT Act targets technologies from six adversary countries: China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. While the secretary of commerce could remove or add countries to this list, Congress has authority to overrule the secretary. Importantly, the RESTRICT Act does not target the content individual Americans post online, and it does not provide the administration with any authority to censor Americans’ speech online. Again, it is narrowly focused on targeting foreign-adversary threats from places like China and Russia. This tailored approach safeguards U.S. national security from technological threats from our adversaries and upholds civil liberties.

Recent history indicates that communications technology will continue to be an area in which our adversaries seek to threaten U.S. national security interests. We need to have a policy that can address the modern and evolving threats that we face, whether it’s a video app like TikTok, telecommunications hardware like Huawei’s, or something altogether new, like the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence capabilities we have recently seen proliferate. The RESTRICT Act enables the United States to attack the challenges of today and tomorrow and keep America secure at all times.

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Well, my obsession for South Dakota Republican political ribbons got me into trouble again.

Not, any actual trouble mind you, but I had to pry my debit card out of my wallet, and probably pay more than I wanted to for a political ribbon I didn’t have in my collection.. because it’s one missing from my set.

This is a ribbon for the First Republican State Convention of South Dakota…. but it’s actually not the first convention, Keep reading.  First Republican State Convention of South Dakota, Held in Chamberlain March 23, 1892 for the election of delegates to the National Convention at Minneapolis, June 7, 1892. 

What it means was that this was the first presidential election South Dakota participated in as a state, and was able to send delegates to the national Republican convention, so this was the convention where they did so.

In fact, I had previously obtained a ribbon for that national convention a couple of years ago:

In the big scheme of things, this was actually the 4th Republican State Convention for South Dakota. (Still looking for #1, 5, 7, and 8).

I did get it as part of a set, sold together with what’s probably the earliest South Dakota Democrat ribbon I’ve run across. Apparently, Chamberlain was the hot place for a convention that year, since Democrats also held their convention in the same town.

Great items of memorabilia from South Dakota’s political past.

And if there are any collectors of South Dakota Democrat political memorabilia, drop me a note, and I’m open to a sale or trade for something I don’t have.

I think my head hurts after reading this one. Deputy Secretary of State Tom Deadrick is insisting to the news media that an e-mail is not a written request, as he stonewalls, delays, and has to eventually relent because they lack staff to supervise people reviewing records.

“We are requiring that all requests for public records be in writing,” Deadrick replied on Jan. 10. “Emails will not be accepted. This is for tracking purposes on our end in order that we can best comply with the relevant statutes.”

and..

When it became clear that wasn’t going to work, I shifted strategies and asked how, precisely, I was supposed to comply with the “in writing” policy. Was I supposed to print out my email and mail it in? And if so, why wouldn’t the office just print the email I’d already sent? Or would I be required to hand-write a note and mail that in?

Deadrick told me a typed letter on official letterhead, sent through the mail, would suffice. I complied.

and..

He responded with an email saying that since I was willing to make the drive, and since the office was busy with the legislative session and therefore wouldn’t have adequate staff to “monitor” me, he was “willing to make a one-time exception” to the fee. He attached digital copies of the pardon records to the email.

Read that here.

You need to read this. This kind of bureaucracy is dystopian and dysfunctional in the face of what is supposed to be open government.

Former State Rep. Taffy Howard has apparently become a lobbyist for US Term Limits:

Howard will serve as the South Dakota State Chair for U.S. Term Limits. The organization, which is based out of Washington, D.C., states their mission is to enact and defend term limits on elected offices at all levels of government via the ballot box, legislatures and the courts with an ultimate aim of enacting a congressional term limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Read it here.

Although, I would venture that for the time being, she’ll spend most of her time being a DC lobbyist or in other states, since she’s legally banned from lobbying in SD until January 2025.

But I’m sure that’s fine, since we’re not used to her being in Pierre the entire time she’s supposed to be anyway.

During the Easter season, we spend time with our families, we celebrate with our friends and neighbors, and we are thankful for our many blessings. It’s a time when people come together to help one another; to love one another.

South Dakotans have been through a brutal winter this year, with many severe storms from December through April. It has been a struggle, but one we have gotten through together. Through small acts of kindness and by lending a helping hand, South Dakotans continue to show their strength even in difficult times.

We often think of Easter as a celebration of the light, but it is also a celebration of the darkness. The joy of Easter Sunday means nothing without the sorrow that comes before it. And if there is one thing that the people of South Dakota have taught me, it’s that tough times are always easier to get through together.

The Bible tells us to love thy neighbor as we love ourselves. And this winter, South Dakotans have done so time and time again. I have seen folks helping ranchers bring in their cattle ahead of a winter storm, clearing neighbors’ driveways to help them get to work on time, and bringing homecooked meals to friends in need. I truly think that no one loves their neighbor better than a South Dakotan.

I commend our people for their hope and for their faith: the hope that we would get through this treacherous winter, and their faith that springtime is coming. Easter reminds us of these things.

Just as spring brings new life to the earth, so does Jesus bring new life to us.

I do not know how much longer our winter will last, but I do know that spring is coming. Warmer days are ahead. And South Dakotans will help one another and love one another just as much in the warmth as we have in the cold. That’s just how we operate.

I am proud of what our people have endured. We always seem to come out of tough times stronger than before. The people of South Dakota have earned my trust, my respect, and my faith – and I will always do my best to be worthy of theirs.

So I wish everyone a very Happy Easter. I hope that you can spend this season with those that you love. And I thank you, South Dakotans, for always being there for each other – for embodying the kind of love that Jesus has for us through your love for one another. You are a light in this world, a little glimpse of springtime. May God continue to bless each and every one of you.

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Gov. Noem to President Biden: “We’ll See You in Court”

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that South Dakota will “see [President Biden] in court” over the Biden Administration’s proposed reimagination of Title IX, which exists to protect equal opportunities for girls.

“South Dakota will not allow this to stand. We will lead. We will defend our laws. Only girls will play girls’ sports. President Biden, we’ll see you in court,” Governor Noem tweeted.

Last year, Governor Noem signed the toughest bill in the nation to protect girls’ sports. She followed that action by leading a letter co-signed by 15 Republican governors urging the Biden Administration not to take this action.

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