Paul Dean Jensen Resentenced to 200 Years

PIERRE, S.D.- Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that Circuit Court Judge John Brown has resentenced Paul Dean Jensen to 200 years. Jensen will be eligible for parole in 2021 in accordance with the old law.
Jensen argued that his sentence was illegal under the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning mandatory life sentences for juveniles.

Jensen was convicted in 1996 by a jury of first degree murder for the death of Michael Hare, a Pierre, South Dakota taxicab driver. Jensen kidnapped, robbed, and murdered Hare for his cab fare, a total of $36.48. Jensen was 14 at the time of the murder.
This case was handled by the Stanley County States Attorney and the Attorney General’s Office.

A while back, I noted the Community Financial Services Association, who is affiliated with the group behind South Dakota’s payday lending ballot measure, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), has been making moves towards creating their own taxpayer backed payday lending product. Which explains greatly why the CRL is trying to eliminate payday loans:

And just yesterday, the very government agency they were documented as working directly with announces they’re introducing payday loan regulations, while another agency announces they’re pushing an alternative for payday loans, backed by the government to cover potential losses incurred for banks and credit unions. Credit Unions such as the “Self Help Credit Union” operating under Center for Responsible Lending’s umbrella.

Read that here.

Sound conspiratorial? You might dismiss it that way. But the Wall Street Journal didn’t think so in yesterday’s editorial:

So why does the CFPB want to nationalize payday regulation? Pressure from interest groups, particularly the Center For Responsible Lending, which has been lobbying the bureau about payday evils since at least 2013.

Emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the trade group the Community Financial Services Association show that the CFPB sought regular input from the Center to “focus these efforts,” to quote one. The Center’s President Mike Calhoun passed along a draft report to a CFPB director, who was invited to “Feel free to improve it!”

But even moralists gotta make a buck. The Center has an affiliate, the Self-Help Credit Union, with $600 million in assets that would love the CFPB’s blessing to compete with payday shops on short-term loans. The Center’s influence spans far: Mark Pearce ran the place for a decade before jumping to the FDIC to help with Operation Chokepoint, a coordinated government effort to investigate banks that conduct legal transactions with payday lenders.

Read that here.

The larger issue with all these do-gooders wanting to introduce more government into our lives? No one is really asking for it, except the community organizers themselves:

CFPB officials are swanning around as protectors of the proletariat, claiming the new rules will end a “cycle of debt” in which borrowers are conned into taking out one exorbitant loan after another. Yet customers—most of whom earn between $25,000 and $50,000—tend to know what they’re doing. One recent survey by Harris Interactive suggested that more than 90% of customers “weighed the risks” carefully and agreed the lender “clearly explained the terms.” A Columbia Law study found borrowers could predict accurately when they’d be able to pay back the loan.

A minority of borrowers roll over loans and end up paying more in fees. Yet a New York Federal Reserve Bank analysis in October noted that the evidence these customers were hoodwinked is “limited and mixed” and too scant to justify obliterating the industry. The report dispensed with other critiques that “don’t hold up under scrutiny,” including that payday lenders target minorities, who are no more likely to take out a payday loan than a white person in similar circumstances.

Read that here as well.

“Critiques that “don’t hold up under scrutiny” concisely sums up what American citizens face as liberal culture warriors try to impose their values and socialism on the rest of us. And their latest tactic is to destroy a financial sector “because they just know,” despite a mountain of evidence that proves them wrong.

I just hope people start to care before we find ourselves all standing in line in the new Soviet Union.

I received this postcard in the mail yesterday… and well, ok. I know because I mailed it in my own race, the only other one on the primary ballot in Brookings besides President and State Senate:

I’ve entertained notions of sending one out before, since every single time I sign up to be a committeeman, I’m opposed by the same person. I’ve won every time, but I don’t want to take anything for granted.  Plus, since I represent one of the largest voting precincts in the state (3,529 voters, 1,369 Registered Republicans), it was also an opportunity for me to personally recommend the re-election of Larry Tidemann as State Senator.

