South Dakota Democrats made their new choice for party chair, Shane Merrill, official at a meeting this last weekend where Merrill was challenged for the office by John Cunningham, who was denied for the office for a third time after running for SDDP Chair unsuccessfully in both 2019 and 2023:
The elections occurred at a pre-planned party event in the Black Hills this weekend. Meyers ran unopposed for the vice-chair position, while Merrill easily fended off a challenge from Sioux Fall Democrat John Cunningham, who most recently ran for the same position in February.
and..
The Dakota Scoutfirst reported in August that former party Executive Director Dan Ahlers had quit just three months into the job, citing allegations that Slaight-Hansen was creating a hostile work environment and mismanaging the party. What would follow was a contentious but unanimous vote to sack the former chair, and an unsuccessful attempt to appeal the recall decision by Slaight-Hansen.
The Biden Agenda Misses the Mark (Again) BySen. John Thune
Pheasant season. Deer season. Turkey season. There’s plenty of opportunities in South Dakota to get outdoors and partake in our state’s hunting tradition. Hunting is a part of our way of life, our traditions, and our economy. South Dakotans know that, but the Biden administration has once again proved itself to be wildly out of touch with reality in rural America. Case in point, the Biden administration’s latest instance of overreach by denying federal funding for school hunting and archery education programs.
Last year, the president signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. I opposed this bill for several reasons. Among them was a concern about how the Biden administration would implement the bill to advance its far-left agenda. This concern proved to be well-founded when the administration interpreted a straightforward provision, which mentions neither archery nor hunting, to block funding for archery and hunting education programs, something it was never intended to do.
Hunting and archery programs enrich our cherished hunting tradition and add value to students’ educations in South Dakota and across the country. The National Archery in the Schools Program is in nearly 9,000 schools in 49 states. It provides 1.3 million students the opportunity to experience archery and its benefits, sometimes for the first time. Nine in 10 students pursue or want to pursue other outdoor activities because of the program.
Hunting programs, like South Dakota’s HuntSAFE for Schools program, have similarly positive results. HuntSAFE uses nonfunctional guns to teach kids about hunting with “an emphasis on firearm safety and responsibility.” Learning to safely handle firearms decreases firearm-related injuries and accidents, and hunting education programs have contributed to a steep decline in hunting accidents.
I’m at a loss to explain why the Biden administration would seek to deny federal funding to these programs. Funding programs like these seems like a good thing to do to promote safer communities. Schools should have the choice of spending their federal funding on programs that unquestionably meet the goal of helping to offer students a well-rounded educational experience. Unfortunately, there are already reports of schools canceling plans for these programs in their curricula as a result of this policy.
To ensure students are able to access the benefits of archery and hunting programs in their school, I’ve joined several of my Senate colleagues in urging the Biden administration to reverse its decision. I’ve also introduced legislation that would prevent this prohibition from going into effect and to clarify that federal funding can support sports clubs, teams, trainings, and other curricular and extracurricular programs for students.
Hunting is an institution in rural communities. Growing up in Murdo, my dad taught my siblings and me how to bag roosters. Hunting taught us about patience and perseverance. And it taught us to appreciate the land and the importance of safety when handling firearms. I cherish those memories, and I keep up the family tradition with my siblings and sons-in-law. I’m not surprised the Biden administration doesn’t quite understand how we do things in South Dakota, but I wish they would stop interfering with our way of life. I’ll continue fighting against the Biden administration’s overreach to protect the rights of individuals and, in this case, local communities.
The Big Three By Rep. Dusty Johnson September 15, 2023
I’m revamping the Weekly Column to give you a greater look at what’s happening in Washington, D.C. This is the first edition of The Big Three, where I’ll share a BIG update of what’s on my mind, a BIG idea from a meeting I had, and BIG news about the hot topic in D.C. This week was full of BIG headlines, so I’ll try to keep it short.
BIG Update
House Republicans spent the week fighting the Left’s attempts to mandate all new cars be electric vehicles. We successfully passed the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act to stop California and President Biden from deciding what vehicles you may and may not drive. A fully electric vehicle fleet is not sustainable, not practical, and not affordable.
BIG Idea
This week, I met with the South Dakota Auto Dealers Association. We talked about catalytic converter theft, harmful Environmental Protection Agency attempts to mandate electric vehicles, and record-high used car prices. SDADA’s big idea is to add a VIN or serial number to every catalytic converter. It only costs $2 to add compared to $1,200 for a new catalytic converter.
