Speaking of illegal pranks against political figures…

If you recall towards the end of 2020, Rapid City Councilwoman Laura Armstrong was under some pretty strong fire and had a number of complaints lodged against her over a COVID era facebook page which scolded businesses for not enforcing mask mandates:

It all stems from a Facebook page called “The Caring Businesses of Rapid City” that highlights businesses that enforce a mask mandate in their establishment, versus those that do not. The rolodex of businesses not requiring masks has been dubbed the “naughty list.”

The complainants accuse Armstrong of creating or supporting the page and are asking she be removed from the Council.

Read that here.

Well, in her race to be Rapid City’s next Mayor, it looks like someone thought Armstrong should practice what she was said to have preached:

This is not digital.

Someone actually climbed their tail up a lighted billboard, and made sure that Armstrong wasn’t going to run afoul of the COVID naughty list, and physically added a mask to her photo on a billboard along a busy highway in the middle of the night.

That would be Rapid City..

Schoenbeck Law review article on impeachment by Pat Powers on Scribd

State Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck has an article in the latest edition of the South Dakota Law Review published through the Knudson School of Law as it relates to the impeachment proceedings of the South Dakota Legislature against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. As noted in a preface to the article:

This article is intended as both a historical account of events surrounding South Dakota’s first impeachment trial and as a guide for those in other states (hopefully not South Dakota again) that may have to deal with an impeachment.

I thought the best takeaway was towards the end, where Senator Schoenbeck noted..

Even though the process starts in the House of Representatives, the Senate needs to engage immediately. There are decisions that need to be made or monitored jointly. For example, the Senate expended $3,271.18 on legal services.  Because the Senate took a hands-off approach to House activity, there was no check on the House spending. The House spent $132,611.35 on legal services, with no trial.

The legislature was sued by the media over the House attempting to restrict access to votes made by House members on the petition for a special session.

The Senate stopped the litigation by releasing the votes, but conflict could have been avoided by the Senate being fully engaged in all decisions even before articles of impeachment reached the Senate. The legislative process is owned by both bodies, and both need to be fully engaged.

You can read it above, or in the South Dakota Law Review.

In response to a controversy in late 2022 arising as a result of an adult oriented drag show advertising itself as “kid-friendly” at the same time it asked for people to bring $1 and $5 bills to tip drag performers, yesterday the South Dakota Board of Regents finalized a new policy which hopes to put some parameters around what information is provided up front for those who may wish to attend:

6_C_BOR0523 by Pat Powers on Scribd

The most significant change to the policy is section 2.2, which required content descriptors for events open to minors:

2.2. Content Descriptors
2.2.1. Content descriptors shall be used, as appropriate, for Programs which are open to Minors to provide parents or legal guardians with information about the content of the Program. Programs which may include nudity, sexual situations, violence, and/or other explicit content shall include the appropriate descriptor(s) (e.g., “may contain explicit content”) on any promotional material for the Program published, electronically or in print, on a university platform.

The change in policy for South Dakota’s Universities was approved unanimously.

From Politico, at least one South Dakota elected official has weighed in on how the verdict in a New York Civil Court against former President Trump for sexually abusing a woman would affect his future:

The verdict, which was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of jury deliberations, sparked quick reactions from the former president — who continued to deny the allegations — and from multiple members of Congress, including Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

“You never like to hear that a former president has been found in a civil court guilty of those types of actions,” the South Dakota senator told reporters Tuesday. When asked if he could support somebody who’s been found liable for sexual battery, he said: “I would have a difficult time doing so.”

Read the entire story here.

Attorney General Marty Jackley Says No Foul Play, No Threat to Public After Discovery of Body In Lincoln County

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has announced that no foul play is suspected and that there is no threat to the public after a male body was found Tuesday in rural Lincoln County.

The body was found Tuesday afternoon in a vehicle near the intersection of 275^th Street and 477^thAvenue southeast of Harrisburg. At this time, the case is being treated as an unattended death.

People who may have seen a white car in the ditch at that intersection are asked to call the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

Attorney General Jackley said there has been good cooperation among the agencies involved in the investigation. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation with assistance from the state Division of Criminal Investigation.

