Category: Uncategorized

The State Board of Elections met today, and as I was listening in, there was a member whose name I didn’t recognize. At all. And this new member spent much of their time voting no. I found myself wondering.. who was that?

It appears that upon the end of the term for former legislator Mike Buckingham, 2 weeks ago House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach booted Mike Buckingham off the board and offered a different person to appoint to the panel.

His choice? A Kristin Matsuda of Spearfish. Who is someone I’d never heard of.   A quick trip to google led me to a couple of things. First a press release to the appointment that went out last week.

And to Odenbach’s 2024 campaign finance report:

..where the Matsuda’s were the 4th largest donor on the report at $600 for his campaign.  There are a few assorted websites such as the PUC and others, where she’s complaining about the pipeline, through an e-mail link provided by the free-dumb caucus, and other things.

But I’m not finding much.  In fact, a quick check of the voter file says that her original voter registration date was 6/8/22.  The hard copy of the voter registration might need to be pulled, but on it’s face, the new appointee to the board of elections has only been registered in South Dakota since June of 2022?  Digging a bit further, without going into detail on my search.. it appears that the new appointee may not have been registered here before then because she was registered elsewhere. At least one website says she was in California.

And within 3-4 years, Representative Odenbach appointed her to the Board of Elections.

Well, it is Scott’s pick for the Board of Elections as House Majority Leader. He can certainly do what he wants. Even though there are several hundred thousand more South Dakotans with more time spent in elections in South Dakota than that.  (And in South Dakota, period.).  Coming on to the board after Mike Buckingham, who has been involved in multiple elections, and served in the legislature for 6 years.

So, I’m left wondering exactly what his replacement’s qualifications are that caused Rep. Odenbach to appoint her, besides being a recent transplant to the state?

Hm.

Oh, found another reference.

Stay tuned.

I’m not sure that the House GOP Caucus was exactly on time when they turned their report in for 2025.

According to the SOS,  it came in at 2/1/2026 9:22:00 PM, when they had a due date of 1/30.  But less about being late is comparing the report to the 2023 EOY report for the same time last cycle, there’s a big difference between the reports.

In the 2024 cycle when the GOP Caucus was led by Rep’s Will Mortenson & Taylor Rehfeldt, the 2023 end of year report noted $80,350.00 in income to help Republican House candidates in the fall.

Fast forward two years under Representatives Scott Odenbach and Marty Overweg, the total raised on the 2025 End of Year report? Slightly less than half of the prior leadership team’s total at this point with $39,836.82.

You can read the report here:

House GOP 2026 YE Report by Pat Powers

Biggest donors to the House Republican Caucus included Steve Watkins, the President & CEO at LifeScape, the SD Manufactured Housing Association, and the local South Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Side note – Coincidentally AFP is also partnering with Governor Rhoden and traveling the state for events promoting his property tax replacement plan this weekend:

Regardless of the source is how badly the caucus took a hit in their fundraising efforts.

Anymore, House candidates are on their own without Republican Party support with fair fundraising winds having shifted against the party at large.

So what they have in their account is the kitty is for House candidates seeking help from the GOP. Having less could be an issue, depending on how much momentum the other side has in this mid-term election for Republicans.

Straight from my mailbox, You too can show your support for US Senator Mike Rounds, telling the world with a “I Like Mike” video.

This campaign has always been powered by grassroots support — and right now, we’re asking you to be part of it.

Will you record a quick “I Like Mike” video and tell us why you support Senator Rounds?

It takes about a minute. That’s it.

These short videos help us show real South Dakotans standing behind Mike’s conservative leadership — not pundits, not outsiders, not political operatives. You.

You’ll have full control over how your video is shared!

👉 Record your “I Like Mike” video here.

Let’s show the country what South Dakota support really looks like.

— Team Rounds

 

(Just a note, my Chrome browser did not like it, but it doesn’t like SD511 or the legislative interactive map, either. So if you use Chrome on a MAC, you might try it in Safari instead. -technically minded pp)

According to reports from Facebook, Sioux Falls Democrat Congressional candidate Billy Mawhiney announced on his facebook page that he has decided to suspend his campaign for Congress, noting that “this chapter is ending.”

For state Democrats, this eliminates the possibility of a primary, and leaves them with Democrat insider Nikki Gronli as the remaining possibility to get on the ballot for the fall election.

A Scott Schlagel of Dell Rapids had filed a statement of candidacy in March of 2025, but no further filings or announcements have been made since.

Thune on DHS Funding: Time Is of the Essence

“I hope our Democrat friends will remain at the table and give talks more time to mature. The alternative path should interest no one – and that is a needless shutdown that will see funding lapse for our Coast Guard, our cybersecurity, for airport security, and for disaster response.” 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Click here to watch the video.

