Attorney General and Law Enforcement Associations Support Prison Plan

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley and three South Dakota law enforcement associations issued statements of support for the new prison plan. The South Dakota State’s Attorneys Association, the South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association, and the South Dakota Police Chiefs’ Association agreed on the significant need for a new prison, encouraging legislators to move forward with the proposed plan.

“The building of a new prison, at a reasonable cost and that is respectful of taxpayer dollars, will help ensure our correctional system is equipped to meet today’s challenges,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley. “The construction of a new prison is not about expanding incarceration; it is to replace an outdated facility, address overcrowding, and provide safer environments for staff and inmates alike. By investing in a modern infrastructure, we are taking a responsible step forward to protect our communities and support a more effective justice system.”

“Our first duty is the safety of our communities,” wrote Jason Foote, South Dakota Police Chiefs’ Association President. “South Dakota needs a secure, modern, and humane facility that keeps our communities safe, protects staff, treats those in custody with dignity, and supports rehabilitation where possible.” You can find the statement of support from the South Dakota Police Chiefs’ Association here.

Police Chief Jason Foote served on the Prison Task Force, which reached a unanimous agreement on the new prison plan.

“Much of the current facility is an unsafe environment for both guards and inmates. A new facility is needed to ensure both are provided with a safer environment,” wrote the South Dakota State’s Attorneys Association. “A new prison is not solely about incarceration, but also about rehabilitative services and ensuring that individuals who enter the correctional system have a meaningful incarceration with access to resources which address the root causes of much criminal behavior.” You can find the statement of support from the South Dakota State’s Attorneys Association here.

This week, Governor Rhoden released the full plan for a new prison.

“County jails are increasingly forced to house individuals sentenced to the state, filling local beds that are already in short supply—at county expense,” wrote the South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association. “We urge our legislators to support the recommendations made by the Prison Reset Task Force at their upcoming special session and move forward with construction of the new prison.” You can find the statement of support from the South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association here.

Additional information about the plan for a new prison is outlined on the Governor’s FAQ page.

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This is right up with his theory that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are a plot by the vaccination companies. Tonight, the 4% candidate for Governor, Toby Doeden, is spewing new crazy talk on social media that almost has no basis in reality.

I say almost, as he spells his opponents’ names mostly right, but it drops off pretty damn quickly after that:

You know how sometimes you read something so dumb on Facebook that it just kind of leaves your mouth open, going ‘who are these people who believe this nonsense?’  Because there is just so much of it here.

Silly claim #1:  We are winning! All of the latest polling has us either first or second in the race.

No. Not at all. The first poll that came out had Toby Doeden at 4%. I have been made aware of a more recent one that has Toby at maybe around 15 to 18%. But never has he left third place in any reputable benchmark. He might be running text message push polls, or standing in front of his employees while he asks them but that certainly isn’t anything reputable or the real thing.

Silly claim #2: “INTERIM Governor, Larry Rhoden, is refusing to drop out of the race… While Larry is nowhere near the top of the polls, he still has a small base of support…they are likely going to try and pay him off…They are even allegedly offering him enormous amounts of cash to get him out.

That’s even more ridiculous than Toby‘s first horseshit claim. Never mind Larry Rhoden has not gotten into the race yet.  It reminds me of when the emails go out to the gullible, declaring that the sender is a Nigerian prince who needs the recipient’s help collecting his inheritance. The unscrupulous send out appeals, trying to figure out who the stupid people are who are gullible enough to fall for their scheme; and then they start working them hard.

No one is trying to buy off the Governor. If Toby thinks he can prove it, he needs to put up or shut up. Because it is a laughable falsehood.

Silly claim #3: “At the end of the day, we are in great shape! Our message is spreading, and we are winning! The political establishment is terrified.”

Again, more silliness. No one fears Toby. He can make up all the stuff he wants, but it’s not convincing anybody to vote for him. The man who has only ever voted in 1 Republican Primary (last year) is not convincing anyone to get out of the race.

This is just a social media sideshow. And most legitimate political campaigns would find it clownish.

But then again. Consider the source.

Attorney General Jackley Announces Former State Employee Sentenced For Forging Her Own Medical Marijuana Card

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Pierre woman has received a suspended imposition of sentence for earlier pleading guilty to one felony count of Offering a False or Forged Instrument for Filing, Registering, or Recording after falsifying her own medical marijuana card while she was an employee of the South Dakota Department of Health.

