There a long article at South Dakota News Watch today about the war between Secretary of State Monae Johnson and her former campaign team, Rick & Gretchen Weible, after the Secretary of State disassociated herself from the Weible’s after the last election.

And it also has extensive reporting on Rick Weible’s search for election fraud in South Dakota, whether it exists or not.

He said that he initially saw himself as a potential candidate to challenge incumbent Secretary of State Steve Barnett at the 2022 state GOP convention.

Then Weible and his wife, Gretchen, met Monae Johnson, a more palatable nominee because she previously worked in the secretary of state’s office. Johnson, who declared her candidacy in February 2022, had publicly expressed doubts about the validity of the 2020 election, refusing to acknowledge President Joe Biden’s win over former President Donald Trump.

The Weibles, who moved to South Dakota from Minnesota as “tax refugees” in 2018, viewed Johnson as someone who could help them reform the system from within.

and..

“We found out her campaign was a complete fraud,” said Weible, who runs a cyber security business called D3Defense in Brookings. “She didn’t have a campaign speech, so I had to write one for her. She didn’t have room reservations. She had no T-shirts, no signs, no buttons. She wasn’t even totally sure of the rules of the convention.”

Johnson declined an interview request with News Watch for this story. In response to a question about Weible, state elections director Rachel Soulek sent a statement that the secretary of state’s office is “constantly combatting misinformation and disinformation regarding elections.”

Read the entire story here.

Despite Rick proclaiming in his  advertising that he’s a “South Dakota Hero,” the article refers to him as a “Former small-town Minnesota mayor.”

Check it out at SD News Watch. It’s an interesting read.

From Instagram:

 

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A post shared by South Dakota Retailers Association (@sdretailers)

The Argus Leader is quietly noting that they find themselves moving to smaller digs, to go along with their reduced presence in Sioux Falls:

Argus Leader moving from historic location in downtown Sioux Falls to northwest side https://t.co/wL5Oz2HY88

— argusleader (@argusleader) November 3, 2023

In the attached article, they talk about moving “near the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center,” but looking on Google Earth, this appears to be the location where the state’s flagship newspaper is ending up:

Which is much closer to a water softener equipment supply shop and an Army Surplus store than the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

So what happens after the next inevitable round of cuts at Gannett?

Stay tuned..

Level Up!
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
November 3, 2023

BIG Update

On Monday, I hosted my first Level Up Youth Conference in Rapid City. Over 350 students from more than a dozen West River schools attended to hear from a variety of speakers about how they can become more engaged citizens – and even learned some tips on how to better chat with Uncle Bob about politics during Thanksgiving dinner.

Divisive political discourse, 24/7 news and media consumption, and low civic engagement among youth paint a bleak picture for our nation’s future, but it’s not too late to get us back on the right track. These students are our future leaders and there’s no doubt they will be part of the solution.

Want to learn more about what we discussed? Check out this video or this story.

BIG Idea

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to testify before the House Committee on the Judiciary about my Constitutional amendment to limit the size of the U.S. Supreme Court to nine Justices. Recent years have brought more calls from the Left to pack or expand the Court, and I think that is a terrible idea.

Any efforts to turn the Supreme Court into a political football will further erode public trust in our institutions. 140 members of Congress agree with me and have co-sponsored this amendment. I encouraged the Judiciary Committee to consider Keep the Nine soon.

View my remarks here or click the image below.

BIG News

House Republicans have now passed appropriations bills funding more than 80% of the dollars needed to fund the government in Fiscal Year 2024. There’s no doubt we still have a lot of work to do but we will be back in D.C. next week to continue our progress.

I was proud to co-sponsor the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act which provides $14.3 billion to provide military assistance to Israel and funding for the protection of U.S. personnel and emergency evacuations of American citizens. This bill passed the House on Thursday afternoon. I will continue to support Israel in its fight against Hamas and this is one step in the right direction.

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Attorney General Jackley’s Reply Letter to Dakotans for Health

PIERRE, S.D. — Pursuant to requests from the media, this pdf is being provided to everyone along with Attorney General Jackley’s original letters to Dakotans For Health.