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The Dakota Scout is reporting this afternoon that, after the dust has settled, former Dakota News Now reporter Austin Goss ended up with monetary penalties and an apology after spoofing Governor Kristi Noem’s phone number in a crank call to GOP Chair (at the time) Dan Lederman.

As part of the plea arraignment and sentence, Goss will issue an apology to Dan Lederman, who was the departing chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party when he received the robocall that appeared to be coming from Noem’s personal cellphone.

Goss will pay $578 in fines and court costs.

Read the entire story here.

The story also notes that Goss was granted a suspended imposition of sentence, which will seal the charge and conviction.

Not a huge shocker.

Lots of happenings swirling around in the background in the matter of Austin Goss, the now former political reporter for Dakota News Now, who lost his job after sending a prank phone call to former South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman falsifying the identifying information in the prank call to that of Governor Kristi Noem’s personal cell phone number.

What am I hearing is happening in the matter?

• In addition to having lost his job as a reporter with Dakota News Now, I’m told Goss also incurred a penalty in his position with the South Dakota National Guard for his actions.  (Update: I’m receiving conflicting information on this, so this is not confirmed at this point.)
• It appears that the matter is moving forward and being disposed of today as opposed to May 23, which had been entered in some court documents.  I understand it’s a full court docket, so it may be happening later in the afternoon.
• A deal has been struck where a written apology will be made to the victim(s) prior to the entry of a plea.
• As opposed to the original charge of SDCL 49-31-31(5)(b), the crime of making threatening, harassing, or misleading contacts, the word is that the State’s Attorney will allow the matter to be pled down to disorderly conduct, which is a class 2 misdemeanor. Which has a potential penalty of up to 30 days’ imprisonment and $500 in fines.

Given Goss’ lack of a criminal record, I heard that a “suspended imposition of sentence” could be requested in this case if allowed by the judge. Which would mean that the court record for his actions could be sealed and erased at some point, as if they never happened. Which is not shocking in the big scheme of things.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the charges we’re discussing in either case are misdemeanor offenses. They’re often disposed of with a fine, as opposed to any jail time. That was always going to be the result whether it was a class 1 or a class 2 misdemeanor. This just ended up being a weirder offense against the laws of the people.

On the other side of the scales of justice, for all the talk of the people trying to pooh-pooh this as just being a prank call, the person whose number was spoofed did not find it humorous, nor did the call recipient. And it’s not like Goss popped up right away and said “gotcha – ha ha.” He didn’t fess up until he was compelled to by Law Enforcement.  Investigatory resources had to dig in to figure out who and where it originated from.

Ultimately the shock to his employment record is far worse than any couple hundred dollar fine that would be levied. But I think we’d all agree that a message has been sent that people don’t care for spoofed phone calls.

Looks like the Baltic Mayor isn’t done with her headaches over the recall petition being circulated in her town:

South Dakotans for Transparent Government, which launched the Recall McIsaac campaign in April, announced Thursday on Facebook it had reached its signature goal. Next steps include filing the petition to the Baltic financial officer, and if Mayor Deborah McIsaac chooses, she can challenge the recall effort in court within five days of the city receiving the petition. The city has 10 days to set the date for the election.

Read the entire story here in the Argus.

Hot off the press.  If you were looking to hire R. Shawn Tornow as your attorney, the word on the street is that the “R. Shawn” option is no longer available to you.

The word is out this afternoon that Minnehaha County Republican Party Chairman R. Shawn Tornow is no longer a member of the State Bar Association.

I’m being told that Tornow has turned his license to practice law in, and along those lines, I would also point out that the website for Tornow Law office has been taken down.

I’m sure there’s more to the story as to why the 60-year-old Tornow is no longer a member of the bar association, so we’ll just keep an eye on how things progress.

(He probably should have done that before the Minnehaha GOP Rummage sale. They could have added a number of law books to the bargains.)

My spies are telling me this afternoon that former State Rep. Paul Miskimins is said to be eyeing a run for the State Senate seat currently held by Senator Josh Klumb in the 2024 election.

With Klumb no longer eligible to run as a result of term limits, the seat would be vacant, and Miskimins would be a strong competitor after having previously served 4 years in the House.

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Any other hot tips on people looking at running in 2024? Drop me a note here.