From the Sioux Empire fair today:

The next time one of your Democrat friends rails on about Republicans not wearing masks, here’s a photo of US Senate candidate Daniel Ahlers at The Sioux Empire fair.

However, it may be a moot point. Because do you really need a mask if nobody is going to your fair booth?

Have you had a chance to review your legislator’s “FreedomScore” lately? I had a legislator reach out to me today, asking me to review something I’ve seen mentioned across my facebook feed a couple times in recent weeks.

“I have never seen such a thorough analysis of SD legislator voting records. Deserves credible review. Note the tabs at the bottom. By Lucas Kobat of Watertown”

Well, I’ve seen it, but I didn’t go into it and dig around because I suspected how it was going to come out. So, over my lunch hour, I went and took a moment. And once again, my biases were confirmed.

To debut my work, I’ve shown the Top 5 SD RINOs below. A RINO is a Republican In Name Only; someone who LIES TO YOUR FACE through a grinning facade…and then proceeds to stab you in the back. If you hold conservative values, these people are not our allies. They are NOT our friends.

Read that here.

Does the scorecard deserve a credible review? Well, I reviewed it. And my correspondent and I might have to agree to disagree.  I don’t see this new scorecard as any different than the Citizens for Liberty group picking and choosing bills to score on their scorecard because they want to highlight the people they like.  Just like the yutzes at CFL, the FreedomScore scorecard is one person framing votes after providing no advocacy on the issues they’re calling conservative or liberal.

It just comes down to personal biases.

The author Lucas Kobat claims in the facebook group he’s created that “this classification was guided by conservative principles found in documents like the US and SD constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, and the Bible.”

So.. it might help if someone might explain to me.. which commandments are the liberal ones and which are the conservative ones?  Same goes with the Constitution. Are parts of the bill of rights good, and others bad?  I’d like someone to explain to me where in the bible does it say that 2019’s HB1232 was a conservative versus liberal issue, as in the “FreedomScore Bill List tab” Kobat termed it the “Give up on truant students” bill, as he claims the proper vote was no.

Considering the bill to lower the compulsory age for school attendance was brought by Representatives Greenfield (Lana), Brunner, Dennert, Glanzer, Marty, and Wiese and Senators Greenfield (Brock), Cronin, Langer, Maher, and Stalzer, I don’t think they’re what you’d classify as liberals. In fact, I doubt any of them would say that the proper vote was no.

Never mind the fact that the truancy issue in this instance is more of a matter of who gets the bill to deal with them – Keeping them in school until a higher age means that schools are stuck dealing with kids who cause trouble and don’t want to be in class until they’re 18, and a lower age means that bad kids are dealt with by court services.

Is either answer a conservative or liberal answer? Not really. Both options stink. All you’re doing is picking which bucket it comes from via different levels of government.  But, that doesn’t mean that legislators should be dinged as liberals for discussing it.

We also have the example with Mr. Kobat claiming that 2019’s SB 140 is a measure to “Give unequal advantages to native american students,” as he claims.  What was the actual purpose of that bill? According to the measure  – which was signed by Governor Kristi Noem – it was actually a bill to “develop programs to increase enrollment and improve retention and student supports for any student who is a member of one of the nine federally recognized tribes in South Dakota at state institutions.”

Is the legislature telling a branch of government to develop programs to try to “increase enrollment and improve retention” for a socioeconomic group of students that matriculates the fewest of the state’s students to college somehow giving Native American students unequal advantage?  Or is it actually doing what we expect government to do – identify problems and try to address them?  After some amending, it passed 52-12 in the house, and 32-0 in the Senate. Does that mean he thinks the Senate is packed with a bunch of RINOs?

Take another bill used in the score – 2019’s SB 4, to “revise certain provisions regarding the classification of agricultural land for property tax purposes.”  While only two in the legislature opposed it (Senators Cronin & Soholt in the Senate, none in the house) in the measure’s entire run, Kobat claims that the proper vote was to vote no and be against the bill he claimed would “Grant ivory tower university elitists the power to determine soil value.”

While some will look at the scores and like or hate the same people, when you dig into the basis for his scoring, it rapidly falls apart, and the cherry picking is strongly evident.