Not that Doug Post is a bad person, but he hasn’t knocked on my door, or put one piece of literature in my mailbox. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a sign for him in the entire precinct.  Which isn’t a good thing when this is the largest precinct in District 7. In other words, he hasn’t made any case of why I should vote for him, much less why he’s a better choice than Senator Tidemann who has been pretty good for Brookings.

Big congrats to my daughter Sydney who is currently attending Girls State in Vermillion this week. I believe she has been named as one of the “Party Chairs.” She also informs me that she was elected this afternoon to “President of the Senate.”

Sydney, who is coming up on the end of her term as State Vice Chair of the Teenage Republicans, was sent off to the annual citizenship education event (sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary) with my “Bernie is my Comrade” t-shirt.  (I’m sure that helped!)

Congrats, kid. And keep working on those scholarships!

This is actually the second time I’ve seen a South Dakota legislative candidate announce they had an abortion.

Last election it was Democrat candidate Ellee Spawn talking about having no regrets over having an abortion. This election, Tina Mulally has actually sent out a postcard talking about how she survived her abortion.  I’m not sure it’s any less cringeworthy.

I’m not sure how this announcement shows her in the eyes of the voters as being more competent and qualified than her opponent, Terri Haverly, who is also pro-life, or convinces voters they should choose her.

It strikes me as going past information about her position, into the realm of personal information I did not want, nor need.

Especially on the front of a postcard.

(And another postcard from Bemidji Minnesota, btw).

Pat Costello To Depart As GOED Commissioner

PIERRE, S.D. – Pat Costello will leave his position as Commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) at the end of this month, Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today. 

Costello, who has served as commissioner since Gov. Daugaard took office in 2011, is leaving for an opportunity in the private sector. His last day will be June 30, 2016.

“Pat has been an outstanding representative for South Dakota, and under his leadership, our state has added thousands of jobs and continued to be one of the best places in America for business,” said the Governor. “I sincerely thank him for his service and wish him the very best in the future.”

Costello is a businessman and, prior to serving in the Daugaard administration, spent four years on the Sioux Falls city council. In addition to serving as GOED commissioner, Costello has also served on the Governor’s Executive Committee.

“I’d like to thank the Governor for the opportunity to serve as GOED commissioner,” said Costello. “It has been a personally rewarding experience. I’m very proud of what the Governor and our team have accomplished, and I’ll always value the friendships across the state I’ve made.” 

Aaron Scheibe, GOED’s deputy commissioner, will serve as interim commissioner from July 1 until a new commissioner is named.

-30-

Just caught this at the Aberdeen American News where an Edmunds County Commissioner is proud to be white, but claims that he didn’t know what that darned racist symbol meant:

On May 22, Commissioner Wade Eisenbeisz shared a link that included a picture of a wheel cross, a symbol commonly used by white supremacy groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The words “White Pride World Wide” surrounded the cross.

and…

Eisenbeisz said his intent was to show that he was proud to be white and that he was unaware of what the wheel cross — a square cross surrounded by a circle — represented.

The funny thing is, you never see these guys active in the general election going after liberal Democrats. They go after Republicans who they might agree with 80% of the time, as opposed to those who agree with them 82% of the time.

A reader just sent me over a postcard for Taffy Howard for State House in District 33.  At least, I think it’s for Taffy Howard. Because the advertising on the front seems to highlight Lynne DiSanto.

Aside from the fact it’s mailing out of Bemidji, MN, a good rule of thumb is to design cards in mind that you might have 2-3 seconds between the time they pass from the mailbox to the garbage – so if that happens, what’s the one thing you want to communicate?   If it’s the front, you get Representative Lynne DiSanto. If it’s the other side, you get Taffy Howard for House.

 

Richard Mounce was nice enough to send me a piece he’s put out in District 30.  Nice looking piece of mail. Which is a good reminder – Good photography makes for good mail!

Keep those poctcards coming!