In the midst of all the SDGOP chaos over the last couple of weeks, one item that has gone quietly under the radar is that the party has hired on Reggie Rhoden as the new executive director for the organization.

Reggie, who recently had stints at the Secretary of State’s office as election coordinator under Monae Johnson in Feb of 2023, and was Deputy Auditor in Meade County from November 2023 until recently, certainly has exposure to the campaign trail as the son of Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden, who has long served in the South Dakota State legislature before taking the #2 position under Governor Kristi Noem.

It may be a bumpy road for the younger Rhoden, as he assumes the reins of a party organization focused on purging Republicans from Reagan’s big tent.

Aside from their attempts to silence me at the last Central Committee meeting, factions within the party are also seeking bylaw changes to strip the body of experienced people who know how to win elections. As submitted to the Central Committee by purveyors of the party purge:

“State legislators and paid lobbyists shall be ineligible from holding any State Executive Board position.”

This measure currently proposed to the SDGOP Central Committee and under review by the bylaws committee, perfectly illustrates the dilemma that the South Dakota Republican Party finds itself in as the inmates seek to take over the asylum.  Should this bylaw measure pass, it would act to immediately strip the state Republican Party of it’s Chair (Sen. John Wiik), Vice Chair (Rep. Mary Fitzgerald), and Treasurer (Pierre attorney & lobbyist, Brett Koenecke), leaving only the treasurer, Marilyn Oakes to run the party. It would also knock out a few other exec board members, such as former chair and current lobbyist Dan Lederman.

In their attempt to bar legislators, the party would be stripping itself of being led by those who have skin in the game, and over the past two decades were a major part of turning the tide from just competing against Democrats – who held up to all three federal offices  – into the GOP being the solely dominant political organization in the state. This came about as a result of the efforts of many chairmen & women, but you can’t deny the influence that legislators had in the success of the party.

Certainly, congratulations are due to Reggie Rhoden in his new position in leading the GOP.

Unfortunately, it comes at a time when there is a faction of the party hell-bent at returning the Republican Party to the bad-old days when we used to lose a few too many elections.

Remember how I had writted about Thomas Werner running as a Democrat for District 15 State Senate?

Introduction:

Welcome to the official campaign website of Thomas Werner. As a conservative candidate running in a predominantly Democrat district,  Thomas Werner is committed to representing the diverse needs and  values of our community. With a vision to bridge the partisan divide,  Thomas Werner is running as a Democrat for State Senate, bringing a fresh perspective and common-sense solutions to the challenges we face.

Read that here.

Apparently, that’s off, as Werner has now come back and is running as a Republican.

Introduction:

Welcome to the official campaign website of Thomas Werner. As a conservative candidate running in a predominantly Democrat district, Thomas Werner is committed to representing the diverse needs and values of our community. With a vision to bridge the partisan divide, Thomas Werner is running as a Republican for State Senate, bringing a fresh perspective and common-sense solutions to the challenges we face.

Read that updated website here.

And actually, if we’re splitting hairs, it’s technically not a predominantly Democrat district anymore, as D15 has 7320 Republican to 6638 Democrats.  But glad to see this confusion is resolved.

Did I mention yet that I am involved in a primary this year?

I am running for precinct committeeman, and for the third or fourth election in a row, I have an opponent. Same guy always files for the same office as I do, for the privilege of representing our precinct at the South Dakota Republican Party state convention.

Which really makes the argument against down ticket statewide officials not standing for primary elections kind of fall flat for me. Why is the office of precinct committeeman  – always dead last on the ballot – worthy of a primary in front of the voters for my chunk of the city of Brookings, but Attorney General or Secretary of State is not deserving of similar scrutiny by the voters at large?

Senate Bill 13, an act to revise the process for nominating candidates for the offices of Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State is up for debate on the Senate floor tomorrow, after passing unanimously 9-0 out of the Senate State Affairs committee this last week

While it seems that we’ve heard this a couple of times in the legislature already this year, and this is the second time the Senate has had the opportunity to debate and discuss the measure, that being said, it is a measure that deserves far more serious consideration than it may have received over the course of the legislative session.

In its prior incarnations, the proposals to change how South Dakota political parties select a couple of the offices that are currently chosen at party conventions have been subjected to conjecture and scare tactics which are utter nonsense as some try to preserve the current way of doing things.

Currently there are 301,869 registered Republicans in South Dakota. So, at least 301,000 are disenfranchised from selecting the primary candidates for their party for most state offices under the current system.

The arguments against it absolutely crumble under their own weight.

Some are naïve enough to declare that the group of delegates who gather at political conventions are performing some vital vetting process that the poor uneducated voters of South Dakota are incapable of doing on their own.

