Category: Uncategorized

Throw another log on the fire. Another Indy candidate has thrown their name in the ring to run for Governor with a Wix website.

Scott Morris, a military retiree who now is a substitute teacher has announced his candidacy via a website along with his Lt. Governor candidate Ericka Flanigan, another military retiree.  The duo has also filed a statement of organization, the oddly titled “Committee for Seabiscuit.”

The campaign lists as it’s priorities teachers and education, supporting farmers, and supporting the military and veterans.

No official public announcements at this time, but as mentioned they have a website up.

Independent candidate petitions are due on April 28th, and they are required to have 3,502 valid signatures.

The Mayor of Vermillion, Jon Cole, has announced that he is running to lead South Dakota’s other university community for another term of office:

Over the past several months, many residents, community leaders, and partners have reached out to encourage me to continue serving in this role. I am grateful for that trust and support, and it is a responsibility I do not take lightly.

Serving Vermillion as mayor has been one of the greatest honors of my life. Vermillion is a city with strong values, dedicated people, and a bright future. It has been a privilege to work alongside residents, city staff, council members, county partners, state representatives, and community leaders to move our city forward.

Over my term, Vermillion has made meaningful progress. We strengthened public safety with the completion of the new law enforcement center. We invested in infrastructure to support long-term growth including roads and utilities. We expanded housing opportunities for families, seniors, and our workforce. We strengthened partnerships with the University of South Dakota and built a stronger, more collaborative working relationship with Clay County. Throughout this work, we remained focused on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and thoughtful decision making.

Vermillion continues to grow, bringing new opportunities and new responsibilities. The years ahead will require continued steady leadership, collaboration, and a clear focus on maintaining the quality of life that makes Vermillion such a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

I am seeking re-election because I care deeply about this community and believe there is more important work ahead. I remain committed to listening, working together, and leading with integrity, transparency, and common sense as we plan for Vermillion’s future.

I look forward to continuing conversations with residents across our community and respectfully ask for your support as we move forward together.

Congratulations to Jon for running again, and we look forward to watching the campaign.

Robin Schiro announces she’s running for D 17 House to Clay Co Commission. And that there’s a meth lab in her home. Click on the link to watch, starting at 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video. And enjoy the show.

A letter to Senator Voight objecting to Senate Bill was shared with me from one of his District 33 constituents today – and I was excited to share this, because he has some pretty good bullet points on the complete ridiculousness of the measure.

In hunting terms, it’s good ammo for those seeking to put Senate Bill 16 in their crosshairs, and to bring the measure down:

Dear Senator Voight,

I am writing to express my opposition to SB 16, which would require guides to pay a fee and become licensed by the state.  I am a constituent and business owner in your district.

My opposition begins with a core principle: good government is small, restrained government. This bill may appear modest on its face, but licensure is rarely a one-time action. First comes the license, then a board to oversee it, followed by staff, rulemaking, enforcement, and ongoing administrative cost. Once created, these structures rarely shrink or disappear, regardless of whether the original problem ever materializes.  It feels a lot like GF&P staff may have “suggested” this bill to you.

Second, I see SB 16 as a solution in search of a problem. I would respectfully challenge you to identify a specific instance where a member of the public was harmed by a guide in a way that would have been prevented or meaningfully mitigated by state licensure. Existing laws already address fraud, negligence, and misconduct. Creating a new licensing regime without a documented pattern of harm sets a concerning precedent.

Finally, the proposed license fee is inordinately high, particularly when viewed in the context of other professional licenses in South Dakota. Many guides are part-time or seasonal workers. In practice, this fee would almost certainly be passed on to lodges, meaning an additional regulatory burden on agricultural producers who are already facing rising costs, labor shortages, and regulatory pressure from multiple directions.

For context, here are common professional license fees in South Dakota today:

South Dakota – Common Professional License Fees

• Physician (MD/DO): $450
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA): $50
• Registered Nurse (RN): $100
• Real Estate Salesperson/Broker: $100–$200
• Cosmetologist: $45
• Barber: $50–$100
• Electrician: $50–$150+
• Plumber: $50–$150+
• Architect: $100–$300+
• Professional Engineer: $100–$300+

When a seasonal guide license approaches or exceeds the cost of licenses held by highly regulated professionals, it raises serious questions about proportionality and legislative intent.

For these reasons, I respectfully urge you to reconsider SB 16 and its long-term implications for limited government, rural businesses, and South Dakota producers.

Sincerely,
Chris Hipple

Well, when Senator Voight proposes charging more for a fishing guide license than the state does for a doctor or an electrician, it makes you wonder where his sense of proportion is. And Chris makes a number of good points on what happens after the license.. a board to oversee it, followed by staff, rule making, enforcement, and ongoing administrative cost.

I just don’t see where there are many South Dakotans who are demanding to sign up for all that new government.