Alexandra Feiner, 24, was sentenced Tuesday in Hughes County Circuit Court. She faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The defendant was sentenced to two years in prison, all suspended; placed on probation for two years, and fined $500.

“There are 14,000 state government employees in South Dakota and the overwhelming majority work hard for South Dakota,” said Attorney General Jackley. “The behavior of one should not reflect poorly on the majority.”

The crimes occurred in March 2024. The defendant avoided both the medical provider certification requirement and the fee.

The State Department of Health cooperated with the investigation conducted by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

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In case you missed it, Congressman Dusty Johnson was down in Brandon on August 22 meeting with and touring Spartan Emergency Response, talking about their workforce development partnerships with Southeast Technical College.

It must have been a popular topic. as 2 weeks later, Toby Doeden must have hopped in his jet and went to Brandon to post the same thing.  And wasn’t paying attention, because he said he’ll fight for workforce development… that per the prior post they already have for Spartan Emergency Response?

 

It’s kind of like deja vu.  Or is Toby just following Dusty around on Facebook and doing the same thing in hopes he can move off of 4%?

Just askin’

Jackley Announces Run for Congress

STURGIS: Today, Attorney General Marty Jackley is officially announcing his run for South Dakota’s open Congressional Seat in 2026. A Campaign Kickoff Rally will be held at the Loud American in Jackley’s hometown of Sturgis from 5:00pm to 7:00pm MDT.

“I am humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement I have received across the state to run for Congress,” said Jackley. “I am running for Congress because the fight to save our country is in Washington. It has become clear that President Trump needs more true conservative allies in Congress to strengthen our economy, secure our borders, rebuild our national defense, reduce the size of government, and cut taxes for hard working Americans.”

“As South Dakota’s Attorney General, I have been proud to support the President and the America First Agenda that voters overwhelmingly backed last November,” said Jackley. “I have worked with President Trump to secure our southern border, stop the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities, and I am standing behind him to support law enforcement and keep our country safe.”

Jackley has served South Dakota as Attorney General and United States Attorney.  A proven leader, Jackley has been elected by his peers to serve as Chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General and the Attorney General Alliance.

Jackley has a proven conservative record defending life, the 2^nd Amendment, and property rights.  He also has a distinguished career fighting crime and government corruption. In addition, Jackley fought for main street businesses all the way to the United States Supreme Court- winning the landmark case South Dakota v. Wayfair.

Jackley grew up in Sturgis, SD, graduating from Sturgis High School in 1988.  He graduated with honors from the SD School of Mines and Technology in 1992, having earned a degree in electrical engineering.  He went on to receive his law degree from the USD School of Law in 1995.  Jackley has ranches in Butte and Hughes County where he loves to spend time with his family. Marty’s son Michael is a senior at SDSU finishing his mechanical engineering degree.  Marty’s daughter Isabella is a sophomore at SDSU majoring in biology.

Jackley will be available for media interviews starting at 2:30pm MDT today.

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I need a palate cleanser after seeing this on Facebook, as Jon Hansen, the 2% candidate in the Governor’s race, slobbers over his endorsement from “Sticky Tom” Pischke:

Hansen is touting the endorsement of the lunkhead who was just on facebook attacking someone for disagreeing with him, and then going after his wife?:

And similarly, he was just censured by the Minnehaha County GOP for attacking one of the committee members on facebook:

And as Hansen cites Pischke’s family, he kind of ignores the the whole Tom/Child Support issue, where he complained in 2022 on the House Floor that a proposed increase in child support was going to hurt him personally:

And let’s not forget the testimony that Tom’s ex-wife gave to the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 against his legislation that would have lowered his child support payments:

I’ve been divorced for about four years, and it’s been a long four years keeping myself and my children protected. I am divorced because I left an adulterous and domestically violent relationship, a relationship where I endured years of physical and emotional abuse as well as financial warfare. I left because my children and I deserve a better life. I left because I did not want my children to be raised in a hostile home.

[Kelly Pischke, testimony to House Judiciary against 2019 HB 1104, 2019.02.20].

Read that one here.

