There was some rebellion from the floor of the South Dakota State House as it gaveled into session today, and a diminished group of legislators protested the elections held this last November, similar to what we saw in the US House of Representatives for the same race in the US House.

Except the group in South Dakota can’t count. Because they had nowhere near the numbers to affect the race, except to symbolically stand against the Majority.

Who voted no on electing Bartels? Aaron Aylwayd, Randy Gross, Phil Jensen, Chris Karr, Karla Lems, (Hillary Clinton Donor) Liz May, John Mills, Tina Mulally, Marty Overweg, Sue Peterson, Sue Peterson, Tony Randolph, John Sjaarda, Bethany Soye, and the defeated opponent for the speakership, Jon Hansen, all voted against seating Hugh Bartels, and came up on the losing end of the 53-14 vote.

It wasn’t just a little lopsided.  When you’re starting out session with what might be the single dumbest act of the year, which did nothing but to set this group on record as opponents to the majority for opposition’s sake, you’re left scratching your head. Even if they had been able to woo, and gain the support of every Democrat in the House, they would have fallen short. So why go through the exercise at all?

Quoting Kenny Rogers, “you’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away...”  All they’ve really done is point out how their numbers have diminished since the last session in one act.

If I have any critique for the Majority Leadership in all of this, it would be that they really need to quit seeking reconciliation with the group.  Because as demonstrated today, they’re not going to stop being pains in the majority’s chamber.  This past November, those that won in leadership made a point to seek unity and work together, which today was thrown back in their face.  And look what that got them?

Honestly, why the majority is putting up with these guys?  They tried the carrot. It just might just be time for the stick.

Had a call on this one a short time ago.. supposedly, the Legislative chatter tonight is that someone may make an effort to nominate Jon Hansen in as speaker tomorrow, despite his defeat in House caucus elections this past November.

I’m hearing text messages are flying on the topic, so we’ll see what comes of it.

Nobody is ‘fessing up on who is trying to be the “Matt Gaetz” of the South Dakota Legislature. But as one Legislator quipped to me, “It’s a fools errand and they’ll look stupid.”

Whomever is plotting might be betting on Democrat support to upset the result of the Republican Caucus elections. But with Hansen leading an effort against a Democrat-led abortion related ballot measure, I somehow doubt Democrats would want to raise his profile.

We’ll see if it goes any further tomorrow. But that’s what I’m hearing tonight.

**Update**

I’m hearing further that, supposedly, 2 House members approached Democrats and as anticipated, they were denied. As was pointed out, they have absolutely no chance of turning out Speaker Hugh Bartels, and it should be noted that they didn’t know if Hansen was even in on it.

With the GOP State Chairmanship race this weekend fluidly changing as challengers figure out they just don’t have the votes, this is just another failed trial balloon from the extreme hard right trying to be in charge as they are denied at every turn.

Had someone send this over to me, as I’d never heard of this gentleman, but it’s reported that a former Democrat Legislator passed away this last week in Pennsylvania and had served 11 years in Pierre:

David S. Laustsen, Esq. of Doylestown, PA died peacefully in his home surrounded by his loving and devoted family on Friday, January 6, 2023. He was 75.

and..

Dave built/managed two successful radio stations; KKAA-AM and KQ95-FM. At 29 years old, Dave was elected to the South Dakota State House serving from 1977-1984. During that time, Jean gave birth to their two children; Sacha and Darren. Dave later was elected to the South Dakota State Senate serving from 1985-1987. He left office after being accepted to Temple Law School, which brought the Laustsen family to Doylestown, PA.

Read that here.

Fiegen elected to lead South Dakota Public Utilities Commission

PIERRE, S.D. – Commissioner Kristie Fiegen was elected chairperson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission by her fellow commissioners at the PUC’s regular meeting in Pierre on Jan. 5, 2023. Commissioner Gary Hanson was elected vice chairman. The third member of the panel is Commissioner Chris Nelson.

