The Sioux Falls City Council* candidate filing deadline was today. And of the four seats up for election, the two seats in the northern half of the city were completely conceded by Minnehaha County Republicans without a fight and without GOP candidates, despite the earlier promise of the County GOP Chair “to chip away at Democrat strongholds” during his race for county party chairman.

In January 2023, the Minnehaha County Republican chairmanship was won by former Republican legislator R. Shawn Tornow who made certain campaign promises:

Tornow said his goals will be shoring up fundraising and local organization, as well as beginning to chip away at some of the Democratic Party’s last strongholds in the state.

and..

“We’d really like to try to recruit good candidates, get more precinct committeepeople involved and fundraising is part of it,” he told Forum News Service.

Read that story here.

Tornow must have actually promised something about eating a bag of chips, and not chipping away at Democrat strongholds, as his first test was a bust where one of city council seats currently held by a Republican was handed away without a shot fired, and no one bothered to provide assistance to a new candidate in another open seat to check to see if he did things correctly.

As the dust settled this evening and the candidate slate was set for Sioux Falls city races, the sole contest where Republicans will have to perform is the at-large seat with former Republican State Representative Richard Thomason bearing the burden of carrying the GOP banner in upcoming city elections against Democrat Allison Renville, and magician Doug Henning  unaffiliated candidate Jordan Deffenbaugh.  This seat is currently held by Republican Councilor Alex Jensen who chose not to run again.

Republicans did retain a currently held position in the Southwest City Council seat which was left uncontested for Sioux Falls Republican Ryan Spellerberg already winning the seat without an election when no other candidates filed by the deadline for the seat where current Republican councilor Marshall Selberg is term limited.

That’s the good news.  The bad news is where the Minnehaha GOP had the opportunity to make a difference, but performed like they did at last years’ Sioux Empire fair, where they skipped the important stuff and just didn’t show up. 

The Northeast District will remain outside the grasp of Republicans after Republican Tarek Maalouf discovered his nominating petitions had been improperly filled out when it was too late, leaving the race Republican free, with Independents Miranda Bayse and David Zokaites running against Libertarian Neil Jeske.

This would have been an opportunity for the county Republican team to show their value in assisting a new candidate. Which they didn’t.

In the Northwest District where Republican Councilman Greg Neitzert was term limited out, his seat was actually handed over to Independent Jennifer Sigette, as no other candidate filed. What happened with the campaign promise of “try to recruit good candidates?”

Just didn’t happen. As Yoda from the Empire Strikes back is quoted, “do or do not, there is no try.”

That’s the problem with the group who is currently in charge of the largest Republican County organization in South Dakota.  There is “no try.” No candidate assistance. No candidate training. No candidate recruitment.

Not in the least.

(*And yes, I’m well aware that they are not partisan offices. But that doesn’t mean that parties don’t recruit and assist people to run for them.)

A few new developments in the Shad Olson domestic assault case have popped up since Wednesday, when I noted Olson’s not guilty plea was entered into the record by the court.

• First, Shad Olson is no longer listed as an inmate via the Meade County jail website, which had him still noted him incarcerated as late as this past Wednesday.
• Second, court records retrieved on-line note that the judge in Olson’s case has recused himself from proceedings yesterday, February 22nd. AND Olson’s attorney has filed a motion to withdraw as counsel.
• The same day, it appears that a $5000 cash bond was paid to retrieve Shad Olson from the county jail where he has been in residence for the past two weeks.

Stay tuned. More to come.

One of the tasks I have playing Mr. Mom at the homebase in Brookings as my wife works at her new job in the hills is to try to organize the chaos and clutter for the eventual move that will happen in a few years, if everything goes to plan.  Part of that involves downsizing, and figuring out what should go.

I’d been looking for a bag of extra inaugural pins I had I wanted to check for older duplicates, which invariably had me pulling out a lot of pins and other memorabilia I have stored, when I came across a stack of old “Legislative Handbooks” for South Dakota, which many in Pierre would recognize by their more common name, the “Red Book.”

At some point I bought a stack of them on eBay or someplace, with the oldest going back to the 1917-1918 session, South Dakota’s fifteenth legislative session at the time.  They’re a neat reference, but, again downsizing.   So as I go through them, I hit the one for 1949, and note this on the inside cover.

The Red Book for 1949 is signed by it’s former owner – Lt. Governor Rex Terry of Ft. Pierre.

Rex Terry was the 24th Lt. Governor of the State, and served from 1949-1955 under 2 different Governors – George T. Mickelson, and Sigurd Anderson. And this was his personal red book from his first term as Lt. Governor.  Terry was born Feb 21, 1888, in Sturgis, Dakota Territory, which might make him the last Lt. Governor born in Dakota Territory.  You can read a bio here, as well as his write up in the South Dakota Hall of Fame.

As something I’ve had scurried away in my closet for the last several years in a pile of red books, I’m reminded that sometimes you have great things without even realizing it.

From Twitter:

.@kristinoem unveiled the qualifications @realdonaldtrump should look for in a Vice President:

✅ Ready to go on Day One
✅ NOT from the Swamp
✅ Has run a small business and balanced a checkbook
✅ Has been a Commander in Chief
✅ Someone who has his back and has never wavered pic.twitter.com/2FHfD6cQyh

— Ian Fury (@IanTFury) February 22, 2024

Interesting video that was posted yesterday from Jessica Pollema from the election conspiracy group SD Canvassing. In this video from “Frank TV” with pillow guy Mike Lindell, both are expressing frustration that Republicans aren’t really buying their crackpot message.. and Pollema drops a truth bomb that “some of the people we have finally been able to get through to are the Democrats.”

