From Facebook, it looks like there is another candidate looking at the D20 House Race:

Mike was also the former Deputy Commissioner of School and Public Lands, as well as the former Director of business services for the Secretary of State. Good guy.

One of the early people rumored to be running for the Khromer D20 House vacancy was Boyd Reimnitz of Mitchell. But as we see from him in the last 5 minutes, that’s apparently not going to be the case:

From Facebook:

Protecting South Dakota Kids Isn’t An Anti-Recreational Marijuana Group Anymore
By Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck

Right before the primary election in June I saw the logo For Protecting South Dakota Kids on a candidate’s campaign piece! Given that most people thought this organization was about fighting recreational marijuana and the upcoming ballot issue – that seemed really strange. In fact, it was organized as a “Statewide Ballot Question Committee” and says so right on the front of their publicly filed report.

Protecting SD Kids Termination Report  on Scribd (Protecting SD Kids Ballot Question Committee Filing, signed May 1, 2014)

I called the group’s leader, Jim Kinyon, and asked what was going on. He said they were endorsing candidates based on the “objective” standard of their scorecard that I could “go check on our website.”  I did. Jim Kinyon didn’t tell the truth.

To be clear, I oppose recreational marijuana. While their ratings obviously don’t mean much as seen below, Kinyon’s group rates me 100% A+ on the subject. In the last election, I wrote a personal check and did a bunch of radio ads in our community on why legalizing marijuana is a bad idea. Unlike Jim Kinyon, I think this issue is bigger than personal political agendas.

HOW KINYON’s FLIP FLOP CAME TO LIGHT

Rep Byron Callies

Our House member Byron Callies has a 100% A+ rating by Kinyon’s group. His website lists Byron as one the legislators they “honored!” Guess what “honored” means to Kinyon’s group? Byron had an opponent this primary that, particularly on pharmaceuticals, could best be described as odd. Kinyon’s group gave out $30,000 to candidates and the largest checks were for $2,500 according to their public report. Given Rep. Byron Callies attained their highest rating and was somebody they “honored” you would assume he got $2,500. You would be wrong! They contributed to his opponent. Byron is retired military. Pretty sure that’s not what “honored” meant his world.

Kinyon’s group is now clearly about some very different “unique” political scorecard of Kinyon’s and as you’ll see below it is even worse.

Senator Randy Deibert

Senator Deibert had a primary in June. He has a 100% A+ rating from Kinyon’s group and is described by Kinyon’s website as having “earned high honors.” Sounds like a candidate for a $2,500 highest honor contribution, right? Wrong. Zero support.

Tamara Groves

Tamara ran unopposed in the primary and has no voting record and doesn’t appear on the “objective list” Kinyon said he used. Probably no check or some nominal one, right? Nope. Maximum contribution of $2,500 !  Noticing a trend here? This PAC is not about what Jim Kinyon has been telling people it is about – but it gets worse.

Brenda Lawrence

Brenda Lawrence ran in 2020 and didn’t make the ballot due to insufficient signatures. By 2022 the old “Cathedral District” had been redistricted into a competitive district and a solid recruit stepped up to take on Sen. Nesiba. Brenda Lawrence successfully challenged the stronger candidates’ petitions, which she has a right to do. Once she knocked the solid GOP candidate out, she proceeded to barely run a campaign (turning down help) and handed the seat to Sen Nesiba.

Sen Nesiba has a voting record with Kinyon’s group of an F at 8%, tying for their worst rating in the Senate. So, no money for the Lawrence that helped the pro-pot crowd, right? Wrong. $1,000 was diverted from the fall ballot campaign to give to Ms. Lawrence’s next failed race!

Senator Helene Duhamel

Not only is Helene Duhamel 100% A+ rated by Kinyon’s group, she has been the Senate leader on this issue. The major victory Kinyon claims from the last session was a bill Senator Duhamel shepherded through the state senate – and it was no easy path.

Helene chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and works for law enforcement as a day job. She has a tough general election coming. She sounds like Kinyon’s most obvious $2,500 contribution for the season, right? Wrong! Even though others who have hurt the cause or not proven themselves received big checks, our champion on this issue received zilch!

It gets weirder. In April, Jim Kinyon was asked by the Independent candidate running against Senator Duhamel for a signature on their petition. Given that Senator Duhamel had earned, in Jim Kenyon’s words on his website, “high honors”, you would assume he declined. You would be wrong. Jim Kinyon abandoned his group’s Senate leader on his issue and his objectives have changed.

