I don’t think there’s anything more likely the week after Thanksgiving than re-heated leftovers that have been lurking around the fridge, but provide meals of diminishing quality. Which is why it’s not unexpected to see Joe Kirby of Sioux Falls is in the news, yet again. Pushing the concept of a jungle primary ballot measure. Yet again.

A campaign committee calling itself South Dakota Open Primaries filed paperwork with the South Dakota Legislative Research Council Wednesday that seeks to place a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot.

and..

If successfully placed on the 2024 ballot and adopted by voters, all the candidates would compete in a single primary open to all South Dakota voters. The two candidates that receive the most votes would advance to the general election. Party affiliation of candidates, or lack thereof, would be indicated on the ballot, according to the organization.

Read about Joe’s reheated leftovers here.

Oh, for crying out loud. Can these guys not take a hint?

They tried it in 2016. It was defeated 55% – 45%

They tried it in 2018. They gathered signatures, but could not get enough valid signatures to put it on the ballot.

They tried it in 2022. They could not get enough signatures to even bother turning it in.

I sense a trend.

As I’ve noted before.. several times now.. this is a solution in search of a problem that no one has been asking for. Going back to when the measure was first proposed in South Dakota, while the proponents have all these noble goals, in practice, the solution ends up being worse than the problem:

We’ve seen this same phenomenon before, but this is the first single-party statewide election ever to take place in Washington. That’s just terrible for democracy. California also uses a top-two primary, and there, polls show that many Republican voters simply plan to sit out this year’s Senate race between Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez. But at least we know that California, a very blue state, would likely have elected a Democrat to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer anyway. Washington, by contrast, almost certainly would have voted in another Democrat as treasurer, so the situation here is particularly perverse.

Supposed “good-government” reformers naïvely believed that eliminating partisan primaries would somehow crank down partisan gridlock by forcing office-seekers to moderate their views in order to win. Not only has that not happened, but voters have repeatedly been denied the opportunity to vote for the party of their choice thanks to debacles like these. It’s long past time for proponents to acknowledge their mistake and advocate for a return to proper primaries—and proper democracy.

Read that here.

And that’s coming from the Democrats.

Jungle primaries – providing diminished participation in elections, cutting candidate choice in the November election, and even more polarized candidates. That’s what Joe’s ballot measure would provide.

A menu choice that no one was looking for when it was fresh. And it has just gotten less appetizing as time goes by.

Attorney General Mark Vargo announces hiring of a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator and a Human Trafficking Coordinator

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Mark Vargo announced he has filled two new positions at the Attorney General’s Office: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator and Human Trafficking Coordinator.

Allison Morrisette assumed her duties as the state’s inaugural Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator on Monday, Nov. 28. An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, Morrisette last served as Adult Diversion Coordinator for the Pennington County State’s Attorney. “I am excited to begin this work,” said Morrisette. “A lot of my relatives feel they are overlooked. My job with the Attorney General’s Office is to ensure that is not true. In my culture we live by the words, Mitakuye Oyasin, which means ‘all my relations’ or ‘we are all related.’ I carry that belief with me into this new role.”

Mary Beth Holzwarth began her new job as South Dakota’s Human Trafficking Coordinator alongside Morrisette on Nov. 28. For the past 13 years she has served as the CEO of Endeavor 52, a grassroots organization dedicated to child sexual assault prevention. “Joining the Attorney General’s Office in this new role gives me the opportunity to carry on my work combatting childhood sexual abuse and widen my focus to address other manifestations of exploitation including sexual and labor trafficking,” said Holzwarth.

Vargo said he was looking forward to seeing the positive impact these two Coordinators can make for the citizens of South Dakota. “I am thrilled to welcome the breadth and depth of expertise Allison and Mary Beth bring to the Attorney General’s Office and am confident they will help the Office live up to its motto of ‘Equal Justice Under the Law,’” he said.

