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As released by the Senate this morning, here are the names of the Senators signing off on the special session for the impeachment proceedings for the Attorney General.

Senate Petitions for 2d Special Session by Pat Powers on Scribd

Senators Bolin, Breitling, Cammack, Castleberry, Crabtree, Curd, Diedrich, Duhamel, Duvall, Foster, Heinert, Hunhoff, Johns, Johnson, Klumb, Nesiba, Otten, Rohl, Rusch, Schoenbeck, Schoenfish, Smith, Steinhauer, Symens, Tobin, Wheeler, and Zikmund all signed the petition for a special session.

As of this morning, the State House of Representatives has yet to follow suit.

Update – those who didn’t sign were Senators Julie Frye-Mueller, Brock Greenfield, Jack Kolbeck, Ryan Maher, Al Novstrup, Jim Stalzer, Maggie Sutton and John Wiik. That doesn’t mean they have a position for or against, they simply called the session once the threshold was reached.

From KELOLAND News, while the House remains gagged on their own order, the Senate is apparently tired of holding their votes for convening a special session for impeachment secret at the House’s request:

Names will be released Monday of state senators who want a special session of the South Dakota Legislature to consider whether the state attorney general should be impeached and barred from public office.

The announcement came Sunday from Senate president pro tem Lee Schoenbeck, the chamber’s top member.

There’s no word yet on whether the names of House members will be released.

Read the entire story here.

Keeping the vote secret was ill-advised at best, and an affront to open government at worst. So much so that the Senate is apparently done playing along.

This evening, “Matt Paulson’s Insiders” text updated offered this interesting tidbit about next years’ Sioux Falls Mayoral contest:

Insider Text: Hearing rumors of a liberal challenger in the mayoral race from multiple sources. Word is that a private Facebook event is going out for a campaign announcement on Tuesday afternoon. If true, the candidate will be a huge contrast to Mayor TenHaken.

After a couple hours of reaching out to Sioux Falls contacts, I managed to track this down from Facebook:

The event is sponsored by Taneeza Islam, former Sioux Falls City Councilman Andy Howes, and Susan Kroger, who along with Islam is part of the women’s only LEAD South Dakota group.

What I’m hearing is that sources are saying Islam will supposedly be challenging TenHaken in next years’ mayoral contest with the announcement coming on Tuesday.

Taneeza Islam is the executive director for the “South Dakota Voices for Justice/South Dakota Voices for Peace” group, which notes itself in press releases as “diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist” and their “mission is to build power and enable healing in refugee, immigrant and Muslim communities by amplifying their voices and working in solidarity with all who dismantle bigotry and racism.”

Their website notes that she formed the group after “two bigoted resolutions and one bigoted bill were introduced during South Dakota’s legislative session” and she “was contacted by lobbyist friends in the state capitol about these bigoted pieces of legislation.” According to one bio, Islam was former “Civil Rights Director for the Council on American Islamic Relations – MN Chapter.”

We’ll know for sure after Tuesday.

After last week’s on 9/30) 6-1 vote of the State Senate Legislative Redistricting Committee, the lone vote against the proposals that were passed, State Senator Jim Bolin, asked if I’d post the map proposal he was in favor of, the legislative reapportionment proposal labeled as “Falcon,” from the Senate Redistricting document page, along with the description for his preferred mapping scheme. 

Falcon Legislative Redistricting Map by Pat Powers on Scribd

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE 2021 REDISTRICTING MAP LABELED “FALCON”

(This is not a legal description. It is a general outline of each legislative district.)

