You know, winning elections in South Dakota was fun while it lasted.

Because, aside from the nuttery in Minnehaha County, other Republican county organizations are taking it upon themselves to get active in primary elections, and try to determine who is the better or worse Republican in races. Such as this GOP platform “survey” from the Fall River County Republican Party where it says it’s designed to determine whether someone is a “Republican or a RINO:”

FRC_GOPPlatformSurvey by Pat Powers

If County Party organizations want to get involved in primary elections, they should make the decision to do so as a Central Committee. Because – supposedly – to this point, the party was supposed to stay out of them.

Although, we do learn that it appears that Fall River County is as weary of Matthew Monfore as much as the rest of us.

If you saw my post from earlier today, the gist of it is that Minnehaha County GOP Vice-Chair Jennifer Foss is out on Facebook in her anti-Republican group trying to recruit petition carriers for an Independent candidate for Congress to run against Republican Dusty Johnson.

Of course, I pointed out this fact, and Karen called for the manager… er, Minnehaha County GOP Vice-Chair Foss is trying to claim she’s somehow given herself permission to do that, rants after me for pointing out her own words, and calls people in her Facebook group snitches:

Somehow the Minnehaha County Republican Vice-Chair is claiming her actions are ok, because she’s abstaining from circulating petitions for an Independent candidate.. nevermind that she’s active in trying to recruit people to do so, as noted in her prior post..

Maybe it’s just me, but if one is trying to recruit petition carriers, it would not seem that someone is supporting the Republican candidate.

Why should anybody care?  Well, there is this handbook running around where officers of the Republican Party – such as Minnehaha County GOP Vice-Chair Foss –  had some specific expectations placed on them…

The point being, can the Vice-Chair of a County Republican organization – who is allegedly supposed to abide by the SDGOP Code of Conduct – help run and participate in on-line forums where she’s trying to recruit opponents to a Republican officeholder? And furthermore, can the Vice-Chair of a County GOP organization try to recruit petition carriers for a different political affiliation to run against the Republican Candidate for Congress?

How many Independents or Democrats does the Minnehaha County GOP Vice-Chair have to recruit to run against Republican candidates before it’s NOT ok?

I would venture that Foss is violating at least 2 or 3 rules in the GOP Code of Conduct. And as vice-chair, she is continuously and repeatedly attacking Republican Party candidates (and officeholders). If she was just Karen off the street, who cares? But as the Vice-Chair of a County Republican Organization – especially the largest one in the state – that Code of Conduct would appear to put some pre-qualifications on her conduct, especially when it comes to attacking Republican candidates.

If the Vice-Chair of the Minnehaha GOP wants to run people against Republican candidates, she should resign from her position.  Lacking that, it’s long past due for her to be removed.

Wasn’t it just a couple of days ago when Minnehaha county vice chair Jennifer Foss was going off on me, remarking ‘Pat you wouldn’t know what a real Republican looked like if hit you in the face..’. Guess what?

Remember when being an official in the Republican party meant that you worked to elect Republicans?

Minnehaha County Vice Chair Jennifer Foss must have inhaled some fumes while bleaching her hair, because she’s taken to her anti-Republican group trying to recruit petition carriers to assist in running an independent for office. AGAINST our Republican candidate.

In a Facebook post which appears to be made by Foss last night:

Endorsing an Independent or a Democrat candidate is literally unheard of from a Republican County Party official, and in the past would have triggered that person’s immediate removal by the executive board, as happened when one endorsed Tom Daschle in one race a number of years ago.

Now here we have the vice-chair of the Republican organization for our state’s largest county actively and openly recruiting petition carriers to run an independent candidate against our set Republican candidate.

Apparently there’s no need for Republicans to worry about Democrats beating our candidates in a race. Because there are Republicans who hate the party that much that they want to beat ourselves.

Real Republican? Sorry, Jennifer. You have certainly shown the world and the Republican party that you don’t know the definition.

At-Large Sioux Falls City Council hopeful Richard Thomason has been racking up the endorsements in the run up to next Tuesday’s election.

Earlier this week, Thomason had a mailer featuring his endorsement by State Representative, and long-time City Councilman Greg Jamison…

And today, Thomason continued with endorsements from some of the most popular political figures in the city, with State Rep. Arch Beal, Former City Councilwoman (and future mayor?) Christine Erickson, out-going at-large City Councilman Alex Jensen, and former State Representative Mark Mickelson all throwing their support behind the leading candidate in the race:

Keep watching this race, as it looks as if it could be a winning race for Thomason on April 9th.

South Dakota Searchlight has posted a profile of State Senator Lee Schoenbeck, who is in the twilight of his legislative career as he heads off into the sunset after carving out a place for himself as one of South Dakota’s legislative giants, after a career where he was not afraid to lead in the way he saw fit, and to shape policy and lawmaking during his tenure:

The following Monday, back at the Capitol, some Republicans who were upset about Schoenbeck’s verbal attacks blocked him from entering a caucus meeting.

But then something happened: Lawmakers started talking to him about the bill. His outbursts against Republican leaders had emboldened some rank-and-file members.

and..

The episode was an example of Schoenbeck’s unique brand of lawmaking, combining blunt public rhetoric with private maneuvering to get results. His perfection of those tactics made him perhaps the most powerful member of the Legislature during the last several legislative sessions while he served as president pro tempore of the Senate.

Schoenbeck said there’s a simple reason he’s been willing to speak his mind when others were afraid: “I don’t care if I lose an election.”

“That’s the difference,” he said. “That’s it.”

Read it here.

In a time when we have far too many cookie-cutter candidates campaign on platforms that all look and sound the same, maybe the best lesson that Senator Schoenbeck provides to those who follow him are to worry less about pleasing factions, never forget to connect to your community, and be unafraid to lead.

 

 

Becky Drury Announces Bid for District 34 House Seat

Rapid City, SD—Representative Becky Drury proudly announces her election bid for the SD House of Representatives in District 34.

Representative Drury has served two terms in the House, the first as a Representative of District 32. After a move across town and vacant House seat within her new home’s district, Governor Noem appointed Drury to serve as the District 34 Representative.

“Knowing the move was the right timing for us, I was deeply appreciative of the Governor’s appointment that allowed me to continue in my leadership role as House Majority Whip and serve District 34 for the remainder of the term,” said Drury.

Along with serving as House Majority Whip, Drury’s committee assignments include State Affairs, Military & Veterans Affairs and Chair of Local Government. She continued as an advocate for children as she was the Prime Sponsor in the House for Senate Bill 98. This bill established the admission of evidence in the courtroom of similar crimes in child molestation cases. She also supported SB 187 providing funding for cyber security and putting into effect a 4% increase for K12 and Technical Institutions and CSP providers. House Bill 1132 was also a key bill for which Representative Drury was the prime sponsor, beginning a major clean-up of statutes dealing with municipalities at times deleting sections of code that have been obsolete since the 1970’s.

Representative Drury has a record of service to Rapid City that is unmatched. She was elected to the Rapid City Common Council representing Ward One and served as Chair of Legal and Finance during the 2019-2020 term. She has served on many municipal and private boards and committees throughout her career here in Rapid City. She is most proud of her volunteer work as a board member for Passages—Women’s Transitional Living program and her appointment to the Rapid City Community Relations Committee by Mayor Salamon in February of 2024.

Becky Drury has been a member of Parkview Evangelical Free Church for over 20 years. She and her husband, Neal, owned a small business in Rapid City. Their daughters were raised in Wall and Rapid City. They attended Middle School in Rapid City and continue to reside in the area where they are now also raising their families.

Johnson Opposes Central Digital Bank Currency

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) cosponsored the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act to prevent the creation of a central digital bank currency (CDBC), protecting the financial privacy of all Americans.

Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, a CBDC is a digital form of sovereign currency that is issued, monitored, and managed by a central bank. In short, a CBDC is government-controlled programmable money that, if designed without the privacy protections of cash, could give the federal government unilateral authority to surveil Americans’ transactions and restrict politically unpopular activity.