I couldn’t help it, but as Mr. Kobat started out his crusade by calling others a “Republican In Name Only,” I had to look what his registration actually is.

And I quickly found and have to point out that many of those he’s calling names successfully ran in and all were able to vote in the Republican Primary a couple of months ago. But unlike these legislators, our RINO caller would not seem to be able to do that very thing himself. Because the only Lucas Kobat I find in the voter database is registered as an Independent.

So, an Indy is telling everyone how to be a good Republican? I think Lora Hubbel was doing that for a while. Pardon me if I don’t put much stock in that.  If Mr. Kobat is going to claim to be an authority on who is a good or bad Republican, and call officeholders RINO’s.. he might start by actually registering as Republican.

Otherwise, it might seem as if the author “LIES TO YOUR FACE through a grinning facade.”  Or so, as he might say.

Update – Good catch by another legislator:

Did you notice that the district map that the freedoms score project used is not even close to correct? If they can’t even get that right why should we trust them to even begin to comprehend what went into the votes?

And they’re 100% correct..  I’m not sure what maps Mr. Kobat was using.. but they weren’t any maps drawn within the last 9-9 1/2 years.

I’m not seeing the official release posted anywhere yet, but the Argus has an announcement this morning that as a result of a donation from Denny Sanford, the USD School of Law is getting a name change to the “Knudson School of Law,” for former State Senator Dave Knusdon:

The University of South Dakota’s School of Law will now be known as the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law after Sioux Falls lawyer and businessman David Knudson, USD officials announced Monday morning.

The naming is the result of a $12.5 million gift from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, meant to keep the school a national leader in excellence, service and leadership, according to a USD press release.

Read the entire story here.

I know Dave carried and shaped significant trust law before and during his time in the state legislature, but I wish the release would have detailed what his other contributions are to the practice of law in the state.

The Work Goes On
By Sen. John Thune

While the Senate continues to carefully monitor the implementation of our COVID relief efforts, listen to and learn from states and communities, evaluate where future health and economic assistance might be required, and develop targeted proposals to help those in need, we’re also focused on other issues that are important to the American people. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, as the old saying goes.

In recent weeks and months, the Senate approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which supports our military men and women and their families, passed the Great American Outdoors Act, a major lands bill that will help clear maintenance backlogs at national parks in South Dakota, and confirmed executive branch nominations and lifetime judicial branch nominations to federal benches around the country.

We’ve also continued a lot of the behind-the-scenes committee work that vets nominees and prepares legislation for future consideration on the Senate floor. I serve on the Finance Committee, Agriculture Committee, and Commerce Committee, and I’m the chairman of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet (CTII).

I recently convened a pair of hearings at the CTII subcommittee, which is the only subcommittee that’s comprised of every member of the full Commerce Committee. The high interest in serving on the subcommittee is a testament to its focus on a wide range of issues that affect Americans in every corner of the United States, especially South Dakota.

For example, bridging the digital divide is critical for rural America, and it’s something I’ve been fighting to accomplish for years. While the divide has gotten smaller, there’s still more work to do, which is why one of my recent CTII hearings focused on the public and private sectors’ coordinated effort when it comes to federal spectrum management.

Think of “spectrum” as the airwaves over which information flows to and from internet- or Bluetooth-connected devices. Without effective spectrum management, the race to 5G becomes far more difficult, and rural America ultimately ends up paying the price. This issue will continue to be at the forefront of my subcommittee’s agenda.

I also convened a hearing to examine a bipartisan bill I helped introduce, the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act, which would help strengthen online platform transparency when platforms like Facebook or Twitter moderate content posted by their users. The PACT Act would also hold large technology companies accountable for illegal content or material that violates their own policies. At its core, the PACT Act is about providing digital consumers with the online control and protection they deserve.

Continuing the nationwide battle against the coronavirus will undoubtedly be one of Congress’s top priorities this year, but, as you can see, we’ve got a lot of important issues on our plate. Regardless of what’s in front of us in Washington, though, I will always fight for South Dakota’s values and put the interests of our state ahead of everything else.

