Especially for politics, I think the #1 rule of public speaking is know your audience.  And in the matter of Paula Hawks’ recent speech to USD Students, I’m not sure she was there:

One of Hawks’ main points was that she would fight to give women reproductive rights and keep the government out of the bedroom and out of the doctor’s office.

Hawks was critical of the Republican opposition, which often fights against big government.

and..

The small crowd was engaged with Hawks throughout the evening, but her use of the phrase “All Lives Matter” elicited groans from the audience.

One of those people annoyed was senior Mason Calhoun.

“The whole mantra of ‘All Lives Matter’ is really just to me a way to silence the concerns of groups like Black Lives Matter,” Calhoun said.

and…

“Personally she lost me a little bit on the All Lives Matter thing, but just about everything else she said I pretty strongly agree with.”

Read it here.

I really can’t say I’ve ever heard South Dakota audiences who have assembled being overly concerned about hashtags declaring whose lives matter. But, it’s always good to hear when an audience groans at Democrats.

The April City Council & School races are heading towards a critical mass, where people are lining up behind their candidates.

Recently in the Sioux Falls City Council, outgoing councilman Kermit Staggers has publicly thrown his support behind Theresa Stehly to serve as his replacement for at-large council member.

Perhaps more quietly, but much more importantly, current Public Utilities Commission member and former Sioux Falls Mayor Gary Hanson has chosen to lend his support to a candidate himself, Dr. Tamera Enalls-Fenner, who is a first-time candidate for public office.

As appears on her facebook page and her website:

I met a terrific gal last month who is intelligent, personable, sensible, and courageous so I volunteered to help her with her campaign for Sioux Falls City Council.Dr. Tamera Enalls-Fenner has the background and backbone that we need in government.

I hope you will join me in supporting Tamera for City Council.

During the many years I have served in office, including as Mayor of Sioux Falls, I have met few people who I believe have the ability to articulate a message that will transcend multiple boundaries, bring our citizens together and help end the disgusting prevalent discourse of national polarization and animosity. Tamera is the full package. She is also focused on; health and safety of our city, preventing crime, decreasing the challenges of transportation, disrepair of streets, easing the burden of city and state regulations, and strengthening our region’s economy.

We all want good government and occasionally we are disappointed with the results of an election. However, our government is only as good as the people we elect. Help elect a really great person to the City Council. Tamera is running for the NE District Council Seat but she will be making decisions affecting the entire city. Let’s make an investment in the quality of our government that will provide a long term return.

Gary Hanson

Hanson is arguably the highest level “get” for any of the Sioux Falls City Council candidates to date, and in a few weeks, we’ll get to see how that plays out for this up and coming candidate.

I had to laugh as I was reading the Argus this AM, as it sure appears that not just one, but two stories today were inspired by what I’d written yesterday.

First, was what I’d excerpted from Bob Mercer on the Jackley/Mickelson fued, and what I’d noted on Mickelson probably commenting further on the issue that afternoon, as well as at the 4/1 Lincoln Day Dinner here in Brookings. .

And what did we end up with in the Argus?

Yep.  And it wasn’t just that story. Later in the day, I’d sent a note to Al Novstrup, because I know what a big open government guy he is, and asked him about the teacher record story the Argus was running..

I think it took them all of ten minutes to get in touch of him after I’d posted my story…

Of course, no mention that his comments first appeared on my website, which is par for the course at the Argus.

If they’re going to be basing so much content off of what appears here, I’d suggest that Gannett put me on the payroll. But then again, I know what reporters make, and I’d be guessing that it would be a pay cut.

Regardless – that’s the advantage of reading the SDWC. You know you’re getting the good stuff here!

The socially conservative American College of Pediatricians released a position statement this past week that would appear to give ammunition to conservatives in the South Dakota Legislature who had proposed and supported House Bill 1008, otherwise known as the “transgender bathroom bill,” which was ultimately vetoed by Governor Dennis Daugaard after passage by the legislature.

As noted in the position paper…

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child’s subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy forward. People who identify as “feeling like the opposite sex” or “somewhere in between” do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or biological women.^2,3,4

3. A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such. These children suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).⁵ The psychodynamic and social learning theories of GD/GID have never been disproved.^2,4,5

and…

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.⁵

Read the position statement here.

Do you agree or disagree with the position paper?  Coming from a group of pediatricians, does it have merit?

And If this information had been widely available before session, would it have made a difference in the final vote, as well as the Governor’s response to the measure?

You might have noticed a few ads have dropped off of the page, as they’ve completed their runs, so, once again Dakotawarcollege.com has a couple of openings in it’s advertising line-up, including the top position in the right hand banner.

Once these top level spots are filled, the advertiser has the option to lock up that space through the election.

I already have a new advertiser who will be joining me shortly who will be running through November, so if you think you might want to advertise, you should contact me if you might be interested in the few remaining spots on the right, or the additional advertising spots are available on the left column of the page.

Advertising on the Dakotwarcollege.com website is based on a first come, first serve basis for the available positions.  Advertising slots on the right are 300 by 200 to 300 pixel ads, which may scale slightly depending on WordPress theme. They may be either static image, animated .gif, or flash file, as long as the file size is within acceptable file parameters, does not impede the loading of the website, or interfere with existing code.

Information on ad prices, ad positions, and required ad commitments may be directed to the webmaster by clicking here.

