Johnson Awarded Democracy Award for Outstanding Constituent Service

Congressional Management Foundation Recognizes Rep. Johnson for Outstanding Constituent Service 

Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) was awarded the Democracy Award for outstanding Constituent Service by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF). CMF’s Constituent Service award recognizes non-legislative achievement and performance in congressional offices. This category honors offices for their outstanding practices or achievements acting as ombudsmen with the federal government or responding to constituent requests and inquiries. Only one Republican and one Democrat office is selected per each award category.

This marks Johnson’s second Democracy Award. Johnson’s office won the 2021 Democracy Award in the “Constituent Accountability and Accessibility” category.

“I came to Congress to serve the people of South Dakota,” said Johnson. “Being recognized as the winner of the Constituent Service award gives me confidence that my team and I go above and beyond to serve South Dakotans as their liaison to the federal government.”

“As a Democracy Award winner, Rep. Johnson’s office is clearly one of the best in Congress,” said Bradford Fitch, President and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation. “This designation demonstrates that Rep. Johnson has made a significant commitment to being the best public servant for his constituents in South Dakota. Rep. Johnson and his staff are to be congratulated for not only being a model for his colleagues in Congress, but for helping to restore trust and faith that our democratic institutions can work.”

South Dakota constituent testimonials:

“You all provided excellent service for me and my family. Took me 1.5 years of calling and emailing the IRS and your office got me on the right track in one week.” – Robert, Rapid City.

“I worked for three years trying to obtain a copy of my brother-in-law’s DD214. I needed this form to get a veteran plaque for his headstone. Your staff got this form in under two weeks. I promised my brother-in-law I would get this plaque for his headstone. Thanks to you and your staff for helping me fulfill this promise. He was proud of his military service.” – Ben, Wilmot.

“Thank you for a very speedy response to our request. It feels good to have a representative who genuinely cares for his constituents and follows up to make sure their issue is resolved.” – Marek, Sioux Falls.

Background:

According to CMF, Johnson’s office was selected for this award because their efficiency and effectiveness are reflected in the consistent, positive responses the office has received. In 2022, 96% of constituents had a positive experience with their office, 97.4% of constituents reported having a positive experience in 2021, and 95.5% had a positive interaction in 2020. The office sends quarterly casework review surveys to each completed case – asking about interactions with staff, overall outcomes, and timeliness of responses. 

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1977 dedicated to strengthening Congress and building trust in its work with and for the American people. CMF works to revitalize Congress as an institution; promoting best practices in congressional offices; and helps Congress and the people they represent engage in a constructive and inclusive dialogue toward a thriving American democracy.

Details on the process and the history of the Democracy Awards can be found here: https://www.congressfoundation.org/projects/democracy-awards

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Amidst the construction of the newest school in town adjacent to the park, the Brookings County GOP will be holding it’s annual Summer Picnic on Friday, August 18th at 6pm in Hillcrest Park. Check it out!

South Dakota Democrats are holding an emergency meeting to throw out chairwoman Jennifer Slaight-Hansen after a slew of allegations regarding her mismanagement and abusive leadership style of the party. As noted in an article appearing in the Argus Leader:

The meeting will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 19 at Drifter’s in Fort Pierre, where the petition to recall Jennifer Slaight-Hansen will be presented, according to a joint resolution from 15 county Democratic Parties and two state central committee members sent on Tuesday.

and..

As of Wednesday, at least 74 people had signed the recall petition out of a total of 120 eligible voters who can vote for the SDDP chair role, according to an email from Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba (Sioux Falls), and reviewed by the Argus Leader. The 74 signatures are more than enough for what is needed to trigger the recall election process. At least half of the 120 eligible voters had to sign.

Read the entire story here in the Argus Leader.

Do we think Jennifer’s tenure will make the meeting? Or will she abandon ship before August 19th?

From Facebook, the South Dakota Secretary of State announces a new political party in the state:

And over on the Secretary of State’s official website, where we are supposed to go to look for information about the new political party they announced on facebook three days ago:

*chirp* *chirp*  (simulated crickets).

From Facebook, Team Dusty was out in force walking a rainy parade route in Aurora, South Dakota.

In a story this last week on August 3, embattled South Dakota Democrat Party Chair Jennifer Slaight-Hansen was fairly defiant with regards to the demands for her to resign:

Annie Bachand, chair of the Pennington County Democrats, told KELOLAND News she met with Slaight-Hansen this week. Bachand said Slaight-Hansen told her she won’t resign unless she’s voted out.

and..

Slaight-Hansen confirmed to KELOLAND News she does not plan to resign her position.

and..

Slaight-Hansen said she was reluctant to share her side of the story but she is now reaching out to people inside the South Dakota Democratic Party to combat the recall effort.

Read that here at KELOland.com.

But, in a story a short time later, it sounds as if Slaight-Hansen may be seeing the handwriting on the wall:

Jennifer Slaight-Hansen said she is taking some time to think about calls for her to resign as chairwoman of the South Dakota Democratic Party. The former member of the Aberdeen City Council said she wants to have more individual conversations and work through the process before she makes a decision.

Read that here at Aberdeen Insider (Subscription required).

It looks like it took Slaight-Hansen a day to move off of “won’t resign” and “does not plan to resign” to “think about calls for her to resign.”

Wondering if we’ll see that happen this week or the next.

Monday, the day I was returning from vacation, also happened to coincide with the deadline given by the State of South Dakota for State Senator Jessica Castleberry to repay COVID relief finds totaling $603,000 that were received by her business. However, it appears that the deadline passed without an announcement of repayment, but the Attorney General did provide an update on the matter:

Monday is the deadline for state Sen. Jessica Castleberry to return $603,000 in pandemic aid to the state.

Attorney General Marty Jackley said the incident involves a significant amount of money. Because of that, he wants to review documents from Castleberry and the state.

“The Attorney General’s Office continues to receive and review documents related to this issue, and we are still awaiting documents from the State Department of Social Services,” Jackley said. “Sen. Castleberry and the State Department of Social Services have been cooperating with this office.

Read the story here, according to South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

South Dakota Searchlight did provide a few more details, including comments from Senator Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck about clarifying conflicts with the state, and indications that the Castleberry might not be the last person who finds themselves in conflict with the constitution:

“We’ve got, and I suspect you’re going to hear it in the news in the next month, more instances of people that are in transactions (with the state),” Schoenbeck said. “We have to do something for potential candidates and current legislators so that they’re not getting in trouble.

Read that here.

Who might those other instances be?

I would venture an educated guess that the first example might be one that I pointed out in January, where State Representative Kevin Jensen‘s name was on Grants/Contracts for his wife’s business through DSS, and no one has pursued it as of yet:

 

(You can go look up all those contracts here).  And go read my entire story here.

With Senator Jessica Castleberry being required to repay $603,000 in funds received by her LLC, It is no less arm’s length than the funds received by the family business that State Representative Jensen serves as fiscal contact for.

And Rep. Jensen could be the next legislator who finds themselves under the spotlight for being involved with a business that receives state funds.

Lately, the president has taken to touting his economic policies. With consumer prices up 16 percent since he took office, though, there’s little for which he should be proud. In that time, inflation has cost the average South Dakota family $895 per month. The president calls it “Bidenomics,” but it’s more like “Bidenflation,” and it has only caused economic pain for a lot of Americans.

One year ago, Democrats passed what they would consider to be a key element of the Biden economic agenda, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which has proven to be little more than a reckless tax-and-spending spree that expanded the federal government and contributed little to nothing to bringing down inflation. Instead it focused on raising taxes, supersizing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and spending lavishly on taxpayer subsidies for Democrats’ Green-New-Deal priorities. The best that can be said of this bill is that it was less damaging than the president’s first choice: a multi-trillion-dollar spending spree that included more tax hikes and new entitlement programs.

From the outset, it was questionable whether the Inflation Reduction Act would live up to Democrats’ sales pitch, and it has not aged well. The bill’s costs have ballooned. Its Green New Deal provisions were originally projected to cost an already staggering $400 billion, but they are now expected to cost as much as $1 trillion or more. And that’s just one part of the bill. Democrats also promised the bill would reduce the deficit, but these new estimates suggest it could actually increase the deficit.

So, for all this spending, what are taxpayers getting in return? It’s not an economy growing “from the middle out and the bottom up,” like the president talks about often. In fact, 90 percent of the bill’s green energy subsidies will go to companies with sales exceeding $1 billion. And, it turns out, some of the biggest beneficiaries of these programs are not American companies, but companies based in foreign countries, including China.