Fiegen was appointed to the PUC in August 2011 by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to fill a vacancy. She was elected to a six-year term in November 2012 and re-elected to a second term in November 2018.

In his nominating remarks, Nelson praised Fiegen’s national leadership and described how those efforts benefit the people of South Dakota. “Commissioner Fiegen is committed to not only leadership within the state, but also to leadership within her fellow commissioners’ group within the Southwest Power Pool regional transmission organization. Over the last few years she has spent an immense amount of time focusing on the reliability of the electric grid. As the grid changes, reliability becomes more of a question and becomes more of a focus for this commission as well. Having Commissioner Fiegen at the helm while we work in this area is very appropriate,” said Nelson

Fiegen’s involvement in SPP includes serving as the immediate past president of the Regional State Committee and current chairperson the Regional Allocation Review Task Force, the Improved Resource Availability Task Force, and the RSC Nominating Committee. She is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Committee on Gas and Subcommittee on Pipeline Safety and provides guidance related to the interests of the public and gas consumers to the Gas Technology Institute as a member of the GTI’s Public Interest Advisory Committee.

Fiegen nominated Hanson for the role of vice chairman and expressed her gratitude for the experience he brings to the PUC. “Commissioner Hanson brings a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to this commission. He is passionate about serving the public and it is an honor to work beside him every single day,” stated Fiegen.

Hanson is currently serving his fourth, six-year term on the commission. South Dakota voters first elected him to the PUC in 2002 and re-elected the Sioux Falls native in 2008, 2014, and 2020. Hanson represents South Dakota on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Committee on Electricity, is a board member of the Organization of MISO States and has held many additional leadership positions with other utility organizations.

“It is a privilege to be a part of this group. I think all three PUC commissioners enjoy serving the public and I’m look forward to continuing to serve South Dakotans alongside Commissioners Fiegen and Nelson,” Hanson commented.

Nelson was also appointed to the PUC in 2011 by Gov. Dennis Daugaard. He was elected to complete the remaining four years of that term in November 2012. He was re-elected to a full, six-year term in November 2016 and was again re-elected in 2022. He also represents South Dakota’s interests on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Natural Regulatory Research Institute, as chairman of NARUC’s Broadband Expansion Task Force, co-chair of NARUC’s Washington Action Program and has been appointed to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service by the Federal Communications Commission.

Prior to joining the PUC, all three commissioners had a long history of public service. Fiegen was president of Junior Achievement of South Dakota for 17 years and served four terms in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Hanson served two terms as mayor of Sioux Falls from 1994 to 2002 and served as a South Dakota state senator for three terms. Nelson held the position of state election supervisor for 13 years and uniform commercial code supervisor for two years within South Dakota’s secretary of state office before being elected to serve as South Dakota’s secretary of state from 2003 to 2011.

View full biographies of Commissioners Fiegen, Hanson and Nelson on the PUC website, https://puc.sd.gov

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South Dakota AG Marty Jackley Elected Chairman of National Attorney General Alliance

PIERRE.S.D.  — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has been elected to a one-year term as chairman of the National Attorney General Alliance (AGA).

Jackley, who was sworn in as Attorney General Saturday, will serve a one-year term as chairman beginning today (Monday, Jan. 9). He said the chairmanship allows him to work with an organization dedicated to helping attorneys general address common issues.

“While there are different challenges for each state, we have a common interest in working together to protect our states,” Jackley said. “The common sense solutions we use in South Dakota will serve me well in this leadership position.”

The AGA mission is to create educational opportunities for its 48-member Attorney General offices and to collaborate on emerging, complex issues in law and public policy. Karen White, executive director of the AGA, said Attorney General Jackley’s experience will benefit the organization this year.

“Attorney General Jackley has a distinguished record – as a U.S. Attorney for South Dakota and South Dakota Attorney General – and we are thrilled to welcome him as our chairman,” she said.  “He will be critical to guiding our agenda in 2023, tackling issues such as financial regulation and data privacy.”