“Digital assets help the private market grow and innovate, but the government should not monitor and police the transactions of private, law-abiding citizens,” said Johnson. “This bill is necessary to protect the financial privacy and liberty of our citizens.”

Specifically, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act:

• Prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC directly to anyone, ensuring the Fed cannot turn itself into a retail bank with the ability to collect financial information on Americans.
• Bars the Federal Reserve from indirectly issuing a CBDC through financial institutions or other third-party intermediaries.
• Prevents the Federal Reserve from using any CBDC as a tool to implement monetary policy and control the economy.
• Requires authorizing legislation from Congress for the issuance of any CBDC.
• Protects innovation that reflects American values.

The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act is led by House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). Read full bill text here.

###

This week, District 28 Republican State Senate candidate Susan Peterson successfully was placed on the ballot after a delay in her candidacy. She will be facing Sam Marty in the primary, and later Dean Schrempp in the general election.

But on the flipside, District 29 House candidate Aaron M Schrader had his petitions successfully challenged, and was decertified from the ballot.

Which brings up a few questions, as I’m personally aware of a number of other petition challenges that were filed last week/early this week. But the news from the Secretary of State’s office? Crickets.

Understandably, those challenges take some time, and probably involve a review by staff and/or counsel. But they drew for ballot position this morning, and the printing of ballots is impending.

So you would think they would move a little faster on this?

After posting the interesting brochure for District 17 Republican State Legislative candidate Robin Schiro, I decided to go own the rabbit hole a bit more, because I know nothing about this person. And what a rabbit hole it is.

From public postings on websites such as Linked-in, you get a flavor for what Ms. Schiro may bring to the table as a legislator, and a few more specifics regarding her concern over “IRS Contract Investigators:”

Or more recently…

 

Oh my. This is someone who wants to write our laws.

And what about those laws? Because according to court filings with the Unified Judicial System, there’s a matter of breaking one of them that she may want to resolve in Lawrence County:

It appears that this candidate has a bench warrant over a speeding ticket that’s been hanging out there since last October in Lawrence County. Nothing they’re going to send the sheriff out to actively chase her down over, but the next time she gets pulled over, she might have to get out her checkbook.

Please. Just please. Don’t send someone like this to Pierre.

For all our sakes.

Well.. this is a new one on me.

District 17 Republican State Legislative candidate Robin Schiro has a ..’unique‘ set of issues in her literature that she’s promoting in support of her candidacy, and what she intends to if she’s elected.

Go ahead and take a gander, as she declares that she has “proven I am not afraid to take stands and make decisions that are important, necessary, and unpopular.”

As a candidate, Schiro provides her platform under headings such as Transparency of Government, Economic Development, Fiscal Responsibility.. and then she gets into the weeds a bit when she starts talking about Less Government – IRS:

Distrcit 17 House candidate Schiro declares in her brochure that:

I will work with our Federal Legislators to:

• • Eliminate IRS illegally required tax payments that go directly to the terrorists under the guise of being IRS Contract Investigators instead of the IRS
  • Eliminate IRS illegal investigations (especially those over 10+ years time and targeting unbelievers).
  • Eliminate the use of IRS Contract Investigators since they are trained as terrorists to hack into literally everything including our 9-1-1 system

I somehow get the sense there’s a story there. Similarly under her section title “Less Bureaucracy/Red Tape – FBI” where she promises to

• • Put in place firewalls so that illegal terrorists under the guise of being IRS Contract Investigators cannot hack into Linkedin or Facebook to prevent you from reporting an FBI Tip On-Line Tip Web Site and prevent you from submitting an FBI Terrorist Tip On-Line.

Definitely a story there that we’re not aware of, that I suspect we’re going to hear about on the campaign trail.

For all you potential candidates out there, take a look at the brochure above. And don’t do this. At all. Ever.

Name and Office, a good picture, and a few bullets about yourself. You don’t need much more than that. And maybe consider leaving your opinions about IRS Contract Investigators supposedly being trained as terrorists at home.

Sometimes, less is more when it comes to your political advertising.