Governor Kristi Noem’s office announced today that a RFP is going to be coming out for a security fence around the Governor’s residence, which her security team has deemed absolutely necessary, due to threats against the Governor.

In a note from Senior Advisor & Policy Director Maggie Seidel to members of the media this morning, Seidel noted that at least part of the cost would be offset by donations from South Dakotans, many of whom contributed to the construction of the residence itself:

It’s no secret that a few individuals don’t like some of the decisions the Governor has made on behalf of the people of South Dakota during this pandemic and otherwise. In America, we debate issues; we don’t turn to violence. But it only takes one, and per the Governor’s security team, putting up a fence around the residence is critical at this time.

The good news is that there are a number of South Dakotans, many of whom supported the construction of the Governor’s Residence, who have told us that they would like to support this construction project. While this will not cover the entire cost, we are pleased that their generosity will help to reduce the state cost. Their support will also help us ensure that the design is suitable for the Capitol complex grounds.

As I’ve noted in the past, the biggest surprise is that it’s taken until now to install a fence. But, these are the times we live in.

Continue to read this site for more information on the project!

Ben Carson to speak to SD Federation of Republican Women Convention

As the hosts of the 2020 SDFRW bi-annual convention, Minnehaha-Lincoln Republican Women are proud to announce that Dr. Ben Carson has accepted our call to be the keynote speaker in Sioux Falls at the Convention Center on September 26, 2020.  Dr. Ben Carson is a former neurosurgeon and a published author of 10 books and is well known as a Presidential candidate in the 2016 Republican primaries.

Dr. Carson is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School.  He was the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1984 until his retirement in 2013.  As a pioneer in neurosurgery, Carson’s achievements include performing the only successful separation of conjoined twins, joined at the back of the head; performing the first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus inside the womb; performing the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins; developing new methods to treat brain-stem tumors; and revitalizing techniques for controlling seizures.  He became the youngest Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery in the country at age 33.  Dr. Carson has received more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, dozens of national merit citations and written over 100 neurosurgical publications.  In 2001, he was named by CNN and TIME magazine as one of the nation’s 20 foremost physicians and scientists, and was selected by the Library of Congress as one of 89 “Living Legends” on its 200th anniversary. In 2008, he was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Both SDFRW and MLRW thank Megan Assman for her tenacious efforts in bringing him to Sioux Falls!  She worked on Dr. Carson’s presidential campaign in 2015 and 2016.

Please follow this Eventbrite link to get tickets (or go to Eventbrite.com and search on SDFRW Carson)

Word comes from Minnehaha County this early afternoon that Marsha Symens of Dell Rapids was elected by the Republican precinct members of District 25 to replace State Senator Kris Langer on the ballot in the fall.

I haven’t seen a release, and I can’t otherwise tell you anything about her, but that’s who I’m told is moving forward to the fall election for the Senate seat, and will be running against independent candidates Seth  Van’t Hof and Rick Knobe.

I’m hearing this morning that after the withdrawal of Bill Hines from the District 27 State House contest, the candidate that lost in the Republican Congressional Primary of 2020, Liz May, successfully ran to be Hines replacement in the contest, despite having placed 4th in the D27 House Race in 2018.

Moving on.

Remember the Attorney General’s race between Randy Seiler and Jason Ravnsborg just two years ago? There was a lot of back & forth between the candidates about being tough on drugs:

According to Seiler, if drug abusers don’t want a stiff sentence — if they want treatment and perhaps mental-health assistance, they will need to give up their suppliers.

“It’s not enough to prosecute addicts for crimes, we need to review the underlying causes of drug abuse and find ways to ward off addiction.

Read that here.

But there were hints of Seiler’s real position. And we had Randy telling us in the public television debate that meth should be a misdemeanor – a point that Jason Ravnsborg drove home to win the race:

Of course, Seiler denied he wanted to weaken drug laws. Until he did a web commercial for just that purpose.

Fast forward a couple of years, and now as the Chair of the South Dakota Democrat party, Seiler’s shirt is untucked, and advocating for the marijuana legalization measure which would add pot to the South Dakota State Constitution:

 

So much for Randy arresting suppliers and being ‘tough on crime.’

First he said that users “will need to give up their suppliers.” Two years later as chair of the South Dakota Democrat Party, Seiler is advocating for the drug suppliers to move next door.

The New York Times has an article which has been mirrored over on Yahoo news about Governor Kristi Noem’s high profile as a result of her successful actions managing the COVID crisis, as well as the spectacular 4th of July event at Mt. Rushmore with the President.

