An interview with Secretary of State Monae Johnson in the Dakota Scout today ended with her trying to ride the fence on whether she believes elections are rigged or not.

As noted in the interview:

The new secretary, who won office in November, said she needs time to assess what laws should be changed. Top of her list is developing a post-election audit process for South Dakota elections.

and..

When it comes to elections in the state, Johnson said some people think everything is fine, and some think elections are rigged. Johnson said she’s somewhere in the middle.

Read it here. (Subscription required)

Secretary of State Monae Johnson intimates that she’s somewhere in the middle? Does that mean she thinks there is …some rigging of elections? How do you claim you’re somewhere in the middle between thinking elections are fine and thinking they’re rigged?

If being rigged a little is arsenic, you’re still peddling poison.

You have to wonder whether people are spending a little too much time on the Internet. Case in point would be Bruce Whalen, who badly lost the primary for US Senate against US Senator John Thune.

Because Bruce is out on facebook claiming some sort of fix was in as to why he lost. It was because of the algorithms:

If you listen to Bruce, his loss has nothing to do with the fact that US Senator John Thune is immensely popular, or that on the campaign trail he explained Jesus was coming for the rapture and the tribulation was going to hit, told people that they should take sheep dewormer for covid, and talked about stoning people and treating politicians with dewormer.

Nope. It was an “algorithm deployed during the primary selected Democrats.”

In one of the posts I linked, I noted that Bruce should get off the stage, because he was damaging the Republican brand by spouting off crazy stuff.

Obviously he hasn’t taken the advice.

Morning Consult is at it again, as they release their regular rankings of the popularity of our elected officials. And in the most recent edition, US Senator John Thune is noted as the second most popular US Senator in the entire country!

South Dakota’s Junior Senator Mike Rounds comes in the top ten as well, polling as #6 in the nation.

The takeaway is that we love our Senators in this state!

Rounds, Tester Bill to Protect and Expand National and Tribal Veterans’ Cemeteries Signed into Law

WASHINGTON – Legislation championed by U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) has been signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The National Cemeteries Preservation and Protection Act of 2022, S. 4949, supports the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration in honoring veterans nationwide.

“This law is a small way for us to show gratitude to our veterans and their families,” said Rounds. “It provides the tools necessary to operate and maintain national and tribal veterans’ cemeteries, which will make certain that generations to come will have a peaceful place to visit their loved ones. I am pleased this legislation was signed into law so our veterans are honored with a dignified resting place.”

Among its many provisions, the National Cemeteries Preservation and Protection Act of 2022 will:

• Require the VA to pay plot allowances for Native American veterans buried at tribal veterans’ cemeteries prior to March 15, 2022;
• Allow the VA Secretary to designate sections of the national veterans’ cemeteries as green burial sections;
• Allow the Department of the Interior to transfer land to the VA to expand or establish new national veterans’ cemeteries; and
• Ban the burial of additional criminals in national veterans’ cemeteries.

The National Cemeteries Preservation and Protection Act of 2022 received wide-bipartisan support, unanimously passing out of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Read the bill text that was signed into law HERE.

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There was a KELOland headline I went to check out because it might provide insight into some of the new people who have been elected…

And then we get the actual article…

Rep. Aaron Aylward (R-Harrisburg) is starting his second term in the House. He said there’s a learning curve for anyone new to the legislature..

and..

Rep. Erin Healy (D-Sioux Falls) is starting her third term in the House..

Read this article here.

Not actually an article about new lawmakers, but old lawmakers talking about new lawmakers.

Moving on..

 Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) re-introduced his Keep the Nine constitutional amendment (H.J.Res.8) to limit the number of Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at nine.

“Recent years have brought more calls to pack the Court or expand the Court,” said Johnson. “This is a terrible idea. As defenders of the Constitution, the Supreme Court’s check on the Executive and Legislative branches is essential to keeping our government free and fair. Turning the Supreme Court into a political football will erode public trust in our institutions and nullify intentions set by our Founding Fathers. Capping the Supreme Court at nine Justices will protect the integrity of the Supreme Court.”