In 2006, Attorney General Jackley was appointed as U.S. Attorney for South Dakota. He was the recipient of the Prosecutor of the Year for 2008 for outstanding prosecutorial service. Jacked served as South Dakota’s Attorney General from 2009-2019. In 2015, he served as Chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General and also as a past Chairman of the Western Attorneys General. In 2016, Jackley received the National Attorney General of the Year award from his fellow Attorneys General. He was elected to a third term as South Dakota Attorney General in 2022.

###

I get the feeling that Kevin Jensen saw the handwriting on the wall and got out while the getting was good.

From Dakota News Now, Austin Goss is reporting that Kevin Jensen has dropped out of the race for State GOP Chair, and is now endorsing Tom Brunner for the job:

After a brief stint in the race, Kevin Jensen is dropping out of the running for the chair of the South Dakota Republican Party, and being replaced by a former state lawmaker.

and..

“The voters in my district elected me to represent them as their state representative. I believe that is where my focus should be,” Jensen wrote. “Becoming the chair of the party would be a distraction and dilute my time from what I was elected to do.”

and..

In his announcement, Jensen says that he would endorse former state lawmaker Tom Brunner for the spot.

Read the entire story here.

That was quick. And No. That’s an awful choice.  Nothing against Tom personally, but after serving in the state legislature off and on over 14 years of serving, after all that time in front of the voters, with the name ID and all that experience, when he ran in the primary in 2022 his neighbors decided they would prefer someone else in the State House and sent Neal Pinnow instead.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement to move him forward to being the leader of the South Dakota Republican Party.

Governor Kristi Noem’s new Secretary of Education has an interview in the Argus Leader that’s worth reading, pointing out how it’s not the school’s place to hide things from parents:

Q: On social media, there’s been circulation of a letter you wrote to Mitchell School District employees in August 2021 with policies on using transgender students’ chosen names and pronouns and letting them access certain facilities such as the bathroom or locker room, but also recommending that staff out trans students to their parents. Is that still your belief?

A: We absolutely need to let parents know. This is a very significant, emotional and stressful situation for kids. We need to let parents know when students are experiencing this kind of issue. To me, that’s bedrock. I don’t think educators have any business stepping above the parents and saying, “No, I know better. We’re not going to tell this parent.”

I know people disagree with me on that, but I don’t know how suddenly, we’ve come up with a new category in which we can effectively hide things from parents. It’s wrong, and it’s very much out of step with the traditions of American education. The only exemption we have (for not telling parents about an issue with their child) is when we suspect child abuse. We call that right into the Department of Social Services or other authorities.

Parents need to feel secure that they know what’s going on in their child’s education at school. They need to be a full partner in that. In fact, they need to be the primary partner in that.

Read the entire story here in the Argus Leader.

Making sure parents are in the loop is a positive development from our Dept of Ed.

A group of legislators is proposing a significant overhaul to how we choose Circuit Court Judges in South Dakota.

As led by Senator Lee Schoenbeck, Senate Joint Resolution 501 proposes a few skillfully placed overstrikes in Article V, Section 7 of the State Constitution to change Circuit Court Judges from having to openly compete for their seats every few years to only being subject to a retention election the same as Supreme Court Justices are:

A JOINT RESOLUTION, Proposing and submitting to the electors at the next general election an amendment to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, providing for the retention elections of circuit court judges.

Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein:

Section 1. That at the next general election held in the state, the following amendment to Article V of the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, as set forth in section 2 of this Joint Resolution, which is hereby agreed to, shall be submitted to the electors of the state for approval.

Section 2. That Article V, § 7 of the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, be AMENDED:

§ 7. Circuit court judges shall be elected in a nonpolitical election by the electorate of the circuit each represents for an eight‑year term.