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South Dakota: Small World, Big Family
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

South Dakota is a special place. We all know that. It’s where we choose to live, work and raise our kids. It’s where we call home and are surrounded by the people we love, our family.

Last week, I was out in the Black Hills visiting with folks. On my way home to Fort Pierre, I stopped in Philip, as I often do, to grab coffee and see a few familiar faces.

Near the end of our visit, I was stopped by a lady who asked, “You’re that Rounds guy, aren’t ya?” I said, “Yes, I’m Mike.” She told me her name was Lynn and she was from Cavour, a small town outside of Huron. Lynn said her uncle was the late state Representative Bob Glanzer. Bob was my brother Tim’s seatmate in the South Dakota legislature until Bob’s tragic death earlier this year. He was an honorable man and his perspective will be missed in the state legislature. Lynn told me she often enjoys getting together with my cousins while camping so she figured she would stop and say ‘hello’. It’s a “small world” in small town South Dakota.

As we made our way out the door and to our cars, Lynn was joined by the two ladies traveling with her. I asked “Where are you guys heading?” They were headed home because the next day they’d be going to Aberdeen to attend the National Guard welcome home ceremony. I said, “Well you must be going to the welcome home for the 1-147th. I’ll be there, too.”

That’s when I was introduced to Lindsey Friedrichsen, but she won’t be a Friedrichsen for long. Lindsey told me that she was looking forward to welcoming home Specialist Brandon Haber, who left for his ten-month deployment to Europe as her long-term boyfriend. In a lot of cases when folks get deployed, life all but stops for their loved ones back home. But there’s one thing a deployment cannot stop, and that’s love. In this case, Specialist Haber certainly didn’t let it stop him. During Lindsey’s visit to see him in March, Brandon got down on one knee in front of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany and asked her to marry him– a setting fit for a fairytale.

When you activate the National Guard in South Dakota, you not only activate the unit, you activate the community and an entire state. In South Dakota, we’re all so tightly woven together in this “small world” that it feels like we’re part of one big family. Just like a family, we experience the ups and downs of life together. When we lose good people like Bob Glanzer, we cry together. When we see kids like Brandon and Lindsey get engaged, we feel overjoyed together. And when our troops come home from a tour overseas, we all breathe a sigh of relief together.

Maybe I’m biased, but life doesn’t get much better than living in South Dakota. In larger places like California, New York or DC, you don’t come across genuine “small world” connections like you do in South Dakota. I’m so proud to call this state my home and be part of this big family.

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The Patient Got the Win This Week
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

With all eyes focused on the pandemic, whether or not kids will head back to school in August, and concerns about unemployment, it’s easy to miss the wins of the week.

Prescription drug pricing has been an on-going conversation since I stepped foot in the halls of Congress last year, and this week the administration took positive action towards securing lower costs for Americans on prescription medication.

This week the Trump administration announced that for the first time, seniors requiring insulin will have the freedom to choose from a broad set of insulin prescriptions that cost less than $35 a month. Medicare Part D premiums are at their lowest levels in years and Americans will save 66% annually on their out-of-pocket costs for insulin because of this fix.

Prescription drugs saw their largest annual price decrease in over half a century in 2018, but there’s more to be done.

The United States continuously foots the bill for other countries when it comes to prescription drugs. America often pays an 80% markup for many prescription drugs when compared to other developed nations. This week, President Trump issued an Executive Order ensuring the United States will pay the lowest comparable price for all Medicare Part B drugs.

The administration also took action to ensure prescription discounts are passed on to the patient –  right now, pharmaceutical middlemen often negotiate prices down and receive a “rebate check” while the consumer is still left to pay full price. Solving this issue could save Medicare patients billions of dollars.

There are a number of solutions to solving our prescription drug pricing problem and the administration’s actions are a solid start. As a lead cosponsor of H.R. 19 – a bill focused on slashing the cost of prescriptions for patients – I know there is more Congress can do. H.R. 19 would end the abuses of our drug patent system, cap seniors’ out-of-pocket drug expenses, and increase drug pricing transparency both in the doctor’s office and at the pharmacy.

The patient got the win this week – I’ll keep fighting for lower prescription costs for all Americans.