As an active participant, I could tell you that’s a ridiculous, and kind of insulting, notion. Convention delegates are just versed in how to fill out a piece of paper, and we like to participate in state politics, and go to the convention.

The act of putting an address on, filling out the precinct number, and signing a one page form does not grant us any greater insight or wisdom than the public at large has.

Another argument that opponents like to throw out, is that big money interests would somehow be able to sway the elections for nefarious ends. Sometimes they even bring up George Soros as a bogeyman.

I can’t help but roll my eyes at this. If this was the case, then, why are these bad actors only discussed in terms of the primary election? I would think that they would find more fertile ground in the general election. But where are they? They never seem to appear.

It might have something to do with the fact that these offices don’t really have people throwing out cash left and right to elect constitutional offices.

If there were all these dark monied special interests ready to pounce on our down ticket races, I suspect our current Secretary of State, Monae Johnson, would be reporting more than $324 in her campaign account after she loaned it $1500, as I posted about recently.

Ultimately, it comes down to a question of whether we trust the voters of our political parties or not.

301,869 Republicans and 145,449 Democrats, do we trust them to select the candidates who will represent their parties in the fall elections? I do. And I think we’ve gone past the time to think that individuals don’t have an interest in selecting the candidates who will represent their party.

As I tried to communicate in my testimony to the Senate state affairs committee on Senate Bill 13: Don’t be afraid of the voters! Don’t patronize them by pretending that a group of a few hundred people are smarter than a group of 300,000.

Voters as a group are smart people and acting together they make good decisions. If voters at large can choose their coroner, their county auditor, legislators and governor in a primary they are capable of choosing their Attorney General and Secretary of State the same way as well.

Unless we want to continue insulting voters.

From my mailbox:

I want to start out by thanking you for your support, encouragement, and engagement. You were one of my earliest supporters who believed in me, invested in my first race, or have kept up with me since. That’s why I’m coming to you first with some exciting news.

I’m excited to share that I’m running for re-election to the House of Representatives in District 14! I’ve learned a lot in my first term and am proud of my track record and legislative success. More importantly, the continued encouragement and support from my family and friends makes serving the people of southeast Sioux Falls possible. It’s not easy being away from my wife and my two growing boys for the nine-week legislative session, but they’re also a big part of the “why” I choose to serve. Keeping our state strong for our next generation guides me and the decisions I make.

When I first announced for the legislature I promised to keep our people as my number one priority. I also told you I’d focus on promoting a vibrant economy along with building up strong communities and healthy families. In keeping with that promise, as a freshman legislator I carried five bills last year and all five were signed into law. These efforts included strengthening our elections, fixing outdated regulations, and a signature “workforce freedom” legislation to recognize professional and occupational licenses to assist in our workforce shortage. I was honored to be recognized by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as one of the top 50 Under 50 lawmakers in the nation promoting conservative policies at the state level, and earlier this year was named a Legislative Champion by the Foundation for Government Accountability. The Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce also named me one of their Community Champions for 2023 for maintaining a 100% voting record.

Last summer, I was selected for a National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL) fellowship on youth homelessness which spurred legislation I’m moving through the process this year. This session I’m also championing legislation that would address child food insecurity, improve our process of electing statewide offices, and a bill to recognize some of our nation’s biggest heroes. In short, you sent me to Pierre to work hard, respect the people, and get results. In my first term I’ve done just that, but there’s still more work to be done.

I am looking forward to getting back out and earning the vote of my neighbors again and hope I can count on your continued support and encouragement so we can run a successful campaign for re-election. If given the opportunity to keep serving, I promise to do more of the same. Help kill the bad bills and do all I can to pass the good ones. Keeping the focus on South Dakota families, our next generation and addressing real problems.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to catch up, give me a call at (605) 610-8884 or shoot me a message at tyler@tylertordsen.comanytime. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your friendship and continued support!

Sincerely,

Tyler Tordsen

I hadn’t caught this in the PAC filings that have been coming in until now, but a political action committee created by one of the most visible election deniers in the state appears to be largely bankrolled by the same family that provided significant funding to the failed congressional campaign of Taffy Howard in 202o.

In April of 2023, Rick Weible of Elkton, formerly of Minnesota, created a Political Action Committee called “Save South Dakota,” with the stated purpose that the PAC was created to “Help recruit, promote, support republican candidates that will abide by SD GOP platform principles.”  Which I’m sure are GOP platform principles as interpreted by Rick.   Fast forward a few months, and the group had it’s name at the top of a flyer was declaring Weible a “South Dakota Hero” for some logical reason no one has been able to discern to date.