Attorney General-elect Marty Jackley agreed: “Allison Morrisette’s proven ability to work with different law enforcement agencies and Native communities will be a powerful asset furthering our commitment to serving all South Dakotans,” he said. “Mary Beth Holzwarth’s long track record of advocating for children will be a needed and powerful tool in our fight against human trafficking.”

Young Democrats are out patting themselves on the back today, and clucking about their top races.

They don’t get the whole campaign thing, do they? That’s kind of a funny way of looking at the world.

When you’re calling the race for Auditor one of your “Top Statewide Campaigns”.. a race where the candidate didn’t go to the convention to run.. or anywhere else as far as that goes..  you’re setting a pretty low bar.

In that Universe, your top campaigns will probably include Jamie Smith and Erin Royer, who both lost badly.

Sure, go ahead and declare “Democrats” to be the top party.  The rest of us will console ourselves with winning elections.

Thune: We Must Hold the IRS Accountable and Protect Taxpayer Dollars   “Since Democrats are flooding the IRS with a lot of additional money, Americans deserve to know that that money is being spent wisely and efficiently – and that it isn’t going to make taxpayers’ experiences with the IRS even worse.”   Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight, today discussed how the Democrats’ attempt to supersize the IRS without holding the agency accountable to American taxpayers is dangerous and irresponsible. Thune also spoke about a series of bills he has introduced that would protect taxpayers and improve the IRS through increased transparency, oversight, and accountability. Thune previously introduced a bill that would protect taxpayers who are earning less than $400,000 from increased audits, as well as a separate bill, the Increase Reliable Services Now Act, that would prevent the IRS from hiring new enforcement employees until customer service has reached a more acceptable standard. Most recently, Thune introduced the IRS Funding Accountability Act, legislation that would give Congress a direct say in how the unprecedented $80 billion in new funding for the IRS could be spent.

Happy Birthday to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who celebrates her 51st trip around the sun today!

Gov. Noem and Colleagues Urge Congress to Remove COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Military

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem and 20 other governors urged congressional leadership to remove and prohibit the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on members of the U.S. Armed Forces. You can find the letter here.

“The Biden vaccine mandate on our military creates a national security risk that severely impacts our defense capabilities abroad and our state readiness here at home,” wrote Governor Noem and her colleagues.

The letter points to the fact that current servicemembers are leaving the ranks of the U.S. Armed Forces, and that new recruits are not signing up to join:

• On October 8, 2022, U.S. Army National Guard Chief of Staff Major General Rich Baldwin explained that the National Guard missed its recruiting target by 10% and announced that 7,500 members left service.
• On September 21, 2022, Deputy Chief of the Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Division Anson Smith revealed that the National Guard was preparing to discharge approximately 14,000 soldiers in the next two years for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
• On October 10, 2022, U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth revealed that the Army failed its recruitment goal by 25% falling 15,000 recruits short of the target.
• As of November 15, 2022, the Armed Forces discharged 8,000 Active Duty members since the implementation of the Biden vaccine mandate.

“As President Biden, himself, stated on September 18, 2022, ‘The pandemic is over,’” conclude Governor Noem and her colleagues.

The letter is cosigned by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

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Remember way back when, in March of 2021, when there was chatter about how Democrats were going to make a judicial recommendation based on “how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party?”

Seiler said he and the party discussed potential recommendations with former South Dakota members of Congress, current state Democratic leaders and federal judges.

“The political aspects of this matter” in addition to how qualified and experienced they are for the job, Seiler said. He said he considered how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party and if they’ve ran for office.

Read that here (via the RCJ).

That was back on March of 2021.  About 19-20 months ago.  So imagine the surprise when it came out just yesterday that they have finally submitted a name to fill the appointment:

The South Dakota Democratic Party has recommended a judge for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench in Rapid City.

Veronica Duffy, 58, has served as a U.S. magistrate judge since 2007, initially in the Western Division of the U.S. District Court of South Dakota.

and…

Duffy’s recommendation is not an assurance of success, but Seiler said the party is confident in her credentials and qualifications.

Read the entire story here.