 

Jim Kinyon only told a 25% truth

If you compare the public record of where Kinyon diverted the ballot money issue in races, only 25% went to those that were on his proven “objective” scorecard. Oddly, of the 25%, half didn’t get to the A+100% voting record mark – but still got some of the money that could have been spent on the fall ballot issue.

So, it is clear that these funds were disbursed on some very different standard by Jim Kinyon.

 

The Public Can’t Trust the Protecting South Dakota Kids group.

The original group was a Statewide Ballot Question Committee to try and stop legalizing marijuana. If you asked most of us that care, we’d still say that was their mission. We would be wrong!

In May, Jim Kinyon terminated the Statewide Ballot Question Committee and moved all their funds into a PAC he controls. The entity no longer is about stopping the recreational ballot initiative, now it is for Kinyon’s very far right political agenda.

Sadly, but a little bit humorous is that he duped the Presentation Sisters out of a check for this effort. He talked nuns out of their money, but used it for another purpose. Their political agenda does not match where Kinyon ultimately diverted the money – and anyone who ever went to parochial school can tell you that if you’re foolish enough to tell a fib to a nun, there will be some ‘splain’n to do there.

Protecting Sd Kids Pac on Scribd

And that is the sad ending to this story. The primary election campaign finance reports reveal what Jim Kinyon did to distort the battle against recreational marijuana, and he knows better. He’s the Executive Director of the Western South Dakota Catholic Foundation. He understands public trust that follows donated funds. When you pull a fast one, you don’t get that back. He and his friends didn’t need to wreck another South Dakota institution.

They could have set up their Kinyon’s Wackadoodles PAC, put the money there, and spent it the same. They wouldn’t have duped the Sisters, but they didn’t get much there. They couldn’t have misused the logo to dupe voters, and that is a good thing. More importantly, they wouldn’t have damaged the reputation of an entity for their short-term political gain.

We saw the same thing in the public report of South Dakota Right to Life. For a long time, real conservatives have complained about the erosion of important institutions – now you can see first-hand how it happens.

WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: July 29-August 4, 2024
by Senator Mike Rounds

We had a busy week in Washington to close out our summer work period. I was able to meet with several South Dakotans this week, speak at an artificial intelligence event, cast votes on the Senate floor and introduce legislation to offer a new loan option for students paying for higher education. We also said goodbye to our summer interns in the DC office. Now, I’m back in South Dakota for our in-state work period. I’m looking forward to spending this month making visits all across the state to hear more about the issues that are important to you. Here’s my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakotans I met with: South Dakota members of Christians United for Israel; Ryman LeBeau, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; Dr. Vance Thompson of Vance Thompson Vision in Sioux Falls; the South Dakota Council of Administrators of Special Education; and Major General Mark Morrell, Adjutant General of the South Dakota National Guard.

Met with South Dakotans from: Aberdeen, Box Elder, Twin Brooks, Dakota Valley, Eagle Butte, Lennox, Sioux Falls and Sturgis.

Other meetings: Matthew Sannito, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Army G-4; a delegation of leaders from Rwanda; leaders from Gevo; Steve Forthuber and Dr. Greg Sorensen, leaders from RadNet; Alan Garber, Interim President at Harvard University; Neel Kashkari, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Ukrainian Members of Parliament; and Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo.

I attended an AI summit, where I spoke with attendees about my work on artificial intelligence, as well as the future of AI regulation in the United States. I attended our weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, where my friend Senator Angus King of Maine was our speaker.

Votes taken: 11 – many of these were on nominations to positions within the Department of State and judge positions in Maine, New York and Pennsylvania. We also voted on a package of bills that contained the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act. I voted yes on these pieces of legislation that would expand both privacy and safety for kids online.

In addition, we voted on legislation which would have increased the amount of refundable Child Tax Credits available to people who are not paying taxes, but would have eliminated tax credits for almost 27 million Americans who are paying taxes. I voted no because I believe we have to address other tax policies which are expiring next year, and these proposals should be part of that discussion. Members on both sides of the aisle also voted no, recognizing the need to do a more comprehensive approach that would address the upcoming tax policies that will be expiring. We expect a major tax reform bill to be forthcoming either after the election or after the first of the year.