Now that the deadline for Political Action Committee filings have passed, we have a slight window into who is funding this silliness. According to the End of Year report filed by the PAC with the South Dakota Secretary of State..

Save South Dakota PAC FY 23 EOY Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

Dave Assman, Cathy Assman, & Darla Assman all kicked $2000 into the Weible led PAC, with Greg Assman dropping in another $1000. You’ll see most of them also donated significantly to the Taffy Howard congressional effort. The itemized donations are rounded out by Weible putting in $500 to the PAC that declared him “a hero,” and despite their spelling error, I believe State Representative Tina Mulally was in for another $410.24.

What did they spend it on? Despite their claimed mission of electing candidates, it appears that they used this group as their front group for buying the state voter list, consulting with an outside group, MK Analytical.

According to their website, MK Analytical…

MK Analytical is a small team that has established itself within the Election Integrity Community as the leading company that has been providing accurate and focused lists that has proven to be an effective tool in uncovering anomalies associated with this Country’s Elections. The MK Analytical Network has helped connect Election Integrity investigation teams from many different states with the purpose of sharing data analysis, techniques and uncovering new anomalies that other states can investigate in their state.  

Read that here.

So, is this PAC focused on sending the voting list off to an analyst for the “election integrity community,” as they’ve declared themselves to be.. or are they recruiting candidates?  This seems to be heading down the rabbit hole, leaving everyone to wonder if the group is focusing on spending other people’s money on candidates, or if they’re spending it on conspiracies?

The group moved forward into 2024 with $4801.11 in the bank, so it remains to be seen what, if anything, they’re going to be doing to further their declared mission.

Brookings County State’s Attorney Dan Nelson is speaking at the Brookings County GOP Noon Luncheon tomorrow at Cubby’s Bar & Grill in Brookings.

Check it out. Dan does a good job for the county, and should be one of those State’s Attorneys that people look at for bigger and better things in the future.

Lessons in Leadership From Our Greatest Presidents
By Sen. John Thune

South Dakota is second to none when it comes to celebrating America’s presidents. The iconic Mount Rushmore memorializes four of them in larger-than-life granite. As many times as I’ve seen it, Mount Rushmore never gets old, and it still inspires me, as I’m sure it inspires the millions of visitors who come to the Black Hills to see the monument each year. Down the road in Rapid City, statues of our presidents line the streets of downtown. So when Presidents Day comes around each year, South Dakotans know the people who have held that office.

Presidents Day is a chance to celebrate all of our presidents, and in particular during this month we honor two of our greatest leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose birthdays are in February.

Our first president, George Washington, was a soldier, farmer, and statesman. When the American Revolution came, he was named commander in chief of the Continental Army. The ragtag army he led faced long odds against British forces. But Washington’s leadership earned him the dedication of his men, and they ultimately won the war.

When the revolution ended, Washington was a national hero. But rather than bask in his fame or take power for himself, Washington resigned his military commission and went home to his Virginia farm. But he would leave home once again when his country called on him to serve, first at the Constitutional Convention and then as the nation’s first president. His presidency set the tone for the office and set the United States on a solid footing as a new nation.

As Washington’s legacy is the nation’s founding, Abraham Lincoln’s is its preservation. Born in a Kentucky log cabin and largely self-taught, Lincoln came of age in a tumultuous time in American history. He was a young lawyer and legislator as the national debate over slavery was intensifying, and it would become the defining issue of his public life.

A one-term congressman and twice-failed Senate candidate, Lincoln was a long-shot candidate for the presidency when he ran in 1860. But he won his party’s nomination and the White House. After his election, 11 southern states seceded and, within weeks of his inauguration, the Civil War began. The war consumed his presidency, but Lincoln’s steady leadership shepherded the country through some of its darkest days. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation, pushed Congress to pass the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, and, in his second inaugural address just weeks before the war’s end, he urged reconciliation. He was tragically assassinated just days after the war ended, but he had already left an indelible mark on our nation’s history.

Neither Washington nor Lincoln were perfect men, but when their country needed them, they stepped up to serve. In our defining moments, America has been fortunate to have leaders like Washington and Lincoln.

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I was extremely happy this past week to receive the pins I won the bid for on ebay for some SD Inaugural pins, one of which I was missing for my collection.

The 1953 Sigurd Anderson Pin is actually a challenging Inaugural to find, and it has taken me a long time to get one in the wild to put back into my collection. If you’re in Pierre, you’ll recognize the Sigurd Anderson Building named for this former Governor, across the street from the Capitol.

There was a downside to the pin find.. it came with a large group of pins, including a couple of tough pins to find; the ’41 Bushfield, and the equally challenging ’45 M. Q. Sharpe pin.

