From Twitter:
As I’ve said, Iran’s only purpose in obtaining nuclear weapons was to threaten the United States and Israel. President Trump made the right move in eliminating this threat. Congratulations to our brave men and women in uniform who made this mission a success.
— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) June 22, 2025
From Twitter:
President Trump’s decisive action sends a strong message that America is back to leading by peace through strength. I commend our military’s precise strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to ensure Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons. I am thankful for our service members’…
— Rep. Dusty Johnson (@RepDustyJohnson) June 22, 2025
Sounds like the Hansen/Lemmings campaign are taking fundraising suggestions from the SDGOP:
What will that net them? A couple hundred?
And let’s not forget this state law:
12-27-11. Required information about contributors–Contributions from unknown source to be donated to charitable entity–Violation as misdemeanor.
No person, entity, candidate, or political committee may give or accept a contribution unless the name, mailing address, city and state of the contributor is made known to the person, entity, candidate, or political committee receiving the contribution. In addition to any other information to be made known under this section, the name of the custodial parent or parents of an unemancipated minor who makes a contribution shall be made known. Any contribution, money, or other thing of value received by a candidate or political committee from an unknown source shall be donated to a nonprofit charitable entity. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor. A subsequent offense within a calendar year is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
How exactly will that work with “tips?” Last I knew, most people don’t fill out a campaign contribution card for tips at Pizza Ranch.
What a difference a week makes for Rep. Logan Manhart…
June 13:
June 21:
Thune Statement on U.S. Airstrikes on Iran Nuclear Sites
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today issued the following statement:
“The regime in Iran, which has committed itself to bringing ‘death to America’ and wiping Israel off the map, has rejected all diplomatic pathways to peace. The mullahs’ misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped,” said Thune.“As we take action tonight to ensure a nuclear weapon remains out of reach for Iran, I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel in harm’s way.”
###
An eagle-eyed Minnehaha County Central Committee member sent me a text this morning, and asked if I read the bylaw change being proposed by rebellious Minnehaha Central Committee members in a non-sanctioned fake meeting they called?
Because they are going to try to boot out elected officials from being precinct people – Despite no authority in South Dakota Republican Party bylaws giving them the power to do it:
8. VACANCIES:
a) Events Causing Vacancy: The following events shall cause an officer of the MCRCC or a precinct committeeman and committeewoman to forfeit his or her office and the office declared open in occurrence of any of the following: death, resignation, failure of an officer to reside in the county, failure of a precinct committeeman and committeewoman to reside in the precinct, failure to be a registered Republican voter, after taking office of an elected partisan position, or the conviction of a felony.
as Arch Beal would say… Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! What’s this proposed vacancy “after taking office of an elected partisan position?’ It literally proposes stripping elected officials from the leadership of the Minnehaha Republican Central committee, as well as from being precinct committeeman or woman.
Did I mention that this this action bars them from being members of the delegation who select state elected officials at the next state convention? Hmmmm….
So, Rep’s John Hughes & Taylor Rehfeldt as Precinct Committee people? Gone. But, also Sen. Tom Pischke as County Committeeman? Gone as an officer of the MCRCC. Losing that position would also boot him off of the SDGOP executive board, but I don’t know if the people proposing the amendment were smart enough to understand that.
Their bigger problem is contradicting the over-ruling SDGOP bylaws of the parent organization:
Notice how being elected isn’t a trigger for vacancy as a precinct person? It’s the same type of situation that the Yankton County GOP faced when they tried to put a literal price tag on being “a republican in good standing.”
While these rebel Minnehaha GOP try to put in their own qualifications in county bylaws at a fake meeting beyond that which the state party has, they are not compliant with state party bylaws. And they don’t get to do that because the parent body’s bylaws (state GOP) supersedes those of the county. Whether this group of rebellious county committee members like it or not.
The SDDP had a good month fundraising, according to the Federal Election Commission report they filed this afternoon.
Compared to SDGOP Treasurer Tina Mulally’s last minute $700 pity-donation, bringing the SDGOP to $704.25 reported they raised during the month of May, South Dakota Democrats had a bit better luck. About 68.4x better luck.
SDDP June 2025 FEC Report by Pat Powers on Scribd
For their Federal Account, South Dakota Democrats are reporting $48,139 raised, against $37,413.89 spent, leaving them a respectable $74,177.06 cash on hand.
Remember when SDGOP’s Chairman, Jim Eschenbaum was talking about weeding out the fake Republicans as he called them, and said this:
“We don’t need any more money thrown to the state GOP than what we need to operate.”
I’m kind of thinking he might be regretting that statement and all his weeding about now. That’s a disparity that the SDGOP’s Central Committee should be noticing.
If they have a problem with it, they only have the people in the mirror to blame. This is what they wanted and this is what they got.
Well.. it was nice being in the majority while it lasted.
Delivering for South Dakota
By Sen. John Thune
Republicans are moving closer to finishing work on a bill that fulfills our promise to make America stronger and more prosperous. My biggest priority in that bill is making sure South Dakota families, farmers and ranchers, and small businesses are all stronger and more prosperous. And I’m proud to report that this bill has a lot of good news for South Dakotans.
Most notably, our bill makes permanent the lower taxes for working families Republicans secured in 2017. Without action, those 2017 tax cuts would expire at the end of this year and South Dakotans would see an average tax hike of $2,500 next year. I’m determined not to let that happen. Our bill not only makes those lower tax rates permanent, it improves upon the 2017 reforms. It provides a larger child tax credit and standard deduction and makes them permanent too. It reduces seniors’ tax burdens with a further boost in the standard deduction. It suspends taxes on tips and on overtime pay for hourly workers.