Letters From AG Jackley to Sponsor R. Weiland to Dakotans for Health by Pat Powers on Scribd

We’re South Dakota nice, and especially so when it comes to come of our highest ranking politicians, as Senators John Thune & Mike Rounds remain in the top 10 of the most popular US Senators in the country:

NEW: America’s Most Popular Senators:

Barrasso (R-WY): 70%
Schatz (D-HI): 65%
Lummis (R-WY): 64%
Sullivan (R-AK): 64%
Thune (R-SD): 62%
Welch (D-VT): 62%
Rounds (R-SD): 61%
Tester (D-MT): 61%
Sanders (I-VT): 60%
King (I-ME): 58%
*July 1-Sept. 30, 2023https://t.co/ZiipF00SDJ pic.twitter.com/MDhHkUsniF

— Morning Consult (@MorningConsult) November 1, 2023

With Thune coming in at #5 and Rounds coming in at #7, don’t find yourself discouraged when the haters start throwing rocks… because we find they’re an incredible minority and it just doesn’t matter.

The Senators are overwhelmingly liked by a majority of South Dakotans with a 62% and 61% approval ratings. The Senators should just keep on keeping on – because they’re doing something right, just as they always have.

From Twitter, the Morning Consult website is back at it noting the elected officials we love, and among our nation’s Governors, South Dakota’s Kristi Noem is in the top 10, coming in at #9 with 61% net approval rating:

NEW: America’s Most Popular Governors:

Scott (R-VT): 83%
Gordon (R-WY): 73%
Sununu (R-NH): 67%
Green (D-HI): 66%
Dunleavy (R-AK): 63%
Justice (R-WV): 63%
Ivey (R-AL): 63%
Lamont (D-CT): 61%
Noem (R-SD): 61%
Moore (D-MD): 60%
*July 1-Sept. 30, 2023https://t.co/ZiipF00SDJ pic.twitter.com/hThsmcSh1f

— Morning Consult (@MorningConsult) October 31, 2023

From Facebook, USD Law School Dean Neil Fulton mentions the upcoming course at the USD Law School that’s making the news:

After attending a Swift concert in Minneapolis in June, Kammer said he was inspired to develop the writing-intensive class, available to second- and third-year law students. The course will look at the musician’s interactions with the law, such as her rerecording of six albums and related copyright issue, Kammer said. It will also examine how individuals’ own experiences and beliefs shape how they interpret the law — much like how they interpret her song lyrics.

Pop culture-focused law classes are not uncommon, and they can create a public relations buzz for the schools that offer them.

Read the entire story here.

I asked my daughter who is attending USD law about whether she was going to take it and got a thumbs down, as she isn’t Taylor Swift fan.  I even offered her the use of my concert T-shirt, but it was still a hard pass.

Rounds Delivers Opening Remarks at Banking Hearing on Protecting Financial Well-Being of Service Members and Veterans

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today delivered opening remarks at a committee hearing on securing financial protections for service members, veterans and their families. Click HERE to listen to Rounds’ opening remarks.

“Protecting the financial well-being of our men and women in uniform is incredibly important – not only while they are serving, but also after their service ends and they transition into civilian life,” said Rounds in his opening remarks.

“Improving financial literacy among our service members empowers them to take advantage of available benefits throughout the entirety of their careers, improve early financial decision-making and better identify and avoid scams and fraudulent activity,” continued Rounds. “And for our veterans, financial literacy paves a continued pathway toward success.”

Rounds closed with, “I look forward to hearing from each of our witnesses today about the financial issues confronting our service members, veterans and their families, with the hope to learn from your experiences and better protect the American dream of our heroes.”

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With the support of the Attorney General, as well as House & Senate Leadership, Governor Kristi Noem has requested a Supreme Court opinion clarifying the conflicts between serving in the legislature and constitutional prohibitions against being directly or indirectly engagced in contracts with the State of South Dakota. According to the Governor, it’s necessary prior to naming a replacement to Senator Jessica Castleberry, a legislator whose term of office fell victim to the prohibitions after Castleberry’s business accepted money from the state, after an attorney informed her she could legally take those funds:

The governor has formally asked the Supreme Court to issue an advisory opinion regarding what constitutes a conflict of interest for a legislator.

The governor wants further clarification before appointing someone to replace Jessica Castleberry, who resigned from the state Senate after her business was found to be receiving COVID-19 aid.

and..

Schoenbeck, the Senate’s president pro tempore, in his letter suggested the court would be aided by a hearing. The former state’s attorney wrote, “Prior Courts, and their liberal interpretation of a very specific constitutional provision, have created an unfortunate situation this Court needs to address. It is not a pleasant task to have to clean up the work of predecessors, but it is a very important task for our state.”

Read the entire story here.

This is actually one of the more substantial decisions the court has to review, as it has the potential to overturn decades of Attorney General interpretations and blanket prohibitions that have driven more than one legislator from office, besides the most recent instance involving Senator Castleberry.

Any thoughts on how far you’d like to see the court go?