And predictably, that wasn’t lost on competing bidders, as they took me about to the limits of what I was willing to pay.  It was not at all a bad price for the group, but a healthy sum for the one pin I wanted.

I did have a plan for a brief moment where I figured that I could recoup my expenses, sell off the duplicates, and maybe even make it a revenue neutral or moneymaking acquisition..

Until my daughter Sydney asked to have her pick before I did anything like that.  And it is her birthday tomorrow… well, dang it.  Best laid plans.. but I can’t fault my daughter for finding South Dakota political history interesting, she comes by it honestly.

At some point in the near future, I’m going to do some downsizing and have a sale of extras, as soon as I can find them. Which might be an indication that it’s time to downsize.

In the meantime, this leaves me 2 inaugural pins to find; the near impossible first one, and I need a large 1975 Kneip pin whenever I can come across it, and then my inaugural pin quest is complete. Which will leave me to chase state capital fight items.

Stay tuned.

Delivering Wins for Agriculture

MADISON–The Legislature is nearing the end of session and we remain focused on working to find resolution on some of the major policy issues in the state and finalizing a balanced budget for the state’s next fiscal year.

The future success of ethanol, corn markets in South Dakota and carbon dioxide sequestration have been major topics of debate in the Capitol last year and again this year.  House Majority Leader Will Mortenson and I introduced SB 201 to find a path forward for South Dakota in what has been an emotional issue related to private property rights and the proposed carbon pipeline.  SB 201 is a comprehensive solution that protects landowner rights and establishes clear infrastructure guardrails. 

When South Dakota farmers succeed, all of South Dakota succeeds, and that cuts both ways. When South Dakota farmers have limited access to national and global markets, our whole state suffers. A rising tide lifts all boats, and that’s why I am committed to legislation like SB 201 that fosters a brighter future for all of South Dakota.

I want South Dakota to have some of the strongest landowner protections in the nation, and that’s why we’re working on a compromise package. What SB 201 does is set standards in state law for linear utility projects to abide by, specifically CO2 pipelines. It allows counties to levy a surcharge on CO2 pipelines that could equate to $3.5 million each year for counties hosting the proposed pipeline. It also requires land agents to be South Dakota based, CO2 pipeline operators to repair drain tile, and establishes penalties for safety failures for operators.

SB 201 also clarifies state law where federal preemption voids any state or local safety standards or setbacks. South Dakota is open for business, which means we don’t set up roadblocks for projects through regulation, red tape, excessive fees, and indefinite timelines. We provide fairness and certainty in the process for landowners and businesses. State law should reflect federal standards and remove uncertainty for counties on actions that would result in lawsuits that will cost taxpayers money. Our farmers and communities deserve better than sham lawsuits that drag out projects and cost taxpayers legal fees. Let’s put money in the pockets of farmers, not lawyers.

Related to ethanol, I joined Gov. Noem, farmers and ethanol producers for the bill signing ceremony of SB 78. This bill helps incentivize gas stations to offer E15 and bolster our ag industry. Ethanol plants buy 64% of the corn grown in the state, supporting 11,00 family farms and 30,000 jobs. I want to see more homegrown fuel sold and used in South Dakota. It’s good for farmers and consumers.

Earlier this week, I was proud to support HCR 6008 discouraging voters from adopting the radical pro-abortion ballot measure paid for by out-of-state special interest groups. South Dakota is a state that values the life of the unborn. Alternating the state’s constitution to allow late-term abortions, remove parental awareness and override existing conscience protections that were enacted for healthcare providers is extreme and frankly, it’s immoral. 

The Senate and House enjoyed the service of pages from District 8–Chester, Arlington and two from Howard. These four have bright futures and we are grateful for their help in the Capitol. If you know a high schooler interested in government and public service, encourage them to apply to page in a future year.

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Attorney General Jackley Joins Coalition Supporting Trump’s Presidential Immunity Stay Request to U.S. Supreme Court

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined 21 Attorneys General in filing an amicus brief that supports former President Donald Trump’s stay request regarding presidential immunity to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Former President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to stay a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which said Trump could not invoke presidential immunity as a defense against criminal charges related to the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021 incident at the U.S. Capitol.

The special prosecutor in the case is also seeking a quick decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Trump’s stay request so the trial can start this year. The initial trial set was set for this March.

“These are serious charges, and a defendant, even one who is a candidate for President, deserves a right to have time to prepare an adequate defense,” said Attorney General Jackley. “The Attorneys General do not believe that speeding up the legal process for political reasons would be appropriate.”

Attorneys Generals also have signed on from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The brief can be read here: