I’m waiting for the full FEC Report, but initial reports of Senator Thune’s cash on hand indicate he’s done quite well for the quarter:

Sen. John Thune’s re-election campaign will report that the senator has nearly $12.5 million in cash on hand in his second quarter filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Thune raised $818,384.88 in the second quarter, leaving him with almost $12.5 million as he heads into a match for a third term. It’s an uptick of what he raised in the first quarter, $588,360.

Read that here.

Defeat 22 Coalition Announces Growing List of Coalition Members
Initial members include leading charitable, business, and policy organizations

Sioux Falls, S.D. – Defeat22, the coalition urging voters to reject Initiated Measure 22 on the November ballot, today announced the initial list of coalition partners. The coalition opposes Measure 22 because it will force taxpayers to fund political campaigns via a “public funding” law.

Initial Coalition Members – Defeat22:

• SD Farm Bureau
• SD Retailers Association
• SD Chamber of Commerce
• SD Cooperatives
• Western Dakota Families
• Family Heritage Alliance Action
• Concerned Women for America of South Dakota
• Americans for Prosperity – South Dakota

“We are proud to have so many great South Dakota organizations standing with the Defeat 22 coalition to educate voters about this outrageous proposal,” explained Larry Rhoden, former South Dakota state legislator and spokesman for the Defeat 22 coalition. “Our coalition represents many different perspectives within our state, all of which agree that tax dollars should never pay for politicians and their political campaigns. We welcome other organizations in the state to stand with us and help educate voters about what is at stake. Right or left, up or down state, all South Dakotans should agree that no taxpayers should be paying for attack ads and robocalls.”

Last week the coalition announced a new radio ad, mailer, and grassroots door knocking effort. The coalition plans to continue heavy grassroots advocacy and paid media over the next four months.

Defeat 22 is a coalition opposing Measure 22, which would create taxpayer-funded campaigns and force South Dakotans to be added to a government database. The coalition includes non-profits, concerned citizens, and lawmakers. For more information, visit Defeat22.com.

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Looks like Democrat US Senate Jay Williams is raising good money for a legislative campaign. Too bad, it’s a state legislative one, because this is some of the worst fundraising for a US Senate campaign we’ve seen since… well, ever.

Jay Williams 2016 Q2 FEC Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

Coming off of the Democrat State Convention, you would have thought he should have had a nice bump, raising money from his “people;” the true believers of the State Democrat Party. Instead, it’s as if the heaviest hitters the Democrat party had to offer looked at Jay… looked at their checkbooks…. and decided to give the minimum amount they had to with out looking cheap. And there are far more people on the Democrat’s fundraising rolls who simply did not give at all.

Clearly, Democrats are saving their money for a different candidate, or to place elsewhere, such as State Legislative races. Because they aren’t opening their hearts and wallets for this candidate.

(* Williams raised $19,623 as reported in the pre-primary report, which could be added to this total. Which is still less than Thune earned in Interest)

Kristi Noem for Congress 2016 Q2 FEC

Congresswoman Kristi Noem continues to rack up impressive numbers in the campaign finance arena. As you cn tell from her latest report, filed today, she’s had a good quarter – $205k contributed, 117k spent, and over $1.7 Million dollars in cash on hand.

*Now, given the fact this is a secondary report coming off of the pre-primary, you have to add the pre-primary report in with the one that was just posted to get the full quarter which is 310k raised total for 2q.

We’ll compare it to Paula Hawks’ report after she has her report in. Somehow for Democrats, I suspect it’s going to be a bit depressing.

Apparently there are some interesting things about the Democrat’s PUC candidate Henry Red Cloud coming to light as his campaign for the Public Utilities Commission kicks off.

First, as we learned earlier, we discovered he’s tied in with Leonard Peltier apologists, who think the convicted killer got a raw deal, and advocating for his release.

And now, in the latest, we learn that his campaign has some interesting staff.

Apparently there are no Democrats able to handle the treasurer duties for Red Cloud who actually reside in South Dakota, so he’s outsourced it to Colorado, where Richard Fox of Fort Collins is handling all that for him. And who is Mr. Fox?

Richard Fox is the Executive Director of a Colorado environmental group “Trees, Water and People,” where he’s been associated with Red Cloud employing him for a Colorado based program for Tribal Renewable Energy.

I’m not sure which is worse – The face that there’s apparently no South Dakotans that can serve as the treasurer for the lone State campaign they have to run this year? Or the fact that for an office which makes pretty important decisions on South Dakota pipelines and other aspects of our energy infrastructure, a Colorado environmental activist is hip deep in running the campaign for the Democrat Candidate for that office?

Noem Statement on Reopening of Rosebud Emergency Department

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Kristi Noem today issued the following statement in the wake of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announcement that the Rosebud Hospital emergency department would reopen on Friday, July 15, and resume operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week:

“The dangerous conditions within the emergency department and the resulting diversionary status put too many lives in jeopardy. Today is a day of hope, but it is not the end of our work. So much still needs to be done. The problems that led to the grave conditions in Rosebud remain. Expansive reforms, such as giving tribes a role in running IHS facilities and reformulating how purchased-referred care dollars are allocated, must be made if we are going to see the lasting improvements tribal communities deserve.”

In June 2016, Noem introduced the Helping Ensuring Accountability, Leadership, and Trust in Tribal Healthcare (HEALTTH) Act, which among other things:

+ Gives tribes a seat at the table to encourage better, longer-term contracts by allowing for a partnership among IHS, tribal communities and healthcare stakeholders to collaborate throughout the contract negotiating process, rather than leaving those decisions solely to IHS.

+ Addresses the current recruitment problem – for both medical staff and hospital leadership – by putting provisions in place to:

· Allow for faster hiring.
· Make the existing student loan repayment program tax free, as an added incentive for high-quality employees.
· Provide incentives to attract competent and well-trained hospital administrators as well as medical staff.

+ Reforms the Purchased/Referred Care (PRC) Program by, among other things:

· Requiring IHS to develop a new formula for allocating PRC dollars. Under Noem’s bill, IHS would be required to develop a formula based on need, population size, and health status to ensure those areas that have the greatest need receive a greater portion of the funding.
· Requiring IHS to negotiate Medicare-like rates for services it pays for with private providers. IHS currently pays a premium for PRC services. Noem’s proposal would bring payments in line with what Medicare pays to stretch every dollar further.
· Requiring IHS to address the backlog of PRC payments to private providers. Private hospitals in the Great Plains Area have long expressed concern because IHS has failed to pay their bills. Noem would require IHS to put a strategy in place to get these hospitals paid what they are due.

+ Restores accountability through strategies, such as:

· Require IHS to be accountable for providing timely care.
· Require the Government Accountability Office to report on the financial stability of IHS hospitals that are threatened with sanction from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The legislation has been endorsed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the National Indian Health Board, Avera, Rapid City Regional Health, Sanford Health, the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, the South Dakota State Medical Association, the South Dakota Dental Association and others.

For more information, visit www.noem.house.gov/IHS.

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(Editor’s note – another important piece of legislation from Senator Rounds to make sure that local banks can loan money to prospective homeowners -PP)

Rounds Introduces Bill to Provide Regulatory Relief for Community Financial Institutions

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today introduced the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act. This bill would provide regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions by exempting them from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) revised Regulation C final rule, which amends the 1975 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

“More and more of our community banks and credit unions in South Dakota have stopped offering mortgage lending services simply because they can’t afford to comply with the costly, time-consuming requirements of regulations coming out of Washington,” said Rounds. “Regulations like the revised HMDA rule force community banks and credit unions to divert resources away from providing financial services to their communities and instead direct them to comply with onerous regulations. My bill will alleviate compliance hurdles facing many of our community banks and credit unions and allow them to do what they do best—serve their customers and strengthen our communities.”

HMDA was enacted in 1975. The act requires certain financial institutions to provide the public, and public officials, with mortgage data to determine if financial institutions are properly serving the communities in which they are located. Following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, rulemaking authority for HMDA was transferred to the CFPB. The CFPB revised HMDA to require community banks and credit unions to collect nearly 50 unique data points on loan applications and share that information with the federal government.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act would raise the thresholds for the number of closed- and open-end loans a financial institution can originate before being subject to HMDA reporting requirements. This would allow more community financial institutions to be exempt from the HMDA rule. The bill would raise the number of closed-end loans financial institutions can originate from 25 to 100 per calendar year. It would increase the number of open-end lines of credit from 100 to 200.

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There’s a definite choice in candidates for Legislative District 3 this year. On one hand, you have some of the most whack-job liberal leftists that the Democrat party has to offer. On the other hand (the one you don’t want to chop off), you have solid, stable candidates representative of the community – a business owner, a law enforcement officer, and a farmer/rancher. 

Mark your calendars, and RSVP for the event by clicking here.

If there’s any complaint over the event – they should be asking for more from attendees! The races are that important!

Put it on your schedule, and RSVP today.

From the Argus:

“Emily Wanless, a political science professor at Augustana University, said unlike Rounds and Noem, he (Thune) is up for re-election and is in a prominent leadership position in the Senate.”

Read that here.

Getting people to realize that she’s actually running for Congress might be one of those things for Paula Hawks to add to her “to do” list.