Also included in this bill was nearly $80 billion to expand the IRS, an amount six times greater than the agency’s fiscal year 2022 budget. But, while the IRS has struggled to do as little as answer taxpayers’ phone calls in recent years, only 4 percent of this new funding goes to improving taxpayer services, and more than half of it is earmarked for increased audits and other tax collection efforts.

Unfortunately, South Dakotans are all too familiar with the reality of the president’s economic policies, which continue to strain family budgets month after month. Twelve months after one of their marquee legislative accomplishments, it’s clear Democrats’ priorities do not align with the American people’s needs. I hope Democrats in Washington can finally acknowledge what common sense has told us all along: bigger government and higher taxes are not in the best interest of American families. Republicans will continue working to rein in wasteful, inflationary spending and pursue pro-growth policies that help working families, small businesses, farms, and ranches succeed.

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BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and MSCI, a top stock-market-index compiler, have been investing American retirement dollars in Chinese companies that strengthen China’s military and pose security threats to America. Not just that, but more than 60 of these companies have been flagged by U.S. agencies for security or human-rights violations.

This means Americans have been funding our biggest adversary’s growth for years. The same communist government that steals Americans’ personal data from apps like TikTok, spies on our allies’ imports and exports, and sets up CCP police stations in America. Those are just the tip of the iceberg. 

We’ve known it’s a possibility that asset management firms have been investing in CCP-backed companies for a while and Congress has been working to bring clarity and accountability to these firms. Recently, the Select Committee on China launched an investigation into several venture capital firms for their funding of Chinese tech companies. In the Senate, a bill is being worked on to require American companies that invest abroad, especially in countries like China, to disclose certain investments. The bill would also create a panel to review and block these investments that are national security concerns, similar to how the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) works.

MSCI and BlackRock manage a total of over $22 trillion in assets. While these investments in Chinese companies can yield a high return, putting our national security at risk is not a wise trade. The means do not justify the ends.

The Select Committee on China expressed these concerns in a letter sent to BlackRock and MSCI earlier this week. We requested a full accounting of the investments in Chinese companies—the American people deserve to know where their dollars are going and the type of un-American behavior it’s advancing. I hope the Select Committee receives a response soon so we can hold these firms accountable.

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Sturgis: The Fastest and Freest
By: Governor Kristi Noem
August 4, 2023

South Dakotans are a proud people. We are proud of our upbringings, our small-town values, and our old-fashioned work ethic. There is one thing, though, that we South Dakotans are prouder of than anything else.

Freedom.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is one of the most iconic celebrations of Freedom in the United States of America. It’s a good thing it takes place every year in the Freest state in the nation!

For more than 80 years, late summer has brought thousands of motorcycles to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Bikers come from all over to experience the beauty and the Freedom of South Dakota. They hop on their bikes and explore this great open country through our open roads. These folks come here because they love their fast bikes and Freedom – and we love to have them here.

The 2023 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is just getting ramped up. From August 4th-13th events will be happening all over the Black Hills. I can’t wait to be out there to say hey to all of the Freedom-loving folks in town for the ten-day affair.

For just over a month, our “Freedom Works Here” campaign has been recruiting hard working Americans to move their families to South Dakota. The momentum of this campaign has been incredible. We’ve had over 4,000 people apply to move to South Dakota, and over 800 are in the final stages of the process.

We aren’t slowing down now. In fact, I recently made a special announcement that the “Freedom Works Here” campaign was about to get faster…up to 200 miles an hour faster.

The “Freedom Works Here” NASCAR stock car will be at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip during the Rally. Folks will be able to get a close look at the vehicle that will be racing to recruit workers to the Freest state in America.

To me, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has always been a symbol of our Freedom. That became even more true in 2020. In the midst of a pandemic, when some states were forcing businesses to shut down and cancelling any and every public event, we still held the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Sturgis went on without a hitch, completely shattering the media’s pandemic narrative. The 2020 Rally made it clear that South Dakota was thriving without mandates and lockdowns – and Sturgis became a symbol of Freedom to the entire country.

This all led to the 2021 Rally being one of the biggest in history, with American flags waving constantly. I am looking forward to feeling that patriotic energy at this year’s Rally.

South Dakota has become a beacon of Freedom for the nation – and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a part of that. With our economy growing faster than ever, and our people reaping the benefits, it’s time for us to kick of the fastest and the Freest event in the United States of America.

It’s time for the 2023 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally!

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