Category: Uncategorized

‘Peace Through Strength’
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

Defending freedom and democracy around the world is no easy task. It requires strong leadership, a commitment to investing in our military and an unbreakable alliance among our allies.

While attending the G-20 summit with other global leaders in Germany this month, President Donald Trump is able to further promote ‘Peace Through Strength,’ a central idea to his America First foreign policy agenda. ‘Peace Through Strength’ is the notion that a strong military presence can preserve peace. It has been used successfully by leaders throughout history, most famously by President Ronald Reagan, who used this approach of deterring aggression to end the Cold War in the 1980s.

In recent years, the drawdown of the U.S. military, largely due to sequestration, has threatened our military strength and global dominance. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), I have been opposed to arbitrary constraints on our defense budget. In not spending enough on defense and neglecting the advances other nations are making, we are putting our nation’s fighting ability and security at risk and weakening global alliances. I am glad to see President Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis understand the need to wisely invest more in our defense and rebuild our armed forces.

When budget caps and the threat of sequestration went into effect in 2011, we had more than 560,000 active duty soldiers in the U.S. Army. By the end of this year, that number will shrink to approximately 480,000. Our Navy and Air Force are also vastly underequipped. Yet today, threats to our nation continue to increase at an alarming rate. Most recently, North Korea likely was successful in launching an intercontinental ballistic missile potentially capable of reaching U.S. soil. Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop ballistic missiles and support terrorism. In Syria, the ongoing civil war continues to escalate.

Russian aggression has intensified as well. Not only does Russia continue to violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine, after annexing Crimea, they also brazenly engage in cyberattacks against their neighbors as well as the U.S., as exemplified by their efforts during our 2016 election.  As Chairman of the SASC Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, I am deeply troubled by the attempts by our adversaries to use cyber activities to delegitimize our democracy, influence our public discourse and ultimately undermine our national security.  I am pleased that this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which recently passed SASC unanimously, takes important steps to rebuild our military and helps address the challenges our military leaders have laid out before us.

Prior to attending the G-20 summit in Germany, President Trump made a stop in Poland. During his speech in Warsaw, he declared that “Americans know that a strong alliance of free, sovereign and independent nations is the best defense for our freedoms and for our interests.” The president also renewed America’s pledge to confront and defeat the growing threats to the West through an unbreakable alliance with our allies.  These principles, coupled with rebuilding our armed forces, will allow us to promote ‘Peace Through Strength’ and keep Americans safe.

###

Cracking Down on Illegal Immigration
By Rep. Kristi Noem

Just over two years ago, while walking on a pier in San Francisco with her dad, Kate Steinle was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant with a criminal past and a record of deportations.

I firmly believe the federal government has limited constitutional responsibilities, but establishing justice and insuring domestic tranquility are among the few authorities that were engraved into our founding document’s first sentence. In recent decades, however, the federal government has fallen through on these responsibilities when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws, and the loss of Kate is just one example of the consequences for that.

Kate’s killer had already been deported five times when he opened fire on July 1, 2015. Certainly, more must be done to secure our border, including building a more robust wall and giving border patrol agents the resources and technologies needed to create a more impenetrable barrier. And without question, the laws already on the books need to be better enforced.

But I also believe our laws could be stronger too.

Shortly before the two-year anniversary of Kate’s murder, I joined the House in passing Kate’s Law, which would significantly toughen the punishment for illegal immigrants who re-enter the country.  While I believe we could go even farther with these punishments, Kate’s Law is a good first step.

San Francisco, where Kate’s murder took place, is also one of more than 300 so-called “sanctuary cities” that openly refuse to turn over criminal illegal immigrants to federal law enforcement.

Kate’s killer had seven felony convictions at the time of the murder. Less than four months before Kate’s death, he was turned over to San Francisco authorities for an outstanding drug warrant. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked that he be kept in custody until immigration agents could get there, but because San Francisco is a sanctuary city, he was released. This should never have happened.  So, in addition to Kate’s Law, I helped pass the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which cracks down on sanctuary cities like San Francisco by withholding valuable federal grants from them.

While the Senate will debate the legislation next, President Trump has already announced his support for both bills.

This is just the beginning. I’ve also cosponsored the SMART Act, which would authorize additional personnel and new technologies to help secure the border, and I’ve backed legislation to help stop the drug trafficking that’s contributed to South Dakota’s drug abuse and violent crime increases.

Kate should have never lost her life on that pier in 2015. Her killer should have never been in this country – let alone, running free within it.  We have to be stronger when it comes to enforcing the laws on the books, but we also have a constitutional responsibility to make sure the laws on the books are strong enough to keep our families and communities safe.

###

Matching Students with Workforce Needs
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

Last week, I was honored to begin a one-year term as chairman of the Western Governors Association. The WGA includes governors of 19 western states – those to the north and south of South Dakota, and every state to the west. Each WGA chair selects a policy initiative to focus on during the chair’s one-year term. Over the next 12 months I will focus on workforce development.

South Dakota has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Although this is a sign of a strong economy, it creates a challenge for our businesses. Many struggle to attract skilled workers in high-need fields such as engineering, information technology, healthcare and the construction trades. The shortage of skilled workers limits businesses’ ability to grow and serve more customers.

At the same time, too many young people are unaware of the opportunities that are available to them. More and more good jobs require training beyond a high school diploma. Despite this, only about two-thirds of South Dakota high school graduates go on to further education at a university or technical institute. Although South Dakota is one of the best in the nation in this regard, there is room for improvement.

Among those who do pursue additional education after high school, many are unaware of which educational pathways lead to skills or credentials which are in demand and qualify a person for good jobs. We need to do a better job of career counseling. Of course, I want our young people to follow their dreams as they choose schools and careers, but I also want them to have their eyes open as they make those choices.

In recent weeks, I have met with a number of leaders of South Dakota school districts, to ask them how we can address this issue. They agreed that one approach is to offer more job-based training in high school. This can take the form of internships, apprenticeships or hands-on learning at the school.

For example, in Yankton, many seniors are able to complete their classwork in the morning, so that they can work three hours each afternoon at a paid, work-based internship. In Harrisburg, the high school will begin to offer an “early college” model that allows students who complete their high school coursework to begin to take introductory college classes, using the state’s dual credit program. Madison High School has partnered with several large employers to create work experiences that award credits that transfer to a technical institute.

I fully support efforts like this, and I have told school superintendents that the state will do what it can to support these efforts, even if some state rules must be waived or modified. These programs give young people real work experience, so they are more prepared to enter the workforce. In many cases, students get credit toward their high school and technical institute or university education. And students get the opportunity to explore different occupations, to better identify a career that they might pursue after high school – or find that a career is not interesting or suitable for them.

Last month, I was among several governors who attended a White House roundtable discussion about workforce development. The discussion included President Trump, Ivanka Trump, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta and U.S. Small Business Administration Director Linda McMahon. The governors present represented every part of the country, and we all face similar challenges. I appreciate the federal focus on this issue, and I hope the Western Governors Association initiative will also contribute. Still, in the end, these are issues that will be solved locally, as school leaders and business leaders join together to do what is right for their communities.

-30-

Bob Mercer’s column this week is interesting, in how it parallels Dan Lederman’s recent guest column in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader over why their column about the Democrat’s woes having nothing to do with redistricting:

Come 2018 South Dakota might have a ballot measure asking voters to change legislative redistricting. Currently the Legislature is in charge. The ballot measure would put responsibility with a special commission.

and…

There are many reasons Democrats don’t have more than six senators and 10 representatives among the 105 seats in the Legislature.

The biggest is turnout. Democrats don’t show up. The second is candidates. Democrats leave more seats open than Republicans do.

But redistricting? That’s a false narrative.

Read it all here.

From the Mitchell Daily Republic, Democrat Troy Heinert is making noise about running for US House, and his allies seem to have selective amnesia in reference to one of South Dakota’s statesmen of years past.

During a gathering at the Fort Randall Casino & Hotel, state Sen. Troy Heinert was called a “rock star” by state Rep. Shawn Bordeaux. Bordeaux’s statements were followed by former state secretary of tribal relations and current director of tribal relations for Avera Health, J.R. LaPlante, who said the state will need to see a minority candidate in statewide office before South Dakota achieves equality.

After the trio offered remarks Friday, Heinert said he hasn’t ruled anything out. But he didn’t officially throw his trademark cowboy hat into the ring in the 2018 race for the state’s at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And..

But 44-year-old Heinert, who has served in both houses of the South Dakota Legislature since first taking the oath of office in 2013, would instantly become the best known Democratic candidate in the race if he enters the field. Bordeaux or Heinert would join state Sen. Billie Sutton, a Burke Democrat running for governor, on the ballot in 2018.

And..

“I believe that we will have equality in the state of South Dakota when white people elect a person of color to state office, and not just a district position, but an at-large position, at statewide election,” LaPlante said.

Read that here.

LaPlante seems to be suffering selective political amnesia in the case of Congressman Ben Reifel, a Republican who was elected as the first Lakota to serve in the House of Representatives. He served five terms as a Republican United States Congressman from the First District. 

(You know, Congress. The same office he’s promoting Heinert for.)

I’d mentioned a month ago that I’d heard Dems were looking to Heinert to jump in the race, and that their potty-mouthed candidate Chris Martian was not a factor in state Dem machinations.  

Looks like we already knew how it was going to play out.

The Argus Leader has picked up the story about Secretary of State Shantel Krebs’ Vote605 App diverting people to her Congressional Campaign website, and in responding, Krebs’s response in the matter seems to come of as confusing as her earlier response to the issue:

Pat Powers, author of the conservative website Dakota War College and a supporter of Krebs’ opponent Dusty Johnson, first reported the connection late Thursday.

In the hours since, Krebs, a Republican candidate for U.S. House, removed the link from the Vote 605 app.

“It’s an oversight and it’s been resolved,” Krebs told Argus Leader Media on Friday afternoon. “We heard about it last night and fixed it right away.”

Krebs considered the situation a “pretty small issue” that arose from carrying over the app created by former Secretary of State Jason Gant. Attorney General Marty Jackley said the newly-formed Government Accountability Board could investigate the situation if it received complaints and deemed it worth probing.

Read it here.

Not trying to dig in on the issue, but a few points that seem to be muddled by either the writing style, or the response itself was incorrect.

#1 – It was not fixed right away. It was fixed at about 8 – 8:30 am this morning, as readers were checking it up until then.

#2 – The carrying over of the app had absolutely NOTHING to do with the error. I’m not sure how anyone could make that statement and assume that anyone would believe it.

The error was caused when the incoming Secretary of State directed the app developer to point the app at her campaign facebook page which had been re-branded as a non-campaign page.

The story did correctly note that it “was the unintended consequence of changing her secretary of state page to her congressional campaign page earlier this year.”

Just to clarify.

In the past, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs has criticized her predecessor for various things such as politics in office, and for computer related issues. So my ears perked up when I was told today that the Secretary of State’s 605 voter app has apparently been directing people to Krebs for Congress Campaign Facebook Page for several months now.

According to Secretary of State Shantel Krebs’ website, the intent of the Vote 605 mobile application is to help voters find valuable information about elections:

“Using this information-protected application, any registered South Dakota voter now has the ability to discover where they may vote, what is on their ballot, and any additional voter registration and election information pertaining to the user.

Read that here.

Unfortunately, (and we hope inadvertently) the Vote 605 App has fallen victim to the closeness of the Official functions of the Secretary of State’s office to her campaign efforts as she attempts to run for the US Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman Kristi Noem.

Because if you click on the app to go to what you think is Shantel Krebs’ Facebook page for the Secretary of State’s web site, you’re getting different information than what you might have expected. In fact, I filmed what I found when I clicked on it myself:

As was pointed out to me by a reader, the Vote 605 Voter Information App has apparently been sending people who click on the Facebook link not to a Facebook page for the Secretary of State, but to Shantel Krebs’ Federal Congressional Campaign Facebook page. (The twitter links to a more state related SOS Twitter page).

In fact, going looking for the actual Facebook page for Krebs in her role as the Secretary of State, there’s even a more curious discovery.  As in… there isn’t one.  Was there never one? Did it disappear?

This caused me a lot more sleuthing. What did I find?

There’s Krebs’ personal facebook page.  And there’s her Congressional facebook page which the 605 App links to as demonstrated. But if you search, there would not appear to be a public Facebook page for Krebs in her role as Secretary of State anymore for the 605 application to link to.

But, where did it go? If you look at the link for her Congressional page..  the link in the page for her Congressional Facebook page appears to have references to her being Secretary of State:

What I found was that this page – which had been used for and accepting the traffic & likes for Krebs’ role in the public sector office of Secretary of State – had been converted over to the purposes of the federal race. And as I found out after doing some retrospective digging, her Facebook page has been flowing all along and changing as she’s adopted various public personas during the years.

It appears that the page has gone from her time in the State Senate campaigning (watch the dates of the posts, all screen shot today)….

..to her Secretary of State 2014 campaign page..

…To the Official SOS Facebook page.

And sometime after this post, after the campaign page became her official SOS page, it was being used to promote the very app which was directing people to the now official facebook page..

Unfortunately, on March 13th of this year, the Krebs official SOS page was converted back over to campaign duty and over to her Congressional Campaign site…

…But the links in the 605 App were never changed.

During the prior conversion of Krebs’ campaign Facebook page into a website for a public official, at that time the linkage between the Facebook page and the official Secretary of State’s 605 App was established.  Unfortunately, when the Facebook page was reconverted to the political, it appears to have not been unlinked.

As was pointed out to me by a correspondent today, it begs the question “why was her campaign page converted to a public office page in the first place?”

As the SOS is finding, you can run into a problem when you’re co-mingling your campaign persona with that of being a public official. Because of the blurring, since at least since March 13th, the SOS’s official Vote 605 App’s Facebook link has been shuttling people to a page branded for the Secretary of State’s run for Congress.

Could it have been a political page all along? Sure. But if it was never intended to be a social media page for Krebs in her official role, and was only intended to be limited to her political activities, then why was it linked up to the State of South Dakota sponsored Vote 605 App in the first place?

Neither possible explanation comes off looking very good in this matter.

It’s probably telling how much people actually used the Facebook functionality for the Vote 605 App that it wasn’t discovered until now, nearly 4 months later.  And I suspect a lot is going to happen in short order to correct this as soon as I hit “publish” on this post, and there won’t be a reason to waste another breath on it.

But it might also represent a bump in the road for the Congressional Candidate whose campaign is almost solely based on her claims of being a reformer in the office of Secretary of State.

The phrase best used might be “physician, heal thyself.”

**UPDATE**

Since the Story broke, apparently Secretary Krebs has appeared on KELO AM Radio to offer a couple of comments.

Krebs: I don’t read blogs, only credible sources like https://t.co/iMMjsgQLd9.

— KELO (@keloradio) July 7, 2017

Krebs: Politicized Vote 605 app? It was an oversight that personal FB page was linked. Taken care of and resolved.

— KELO (@keloradio) July 7, 2017

An “oversight” that a “personal facebook page was linked?” Hmmm…

As noted above, the page that was linked was absolutely not her personal facebook page, but the political page she’s used ever since she’d established a facebook presence for the state legislature, and other offices. There never was an official SOS page. Just her political one that was modified for that use.

But, that’s her story, and apparently she’s sticking to it.

From the Rapid City Journal, former alderman Charity Doyle has been hired for a new position in Rapid City:

Read it here.

In case you want to read an offensive book with the above and more, order a copy from Amazon.com.

South Dakota State Republican party chairman Dan Lederman has an editorial in the Argus leader tonight where he takes a strong counterpoint to reporter Dana Ferguson’s article contending that Democrats lose in South Dakota because of some alleged, but non-existent gerrymandering:

Acting as an apologist for Democrats in the story, Ferguson tried to intimate that they would have more electoral success if legislative districts were drawn differently. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Why? For the same reason my dad would always say, “The world is ran by people who show up,” and in S.D., instead of showing up, Democrats have given up.

In the 2016 elections that were used in the Associated Press study, which Ferguson was writing about, in S.D., the Democratic Party did not run candidates in 30 percent of the State Senate races. Nearly one-third of the races were abandoned.

Mind you, as chair of the S.D. Republican Party, I’m not complaining about that fact. But I will take issue with someone ignoring the fact that Democrat chair Ann Tornberg made a decision to not run candidates in 30 percent of those races – and now, the Democrat party is trying to lay blame at their electoral failure on “gerrymandering.”

How the legislative districts were designed had nothing to do with it. They made a conscious decision to lose the races before one vote could even be cast. They chose not to show up. They didn’t show up in the State Senate. And in election after election before that, they have chosen not to run candidates for the legislature and many statewide offices.

That’s on them. Not Republicans.

But failing to run candidates for office is only part of the Democrat Party’s problems. State Democrats have had difficulty with candidate recruitment, voter registration, fund raising and a plethora of the functions that political parties are required to do to be viable operating organizations. It is very telling that S.D. Democrats are artificially being kept afloat by the national party giving them monthly stipends to keep the door open.

Read it here!