BIG News
Talks in Washington, D.C. were centered around the impeachment inquiry and the spending bills to fund the government. As we barrel toward the September 30 government funding deadline, we face the possibility of a government shutdown. The stakes are high, and Republicans and Democrats are hitting major roadblocks during negotiations.
I’ve been fighting to keep the lights on, but not without measures in the funding package to secure the border. The situation at the border is getting worse, and it’s affecting communities across America. New York City begged the New York Governor to bus migrants out of the city. Massachusetts recently declared a state of emergency and requested funding for help due to migrant families. President Biden’s open border policies need to be reversed.
Ensuring border security is in the funding package isn’t the only thing I’m prioritizing—we need to cut spending. Congress’s runaway spending under Democratic leadership has piled up our debt. We cannot continue to spend into oblivion. Budget cuts must be made.
I’m working do all three: cut spending, secure the border, and keep the government open. Congress needs to act.
North Dakota Public Service Commission Grants Summit’s Petition for Reconsideration on CO2 Pipeline Project Will determine a schedule for future meetings soon
AMES, Iowa (Sept 15, 2023)— Summit Carbon Solutions (SCS) is pleased to announce that the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) has granted its Petition for Reconsideration for SCS’s CO2 pipeline permit application. Summit Carbon Solutions appreciates the PSC’s thoughtful leadership and approach to balancing stakeholder perspectives, while ensuring that the needs of the community, the environment, and sustainable energy production are met.
“We’ve listened to and learned from the concerns raised by the North Dakota Public Service Commission,” said Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank. “Subsequently, we rerouted around Bismarck, made adjustments to drill or bypass game management and geo-hazard areas, and collaborated with the State Historic Preservation Office to record the findings of cultural surveys.”
Summit Carbon Solutions remains deeply committed to supporting North Dakota’s energy industry, and working with farmers, ranchers, and the broader community. To date, Summit Carbon Solutions has partnered with more than 76% of landowners along the route in North Dakota, and has acquired nearly 90% of the pore space for sequestration. This collaboration with key stakeholders is a testament to the company and state’s shared vision of decarbonization and energy independence.
Summit Carbon Solutions looks forward to responding, following the appropriate steps, and ultimately securing a permit from the ND PSC.
Gov. Noem’s “Freedom Works Here” Continues to Bring People to South Dakota
PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem’s “Freedom Works Here” nationwide workforce recruitment campaign is still telling South Dakota’s story to the rest of the nation. California recently became the first state with over 1,000 applicants.
“These ads have achieved their goal: people are talking about South Dakota. Those of us who were born and raised here know how wonderful the state is – and it’s time for the rest of America to see that, too,” said Governor Noem. “I am so happy to see folks from all over the country looking into moving their families to South Dakota. Freedom-loving Americans from coast to coast want to be a part of the great life we’ve all built for ourselves here in the heartland.”
6,792 people have applied to move to South Dakota through “Freedom Works Here.” Over 1,547 applicants are in the final stages of moving to South Dakota. The most applications have come from California (1,048), Florida (519), Texas (488), Minnesota (374), and New York (312). 183 South Dakotans have also used the campaign as a tool to get plugged into career opportunities. A map showing where applicants are from can be found here.
These numbers represent those working directly through the “Freedom Works Here” program. Even more people are finding jobs and moving to South Dakota of their own accord after seeing the ads.
More information about the Freedom Works Here campaign can be found here.
In case you missed the show this week, the Brookings School Board met and had an hour or so of public comment largely roasting the efforts of those who who have a list of 200 or books they want to be the gatekeeper on, including the Diary of Anne Frank, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
There were comments from the school board early on in the meeting on how they have received no parental requests keeping reading material from their kids, according to the existing processes. Interesting that this has Additionally, you also see the public comment which begins at about 1:07:00 in the meeting.
In case you want to listen what the community had to say:
The censors appearing at the Brookings School Board meeting found themselves getting resounding pushback from the community. As they should when they come to the school board with a censorship list.
The whole controversy reminds me about previous efforts at censorship by other self-appointed overlords of public morality, and how that’s gone for them.
Way back during the time of our parents and grandparents, we had Dr. Fredric Wertham in 1954 claiming that comic books were a serious cause of juvenile delinquency with it’s negative influences. Aside from the horror comics of the time, the efforts at censorship extended to fairly benign super hero comics.
The Superman type of comic books tends to force and super-force. Dr. Paul A. Witty, professor of education at Northwestern University, has well described these comics when he said that they “present our world in a kind of Fascist setting of violence and hate and destruction. I think it is bad for children,” he goes on, “to get that kind of recurring diet … [they] place too much emphasis on a Fascist society. Therefore the democratic ideals that we should seek are likely to be overlooked.”
and..