• District #1.  All of Day, Marshall, and Roberts counties plus most of rural Brown County including but not limited to the towns of Groton, Hecla, and Frederick.  It does not include any part of the city of Aberdeen or the town of Warner.
• District #2.  This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 3–5, 3-6, 3–9, 3– 12, 4–5, 5–18 and 5–20.
• District #3.  This district is within the city limits of Aberdeen.  It includes the city of Aberdeen except for two precincts on the southwest edge of the city.
• District #4. All of Clark, Deuel, Grant, and Hamlin counties plus portions of rural Coddington county including but not limited to the areas around Henry and Florence.
• District #5. The city of Watertown plus areas of rural Coddington county on the east side of the county.
• District #6. This district is entirely within the boundaries of Lincoln County. The cities of Harrisburg, Lennox, and Tea, plus the townships of Delapre, Grant, Lavalley, Perry and Springdale, plus the Sioux Falls precincts of 1-14 and 1-16.
• District #7. The city of Brookings plus the townships of Brookings and Medary.
• District #8. The counties of Lake and Moody, plus all areas of Brookings County not included in district # 7.
• District #9. The voting precincts in Minnehaha County consisting of VP–6, VP–7, VP–8, VP–9, VP–13, VP–16, VP-17 and the precincts in Sioux Falls, 3–14 and 3–17.
• District #10. This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 4-4, 4–6, 4–7, 4–8, 4–9, 4–10, 4–11, 4–12.
• District #11. This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 1–6, 1–9, 1–10, 1–17, 3–10, 3–11, 3–13, 3–15, and 3–16.
• District #12. This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 1–3, 1–4, 1–5, 1–11, 1–12, 1–13, 1–15, 1–18, 5–10, 5–17, 5–19, and 5–21.
• District #13.This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 2–1, 2–10, 2–11, 2–12, 2–13, 2–15, 2–18, 5–11, 5–12, and 5–13,
• District #14.This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 2–2, 2–3, 2–6, 2–7, 2–8, 2-9, 2–14, and 4–13.
• District #15.This district is within the city limits of Sioux Falls.  Precincts 4–1, 4–2, 4–3, 4–14, 5–1, 5–2, 5–3, 5–4, 5–6, 5–7, 5–8, 5–9, and 5–14.
• District #16. All of Union County and the portions of Lincoln County not included in Districts #6, 12, and 13.
• District #17.All of Clay and Turner counties plus the voting precinct that is in the farthest southeastern portion of Hutchinson County.  (The Menno area.)
• District #18. All of Yankton County plus the cities of Tabor and Tyndall and the voting precincts that surrounds those two towns.
• District #19.Hansen, Kingsbury, McCook, Miner, Sanborn, and the portions of Hutchinson County not included in District #17.  (All of Hutchinson except Menno and the voting area surrounding the town.)
• District #20.Aurora, Davison, and Jerauld counties.
• District #21.Charles Mix, Douglas, and Gregory counties plus the area of Bon Homme County not included in District #18 and all of Tripp County except the three voting precincts that border the White River and are at the northern border of the county.
• District #22. Beadle and Spink counties.
• District #23.Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, and Walworth counties plus the northern portion of Hyde County not to be included in #26 and the portions of Brown County and Aberdeen not included in Districts #1 and #3.
• District #24. Potter, Stanley, and Sully counties, plus all of Hughes County with the exception the precinct at the far southeastern portion of the county that encompasses the area generally known as “The Pocket.”
• District #25. The voting precincts in Minnehaha County of VP–01, VP–02, VP–03, VP–04, VP–05, VP–10, VP–11, VP-12, VP–15, VP–21.
• District #26.Brule, Buffalo, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, and Todd counties plus the voting precinct in Hughes County that is known as the “Pocket”, the southernmost voting precinct in Hyde County that encompasses Stephan, and the three voting precincts in Tripp County in the northern portion of the county that are not included in District #21.
• District #27.Bennett, Haakon, Jackson, and Oglala Lakota counties plus the eastern portion of Pennington County including but not limited to Wall, Scenic, Wasta, Quinn, New Underwood and the rural areas near these communities.
• District #28. Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Perkins, and Ziebach counties.
• District #29. All of Meade County not included in the Rapid City conurbation district.
• District #30. Custer and Fall River counties plus portions of rural Pennington County including but not limited to Hill City, Deerfield, Keystone, and Rochford, and Rockerville and the rural areas near these communities.
• District #31. Lawrence County

Minnehaha County Republicans are going to have a presentation on redistricting at their next luncheon on Wednesday, October 6th.

Check it out at the 41st Street Pizza Ranch next Wednesday at 11:30.

Governor Abbott, 10 State Governors To Hold Press Conference On Border Crisis In Mission

AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott and 10 state governors will hold a press conference on the border crisis on Wednesday, October 6 in Mission, Texas. The Governor will also be joined by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steve McCraw, Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) Chief Nim Kidd, and Texas Military Department Brigadier General Monie R. Ulis, and National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) President Brandon Judd.

MEDIA RSVP IS REQUIRED.

WHO: Governor Greg Abbott

          Arizona Governor Doug Ducey

          Georgia Governor Brian Kemp

          Idaho Governor Brad Little

          Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds

          Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

          Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts

          Ohio Governor Mike DeWine

          Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt

          South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem

          Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon

          DPS Director Steve McCraw

          TDEM Chief Nim Kidd

          General Monie R. Ulis

          NBPC President Brandon Judd

WHAT: Press conference
WHEN: Wednesday, October 6 at 12:00 PM
            Media check-in and setup begins at 11:15 AM

While the federal Statewide officeholders were in Aberdeen checking out Gypsy Days and the brand new NSU stadium, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem took a trip to the South East, and walked in the Dakota Days parade at the University of South Dakota:

From Facebook:

Looks like Dusty Johnson had a good crew walking in the NSU parade. Although, not sure about the guy in the middle wearing a sports coat. (Just kidding, looks like US Senator Mike Rounds was in to support the group).

US Senate hopeful Mark Mowry filed his US Senate financial disclosure this weekend. And despite the candidate never mentioning it on his website or campaign materials, we finally find out what he does for a living:

EFD_ Annual Report for 2021-MowryMarkS by Pat Powers on Scribd

According to the disclosure, there was $3559.00 the candidate made from being on unemployment, as well as some work as a substitute teacher in Belle Fourche & Spearfish.

But, it looks like he finally did get a regular job, and the bulk of his income is from “Williams Properties” in Spearfish, where from May 2020 to present, during the reporting period he was paid $19,698.00 by Williams Properties for “Carpentry-type small jobs.”

Stay tuned for more.