A vacancy, as defined by law, in the office of a Supreme Court justice or circuit court judge, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor from one of two or more persons nominated by the judicial qualifications commission. The appointment to fill a vacancy of a circuit court judge shall be for the balance of the unexpired term; and the appointment to fill a vacancy of a Supreme Court justice or a circuit court judge shall be subject to approval or rejection as hereinafter set forth.

Retention of each Supreme Court justice or circuit court judge shall, in the manner provided by law, be subject to approval or rejection on a nonpolitical ballot at the first general election following the expiration of three years from the date of his appointment. Thereafter, each Supreme Court justice and circuit court judge shall be subject to approval or rejection in like manner every eighth year. All incumbent Supreme Court justices and circuit court judges at the time of the effective date of this amendment shall be subject to a retention election in the general election in the year in which their respective existing terms expire. Each Supreme Court justice shall be subject to a statewide retention election and each circuit court judge shall be subject to a retention election by the electorate of the circuit the judge represents.

Follow the measure here.

As it’s a proposed constitutional change, the measure would be subject to approval by the voters of South Dakota on the next election ballot in 2024.

The concept is not so outlandish, as in reality, I am hard pressed to point out a Circuit Court Judge who has been defeated at the ballot box over the last several decades. Probably fewer than you have fingers on your right hand.  But, it does remove the competition and politicization for those seats, as all voters would have voice on is whether they affirm or reject the Governor’s selection for the bench three years after the appointment, and then every eighth year thereafter.

What do you think? Does it remove the spirit of competing for the offices, or a lot of unnecessary campaigning for offices that are almost never unseated?

Legislators are signing on to Senator David Johnson’s Senate Bill 40  (7 Senators and 10 House members so far) to revise how political parties do the business of nominating their candidates.

But it’s more of a limited approach to put a bandaid on things, as opposed to wholesale revision of the process.

Senate Bill 40 proposes to fix the issues that vexed delegates attending the Republican State Convention, along with a few other changes:

• A candidate for Governor shall select a candidate for lieutenant governor and certify the selection to the secretary of state no later than five p.m. central time on the second Tuesday in August of the year of the election.
• Attorney General and Secretary of State removed from the list of offices nominated at party conventions, meaning they would be nominated by petition.
• A political party may only hold a state convention for nominating purposes in an even-numbered year.
• A petition for a party’s candidate for attorney general or secretary of state must be signed by not less than one-half percent of the voters who voted for that party’s gubernatorial candidate at the last gubernatorial election
• Parties shall notify the secretary of state of the date and place of the party convention at least thirty days prior to before the date chosen.  (Not 15)
• Associated changes for independent, new party, and alternative political status candidates.

You can read the text of the entire bill here. As well as follow along with how the bill progresses here.

This reform measure fixes some of the headaches that the GOP has experienced over the last several election cycles in their convention process. But I can’t help but wonder out loud about how we’re determining where and how we draw the line, and whether it should go farther, adding State Auditor and Treasurer, and possibly Commissioner of School & Public Lands to the list of those nominated via petition.

Public Utilities Commissioners are not constitutional officers, so they could certainly stay as they are.  But I’m hoping for a more logical reasoning on the change than not caring for the convention challenges in those two races.

This bill will probably not see much activity this week, especially considering the Republican State Central Committee is meeting Saturday morning, and the bylaw changes proposed at that meeting may guide the hand of legislators on how to fix the situation that keeps coming up in front of the delegates.

But once that meeting happens, I’m sure it will be go time on SB40.

Kloucek, who graduated from SDSU in 1978, said many people in his district and across the state have told him they don’t like the Division I move. “Constituents are very much opposed,” said Kloucek. “I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s an embarrassment to SDSU that they’re doing this.”

– Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan.
Lawmaker Plans Against SDSU Switch
Sep 8, 2003

And he, Tim Begalka, and Clarence Kooistra introduced legislation to try to block it.

20 years later underlines that they were wrong.