No wonder the judge wanted to think on the plea agreement before her in the matter of the Koskan accusations. Because according to an article in the Argus Leader, the plea agreement which was arranged before any of this became public seems like it’s not going to go over well with the public at large:

In the proposed plea agreement filed Monday, but appearing to have been signed off on in early September, before Koskan was formally charged, the defendant would agree to plea guilty to exposing a minor to foreseeable harm.

The charge, punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison, would have all jail and prison time suspended for Koskan, according to the proposed plea agreement.

and..

The 44-year-old political candidate would also continue to support the victim in the same or similar manner as he did before the allegations were made..

Read the entire story here.

So, this was arranged in early September, for accusations which collectively shocked the conscience of the entire state. And they’ve negotiated zero prison time?

That’s not going to go over well. And it probably shouldn’t.

All of that work for the past 2 years is going to come to fruition today.  It’s time. If you haven’t voted yet, get out there and do so.

And here’s your opportunity for your predictions on how the races are going to go.

On the races.. here are mine..

US Senate:

John Thune (R) – 68%
Brian Bengs (D) – 28%
Tamara Lesnar (L) – 4%

I think Lesnar and Bengs will hold Senator Thune under 70%. But just barely.

Congress:

Dusty Johnson (R) – 80%
Collin Duprel (L) – 20%

Duprel will have more than a single digit showing just because of the contrarian vote, but not because of anything he did. It’s just that there are always people who will vote against the incumbent. Dusty may reach as high as 85%, but I don’t want to be overconfident. I’m sure he’ll be just as happy with 80%.

Governor:

Kristi L. Noem (R) – 56%
Jamie Smith (D) – 40%
Tracey Quint (L) – 4%

Repeat after me. Jamie Smith is not Billie Sutton. Jamie Smith is not Billie Sutton. In Noem’s first race for Governor, she had just come off of a bruising primary, and then faced a Democrat who pretended to be conservative. There was no such hurdle in this election.

Noem’s 2022 primary race had her as a more reasonable candidate against a hard right opponent who had one of the worst run primary opposition campaigns in recent memory. Now, in the fall, her opponent Jamie Smith didn’t bother to try to be conservative, and instead just ran as a Democrat. And Kristi got to point that out over and over against an ineffective Smith campaign that never found it’s footing, as much as running a campaign who’s only point was that he wasn’t Kristi.

When your closing message is that “it’s ok to vote Democrat..” It shows how inept his campaign was. That’s not really a message to make the case to change their vote. If anything, it reinforces his identification with the minority party that keeps shrinking in the state. And let’s not forget the utter gift Smith gave the Noem campaign when Smith declared in a forum at the Sioux Falls Rotary “we need more things to tax.”  A perfect soundbite message highlighting his willingness to do just that. And a message his opponent Kristi Noem put to good use, as she had the money to pound it into voter’s minds. Over and over and over.

Smith will do well and be competitive in his home of Sioux Falls, but as the votes move across the river, I have the feeling this race will not resemble the last one.

Constitutional offices:

I think we’re in pretty safe territory for all Republicans, as Democrats put up little (or no) opposition with the exception of Secretary of State.  That race will be closer than the others, but it will still be in the win column.

State Senate: 

The question here is how many aren’t we going to win.

Losses…

I think we will have Democrat wins in 10, 15, & 26.

• In 10, the electoral math turned it into a hard Dem district. Unless the Democrat is so unknown or unlikeable, Democrats will push her through.
• In 15, it’s now a Republican District, but after decades upon decades of not being a Republican area, it’s a hard sell. We’re up against an established Senator in Nesiba, and while I’d like it, I think it could be a nearly impossible lift this year.
• 26 was doubtful before Joel Koskan, now even Republicans are telling people to vote for someone else. Scratch that race.

Closer to the wire..

• District 1 might be tight in the Rohl/Wismer rematch, as I’m told she is pouring buckets of money into the race. But with Rohl having the upper hand, and an actual record of accomplishment, and Wismer not only screwed up her petitions and having to run as an indy, but she was utterly ineffective when she was there before, and Rohl came in as a breath of fresh air. I think we win this one.
• District 12 could be another tight contest. Arch Beal/Jessica Meyers is a race that some are pointing to as being close. But I think Arch wins this. He has tremendous name ID as well as sign coverage all over the place. For as long as people have voted for Arch, I’m not sure Meyers has made the case to choose someone else.
• I think District 27 is on the bubble. David Jones/Red Dawn Foster was always going to be a tough race, but from what I hear, Jones is very visible, while Democrat incumbent Red Dawn is not.

I give Republicans 2 of these three races.. but if we’re in a wave election where Republicans turn out, and Dems stay home.. I’m crossing my fingers we pick up all three.

Let’s cut it off there. What do you think about these races, as well as what is coming in the House of Representatives? Your predictions, Please.

Summit Carbon Solutions Achieves Major Project-Wide Milestone

• Company has secured easement agreements for more than 50% of the proposed pipeline route across its entire project footprint, or approximately 1,030 total miles 
• Summit Carbon Solutions has successfully partnered with nearly 2,100 landowners to sign approximately 3,400 easement agreements, distributing more than $200 million to Midwest landowners

AMES, Iowa (November 8, 2022) – Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to partner with landowners across the Midwest, Summit Carbon Solutions has reached another major milestone as it continues to advance its transformative carbon capture, transportation, and storage project. By signing approximately 3,400 easement agreements totaling 1,030 miles across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, the company has now secured agreements for more than half of the proposed pipeline route project wide.