The 2017 tax reform was also great news for South Dakota small businesses. They benefited from lower tax rates, investment incentives, and the small business deduction. Small business owners will now have the certainty they need to invest in new workers and in growing their businesses with those tax policies being made permanent. By one estimate, the small business deduction will help create 40,000 new jobs in our state in the next 10 years, and that’s just one of the pro-growth policies in this bill.
This bill is also good news for farmers and ranchers. By making the tax cuts permanent, we’re protecting farms from an average $5,000 tax hike next year. I’m proud that this bill will also raise the death tax exemption to $15 million, as well as peg the exemption to inflation and make it permanent. These reforms will protect countless family farms and ranches from this fundamentally flawed tax and the headaches of planning that come with it.
After a challenging few years for farmers and ranchers, this bill also makes critical improvements to the programs they depend on. It increases reference prices for all covered commodities, improves crop insurance coverage and affordability, and it supports risk management, disaster assistance, and conservation programs. We can’t have a stronger and more prosperous America without strong farms and ranches, and I’m proud these reforms are part of our bill.
Making America stronger is also about making it more secure. This bill does that with critical investments in building up our military, including investing in the B-21 bomber that will soon be stationed at our own Ellsworth Air Force Base. It funds the Trump administration’s border security and deportation efforts for the long term, including finishing the border wall. And it will help law enforcement combat illegal drug trafficking at the border and in our communities.
Our bill makes America stronger by supporting the people who make America great. It ensures working families can keep more of their hard-earned money, helps small businesses create jobs, strengthens our agriculture sector, and provides critical resources to the men and women on the front lines whether they serve in the military, at the border, or in our communities. I’m proud of the work we’ve done on this bill so far, and I can’t wait to get it passed and get these policies working for the American people.
###
Opportunities for Ag
By: Gov. Larry Rhoden
June 20, 2025
Ag is king in South Dakota, plain and simple. This past week, we hosted the annual Governor’s Ag Summit in historic Deadwood. In my first year as Governor, it was pretty special to have the summit in my back yard!
Even if attendees at the Summit come from different parts of the state, they were all attending for the same reason: to advance South Dakota agriculture. We spent time building relationships and sharing ideas. And we walked away reinvigorated to chase down opportunities in agriculture.
Agriculture means everything to me and my family. We’ve ranched the land near Union Center for five generations, and I’ve spent my entire life ranching cattle. A big part of the Ag Summit was focused on helping family farms succeed so they can pass their land and legacy down to their kids and grandkids.
Earlier this year, the Noem-Rhoden Administration announced the restructuring of the Keep Farmers Farming program. We worked with the South Dakota Ag Foundation and First Dakota National Bank to be able to offer this program to help more family farms. Keep Farmers Farming advises farmers on estate planning so that they can pass their experience, work ethic, morals, and history down to those who come after them. By supporting family farms, we help keep South Dakota ag strong for generations to come.
The Summit also focused on new opportunities for ag that are possible because of the Trump Administration’s actions. I’ve gotten to know our US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins very well over the last few months. She’s been a game changer for us here in South Dakota!
Secretary Rollins helped us get our timber industry on more solid footing, which will really benefit both our safety and prosperity in the Black Hills. She’s worked with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to unleash our ethanol industry, which helps our farmers. And she’s addressing the bird flu issue in a way that doesn’t cause the price of eggs to go through the roof for South Dakota families. And she worked with me to drop the charges on the Maude family and get a resolution to their case. Like us here in South Dakota, she is focused on opportunities.
We emphasized opportunities for South Dakota ag, rather than challenges, at the Ag Summit. I believe that the difference between challenges and opportunities is largely one of perspective, so we are keeping an optimistic perspective for the future of agriculture.
Over the past couple months, I’ve seen many ag operations and businesses on my Open for Opportunity tour across South Dakota. I’ve been blown away by everything that’s possible in South Dakota, including developments in precision ag, grain processing, and advancements in the dairy industry.
South Dakota is a pretty special place. We’re the freest state in a nation built on the principle of freedom. 100 to 150 years ago, homesteaders came west and settled the wild untamed prairie, and my family was among them. Many homesteaders failed, but the toughest succeeded. They built a life for their families; they built a state for their kids and grandkids. And they created a culture of hard work, determination, personal responsibility, and respect for freedom.
That culture continues to keep our state strong today, and that same South Dakota spirit will keep agriculture strong for many years to come!
###
State Representatives Phil Jensen and Dylan Jordan were in fine form last night as they spoke on a special on-line Legislative Panel on Education Reform with the group, South Dakota Women for Education Reform.
In case you’d forgotten, South Dakota Women for Education Reform is the creation of Free-dumb Caucus State Director Hannah Determan. That would be the same Hannah Determan who formed a facebook group advocating to shoot down planes with jet vapor trails, so that lets you know the flavor of today’s sherbert.
What great insights were two of the worst legislators who go to Pierre spouting off about? Here’s the high points, giving us a glimpse of what they’re planning to bring to the 2026 legislative session:
It sounds like the big effort will the be to try to silence the voice of school districts and the people who teach our kids.
Because.. well it sounds like they believe in the portion of the South Dakota Republican Party platform that says “We support access to locally controlled education,” until the locals try to actually have some control.
Stay tuned.