And while I’m on the subject, whether your business is politics or retail, organizational or service, if you find yourself in need of high quality print materials such as business cards, postcards, or brochures, or collateral items such as signs, banners, pens, or pins, or anything that helps you promote your business or campaign, the Dakota Campaign Store is open for business, and available to serve the campaign material needs of Republican and non-partisan campaigns.

It sounds like Dems are serving up leftovers this election.

I’m hearing that for the District 13 State Senate race, they’re re-heating and preparing to serve up long-ago legislator Denny Pierson again as an electoral choice. Pierson was able to be elected in Mitchell from 1979-1982, and in Sioux Falls for the 1993-1994 term in the state house. But since then… not so much.

Pierson most recently lost the race for State Treasurer in 2014, Sioux Falls City Commission the same year, and before that a race for the United States House of Representatives in 2002.

Pierson would face the winner of a 2-3 way Republican primary in a fairly strong Republican district. And I suspect that this race would go as well as his last few have for him.

The Argus Leader has a report today on their efforts to release the records of teachers who have been sanctioned by the state for professional violations, and the herculean efforts they have to make to pierce the wall of secrecy & obtain the records from the State of South Dakota:

Unlike neighboring states, South Dakota does not post details of its investigations into instances of teacher misconduct, forcing parents and other members of the public to submit an open records request to learn more about past violations.

After making such a request, Argus Leader Media was told Friday it would cost $4,410 to get a full history of disciplinary cases involving teachers and school officials.

and..

Argus Leader Media found 36 cases of teachers who had their licenses revoked or suspended in recent years for making sexual advances toward students, for criminal activity, or for other — sometimes undisclosed — forms of misconduct.

Stories published last month would not have been possible without information released by the state Education Department, but the records were incomplete.

Names and case details were redacted in some cases, even if a teacher had received a so-called “public reprimand” from the state Professional Teachers Practices and Standards Commission, a seven-member board made up primarily of other teachers.

And the records only went back to 2008, including an open records response sent to Argus Leader Media as part of a 2012 investigation.

Because the timeline cuts off early, it’s unclear how many South Dakota teachers or school administrators have lost jobs or had their license suspended for breaking the state’s code of ethics.

Read it all here.

Unusually, the teaching profession is shielded from public disclosure while other professionals in the private sector are not. Professionals in Real Estate, Accountancy, Insurance, and others have some forms of readily available & researchable disclosure.

So, why shouldn’t information on discipline be available on teachers certified through the State of South Dakota?

I posed the question to State Representative Al Novstrup, who was the recipient of the 2012 Eagle Award for “Protecting the People’s Right to Know” from the South Dakota Newspaper Association for being a champion of open government.  And he agrees that South Dakota might need to open the door of accessibility a little further for people seeking this information.

Novstrup noted that he would “be willing to help draft and prime sponsor a bill for the 2017 legislative session, having worked closely with David Bordewyk and Justin Smith of the SD Newspaper Association. It would be my suggestion that we pick a state such as Nebraska or Iowa and pattern the bill after that chosen state.”

Expecting that Novstrup will be returned to the State Legislature in November with election to the State Senate, this might just be the beginnings of “Senate Bill 1” for January of 2017.

Here’s an interesting story in today’s Argus.

The Garretson School District is looking for more money for it’s operation, and is voting on an opt-out, despite the passage of legislation to increase teacher pay. And that they’re saying is that it helped, but it’s not enough:

Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s trio of education bills lessened the necessary tax increase for Garretson, Johnson said.

The bills, which Daugaard signed earlier this month, gave school districts additional funds to raise teacher pay through a half-cent sales tax increase. The sales tax revenue also gives the state $40 million to put toward property tax relief, which helps bring down the possible opt out increase in Garretson.

The opt out conversation began before Daugaard’s education proposal was signed, which has meant making sure members of the Garretson school district understand the differences, Johnson said.

“It has made it a little bit more difficult,” Johnson said. “Just because of people’s perception when they see headlines that there’s a new tax for schools or for teachers … there’s an assumption that that will solve our problem here.”

The majority of new money flowing into South Dakota districts from the half-cent sales tax increase must go to teacher salaries and benefits, which does not solve Garretson’s struggle to fund programming and services for students.

Read it all here.

Will there still be a gaggle of opt-outs in South Dakota’s future, in spite of the additional tax revenue?

Bob Mercer is noting this morning that two different parties are arguing over who is responsible for strengthening the state’s laws on precluding conflicts of interest for those having contracts with the State of South Dakota.

And it’s rendered more interesting, as the two parties are slated to be facing each other in the race for Governor in two years:

A deterrent stronger than a Class 1 misdemeanor is needed in state conflict-of-interest cases, Attorney General Marty Jackley said.

and…

Jackley said a stronger deterrent is needed. He said he would be open to “triggering factors” and “aggravated circumstances” that call for higher levels of punishment depending on the severity of the crime.

Sounds like quite a few petitions are in the pipeline waiting for review. According to SDWC contributor Mike Clark, he noted in a comment under a prior post:

When I turned my Petitions in yesterday I learned that a lot of petitions came in through the mail Friday afternoon, it might take away to get through them all.

Interesting. That doesn’t count what likely arrived yesterday, when only three were approved, so it remains to be seen how many might have been rejected, and how many are left to be reviewed.

That list should grow considerably this week, so stay tuned!