Getting Our Kids Back to School
By Governor Kristi Noem

As the calendar turns to August, we are getting closer to that time of year when kids go back to school. In South Dakota, our kids will be in classrooms this fall. I met with both parents and superintendents earlier this week to discuss what that will look like, and everyone was on the same page that our children should attend school in-person.

I realize that this makes some folks nervous. I’d like to remind them that from day one, I committed to let the science, facts, and data drive our South Dakota’s response to COVID-19. And the science is clear – our schools need to be open.

Thankfully, when it comes to children, the virus doesn’t have a great impact on them. In fact, it’s even less dangerous than the flu. Studies suggest that kids are less likely to contract the virus and less likely to transmit it to others. I laid out this data in great detail in an op-ed published in The Federalist, which I would encourage you to read.

It is critical for our students’ well-being that our schools reopen. We know that children thrive on routine and being in supportive, social environments, and that the loss of human connections for many of these kids is driving increases in stress, anxiety, and depression. This is especially true for our most vulnerable students, particularly since not all kids are in safe home environments. For some students, school is the safest and most predictable place they spend their time.

Our kids need to learn, and they learn best in the classroom. Long distance learning got us through the initial crisis, but it is not a long-term solution. Initial nationwide research suggests that students will return to school in the fall with only 70% of learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year, and less than 50% in math. And one of South Dakota’s largest school districts self-reported that they lost contact with as many as 30% of their students when we went online. Think about that: some schools in our state haven’t heard from as many as a third of their kids since March. That cannot continue. Those kids are likely to fall behind, with lifelong consequences to their career opportunities and family life.

It’s important to remember that reopening schools will also impact the teachers, administrators, and support staff that work there. Fortunately, the science seems to suggest that teachers are unlikely to be infected by students. That means, the adults’ main health concern is protecting against transmission between themselves.

The vast majority of teachers and staff in South Dakota are not in the high-risk category. But some are, and they have many options available, such as social distancing, masking, and proper hygiene. If vulnerable teachers need to teach online classes to vulnerable students, that is certainly an option that is also available.

My goal as Governor is to make decisions that promote opportunities and security for our next generation. What we do today should be a catalyst for our young people to start businesses, invest in their communities, grow their families, develop their careers, and build a great quality of life.

Right now, the best decision we can make for our kids is to get them back into school. Their futures – and ours – depend on it.

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Jonathan Ellis is writing more about a story that you learned about a week ago – the departure of Minnehaha County Treasurer Pam Nelson.

Nelson, along with a select few others, might be among the last relics of a time when Democrats actually tried to represent a majority of South Dakotans, as opposed to being SJW ‘warriors of the woke.’

Today, there are 154,420 registered Democrats compared to 264,439 Republicans, and Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in more than a decade. What changed?

When Nelson entered politics, the Democratic Party had a strong coalition that included blue collar labor and McGovern farmers. In Sioux Falls, there was the heavy influence of Irish Catholicism. Today, that coalition is gone, replaced by an ascendant strain of university-educated drones who can lecture for hours about white privilege without knowing what century the Civil War was fought. The ascendant strain obsesses about race and sexual orientation – identity politics – while neglecting, even scorning, the concerns of labor, unless you’re a teacher or member of a government union, one of the only areas where unions continue to flourish.

Read it all here.

Flags Flown Half-Staff at the State Capitol to Honor Former Attorney General Mark Meierhenry

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem ordered that flags at the South Dakota State Capitol be flown at half-staff from sunrise until sundown on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, in honor of former Attorney General Mark Meierhenry.

Meierhenry was South Dakota’s 26^th Attorney General, serving from 1979-1987; he had previously served as deputy attorney general in the office of Attorney General William J. Janklow. Following his departure from public office, Meierhenry had a long and distinguished career in the private practice of law.

Meierhenry passed away on July 29, 2020. He is survived by his wife, retired Supreme Court Justice Judith Meierhenry.

WHAT: Gov. Noem orders that flags be flown at half-staff at the South Dakota State Capitol in honor of former Attorney General Mark Meierhenry.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 5, 2020, from sunrise until sundown.

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