The Batman type of story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies, of the nature of which they may be unconscious.
and..
The Lesbian counterpart of Batman may be found in the stories of Wonder Woman and Black Cat. The homosexual connotation of the Wonder Woman type of story is psychologically unmistakable.
Nevermind the fact that Wertham did his study with juvenile delinquents exclusively, and not children as a whole. In the mind of Wertham, Superman was an anti-democratic fascist, and Batman & Wonder Woman were subconsciously turning children into homosexuals. And yes, they had Congressional hearings on it.
As the country got whipped up on the topic, what came from those hearings were publishers agreeing to create a code of self-censorship which required:
“No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime.”
“Policemen, judges, Government officials and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.”
“All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.”
“All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society.”
Because our youth would have been irretrievably corrupted if someone “created disrespect for established authority.” By the turn of the century, 45-50 years later nobody cared anymore, and the “comics code authority” became defunct.
In my younger days, our country were under siege by Al Gore’s wife, Tipper Gore, railing on TV about music with naughty lyrics, as she challenged Ozzy Osbourne and Twisted Sister. And we soon had hearings that Congress held in 1985 regarding the content on pop music. Unfortunately for Congress, they got it with both barrels by that promoter of smutty music, John Denver:
I am here to address the issue of a possible rating system in the Recording Industry, labeling records where excesses of explicit sex or graphic violence have occurred and, furthermore, references to drugs and alcohol or the occult are included in the lyrics. These hearings have been called to determine whether or not the Government should intervene to enforce this practice.
Mr. Chairman, this would approach censorship. May I be very clear that I am strongly opposed to censorship of any kind in our society, or anywhere else in the world.
and..
Discipline and self-restraint, when practiced by an individual, a family, or a company is an effective way to deal with this issue. The same thing when forced on a people by their government or, worse, by a self-appointed watchdog of public morals, is suppression and will not be tolerated in a democratic society.
Mr. Chairman, the suppression of the people of a society begins, in my mind, with the censorship of the written or spoken word. It was so in Nazi Germany. It is so in many places today where those in power are afraid of the consequences of an informed and educated people.
What resulted from that was more self-regulation which brought warning labels on records, which is up to the labels themselves whether or not to include.
The point in all of this is that every so often, our country has a bit of a history where “saviors” are concerned as they seek publicity under the guise that they are out there to save our youth, and they can only do so by censoring material as they try to whip up public sentiment for government to do something. Which leaves a person to ask whether we want government or the self-anointed in the business of deciding what we can read or listen to?
Because it rarely works out. And we end up with appeasement from the industry, just to tamp down the controversy for the time being. Which leaves me with the sentiment that we can do so much better.
If anyone is to decide what is or is not appropriate for our kids, it should be the parents of those same children getting involved, and being the arbiter of what mass media their kids should and should not consume. Period.
Not government. Not politicians. And not groups who claim they’re going to save us all.
A little less government and a lot more parenting would do all of us a world of good.
Roseland Announces Candidacy for District 23 State Senate
SENECA–Steve Roseland today officially announced his candidacy for the South Dakota State Senate for District 23. With nearly 30 years of experience as an elected official, Roseland touts his experience in agriculture and county government as what gives him the opportunity to serve District 23 to the fullest.
“District 23 is the heartland of South Dakota, and I want to put years of experience to work for our district in the state Senate,” said Roseland. “The legislature needs a proven leader to be an advocate for agriculture, small towns and rural values. I look forward to having conversations in the weeks between now and the election to learn about the issues important to the people of District 23.”
Raised on a ranch in Faulk County, Steve attended South Dakota State University and returned home to Seneca and became a fourth generation South Dakota rancher. Steve and his wife, Deb, have four adult children–Kelly, Slade, Sal, and Kim–and 14 grandchildren. Sal and Slade have followed in Steve’s footsteps as the fifth generation of South Dakota ranchers, and they too are continuing the family’s legacy by working cattle alongside their children.
Roseland believes in serving his surrounding communities to help them continue to be the best place to live. His family worships at St. Thomas Catholic Church and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Steve is a 20-year member of the Faulk County Commission and Faulk County Zoning Board. He also served on the Faulkton School Board for nine years.
During his time in public service, Roseland has put the people of South Dakota first and led with conservative values. He is a strong advocate for landowner rights and fiscal responsibility. As a Senator, Steve will work on school, road and county funding to help preserve and advance the rural South Dakota way of life.
