Category: Uncategorized

Here’s another web video hitting the internets, this one coming from over in Meade County. Where they are reminding people that “We can do better than John “California” Carley:

There was a column the other day where Norman Woods, a representative of a church-based PAC tried to claim that there was nothing wrong with marrying off 16 year old girls, and it’s nothing sinister…

When you cast your vote this spring, you can have confidence that your senator stood up to outside activists and told the East and West coast elites to keep their ideas on marriage to themselves. As Marco Rubio once said: “The greatest tool to lift children and families from poverty isn’t a government spending program. It’s called marriage.”

Read Norman’s justification for it here.

Welcome to the 1950’s, where those little girls knew their place, and there were no coastal elites trying to prevent child trafficking.  Fortunately for us, we’re 70 or so years past that.

In a well needed counterpoint, Democrat Representative Kadyn Wittman points out that the effort to stop child marriage is a bipartisan effort involving both Republicans and Democrats, faith leaders and child marriage survivors who are asking for a stop to a practice that has no place in modern society:

During testimony, Norman Woods argued that many fathers would prefer their 16-year-old daughters marry an “established” older man. That statement reveals exactly why many South Dakotans were alarmed by opposition to this bill. 

and..

The argument about the age of consent is equally misleading. We regulate different rights and responsibilities at different ages all the time. A teenager may legally drive before they can vote. They may work before they can sign contracts. They may consent to some medical decisions before they can serve on a jury. The existence of an age-of-consent law does not automatically mean the state should permit minors to enter into marriage.

Many of the same lawmakers who argue teenagers are too immature to make health care decisions, vote or enter contracts suddenly insist they are mature enough to enter a lifelong legal marriage contract. That inconsistency deserves scrutiny.

and..

South Dakotans can disagree respectfully about a lot of issues. But reducing legitimate concerns about child protection to conspiracy theories about “outside activists” is unserious and insulting to the many South Dakotans, Republicans, Democrats, independents, faith leaders, survivor advocates and parents alike who supported this reform because they genuinely believe children should not be married in our state.

Read the entire column here.

Currently, a 16 year old in South Dakota is old enough to be married to a 40 year old man, but not old enough to hire an attorney to get out of it when she discovers that there may be something wrong with this arrangement.

There’s something wrong here. And it needs to be fixed.

 

After revelations over State Senator Tamara Grove maintaining a residence claiming a tax break in Sioux Falls due based on the residence being owner occupied, despite representing a legislative District that’s at a minimum a 4 hour drive away, the Dakota Scout is reporting that after calls from Republicans and Democrats alike, Grove is refusing to resign her position.

And that’s after the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney has announced an investigation into the arrangement for possible issues over the status of the Minnehaha County “tax break.”

A Lower Brule lawmaker will not resign after tax records revealed her primary residency is outside of the South Dakota legislative district she represents in the state Senate.

and..

Grove acknowledged in a statement to The Scout that she maintained an owner-occupied home in Sioux Falls that allows a reduced property tax bill while claiming to reside in Lower Brule and called the discrepancy — revealed through an investigation by The Scout Saturday — an “omission” and pledging to amend her property status.

and..

Republican state Rep. Rebecca Reimer, who is challenging Grove in the June 2 GOP primary, criticized Grove’s effort to revise her tax records only after questions emerged publicly.

“My opponent knew exactly what she was doing when she ran for office last time and again this time while these records remained unchanged,” Reimer said. “She has had more than enough time to correct them and did not. Now that she has been caught, suddenly she wants to fix it. She can either resign, suspend her campaign or face the fate of the voters on Election Day.”

Read the entire story here.

 

The election must be close, because outrage is building!

There are a number of far-right legislators allied with far-right gubernatorial candidate and community organizer Jon Hansen who are outraging tonight.

Why? Because the political action committee belonging to far-right gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden and ran by former legislator Drew Dennert has hijacked their pictures and placed them alongside his own.

“Re: Cease and Desist – Stop Using Unauthorized Use of Our Names and Implied Endorsement.”  Is that a double-negative? Has AI slop become that prevalent that they can’t write a coherent sentence?

Do you think it would have been more effective if they had actually invoked the use of grammar or spelled all of the legislator’s names correctly?

Of course, Hansenites, aka 2%-ers, are staging other attacks in retaliation, such as this image Hansen supporters posted to one of the private crazy-pants groups, the so-called Grassroots Conservative Republican Group..

Oh no! Gaming, tobacco products AND drive-through liquor!

Next thing you know, there will be a pool hall. And THEN there will be trouble!

A new commercial has been released on-line by Governor Larry Rhoden.. and a State Senator who had attended a few Toby Doeden events is now prominently featured with the Governor who is seeking a full term of his own.