That Senate candidacy didn’t last long.

California transplant and District 2 State Senate Candidate Manuel Luschas lasted only a short time in the State Senate race before becoming one of the first candidates to withdraw from the race this year.

According to the Secretary of State filings, Luschas backed out to run for House instead, where he is expected to face a primary.  We’ll see if he sticks around for this one.

I can’t say I’ve seen this before.

Former 32-year Democrat and current South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Jim Eschenbaum is apparently partnering with a group which includes a dark money fund for purposes of lobbying and endorsing candidates. And not just lending them support as a private citizen, but in addition to recording a video for them, is allowing them to use his Republican party title in their advertising.

 

Funny. I seem to recall the former 32-year Democrat chair saying something about using party titles for getting in the middle of campaigns..

“It has been brought to my attention this morning that Toby Doeden’s campaign is asking County parties to endorse him. It has been discussed many times that this would not be appropriate for the party to influence the election process, other than supporting Republicans…

What each person does outside of the the “umbrella” of the State or County party opertions is up to each individual.. but please avoid taking a collective position with the SD GOP, or County GOP title involved….

..please exercise that privilege outside of the “umbrella” of the party identity.“

Well,  I guess that was all just bullsh*t.

No matter who or what they supported, I don’t recall during my time that Joel Rosenthal, Dwight Adams, Craig Lawrence, Karl Adam, Bob Gray, Tim Rave, Pam Roberts, or any other chairs ever doing this.

Did they support people or causes privately? Yes. Did they ever record an ad for a lobbying group and specifically use their title as SDGOP Party Chairman in advertising for their group?

NO. Because it would be inappropriate.

Clearly, Eschenbaum sets down rules for others, but chooses not to follow them himself.  Rules for thee…

Just a little bit of housekeeping as we bring you the best – and sometimes it seems like the worst – in South Dakota politics; South Dakota War College is now celebrating another milestone as we turn 21 years old.

It’s far different than when we originated on the blogspot platform, but we’ve still managed to keep chugging along as we passed the twenty-year mark, and added another trip around the sun behind it.

Years ago, when thinking about a potential endpoint, I had envisioned that I wanted to make it through the 2026 election, and then hang it up with this year being the site’s swan song. But there’s so much happening to keep things lively. This is not a time to step back, but as many in the state’s political arena are doing, it’s a time to step up.

Somewhere in the last 20 years, or even more recently than that, people stopped talking about less government being the ideal. Now, when they talk about local control and freedom out of one side of their mouth, out of the other people they might be micromanaging posters and stickers on the walls of schools, and declaring it should be felonious to publish public documents.  That does not sound like the freedom I used to remember.

All the while ignoring that when they pass all these new laws, they increase the size of government, and what it costs to run that government.

Our state is at a crossroads and the Republican party is under a cloud of turmoil and divisiveness we have not seen for 100 years. Politics are changing. And I think we need as many people as possible to be involved in the future of South Dakota to set us on a productive path of growth. Not a reductive path of stagnation and NIMBYism.

If I were to ask myself again today about a future ending date for the SDWC,  my answer today would be.. I don’t know?  In 2031 when I am eligible to start taking Social Security? In nine more years when dakotawarcollege.com turns 30? Maybe? Maybe not. Someone could come in and offer to write me a reasonably sized check, and I’d give it some thought.

But after 21 years, SDWC is still standing. And will continue to do so for some time to come.

House Bill 1192 which I wrote about yesterday, Heather Baxter’s bill in to give kidnappers and murderers a potential “get out of jail” card for those sentenced to life in prison, seems to have been quickly yanked off the table.

This morning in House Judiciary, before any other bill could be heard, Baxter testified that the bill was not ready, and asked for it to be deferred until next year.  Which is good.  But I also have the feeling that election year politics have as much to do with it as anything.

And, I heard through the grapevine that the bill was set to be opposed by Attorney General Marty Jackley.  I’m sure that flavored the decision to yank the bill as well.

So, maybe the bill will come back next year? Maybe not.

But I’m sure it will live on as Baxter’s record is pointed out in both of her elections in June.

This was not on the bingo card for South Dakota political observers.

Dana Chasin,  who notes on his bio that he was former campaign adviser for Jon Tester and Tim Johnson had his name brought up in recently released files in the Epstein matter, according to Politico:

Dana Chasin — a Rockefeller heir who advised Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as well as former Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) — was listed on an invitation for the Washington event benefiting Osborn, who is running against GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts as an independent.

His name appears in a March 2024 email sent to a Justice Department attorney by Jeanne Christensen, a lawyer representing a young unnamed woman who alleged Chasin flew her on a private plane to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse for sex with powerful men. The email, which details allegations of sexual abuse, also mentions a second flight with Chasin but does not make a direct accusation against him.

Read the entire story here.