“I applaud Rep. Johnson’s leadership for the nonpartisan “Keep Nine” effort to permanently protect the independence of the Supreme Court from efforts to manipulate the number of Justices for political advantage. Rep. Johnson’s efforts in Congress are a key reason more than 1000 elected officials nationwide have endorsed the commonsense “Keep Nine” Amendment to preserve the current number of nine Justices. Polling shows that an overwhelming majority of voters would support this Amendment. Every elected official who says they oppose Court packing should support this measure to make sure it can never happen,” said Paul Summers and Stephen Rosenthal, Co-Chairs of Keep Nine Coalition, former Attorneys General of Tennessee, Virginia.

“The National Federation of Republican Women, representing 65,000 grass-roots women across the country, strongly supports the Keep Nine Amendment. No Party should be allowed to tip the balance of power to its advantage by increasing the size of the U.S. Supreme Court. Americans have long recognized court-packing as a dangerous manipulation that would undermine confidence in the fairness and impartiality of the Court and upset the essential checks and balances that protect our liberties,” said Eileen Sobjack, President, National Federation of Republican Women.

Johnson’s House Joint Resolution has more than 90 cosponsors and is supported by the Keep Nine Coalition, National Federation of Republican Women, and Association of Mature American Citizens.

Read full bill text for H.J.Res.8 here.

View Johnson’s press conference here.

Gov. Noem Announces Bill to Recognize Out-of-State Licenses

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and legislators announced legislation to recognize out-of-state licenses for nearly every profession.

“South Dakota’s economy has been booming, but our workforce has been experiencing some growing pains,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “We still have 23,000 open jobs in the state, and this legislation will help us fill them.”

The prime sponsor of the legislation will be Senator Jim Stalzer (R-11).

“A great deal of benefits come from growing our workforce and increasing the number of licensed professionals in our state,” Said Senator Stalzer. “This bill will allow our boards and commissions discretion to streamline the licensing and certification process for professionals who are making South Dakota their new home.”

Other states that have implemented this reform have seen a dramatic impact on their workforce almost immediately. Arizona’s workforce grew by about 5,000 since their law was implemented according to data collected by the Common Sense and Goldwater Institutes.

In 2019, Governor Noem signed HB 1111 to provide fast-track occupational licenses for military personnel and spouses. In 2021, she signed HB 1077 to recognize out-of-state licenses for healthcare professions.

Governor Noem discussed this proposal during her State of the State Address. You can find the video of that portion of the speech here.

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Uh oh.. Our Government continues to go after fossil fuels, as they announce their attack on how we heat our homes and food:

A federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves, a source of indoor pollution linked to childhood asthma.

In an interview with Bloomberg, a US Consumer Product Safety commissioner said gas stove usage is a “hidden hazard.”

“Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg. The report said the agency plans “to take action” to address the indoor pollution caused by stoves.

Read that here.

And the Green New Deal proponents are quick to jump on that bandwagon:

Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance https://t.co/1bjmHqnHVa

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 11, 2023

Nobody had better tell my wife this. At one point, my wife had insisted on our next stove being gas as opposed to electric. And I can’t say I’ve been unhappy with it in the decade or so since.  But, just like our federal government has screwed up gasoline cans, they continue to meddle in our lives to justify their mission.

From my spies, it looks like another Secretary of State Employee has been identified. Adam Miller, formerly of Canton is noted as having taken a job in Pierre to fill one of the many empty spaces in the Secretary of State’s Office, at a salary of $42,500:

Miller had served as a Senate Republican Intern in 2021..

..and according to his Facebook, he apparently likes US Senator Mike Rounds and Libertarian candidates for President.

Stay tuned for more..

Recall the Rick Santorum visit to Pierre a month ago to promote the Convention of States measure they keep trying to push in South Dakota?  No. I didn’t either since it received little to no notice in the media. However, I had a reader who went through a video on his speech, as well as some supplemental materials, and noticed some interesting things about the Convention of States messaging.

Such as that at times, their deeds do not match their words.  And that it’s their intention to spend 10 times in races what they spent in 2022.

According to Santorum at the press conference…

Passing the Convention of States Resolution will NOT Stop the Annual Debate at the State Capitol 

23:33 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=1413 “I really believe we need to institute [the Article V Constitutional Convention] as a normal thing that the legislatures do, that every 5 or 10 years, they have a convention…”

28:01 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=1681 “Once you get in a convention, … you might see some… changes that will hopefully encourage folks to say… ‘hey, let’s do this again in 5 years'”

Note: this would imply that even if a convention does happen, lobbyists pushing for another convention would descend up on Pierre almost immediately. 