State Senator Amber Hulse is part of the list of characters in the video endorsing and supporting Larry’s bid:

 

South Dakota State Representative Kent Roe awarded fellowship to attend acclaimed Midwestern leadership institute

(Lombard, Ill.)May 19, 2026 -State Representative Kent Roe was among 39 select lawmakers chosen to participate in a training program that annually identifies and assists promising state leaders in the Midwest.

Representative Roe will meet with fellow lawmakers from South Dakota and 1o other Midwestern states and four Canadian provinces on July17-21in Madison, Wis., for The Council of State Governments’ 31st annual Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development (BILLD).

“The Bowhay Institute is one of the premier leadership training programs in the nation,”saysIowa Sen. Amy Sinclair, who serves as co-chair of the institute’s steering committee. “The legislatures in the region have benefited greatly from the skills their members have gained through this unique educational experience.

Many of the graduates now hold key leadership positions in their state.

Since 1995, more than 1,000lawmakers have graduated from the Bowhay Institute. State andp rovincial legislators from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Saskatchewan are chosen to participate through a competitive, nonpartisan selection process. Members of the Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario legislative assemblies are selected by their caucuses to take part in the program.

BILLD was founded in 1995 to help new legislators meet the demands of increased policy responsibility being shifted to the states and, in many states, term limits and high legislative turnover. These two emerging forces highlight the shortage of training available for legislators – a void that BILLD aims to fill.

A program of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Office, the 2026 BILLD program will include courses and seminars conducted by policy experts, Midwestern legislative leaders, and professional development trainers. In addition to curriculum designed to develop leadership skills, the program analyzes a variety of public policy issues.

The Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development is named in honor of the late James Bowhay, longtime director of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Office. The program is funded through grants from foundations and corporate sponsors and an in-kind contribution from The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Office.

Founded in 1933,The Council of State Governments has national headquarters in Lexington, Ky., and regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago (Lombard, Ill.), NewYork City, and Sacramento. The goal of the national, nonpartisan organization is 10 assist and advance state government by providing research assistance, professional development and educational opportunities, interstate consulting services, and public policy trends analysis.

This was very well done.  Sometimes criticism cuts deeply. In this case, because it’s so true!

Candidate for Congress James Bialota seems to be getting roasted on his facebook page for some old news, where he thought South Dakota’s laws were such that he could legally stand his ground against an unarmed 12 year old.

James Bialota Jr. believes he was defending himself when he took down a 12-year-old boy on a Rapid City playground.

and..

Bialota told police he “nudged” the boy’s hands down, swept his legs and stood over him. Some witnesses took a video of the incident and posted it to TikTok, capturing the profanity laced period between the takedown and police’s arrival.

The video reportedly captured the father saying, in response to an inaudible statement from a witness, “I’d love to see that. I’m a combat veteran and I’ve killed.”

Except the court didn’t agree.  Now, he gets to be reminded of the incident on the campaign trail.

The document that Bialota is getting roasted with that’s tough to read is the jury verdict. Because of course, his tussle with a 12-year old had to go to the expense of a jury trial.

1 week to go!

There’s a new ad on the airwaves from a group who is unhappy with Jon Hansen’s zeal in attacking fertility treatment solutions for couples attempting to have a child, but needing a little assistance.

The SD Families for Fertility PAC has an ad running in conjunction with a website going after 2% Hansen for his stance on IVF over the years, including his attempts to make surrogacy a class 6 felony in South Dakota:

Since first taking office, Jon Hansen has consistently supported legislation that places legal, regulatory, or practical barriers in front of families seeking to grow through IVF, fertility treatment, or surrogacy.​

Across more than a decade, his record reflects a consistent approach centered on three areas: limiting surrogacy, increasing government involvement in embryo decisions, and advancing legal definitions that directly affect how IVF works in practice. Each of these areas intersects with the ability of families to have biological children through modern fertility care. Learn more below.

You can read the website, with the full commercial and examples of Hansen’s attacks on loving couples attempting to have children, here.

Today, the South Dakota Republican Primary is on facebook advocating that Republicans should not fully vote in primaries. Rather, they are encouraging people to “vote ONLY for your top conservative choice to maximize their support. It’s legal and effective under SDCL!”

Really.

The last I knew, the Republican Party is supposed to treat all Republican candidates equally and equitably. From the House Majority Leader running for office down to the convicted and now pardoned felon running in District 23.  No favorites should be expressed.

Yet, that’s not what the party is advocating.  They’re asking voters to treat Republican candidates unequally..

But what was the guidance of the former 32-year democrat who passes at the party chair a while back?

If they’re going to get involved in primaries, to do so out of the umbrella of the party. Yet, isn’t the party doing just that in trying to steer people towards the “top conservative choice,” whatever that is in the mind of the beholder.

The party’s job is to get Republicans elected.  Period, and with no adjectives or qualifiers.

They should especially not be burning time and resources by trying to get in the middle of primary elections.  Especially when the encouragement and insinuation is to NOT vote for some Republicans.