In fact, Minnehaha Democrats put up a whole website about it as well, which you can access here through the Internet Wayback machine.   I can’t speak to the validity of the testimony, but that was as it was presented in the House Judiciary Committee, and recorded into the record.

At the least, I don’t know that if I were Jon Hansen, I’d be citing Tom’s family life in my facebook advertising.

And that’s not even hitting on in 2024 when Tom was banned from the House Floor, when Tom tried to defund the South Dakota National Guard, brought a looney chemtrail & xenobiotic electromagnetism bill, and was the lone vote in committee to protect rapists’ rights and to keep rapists in the same high school classrooms as their victims.

If State Senator Tom Pischke is the kind of person that the 2% candidate for Governor Jon Hansen is “THRILLED to have on his team” backing his campaign for Governor…  .. then all I can tell you is to make sure you click on the darn link and go donate to Dusty Johnson for Governor, because there is no day that could ever be cold enough in hell to convince me to vote for Jon Hansen for ANY office.

Former (and maybe future) State Senator Erin Tobin has a post on facebook about municipal TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) that’s making the rounds and has some worthwhile information about why communities use them to finance new development – so the people using the infrastructure pay for it, not taxpayers at large:

US Senator Mike Rounds Weekly Round[s] Up: September 1-7, 2025

Welcome back to the Weekly Round[s] Up! We are back in session in Washington after spending the month of August working in South Dakota. It’s always great to be home, but we have a lot to address in DC this month. We’ve already begun to advance the National Defense Authorization Act, legislation which authorizes critical funding for military programs, personnel and equipment. We also continue to work toward funding the government before the end of the Fiscal Year, September 30.

In addition, Senate Democrats are carrying out historic obstruction when it comes to confirming President Trump’s nominees. The numbers tell the story: in the first eight months of the Trump Administration, only 135 nominees have been confirmed. By contrast, President Biden had 817 confirmed in his first two years, and even President Trump’s first term saw 715. Historically, more than 90% of nominees have been cleared quickly by unanimous consent or voice vote. Under Trump II, that number is zero. Instead, each nominee is dragged through time-consuming roll call votes, with confirmations of nominees with bipartisan support taking an average of 94 days. Nearly a quarter into the term, less than 12% of positions are filled, proof Democrats are deliberately grinding government to a halt for partisan gain. Despite this, Senate Republicans are committed to getting these nominees confirmed and in place. All this to say, we’re geared up for a busy month ahead. More in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota work period: As I mentioned, I spent most of August in South Dakota. A few highlights from the month included the Brown County Fair in Aberdeen, the Central States Fair’s Ag Appreciation Event in Rapid City, Dakotafest’s Annual Congressional Forum in Mitchell and the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce’s Inside Washington Event in Sioux Falls. I appreciate everyone who took the time to come out to these events, ask questions and share comments on the work we’re doing in DC.

Other meetings this past week: I met with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to discuss the important work happening at the Sanford Underground Research Facility near Lead. I also met with Dr. Stephen Miran, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and nominee to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; General Christopher Mahoney, nominee to serve as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and leaders from the Embassy of Rwanda. I spoke at the Defense News Conference in a fireside chat addressing information warfare.

Hearing: We had one hearing in the Senate Banking Committee to hear from a group of nominees, including Dr. Stephen Miran who I met with earlier in the week. You can watch a clip of my questions from that hearing here.

Votes taken: 4 – two of these were procedural votes to advance this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While we still need to vote on a few amendments to this piece of legislation, I am hopeful that it will pass the full Senate before the end of the month.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Martin and Sioux Falls.

Steps taken: 44,644 steps or 20.80 miles.

Gov. Rhoden Releases Full Plan for New Prison

Also Releases Comparison to Nebraska Prison Proposal

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden released the full plan for a new prison to be built at the Benson Road site in Sioux Falls. This plan reflects the unanimous agreement by the prison task force. The plan will be voted on in the upcoming special session on September 23. You can find the full plan here.

“Thank you to the prison task force for creating a good plan and to the contractors for putting together a design that fits those parameters,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “This is a fiscally responsible plan that will give South Dakota a 100-year facility with necessary space to reform our corrections system.”

The plan reflects the adjustments that were made to reduce the price tag from $825 million at the Lincoln County site down to $650 million at the Benson Road site. These changes result in a net reduction of 160,000 square feet of space without cutting vital programming space necessary to reduce recidivism.