“Thank you to Bryan Breitling for his years of service representing District 23, and I wish him well as he takes a step back from public service,” said Roseland. “Following in the footsteps of Bryan, John Lake and Corey Brown, I’ve got big shoes to fill, but I am energized by the opportunity to give back to the state and communities that I love.”
District 23 includes the counties Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, Potter, Walworth, and portions of Brown. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
Denise Maher Announces Candidacy for Republican National Committeewoman
September 12, 2023 – Bringing her extensive experience and collaborative spirit to bear for the Grand Old Party, Denise Maher will seek election as Republican National Committeewoman.
A Rapid City resident with a background in marketing, training, and communications, Denise has the skills and experience required to represent South Dakota on the national level. She will be an asset to the SDGOP and our Republican grassroots. Having served as Communications Director for the Pennington GOP, she possesses in-depth knowledge of the Party and its operations. Denise won election to serve Pennington County as a 2022 SDGOP Convention At-Large Delegate. Over the years, she has been instrumental in helping dozens of candidates defeat liberals and defend conservative principles.
Known for her extensive record of Party and community involvement, Denise is a founding member of South Dakota Strong – West River, a local organization created to provide conservative community leaders and elected representatives a platform to directly connect with South Dakota citizens. She is also a member of the South Dakota Federation of Republican Women. Denise successfully ran the Facebook social media campaign for 2022 Ellsworth Air & Space Show. Rapid City’s Mayor appointed her to the City Human Relations Task Force where she demonstrated her ability to work with diverse groups and build common ground on very complex issues.
“I truly believe unity is not absence of disagreement but a consensus to agree to work together. I am looking forward to representing South Dakota at the RNC and working with county party leaders and grassroots efforts at home to strengthen our party’s messaging. I’ll bring unity to the Party and serve all South Dakota Republicans,” Maher said.
PIERRE – The 2024 Legislative Session begins January 9, 2024, bringing legislators, interns, and pages to Pierre for January, February, and March. Those working during session are in need of places to stay for those months.
People in the Pierre/Fort Pierre area with furnished houses, apartments, or rooms they would be willing to rent to a legislator or session employee from January 9 through March 7, 2024, are asked to complete the Housing Questionnaire on the LRC website or call (605) 773-3251 to request that a copy of the housing form be mailed to them. The form requests information on the type of housing being offered, any restrictions (no smoking, no pets), and other information that may be useful to the renter (proximity to the Capitol, available parking). Rental prices are negotiated between the property owner and the person renting the space.
A list of available housing needs to be available for distribution beginning November 10, 2023. The 99th Legislative Session calendar is now available online.
If you have been on the Legislative Housing list in the past and want to make sure your information is current or wish to be removed from the list, call (605) 773-3251 or email michelle.deyo-amende@sdlegislature.gov.
With the book burners and those opposed preparing to clash tonight at the Brookings School Board meeting, the new school Superintendent, Dr. Summer Schultz, has sent out an e-mail district letting parents know that the district is not quite ready to talk about it tonight. But, if you want to stop your child from reading something that offends your sensibilities, knock yourself out:
Dear Brookings School District Parents and Guardians,
This note intends to provide information surrounding an issue of interest to many in our school community. As with most districts, BSD reviews policies on a schedule, but we also work to ensure policies with present-day interest are expedited. Some policies need to be considered out of rotation for many reasons, such as updated legislation or to ensure handbooks and protocols reflect the will of the current school board.
Across the county, schools are being asked to reconsider books available in their libraries. Brookings School District is no different; therefore, the policies related to these requests, last reviewed in 2013, must be revisited. Although considerable time has been given, the district is unprepared to present a first draft for public viewing at tonight’s Board of Education meeting.
I assure you we are providing diligence to this issue, but with all policies, we want to ensure the first draft mirrors our intentions. This issue can produce strong opinions, and I ask that you offer patience as we work through the policy review process. It’s important to clarify that this process was not initiated to “ban books.” Instead, we are working to ensure that our policies are appropriate for the current educational climate and our libraries continue to be a place where students have voluntary access to a diverse range of literature and are a foundation of knowledge, understanding, and cultural enrichment.
Moving forward, all citizen requests to challenge library materials will be received, noted, and on hold until our updated policy is in place. Parents can still utilize the “Parent Restriction” form that is not attached to a policy but is a way for parents to restrict material for their child by working directly with the building principal and librarian.
Thank you for your continued support of the Brookings School District and all the staff that make this a great place to learn!
Dr. Schultz
The Superintendent has plopped the issue back in the laps of parents for the time being while they figure it out, if they want to restrict the materials their child has access to. And that’s where the issue should be.