What’s the national media to do with a Republican Governor who seems to be doing everything right and has a heightened profile? Write a gossip column:

Her efforts have paid off, as evidenced by the news-driving celebration at Mount Rushmore. Yet Noem’s attempts to raise her profile have not been without complications. And they illustrate the risks in political maneuvering with a president who has little restraint when it comes to confidentiality, and a White House that shares his obsession about, and antenna for, palace intrigue.

and..

It was her star turn at Mount Rushmore, though, that has gotten Republicans talking and been a boon to South Dakota tourism, the state’s second-largest industry.

Recognizing the president’s immense interest in the monument, Noem worked with his Interior Department to ensure there would be fireworks for the celebration, a long-standing priority for Trump. There had been no fireworks there for the previous decade because of environmental and fire-risk concerns.

In the weeks leading up to the event, Noem went on Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News to make clear she was expecting to “have a large event” for the president and would not require social distancing or masks.

Then, as the president sat watching her remarks in a bunting-wrapped box just offstage, she praised America as a place where someone who was “just a farm kid” could become “the first female governor of South Dakota.”

Read the entire story here.

When did the New York Times become US Magazine?  There’s lots of unattributed gossip trying to make it seem like Governor Noem is jockeying for position, when it’s a lot of silly talk.  If Kristi wanted to be in Washington, she would have ran for Congress again. But she didn’t, no matter how many people are whispering.

The Governor is doing her job managing the state and doing what she can to promote South Dakota in this weird COVID time.   Due to our sparse population, we’re uniquely positioned for tourism and business. I can’t imagine any Governor not doing what they can to leverage any advantage we have to our state’s benefit.  Good for Kristi being recognized and raising our state’s profile. We’ll take that.

As for the hyperventilating media, maybe they should go stalk a Kardashian or something.

There’s a couple of examples of an interesting phenomena occurring along the campaign trail this year in the run up to the general election. in at least two instances, there are independent candidates who are not actively touting their independence, but rather doing their darnedest to try to be Republican without actually running as a Republican.

I had touched on the team up of District 35 Independent State Senate Candidate Brian Gentry, who seems to be running one of this fall’s weirdest campaigns, and defeated primary candidate/one of Pennington County’s Most Wanted, Kevin Quick early last month:

Since that July 6 post, It’s not just Quick claiming a team up. Gentry recently reiterated their scheme in an interview with South Dakota Public Broadcasting which whipsaws between a robotically read and inauthentic script, to just plain weirdness.

SDPB: “Tell a little bit about… Why Independent, for example.. Why not align with one of the political parties?”

Gentry: “I was born and raised.. uh been a Republican my entire life.. understand the Re-bib-lican platform. Understand what it means. Definitely wanted to protect the seat in this particular instance. There was another candidate running at the same time I was. And we wanted to protect the seat to make sure we put the right person in that chair.”

“As you mentioned at the beginning of this call, Lynne DiSanto, Former Legislator did.. ah.. did recommend me for this position late last year.. for whatever reason.. whatever the case may have been at that point.. I was not put in at position as an appointee. So, at this point I just wanted to secure the seat. Make sure that the right person was put in there, and allow the person before me to go.. to go on through the process that she was a little further long than I was.”

“So, definitely showed some integrity there, but definitely wanted to make sure we secured the seat properly.”

Listen to the entire interview here.

Why do Gentry and Quick seem to assert some weird property right on a state legislative seat? I hate to ask, but who does Gentry consider the plural “we,” in the part where he says “to make sure we put the right person in that chair?”   

Because when I checked, no one owns a legislative seat. And these two ding-dongs might want to consider that there has been one group who spoke quite definitively about who “the right person was to put in the chair:”

(From Ballotpedia.)  The Republican voters of District 35 pondered the question, and voted on nearly a 3 to 1 basis that the right person to put in the chair was current State Senator Jessica Castleberry.  That’s a pretty definitive voice speaking loudly.  Regardless of Quick or Gentry claiming some ownership right.

If you agree with the Republican Voters in District 35 that Jessica Castleberry is the right person to put in that chair, I’d encourage you to go over to Jessica’s website and support her candidacy.

Safeguarding South Dakota’s Top Industry
By Sen. John Thune

While most sectors of our economy were thriving before the coronavirus pandemic hit, farmers and ranchers were struggling. Low prices, extended trade disputes, and natural disasters had meant a tough few years for agriculture producers even before the arrival of the coronavirus. So the pandemic has hit farmers and ranchers particularly hard. Agriculture is the lifeblood of South Dakota, and making sure our agriculture producers have what they need to keep feeding our nation – and the world – is one of my top priorities in Washington.