Thune: Working Families Tax Cuts Provide Bigger Paychecks, Permanent Relief

“The good news for the American people as they start their new year is that they’re going to have, on average, $3,700 more money in their pocket as a result of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act that we passed this last summer.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:

Prairie Chickens must be in season. Because someone chickened out on one of the most controversial bills offered before session has started.   Senate Bill 16, the bill to license hunting and fishing guides in South Dakota appears to have lost one of the people who brought the measure earlier.

Voight is a first-term lawmaker who serves on the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, where the legislation likely would be assigned for its first public hearing.

So far, the legislation has one co-sponsor: Republican Sen. Carl Perry of Aberdeen, the Senate’s assistant majority leader. 

Read that here.

Senator Carl Perry, the Senate Assistant House Majority Leader, was one of the sponsors of the measure which would charge resident licensees more to be a fishing guide in South Dakota than the state charges a doctor.. to well, be a doctor in this state (I have more coming on this). And as of today, Perry’s name has been magically removed from sponsoring the measure.

Should legislators get to remove their names from bills they deserve to take heat over?  Should Senator Perry get to bravely run away?

And if it’s that bad, why hasn’t Voight withdrawn the measure himself?

Session starts a week from today. Stay tuned.

Attorney General Jackley Announces Former State Employee Arraigned On Five Counts of Falsifying Investigative Reports

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that a Spearfish woman has been arraigned on four felony counts and one misdemeanor count of falsifying investigative reports while an employee of the South Dakota Department of Social Services’ Child Protective Services.

Nova Collins, 56, was arraigned Tuesday in Lawrence County Circuit Court. The crimes occurred in early 2025.

Collins is charged with one felony count of Forgery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one felony count of Offer of Forged or Fraudulent Evidence, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one felony count of Falsification of Evidence, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, one felony count of Offering False or Forged Instrument for Filing, Registering or Recording, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, and one misdemeanor count of Falsification of Public Records by a Public Officer or Employee, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in the county jail.

The case is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office’s Public Integrity Program, which is part of the Division of Criminal Investigation.

Collins’ next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 17. She has been released on a $500 bond. The defendant is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.

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This last weekend, Governor Larry Rhoden and Lt. Governor Tony Venhuizen were in the news explaining how the South Dakota Legislature can ignore the commitments they made to fund education by ignoring the laws they had passed earlier to help education funding keep pace with inflation:

(Governor Larry Rhoden said) “The same people that made the laws can suspend them, if you will,” he said. “And there’s times that it’s been necessary to do so.”

Lawmakers created the mandatory increase law in 1995, with an effective date in 1997. It required annual increases of 3% or inflation, whichever is less — an amount described as the “index factor.”

and..

Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen said the index factor now serves more as a “guideline or a goal.”

“One Legislature can’t bind a future Legislature by statute,” Venhuizen said.

and..

(Former Senator Lee Schoenbeck said)  “Now these people in the Legislature will have to decide if they have the courage to pay their bills.”

Read the entire story here.

What are your thoughts on the legislature failing to provide the inflationary increase they themselves had written into law? It’s not as if the cost of everything hasn’t increased during the same period of time they’ve failed to keep pace with the funding.

Don Haggar launches campaign for South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. Departs from Americans for Prosperity.

Sioux Falls, SD – January 5, 2026 “After eight incredible years at Americans for Prosperity, I’m stepping away to run for the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission,” said Don Haggar. “The policy victories we’ve achieved together—from tax relief and healthcare reforms to protecting free speech and running historic door-knocking campaigns that helped flip Senate seats to the Republican Party have made a real difference in people’s lives. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished and grateful to have worked alongside so many passionate advocates. Now, I’m excited to bring that same commitment to fighting for affordable energy, reliable infrastructure, and consumer-focused regulation to the Public Utilities Commission.”

During his tenure at AFP, first as South Dakota State Director and later as Regional Vice President, Don Haggar led transformative policy victories and historic grassroots campaigns that advanced economic freedom, lowered costs for families, and expanded opportunity across the state and region.

Key accomplishments in South Dakota included working on support of streamlining elections by moving all municipal, county, and school board elections to either the primary or general election dates, enhancing voter participation. In healthcare, Don Haggar championed association health insurance plans that saved small family farms tens of thousands of dollars in health insurance costs, scope of practice expansions for certified registered nurse (CRNs), physician assistants (PAs), and dental professionals, and direct primary care legislation that promoted affordable, patient-centered options.

Education reforms under Don Haggar’s leadership expanded the insurance premium tax credit scholarship program twice, opened high school activities to home-schooled children, and implemented campus free speech protections. Economic wins included cutting the state sales tax from 4.5% to 4.2%, passing innovative regulatory sandbox legislation to foster entrepreneurship, and successfully defeating a ballot measure that would have restricted free speech.

As Regional Vice President, Don Haggar directed massive grassroots electoral efforts, including leading teams in Ohio and Montana that each knocked over one million doors to mobilize voters and help elect Republicans to U.S. Senate seats formerly held by Democrats..