The Affordable Future Loan Program: This past week, I introduced legislation that would offer a new affordable loan option. Under this proposal, credit unions and banks would be allowed to make direct loans to students which would be guaranteed up to 98% by the federal government. The federal government would pay the interest on these loans while the individual is a full-time student. The student could attend a college or a technical school.

This would be very similar to the guaranteed loan program that was successful in the 1960s through the early 2000s. Once the student graduated, they would begin repaying the loan at a lower interest rate than many of them have today, and could extend the payment period out to 15 years. This was a very successful program and was replaced when the Obama administration eliminated the direct loan program and required all of these loans to be made through the federal government, which has been a bureaucratic nightmare. My proposal does not eliminate any of the existing subsidized plans, but rather adds an additional plan based on the previous successful program that would provide loans to middle income families.

You can read more about the program along with the full text of the bill here.

Hearings: I attended one hearing this week in the Senate Armed Services Committee, where we heard from leaders from the Commission on the National Defense Strategy. You can watch a clip of my questions for them here.

Classified briefings: I attended four classified briefings this week. One was part of my work on the Select Committee on Intelligence, while one was related to my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I also attended our bi-weekly cyber education seminar, and a briefing with the Strategic Forces Association.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen and Olivet.

Steps taken this past week: 55,524 steps or 27.52 miles.

Photo of the week:

My team and I were lucky to have a great group of summer interns, both in South Dakota and in DC. My DC interns, Seth, Griffin, Ella and Lily, are pictured here after our breakfast in the Senate Dining Room to thank them for their hard work this summer. Seth is from Sioux Falls, where he graduated from O’Gorman High School. Griffin is from Onida and attends the University of South Dakota, while Ella is a Jackrabbit at South Dakota State University. Lily is from Spearfish and was lucky to have her sister out in DC completing a Congressional internship as well.

Yesterday, District 20 Republican State Representative Ben Krohmer withdrew from the fall ballot at the very last minute, creating the 4th legislative vacancy (3 dems, 1 R) in District 20 in 6 legislative slots for the fall election.

Apparently, no one from D20 wants to be in Pierre!

For Republicans, what does that mean? What is the process?  According to an e-mail that went out this morning:

From: Rich Hilgemann
Date: Wed, Aug 7, 2024, 11:25 AM
Subject: D20 replacement meeting notice

I am Rich Hilgemann, a region director for the state Republican party, Chairman Wiik has tasked me with running this replacement meeting. I am reaching out because all of you are eligible voters and need to be notified of a replacement meeting to be held on Monday August 12th at the Mitchell Public Library, 221 N. Duff Street in Mitchell, SD.

Yesterday afternoon Representative Krohmer withdrew from the 2024 general election ballot. All elected Republicans residing in District 20, and organized county party executive boards are eligible to vote at a replacement meeting. Davison County Republicans have a room booked for us and will also help with credentialing.

Credentials will run from 6pm to 7pm.
Nominations and voting starts at 7pm.
Spectators are welcome but I will ask they be seated separately from the credentialed voting block.

Those eligible to obtain credentials: There are 2 organized counties in District 20, Jerauld and Davison and their executive boards are eligible as long as they are still registered Republicans in District 20/their counties. District 20 partisan office holders, current Legislators/Senator, county elected officials (Coroner, Sheriff, Auditor, Deeds, Treasurer, Commissioners, State’s Attorney) and precinct people.

Nominations and a second will be required to be considered a candidate. Nominating speeches and candidate speeches I believe would be in order, seconding speeches optional. Nominations and seconds can only be made by credentialed voters.

I do want to apologize for the short notice and nature of this notice but the deadline for replacement is the day after the meeting so email, social media, and phone calls are what we are relegated to. Also I would ask your help in forwarding this email to those who are eligible but have not seen this email notice or know about the meeting yet.

Please feel free to reply to this email with questions or concerns.

Thanks!
Rich Hilgemann

In case you’re looking for the specific bylaw passages,

You should also refer to who is on the central committee…

The GOP’s candidate will be voted on, as detailed in Hilgemann’s e-mail and in the bylaws as being the precinct committeepeople (selected at the primary),  current officeholders, and the GOP County Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, State Committeeman and State Committeewoman.