From about 7:30 minutes to 9 minutes, Pollema and the Pillow Guy go on about how Republicans aren’t buying their snake oil, but Democrats and “new Republicans” are.  When Pillow Guy and Jessica Pollema are singing the praises of Democrats Amy Kloubuchar and Kamala Harris wanting to get rid of counting machines, one has to ask which side they’re on?

So, if SD Canvassing is working with Democrats to remove machine counting from elections.. It begs the question why county republican organizations such as Yankton and Minnehaha are giving them so much oxygen in front of GOP groups?

From an e-mail that went out from the Municipal League, apparently their group lost their executive director yesterday:

What’s the reason? This is only anecdotal, but one correspondent tells me they suspect it was plain burnout under the crushing weight of the session.

The word I’m getting is that because of the sheer amount of legislation being brought, last session the Municipal League was trying to cover over 100 bills.. and this year that number increased to over 150 bills that the group was forced to steward in their area of advocacy and legislation.  I can’t speak to the accuracy of that statement, but it would make sense. It’s a good possibility that a near-impossible job might have something to do with Reiss seeking greener pastures.

And it may be a point of reflection for the group representing municipal governments across the state to restructure their efforts and how they approach the legislative session, and that they need to send more troops in the face of legislators trying to bring more government.

Gov. Noem Appoints Travis Theel to Game, Fish and Parks Commission

 PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will appoint Travis Theel to serve on the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) Commission.

“Our kids and grandkids should have every opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. The GFP Commission shares my mission of preserving our natural resources for future generations,” said Governor Noem. “I look forward to working with Travis to ensure future generations will inherit the beautiful South Dakota we all know and love.”

Theel is the owner of Buckstorm Hunts. He graduated from South Dakota State University in 2013 with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences.

“The opportunity to positively influence South Dakota’s outdoors for my kids and future generations is a dream come true for me,” said Travis Theel. “I am grateful to serve on the GFP Commission and look forward to the contributions I can make to the state.”

Theel and his wife, Mariah, live in Rapid City and have twin boys, Ridge and Rhette. A photo of Theel and his family can be found here.

###

Because people keep asking me about last night’s big announcement from Governor Kristi Noem .. from South Dakota Searchlight:

Noem’s acceptance of an oversized check for $384.19 in unclaimed property came at the start of her keynote speech to the Hughes-Stanley County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner at the Ramkota Event Hall in Pierre.

The money was likely a holdover from an Edward Jones college account she’d opened for one of her children years ago, Noem told the party faithful.

Read it here.

Well, that’s good. I can always appreciate getting money back from the Government. It happens rarely.

I too have unclaimed property out there.. about $47 worth from my deceased parents, which I’d be happy to collect and get off the books.  $37 for my dad, and $10 for my mom.

Except I have 5 siblings scattered across the country. And for $47, I’d have to collect 5 signatures on a document besides my own. My sister Adrienne is in town. That’s no big deal. But then the convenience goes downhill quickly with the others scattered across Utah and Colorado. Somehow the time and the postage, as well as being a scold to my siblings to sign and send on to the next person that I would have to invest would not make it worth it. I know at least one, probably my brother Mike, would say “what’s the matter, are you poor now, and need the money?” just for the sake of yanking my chain.

And then, would the state split the check 6 ways? From reading the claim form the state just sent me, I think they would.  So, it drops to $7.83 each, greatly diminishing the returns and any interest even further.  Now, the unclaimed property fund is a good program, and South Dakota Treasurers have done a good job with it. But a couple of suggestions from an heir who sees they have cash there, but little interest in chasing such a nominal amount.

#1 – Allow electronic signatures.  I can send you an obit, and my sibling’s e-mails. Add security by requesting a shot of our Driver’s licenses. But chasing down signatures is not worth the time for the return.

#2 – And even more importantly; create an option to allow us to donate it. My mom was a school nurse. I and my siblings would happily donate it to the Pierre schools, or education in general.  $47 isn’t anything to us collectively, but if we and 100 or 1000 other people put our $47 together, it’s a nice donation to education.

I’m glad the Governor got her $384.19 back, as I’m sure she is, so reporters will stop asking her about it.  But for those of us who have far less in unclaimed property, adding some accessibility and  little flexibility could take some of it off the books. And potentially even do a minor solid for a worthy cause.

Just my 2 cents.. or $7.83 worth.

Former State Representative and current candidate for City Council Richard Thomason is having a fundraiser in Sioux Falls at Looks Marketplace on February 29th from 4-6 PM.  Lots of familiar names hosting the event including current Representatives Amber Arlint, Greg Jamison (and spouse), Will Mortenson, Taylor Rehfeldt, and Tony Venhuizen (and spouse). City Councilors Dr. Sara Cole and Alex Jensen with his wife are also hosting, along with almost too many familiar names to go into. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of Sioux Falls residents who are gathering together to support Richard.

Don’t forget to put it on your calendar, or if you’d like to send a donation directly, you can do so through Richard’s website.