The plan specifically reduces costs by $175 million by making the following adjustments:

• A $125 million reduction in building costs, including:
  • A 176,000 square foot adjustment in net cell housing changes by shifting from seven smaller cell housing units to three larger ones, adding one dorm-style unit, and reducing dayroom space from 70 square feet per-inmate down to 40;
  • A 5,000 square foot reduction in intake space;
  • A 5,000 square foot reduction in the central utility plant; and
  • There is no decrease in programming space – in fact, there is a 27,000 square foot increase in vocational space;
• A $25 million reduction in site costs; and
• A $25 million reduction in soft costs.

Governor Rhoden also released a comparison to the Nebraska prison proposal, which was a frequent point of discussion by the prison task force. You can find that comparison here.

Governor Rhoden previously released the draft legislation for the new prison, which you can find here. An outline of the legislation can be found here.

You can find answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the prison plan here.

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Johnson Continues Efforts to Ban Individual Stock Trading for Members of Congress

 Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) cosponsored the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which bans members of Congress and their families from buying and selling individual stocks during their time in Congress. This bipartisan legislation was introduced by U.S. Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX) and Seth Magaziner (D-RI).

“Athletes can’t place bets on games they play in because they have too much of an influence on the outcome. It should be the same for members of Congress – our votes can influence the market or the success of a particular company,” said Johnson. “Serving in Congress is a public service, not a chance to strike it rich. Passing this bill will restore some of the honesty and trust that has been lost in our institution.”

“It’s far past time to ban members of Congress from day trading stocks, and for the first time, a bipartisan coalition is standing together behind a united proposal to do just that,” said Rep. Chip Roy. “The Restore Trust in Congress Act ensures that members of Congress will no longer be able to put the stock market first in their official decisions. This bill strikes a balance between being easy to comply with, but without tons of loopholes for members to continue trading while on the job. We must vote on this bill and put this conflict of interest to bed for once and for all. I look forward to seeing the Restore Trust in Congress Act move through the legislative process.”

Johnson has not bought or sold an individual stock since coming to Congress in January 2019. He has repeatedly called to prohibit individual stock trading for members of Congress.

The Restore Trust in Congress Act:
Covered assets:

• Prohibits all members of Congress, their spouses, dependent children, and their trustees from owning, buying or selling individual stocks, securities, commodities, or futures.
• The following exceptions are permitted:
  • Widely held investment funds such as mutual funds and ETFs, provided that they are diversified and not concentrated in any industry, business, or single country other than the United States or single state, except for Member’s state of residence
  • U.S. Treasury, state, or municipal bond, note, bill
  • Precious metals (gold, silver, etc.)
  • Shares of Settlement Common Stock, as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
  • An interest in a small business concern
  • Family trusts if no covered individual is a grantor of the trust, has contributed any asset to the trust, has any authority over a trustee of the family trust, or the grantor of the family trust is or was a family member of a covered individual
  • An asset that is received as compensation from the occupation of a spouse or dependent
  • An asset that is not owned by a spouse or dependent but is traded on behalf of others through their primary occupation
  • Personal residences in LLCs

 Process for Divestment:

• Upon enactment, covered individuals are prohibited from purchasing covered assets and must divest from all covered assets at fair market value within 180 days for current members and 90 days for incoming members. Individuals who acquire covered assets through inheritance during the course of their service will be required to divest those assets within 90 days of receipt.
• Members may apply to the supervising ethics committee for an extension of a divestment deadline if investment can’t be sold by a deadline due to low liquidity, vesting schedules, or contractual restrictions.
• Capital gains taxes may be deferred for all divestments through a Certificate of Divesture process, as is currently permitted for executive branch employees.
  • For example, if a member divests all previously held individual stocks and reinvests in a mutual fund, the taxes on the sale of the individual stocks may be deferred until the member later sells out of the mutual fund.

 Enforcement:

• Supervising ethics office to impose and enforce penalties and issue any additional guidance.
  • Fine
    • Equal to 10% of value of covered asset plus disgorgement of profits
    • Must be paid with personal funds, not office or campaign funds
  • Supervising ethics office will publicly disclose fines and disciplinary outcomes

Click here for full bill text.

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