RUMOR ALERT: I’m hearing that multiple candidates are rumored to be looking at it, including (former vice president of Muth Electric, Terry Sabers, and – UPDATE Sabers not running per local media)  local Mitchell landlord Boyd Reimnitz. And I’m sure there will be more names flying before Monday’s meeting.

There’s no specific process if someone wants to run to be a candidate, other than showing up and campaigning for the office.. and no requirement that candidates be a precinct people of county central committees.  Candidates would just have to be registered Republicans residing in District 20 (Davison, Jerauld, Miner, or Sanborn).  While there is no general election at the moment, there may be if Democrats fill the open positions on the ballot.

If Democrats don’t fill on their side? The person chosen Monday night may be the next State Representative from District 20.

How do you tell that a South Dakota politician is done running for office?

Minnesota is a lot more attractive to South Dakotans than South Dakota is to Minnesotans. https://t.co/qajC9blLdR

— Reynold Nesiba (@ReynoldNesiba) August 7, 2024

I get the feeling that Governor Noem does not care for Tim Walz..

Tim Walz is so terribly radical that his own citizen legislature brought legislation to allow certain counties to leave Minnesota and join us here in South Dakota. pic.twitter.com/DAXNdvVeUz

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) August 6, 2024

Walz is no leader. He’s a radical. I served with him in Congress. He pretended to be moderate, then showed his true extremist colors as soon as he became Governor.

South Dakota has been kicking Minnesota’s butt economically for years. Last year, nearly 7,000 Minnesotans moved to…

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) August 6, 2024

Are you familiar with the term “robber baron?”

Historically, robber baron was a term first used in the 19th century as social criticism regarding wealthy individuals who would often use their cash to influence politics.  As changes in the landscape of politics have taken hold in the South Dakota’s political scene, we seem to be starting a new era in state politics where the wealthy – or at least well-heeled – are the new age’s robber barons, using their pocketbooks to insert themselves into the state’s political conversations and drive them to their own benefit (and shameless self-promotion).

It’s not a new phenomena by any stretch of the imagination in South Dakota politics where ego often comes into play, as people have tried to buy elections and set themselves up as people of influence. Arguably, that’s been taking place almost as long as we’ve had elections in our country. But coming at a time in South Dakota when the State Republican Party is fractured by waves of indifference and populism, the new robber barons are making a grab to drive the conversation in ways they want. And they’re pushing back against anything that might interfere with their vision.

Back in the summer of 2005, one of the earliest things I wrote about was when Republicans contended with a challenge from the left from a group funded by wealthy Rapid City resident Stan Adelstein, pushing back against conservatives funding a group called the “South Dakota Mainstream Coalition,” with members such as Duane Sutton of Aberdeen. And they hired State Rep. Ed Olson to be their Executive Director. As noted in the Rapid City Journal at the time (7/12/05), one critic pointed out that these “liberals in Republican clothing simply realize they are out of the mainstream, and want to redefine what mainstream means.”

The group spent some money in the 2006 elections, but that effort quickly dried up. Adelstein lost his primary election, and dumped money into funding his opponent, as well as a number of democrat races; a trend that has continued to more recent elections. The Mainstream coalition quickly died off when they lost elections and the money dried up.  During this time, the SDGOP was on the uphill climb in South Dakota, so a cult of personality masquerading as a political movement didn’t really affect the party.

Fast forward nearly twenty years (and yes, I’m dating myself), and we have new robber barons trying to influence Republican state politics.  Who are some of them?

Cufflink salesman Adam Broin, scion of the POET Broin family, made a push to take over Conservative Republican politics in the Sioux Empire region of the state around 2022 working with former Minnehaha County GOP Chair Dave Roetman to create the Patriot Ripple Effect. They held anti-establishment rallies against vaccination and incumbents.

This group seemed to reach it’s perihelion in that 2022 election when they had founded groups in Brookings (led by Rick Weible) and Watertown (led by some DJ).. ..and those groups quickly broke away as independent or just plain fizzled out.  That organization seemed to start contracting when they started kicking people out for being perceived as disloyal.

Anymore, they pay for a website, which they post to occasionally, but the handwriting is on the wall.  This group might not be around by the time of the 2026 election.

Starting last year, when he paid for polling asking people if they knew his name, Aberdeen car salesman & developer Toby Doeden tried to set himself up as the next big thing in Republican politics and launched an exploratory bid for Congress. Which came utterly crashing down in less than 30 days when it came out that he had never voted in a Republican primary election, leading him to abandon the race.

Instead, Doeden shifted his efforts to dumping significant amounts of money into state legislative primaries, with reasonable effect. Coinciding with the current populist effort against CO2 pipelines and GOP State Party infighting, a number of incumbents were ousted. With the primary dust settled, Doeden is already back trying to push a renewed round of polling of his unknown name against Kristi Noem and Dusty Johnson.

The problem with feeding your money to the political cycle is that it’s never full. We’ll see if he’s still interested in throwing money at it in 2026.

The newest robber baron in state Republican politics is Sioux Falls entrepreneur Chris J. Larson, who popped up out of the blue over the last few months, and is spending his money to form a statewide ballot question committee railing against many measures on the South Dakota ballot.  Larson, who started the Comfort King mattress company, wrote in a recent column in The Dakota Scout:

Normies believe the both Covid and our current record-breaking inflation are naturally occurring events, similar to a bad winter, not the fault of evil and/or inept humans.

and..

Normies keep their heads buried in the sand until WHOOPS! too late, the Marxists have totally captured every single institution in our country. Just ask the good “Nice” citizens in the state of Minnesota, who can have their child removed from their home by the government if the parent refuses to “affirm their gender.” Yes, Normie, this is the New Normal in America. Coming soon!

Read that here.

Larson also wrote recently about the Republican party on his own personal website:

The body of the SD Republican Party is right now in stage 4 “Moderate cancer”. The “Moderates” have metastasized to the point that they have overwhelmed all of our “major organs”. To be clear, I am not saying that Moderates are a cancer to humanity; they are a cancer to the Republican Party leadership. The truth is that in our state the leaders of this party are not conservative in any real sense of the word. State Party Chairman, Senate Leader, all three of our federal representatives, Secretary of State, most of our mayors, the Governor. No, we are being governed by Moderates in Conservatives clothes.

and..

If you asked a Moderate, they would claim that it’s because their “middle of the road” (i.e. mushy) worldview is simply the most popular with the voters. I believe that it’s due to the fact that since they are unmoored from any ideological firmament, they are more easily controlled; for sale to the highest bidder. I mean, does anyone really believe that a cretin like Lee Schoenbeck is passionate about carbon emissions? Or that Pat Powers, who just this week was sent out by his handler, whoever that is, to attack a Pro-Life warrior and true Patriot Jon Hansen, somewhere in his dark little heart is harboring a deep love for our founding principles? Or that GOP Chairman John Wiik spends any of his time and energy trying to help truly conservative folks get elected? Or that Kristi Noem cares deeply for the people of South Dakota? Or that Thune, Dusty and Rounds are going to conserve even a tiny fraction of our traditions out there in the Great Swamp they muck around in? Certainly not!

Read that here.

(Not sure how I rated, since I had no clue who this clown was until yesterday). If you think Governor Kristi Noem, and Monae Johnson are “flaming moderates”..  the problem might not be them.  Minnesota has their pillow guy spouting crazy nonsense, and now South Dakota has a mattress guy spouting crazy nonsense.

The well-to-do throwing their cash around trying to convince people how to vote is a phenomena as old as politics itself. Especially given that they’re largely here today and gone tomorrow when they get bored.

The question for us is whether we let ourselves buy into it.

‘Border Czar‘ & Democrat Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris has reportedly picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the fall election between herself and former President Donald Trump:

The naming of the 60-year-old Walz was not a shocker, as his name was instantly thought to be in contention in the two weeks since Harris succeeded President Biden as the party’s standard-bearer.

and..

Having the plainspoken Walz on the national ticket not only helps Harris in Minnesota, it also benefits the vice president in the two neighboring Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Walz, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, may also help Harris when it comes to bringing in campaign cash, as he has helped steer the DGA to record-breaking fundraising this year.

Read the entire story here.

I’m just dumber for having read this.  Apparently Republican State Representative Kevin Jensen thinks “real women” have no nerve endings below the waist to protect in contact sports:

Since Kevin isn’t up on his basic female anatomy to go with his mansplaining, as the parent of 2 daughters with black belts in TKD, yes, girls wear protective gear in full contact sports, such as boxing, martial arts, hockey, etcetera and so on. If he can’t figure it out, he should ask his wife.

Jesus H, some legislators should have Facebook taken away.