36:37 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=2197 Texas Governor “Gregg Abbott called a special session to do this [apply for Article V Convention] in Texas and we’re gonna run another bill in Texas this year, and he’s gonna be very helpful in supporting it.”

Note:  The TX Legislature passed the Convention of States Action model resolution in 2017. Why are the COS Lobbyists returning to the TX Legislature? Also, see HJR9 https://le.utah.gov/~2022/bills/static/HJR009.html from Utah in 2022. Big COS proponent, Rep. Ken Ivory, introduced a resolution to demand a Convention be called by Congress, by adding up Article V Convention applications on unrelated subjects from 34 or more states—a thing lobbyists specifically reassured legislators could not and would not be done since it would open up a convention to an unintended agenda (a “runaway” convention). Utah had passed the COS resolution in 2019, but 3 years later, convention proponents came back. 

Even if they pass a Convention of States resolution.. they’re telling us up front that they’re going to keep coming back to do another one.

Here’s a big point from Santorum’s speech: They’re coming back in 2022, and according to Mark Meckler, they plan to spend 10x as much:

Convention of States Project Plans to Continue Involvement in Legislative Races 

43:11 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=2591 “We got involved in elections [in 2022], we’ll get involved in elections again in 2 more years”

Note: Also see recent quote from Mark Meckler that COS plans to do “a lot more” political involvement, increasing it TEN-FOLD in 2024 compared to 2022. COS to increase Political Activity TEN-FOLD in 2024: Meckler – YouTube 

Some estimates had them dropping up to 200 to 500k into South Dakota. Now they’re intimating them may spend millions in out of state funds to defeat legislative candidates?

And more noticeably, Santorum declares that “In South Dakota, we need to take out Republicans.”   Followed by Convention of States (COS) Project Regional Director, David Schneider, talking about how they’re happy to support Independents or Libertarians.  Underlining that they’re not about electing the GOP. It’s all about them.

Santorum called out legislators who oppose a Convention of States measure,and did some trash talking:

Legislators who Oppose an Article V Convention are FRAUDS 

11:41 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=701  “when you talk to one of your state legislators who complains about Washington, … you ask them where they are with Convention of States, ’cause if they say they’re against it, then they’re a FRAUD. They are a FRAUD…if they really believed that Washington was the problem, they’d all vote for this…maybe they don’t want the power. Maybe they want Washington to actually do all these things and just complain about it when it happens. We know people like that. We all do. And you have a bunch of ’em over here in South Dakota.”

Obviously, they’re kind of big babies about people being opposed to opening up the Constitution for amending in this manner:

COS Does Not Like being Defeated by Organized Opposition, Especially in “Red” States 

7:25 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=445 “So here I am in South Dakota, a state that you would think would be one of the first states that would say, ‘Hey, we want to have this power here in the states; we don’t want California telling us how to do our business in South Dakota…’ and you would think that conservatives in a super-red state like South Dakota would be one of the first, but we’re not.”

8:04 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=484 “it just bothers me that a state this red with people who are overwhelmingly supportive of this concept don’t have legislators that reflect that.”

14:02 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=842 “We hope to get 4 or 5 more states next year. I’d love South Dakota to be one. There’s no reason…I mean, it’s just, it’s, it’s, it doesn’t make any sense.”

And if they fail again, they plan on coming back, even if they have to wait out conservatives who oppose their plan to amend the constitution every 5 years:

…and Waiting for Opponents to be Termed out… 

17:11 https://youtu.be/a6xbgJrUsOM?t=1031  “And with term limits, a lot of these guys are gonna be gone; we’ll have a chance to do it when they’re not there. Whatever it takes, that’s what’s gonna happen.”

If Santorum made the argument for anything with the Convention of States group and their measure, it’s that before legislators sign on to their radical plan to try to do surgery on the US Constitution every 4 or 5 years, they need to think hard.

And make sure they get the hint that their measure, their candidates, and amending the US Constitution every 5 years is not welcome in South Dakota.