Interestingly, while Randy Seiler had said the benchmark was going to be “how engaged candidates have been with the Democratic Party and if they’ve ran for office,” the outgoing judge, Jeffrey Viken, had originally said “The next federal judge serving western South Dakota should be culturally competent in Lakota culture and history.”

But in their nomination, I can’t say that I’ve ever really noticed Veronica Duffy running as a Democrat for office. Nor in a prior bio does it note any particular tribal affiliation.  In fact, two tribal members who had expressed interest seem to be taking a pass on commenting.

So if they weren’t going to pick someone who was strongly engaged with the state Democrat Party as they said they were, and they passed on someone with a strong tribal affiliation as the outgoing judge had requested, why exactly did it take 20 months for Democrats to move someone forward?

It’s almost as if they are running the nomination process for the federal posts as well as they run their elections for office.

Gov. Noem Signs Executive Order Banning TikTok

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2022-10, which bans the Chinese social media platform TikTok for state government agencies, employees, and contractors using state devices. This order is in response to the growing national security threat posed by TikTok due to its data gathering operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform.”

The order takes effect immediately and would apply to employees and agencies of the State of South Dakota, including persons and entities who contract with the state, commissions, and authorities or agents thereof. The order prohibits downloading or using the TikTok application or visiting the website on state-owned or state-leased electronic devices capable of internet connectivity.

“Because of our serious duty to protect the private data of South Dakota citizens, we must take this action immediately. I hope other states will follow South Dakota’s lead, and Congress should take broader action, as well,” continued Governor Noem.

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After dumping hundreds of thousands into state elections with highly negative advertising that didn’t ring true in many cases, the Convention of States has announced that they are coming to the State Capitol with their hat in hand, asking for legislation:

Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum will return to the South Dakota Capitol in December, marking his second trip to Pierre this year.

The Convention of States advocacy group, which is pushing for South Dakota to join 19 other states in calling for a constitutional convention, announced Monday morning that Santorum will make remarks from the Capitol Visitor Center on Dec. 6 ahead of Gov. Kristi Noem’s annual budget address.

Read the entire story here (Subscription required).

If you don’t recall the story from a few months ago…

The track record of the convention group’s spending is spotty. In South Dakota, where the group and its affiliates spent more than $200,000 targeting four state Senate seats, Duvall was the only one of its targets to lose. And the challenger who beat her, Jim Mehlhaff, said in an interview that he thinks the group’s intervention hurt him.

“I didn’t appreciate the negative tone of their mailers. It probably cost me some votes,” said Mehlhaff, a former member of Pierre’s city commission who had his own base of support in the district before the intervention of Convention of States. “This is South Dakota. People don’t like negative campaigns.”

Read that here.  Also very good reading on their assault on democracy here.

This group went scorched earth in the legislative primaries, and now are coming back with hat in hand asking for legislation?

I’m sure that’s going to go well for them.  Good luck with that one. Especially in the State Senate.

Reports are surfacing this morning that incoming Secretary of State Monae Johnson will actually be making efforts to ban machine tabulations of election ballots as part of her efforts as the state’s chief election official.

Changes like an audit of every precinct in South Dakota and a state-level push to convince county auditors to hand-count all ballots. She’s also suggesting that lawmakers consider barring the use of tabulator machines altogether.

and..

“I had people reaching out to me saying ‘no’ because anything can be hacked,” Johnson said. “That was the biggest thing. The people reaching out to me were IT people, military people.”

Johnson did not name the IT and military sources who expressed those concerns, but campaign manager Gretchen Weible did point to sources for the hacking claims.

and..

Johnson advisor Rick Weible said the issue in Tripp County wasn’t hand-counting ballots, but that the people counting those ballots grew tired. A fine-tuned process for hand counts would alleviate fatigue-related problems, he said.

Read the entire story here.

Oh my.  I’m sure this is going to go well.

Especially when 90% of the state’s county Auditors show up at a legislative hearing and question the sanity of legislators for even considering the notion of going back to hand counts.