During debate on the CARES Act – our largest coronavirus relief bill to date – I fought to make sure that we included relief for farmers and ranchers. The final bill included $14 billion to replenish the Commodity Credit Corporation, plus an additional $9.5 billion in emergency support to allow the Department of Agriculture to provide income and price support for farmers and ranchers.

Days after the bill passed, I led a bipartisan group of senators and representatives in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, urging him to use a portion of the funds to provide support for hard-hit cattle producers. In mid-April, the Department of Agriculture responded to that letter and other petitions by announcing that it would issue $16 billion in direct payments to agriculture producers, including livestock producers, affected by the virus. Sign-ups for this funding began at the end of May, and according to the most recent data, South Dakota agriculture producers had received approximately $342 million

The coronavirus relief legislation we passed in late March established the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses to help them keep their employees on their payroll during this crisis. Self-employed Americans, which describes many farmers and ranchers, are eligible for these loans. But in practice, the program’s guidelines have excluded a lot of agriculture producers. Low commodity prices and a challenging planting season meant that many farmers and ranchers had a negative net income in 2019. And right now the program’s guidelines exclude farmers or ranchers without employees with a negative net income for last year.

In June, I introduced the Paycheck Protection for Producers Act, legislation that would allow more farmers to access the Paycheck Protection Program by allowing them to use their 2019 gross income instead of their 2019 net income when applying for a loan. I will continue to advocate for passage of this bill in the Senate, either as part of future coronavirus relief legislation or another bill.

I’m also hoping the Senate will take up my Pandemic Authority Suitable to Utilize Reserve Easements Act – or PASTURE Act – in the near future. This legislation, which I also introduced in June, would provide relief to farmers and ranchers by allowing emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for the duration of this crisis.

Under current law, agriculture producers can hay or graze their CRP acres during weather-related disasters without a reduction in their CRP payments. My legislation would extend that provision to cover pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, farmers and ranchers are having to hold onto their livestock for longer than expected. This bill would help ensure that they have adequate forage for their animals.

Another challenge facing farmers during the pandemic is the drop in fuel demand. This is troubling news for the ethanol industry and for employees at shuttered plants, but also for the broader agriculture and rural economy.

As ethanol producers idle production, they will slow their purchases of corn – which will be grim news for corn farmers, who are anxiously keeping an eye on the approaching fall harvest. In addition to supporting direct relief for biofuels, I recently introduced several bills that would support the industry by approving advanced fuel registrations, updating old emissions data that is holding back exports, and extending emergency Food and Drug Administration guidance to ensure ethanol-based hand sanitizer can continue to help fight the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the vital role American farmers and ranchers play. Without these essential workers, the shortages on shelves during the pandemic would be much worse. We need to ensure that our agriculture producers have the support they need to weather this crisis and continue feeding and fueling our nation. I will continue to do everything I can to help farmers and ranchers through the challenges they’re facing.

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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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Attention Students!
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

South Dakota is home to outstanding universities and technical colleges that are leading the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) fields that so many students are pursuing. These students have an opportunity to receive a first-class education right here in South Dakota.

While South Dakota has a lot of resources for college-aged students pursuing STEM, there’s no reason we shouldn’t expand our reach to the younger generations. That’s why this week, my office announced South Dakota’s first Congressional App Challenge, a digital app competition for middle and high school students across the state.

The Congressional App Challenge was created because Congress recognized STEM and computer science skills are essential for economic growth in the United States. As a nation, we’ve fallen behind on these fronts, and we have a programmer shortage. STEM jobs are high-paying and in high-demand. It’s crucial we maintain American competitiveness – investing in our youth now and encouraging them to acquire these valuable skills will prepare us as a nation as more careers become STEM focused.

This competition is flexible. The Congressional App Challenge accepts computer programs (or apps) written in any programming language, for any platform (desktop/PC, web, mobile, raspberry Pi, etc.). You may not understand what raspberry Pi is, but your middle schooler might.

Since this is a new competition for South Dakota’s students, I need your help to spread the word. Students must register online by September 10th and submit their app by October 19th. That deadline is coming up fast.

You don’t have to be an expert coder to join the competition – we are looking for students of all skill levels, regardless of coding experience.

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges in South Dakota and honored by South Dakota’s Congressional office. Winning apps will be featured on display in the U.S. Capitol building and on the Congressional App Challenge website.

I know South Dakota is full of creative students and I’m looking forward to seeing their talents on full display.

To register for the competition, please visit www.CongressionalAppChallenge.us.