Did You Know? Public Funding Laws Enabled Corruption

Governments with public funding laws saw rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars and illegal schemes to obtain funds

Sioux Falls, S.D. – Defeat22.com, a coalition of South Dakota charities, businesses, and policy organizations opposed to Initiated Measure 22, drew attention today to research showing how candidates in Arizona, Maine, and New York City misused the state’s public funding law. Public records show how candidates used taxpayer funds for parties and to pay their campaigns, and filed false information to obtain the free taxpayer money. 

Click here to see multiple documented examples of public funding laws enabling corruption.

“It’s no surprise that giving away taxpayer money to political candidates enables the lowest types to take advantage of the system and enrich themselves at the expense of the public,” explained Ben Lee, Chairman and spokesman for Defeat22.com. “Measure 22 would set up a public funding law, pouring taxpayer money into political campaigns and enabling corrupt candidates to take advantage of taxpayers. Fixing political corruption is an important issue, but it won’t be solved by dumping tax dollars into the system.”

Last week Defeat22.com announced the initial coalition partners. Earlier this month they 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.

Apparently, when you can only raise $24,000, you’re out fishing for likes instead of votes.

(Seriously, I laughed out loud when i read the headline.)

Do you ever wonder if there’s political candidates out there who are simply so obtuse, they just don’t “get it?”

In watching the hapless campaign of Congressional hopeful Paula Hawks, it just seems as if the  depth of knowledge she has about Congress is lacking, and she simply does not understand the mechanisms by which it operates.

Case in point is her latest fundraising/campaign ploy where she is trying to make hay over Congresswoman Noem accepting a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee. As she stated in a recent story in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Hawks said she’d like to ask Noem about her silence on South Dakota’s conversation about expanding Medicaid and on her leaving the House Committee on Agriculture. The Democrat told dozens of supporters at a town hall meeting Thursday that she’d make sure she and Noem get to have a public dialogue.

Read that here.

So, let me understand this; After Ag Committee member Congresswoman Noem had a seat at the table to push through the first farm bill since 2008, and moved a reluctant House GOP Caucus to accept and pass the farm bill, her leadership was recognized and she was given a seat on Ways & Means, the most powerful committee in Congress .

And so, now, Paula Hawks wants to know why she didn’t stay on the Ag committee?  I can’t help but think that Hawks seems a bit thick in the head. 

If you’re not familiar with the Ways and Means Committee:

Because of its wide jurisdiction, Ways and Means has always been one of the most important committees with respect to impact on policy. … it is seen as a valuable post for two reasons. First, since its range is so broad, members with a wide array of policy concerns often seek positions, simply to be able to influence policy decisions. Some recent major issues that have gone through this committee include welfare reform, a Medicare prescription drug benefit, Social Security reform, George W. Bush’s tax cuts, and trade agreements including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Read that here.

I’m guessing either Paula Hawks doesn’t think tax policy, tax cuts, trade agreements, Social Security reform, and Medicare prescription drug benefits are important, or she hasn’t bothered to do one iota of research of what Noem is doing on the committee. Because she’s kvetching about Noem moving up from the committee where she already accomplished her #1 goal – passing a farm bill.

If we’re looking at it in terms of the State legislature – where Hawks’ mind seems to be stuck – it’s like moving up from the state Ag Committee to the State Affairs committee. One is topically important, but the other can deal with whatever it wants to, because it looks at everything. (Noem also sits on the United States House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Select Revenue Measures, and Human Resources.)

You might consider that a key difference between the candidates.

Hawks’ lack of knowledge about the basic processes of our Congress has her focusing on things that aren’t important. It showed in the haphazard way that her campaign rolled out, and continues to dog her in lacking a grasp of the issues that affect the office, as she continues to talk about state issues such as Medicaid expansion, something that’s not part of the Congressional race, no matter how hard she might try to make it part of the conversation.

In other words, you can’t help but wonder if she just doesn’t get it. 

Contrast that with Noem – who took her role in Congress seriously, did the best job she could with her position in delivering a solid win for Agriculture, and was promoted by her peers for her exceptional work.

There’s a clear difference between the candidates for the office of Congress.  And unfortunately, one is choosing to spend her time showing how she isn’t ready for it.

While the most recent Republican president and the last two nominees are taking a pass on attending convention, we apparently get Scott Baio addressing the Republican National Convention instead.

After Scott Baio publicly endorsed Donald Trump earlier this year, it appears as though the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has hand-picked the “Happy Days” actor to speak at the upcoming Republican National Convention.

Baio confirmed the news to Jeannie Pirro on Fox News’ “Justice With Judge Jeanine” on Saturday. The actor explained that he was at a Trump fundraiser recently when the politician personally asked him to speak at the convention.

“He had given a speech and he was walking out,” he said. “I looked at him and said, ‘Mr. Trump, Scott Baio,’ and he goes, ‘Oh my God,’ and he said to me, ‘Did you want to speak?’ and I went, ‘Here?’ and he goes, ‘No, no, no, at the convention.’”

Read it here.

I’m not sure what you say to that, other than it’s still better than if Hillary Clinton was president.

I’m listening to US Senator Mike Rounds on KELO AM with Greg Belfrage right now talking about his legislation on helping local community banks get back to the business of offering loans, instead of not being able to under the regulatory burdens of Dodd-Frank, as well as trying to do something about the high rate of veteran suicide.

I believe they archive these, so as soon as it’s available, I’ll post a link.

