Election denier Rick Weible organized a PAC for recruiting candidates, but spending it’s money on “election anomaly” group.

I hadn’t caught this in the PAC filings that have been coming in until now, but a political action committee created by one of the most visible election deniers in the state appears to be largely bankrolled by the same family that provided significant funding to the failed congressional campaign of Taffy Howard in 202o.

In April of 2023, Rick Weible of Elkton, formerly of Minnesota, created a Political Action Committee called “Save South Dakota,” with the stated purpose that the PAC was created to “Help recruit, promote, support republican candidates that will abide by SD GOP platform principles.”  Which I’m sure are GOP platform principles as interpreted by Rick.   Fast forward a few months, and the group had it’s name at the top of a flyer was declaring Weible a “South Dakota Hero” for some logical reason no one has been able to discern to date.

Now that the deadline for Political Action Committee filings have passed, we have a slight window into who is funding this silliness. According to the End of Year report filed by the PAC with the South Dakota Secretary of State..

Save South Dakota PAC FY 23 EOY Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

Dave Assman, Cathy Assman, & Darla Assman all kicked $2000 into the Weible led PAC, with Greg Assman dropping in another $1000. You’ll see most of them also donated significantly to the Taffy Howard congressional effort. The itemized donations are rounded out by Weible putting in $500 to the PAC that declared him “a hero,” and despite their spelling error, I believe State Representative Tina Mulally was in for another $410.24.

What did they spend it on? Despite their claimed mission of electing candidates, it appears that they used this group as their front group for buying the state voter list, consulting with an outside group, MK Analytical.

According to their website, MK Analytical…

MK Analytical is a small team that has established itself within the Election Integrity Community as the leading company that has been providing accurate and focused lists that has proven to be an effective tool in uncovering anomalies associated with this Country’s Elections. The MK Analytical Network has helped connect Election Integrity investigation teams from many different states with the purpose of sharing data analysis, techniques and uncovering new anomalies that other states can investigate in their state.  

Read that here.

So, is this PAC focused on sending the voting list off to an analyst for the “election integrity community,” as they’ve declared themselves to be.. or are they recruiting candidates?  This seems to be heading down the rabbit hole, leaving everyone to wonder if the group is focusing on spending other people’s money on candidates, or if they’re spending it on conspiracies?

The group moved forward into 2024 with $4801.11 in the bank, so it remains to be seen what, if anything, they’re going to be doing to further their declared mission.