If you’ve been watching this, I suspect the new Sioux Falls City Administration castle that Democrat prince Mayor Mike Huether is attempting to build is going to continue to unravel the more that people continue to talk about it.

Here’s a facebook post from City Councilor Greg Neitzert that was recently noted by the Minnehaha County GOP:

Add to that what the Argus is saying this morning:

Back in April, after Mayor Mike Huether broke a tie vote to move forward with the new building, council members took it upon themselves to investigate the possibility of converting the 300 Building to a government office building. Following that, the city hired Koch Hazard Architects and construction company Henry Carlson Co. to assess the building’s viability. They determined the cost of turning the 300 Building into the type of facility that the city needs would cost about $21.6 million, about $300,000 less than building new.

Which would be all well and good if Kock Hazard and Henry Carlson were not the same businesses the city has contracted with to design and build the proposed new admin building.

Yep… I think it’s coming undone.

Are the dozen or two people constantly outside the Brookings County Courthouse all waiting for court dates on Monday? No. They’re part of the roving bands of nomads wandering the streets who have started playing the handheld “Augmented Reality” game Pokemon Go.

The game was released in the past couple of weeks, and it has hit the United States like nothing you’ve ever seen, with an estimated 9.55 million daily users of the game, who span all age groups. Admittedly, I’m a bit addicted to the telephone app, and went walking with my wife and children this morning – I had the dog, while the kids played on my wife’s phone, and my own.

The game has already found it’s way into the political lexicon, with the presidential contenders each trying to “out clever” each other by using Pokemon Go references in jabs against their opponent:

Having my children grow up with the cartoon, I can see why it’s become so popular – a bit of nostalgia for millenials, combined with a old-fashioned scavenger hunt. It’s like geo-caching with a smartphone assist.  And for school-age kids, what parent is going to complain about their kids wanting to get out from behind the computer or iPad, and go for mile-long hikes?  The opposite, actually, as parents such as myself do what they can to facilitate it.

And it’s not just the young. As noted above, I was downtown in the area bounded by the City Library, the County Courthouse, the Brookings arts Building, and the Children’s Museum. It forms the City’s “Pokemon epicenter” with no fewer than 4 poke-stops, and a poke-gym all in the immediate vicinity. My wife and I came across a couple who had to be in their 70’s walking around with their smartphones out, as well as a man in his late 50’s – early 60’s with his phone mounted on his bicycle handle, to allow him easy access to seek out and catch the electronic prey.

It’s pretty harmless fun, unless people are stupid about it by not paying attention where they’re going. Or as the security staff of a local organization noted to me tonight – he’s had to reset the alarm system for the building he’s responsible for, because people climb fences to try to hunt for pokemon. And they’re doing it here just like they do everywhere else.

We’ll see how long the country’s obsession with catching pokemon lasts. It may just be Summer love, or it could hang around a while. As long as people get the hint to watch where they’re going, and keep it to public areas, the pursuit of walking around in search of treasure (via virtual reality) sounds like a fairly harmless pursuit, where the unintended consequences may involve exercise and (at least some) social interaction.

Oh, darn, huh?

Let Me Know What You Think
By Sen. John Thune 

Each week the Senate is in session, I travel back and forth from my home in Sioux Falls to Washington, D.C., for hearings, votes, and other meetings. While I love representing South Dakotans in Washington, it’s no secret that I’m happiest when I’m home in South Dakota, hearing directly from you. So, as I head back to spend several weeks traveling the state and connecting with you, I wanted to share some of the big things we’ve accomplished in the Senate over the last 18 months and look forward to hearing what you think. 

Our top priority has been to focus on policies that boost America’s economic security and strengthen our national security. We passed the first significant education reform bill since 2002, the first major trade promotion authority bill since 2002, the first significant reforms to Social Security since 1983, and the first major environmental law reauthorization since the 1990s. We worked hard to pass legislation that prevents states from imposing unworkable mandates on the food supply and protected the homeland by passing the National Defense Authorization Act, key cybersecurity reforms, and sanctions against the North Korean regime.

I knew serving as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee would give South Dakota’s interests the national attention they deserve, and the results speak for themselves.

Congress passed and the president signed my bipartisan bill that makes landmark reforms to the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that oversees our nation’s rail system. These reforms will make the agency more accountable to the people who depend on rail transportation, like our agriculture producers. The president also signed the first multi-year highway bill since 2005 – the longest since 1998. And all Americans will benefit from the aviation security reforms I authored as well as the consumer protection provisions included in the bipartisan aviation bill that I helped get to the president’s desk. All of that is good news for states like South Dakota where a safe, reliable, and effective transportation system is critical.

While a lot was accomplished, there’s a lot more we tried to do. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats and President Obama have made it difficult to approve must-pass bills like the Department of Defense appropriations bill, which would fund our troops, and the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, which would fund key infrastructure programs and support our veterans. Despite bipartisan attempts to reach an agreement, Democrats opposed a $1.1 billion funding bill that would have helped tackle the nationwide Zika threat. I’m most disappointed, though, that amid all of the threats we face from terrorist groups like ISIS, President Obama has yet to lay out a concrete and comprehensive plan to defeat the group and its radical ideology. These are important issues, and they deserve to rise above politics.

If our paths cross this summer, please stop and say hello. I can’t do my job without knowing what’s important to you, and your feedback on what I’m working on in the Senate is invaluable. If we don’t catch up in person, you can always call my office, write me a letter, or send me an email. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you this summer.   

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