“Summit Carbon Solutions was formed to open new economic opportunities for ethanol producers and strengthen the ag economy that is so critical to families and communities across the Midwest,” Summit Carbon Solutions CEO Lee Blank said. “Securing easement agreements for more than 50% of the proposed route across our entire project footprint demonstrates the significant momentum behind our project and the growing recognition that carbon capture, transportation and storage projects will create jobs, improve environmental outcomes, and generate new sources of revenue for local communities.”

Summit Carbon Solutions is partnering with dozens of ethanol plants across the Midwest to develop the largest carbon capture and storage project in the world. Through a multi-billion-dollar private investment, these partners will be able to sell their product in the growing number of markets that pay more for low carbon fuels. California, the largest ethanol consuming state, and Canada, the largest U.S. ethanol importer, have both adopted policies that incentivize the use of low carbon fuels. Access to these markets is essential to the long-term viability of the ethanol industry that today purchases approximately 40% of all the corn grown in the United States and remains a key driver of commodity prices and land values.

In addition to driving growth in the ethanol and agricultural industries, Summit Carbon Solutions will support local economies across the Midwest by investing an average of $45 million in each of the 82 counties where the project is located during construction, which are dollars that will flow back to hotels, restaurants, hardware stores and other local businesses to generate ongoing economic growth. After construction, according to a study by global accounting leader Ernst & Young, Summit Carbon Solutions will pay an average of $930,000 in new property taxes annually to every county where the project is located, helping communities support key local priorities such as schools, road construction, public safety, and more.

In addition to crossing the 50%-mark project-wide, there are a number of counties that have far exceeded that pace, including:

Iowa (56%)		South Dakota (49%)		North Dakota (53%)
Boone (79%)		Beadle (75%)		Emmons (60%)
Cerro Gordo (67%)		Clark (86%)		Logan (100%)
Cherokee (68%)		Edmunds (68%)		McIntosh (67%)
Chickasaw (82%)		Kingsbury (85%)		Mercer (100%)
Crawford (77%)		Lake (75%)		Oliver (82%)
Floyd (73%)		McCook (100%)		Sargent (63%)
Greene (81%)		Miner (61%)
Ida (66%)		Turner (62%)		Nebraska (46%)
Montgomery (61%)				Dakota (60%)
O’Brien (73%)		Minnesota (55% for		Merrick (61%)
Plymouth (70%)		Submitted Permit Route)		Stanton (62%)
Pottawattamie (85%)		Wilkin (77%)
Sioux (67%)

“As a company rooted in agriculture, Summit Carbon Solutions is committed to partnering with farmers to drive long-term economic growth in our rural communities and we are incredibly encouraged by the number of landowners across the Midwest who have signed easement agreements to help achieve that goal,” Blank said. “We look forward to continuing to meet directly with landowners in the five states where our project is proposed to be located to discuss this critical investment, answer their questions, and work together to advance the ethanol and agricultural industries that remain so vital to our state and region.”

To date, Summit Carbon Solutions has distributed more than $200 million in easement payments to landowners.

To learn more about Summit Carbon Solutions, please visit www.SummitCarbonSolutions.com.

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From Twitter:

South Dakota — today is election day! Get out and VOTE Kristi Noem for Governor! Let’s keep SD FREE! pic.twitter.com/emJ4Y8fQdg

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) November 8, 2022

Just remember: Your Vote is Vital (from Harvey Comics, 1952)

This was mildly humorous as a lone protester at the Rapid City Election Eve Rally was quickly shown the door in a video from the interim editor of the Rapid City Journal:

Protester escorted out of Gov. Noem rally. Sounds like the female protester was trying to drown out Noem’s speech with a horn and yelling. pic.twitter.com/l42AIdyM2l

— Nathan Thompson (@nthompsonnews) November 8, 2022

Couple of updates on the Koskan case. There was a plea agreement between Koskan and the State’s Attorney in the matter of the charges of child abuse… but the judge is apparently thinking it over, according to Dakota News Now:

That agreement would have required Koskan to enter into a guilty plea with the state, but likely would have allowed him to avoid the maximum punishment associated with a class four felony, ten years in prison and a potential $20,000 fine.

and…

After a discussion with both attorneys, Judge Northrup indicated that she would like to consider the potential agreement over the course of the next month. For now, Koskan is required to avoid drugs and alcohol, and not contact anyone under the age of 18, specifically the victim. However, Koskan can maintain contact with the rest of his children, who live with him. The charge would not require him to register as a sex offender.

Read the entire story here.

Interesting that Judge Northrup, a Noem appointee, isn’t willing to just accept the plea agreement.

The allegations and affidavit filed in the matter clearly have a component of sexual abuse, and accepting a plea that would preclude the defendant registering as a sex offender might be just too light for the judge to accept. Especially given that Koskan has served in public office on the school board, and has ran for higher office no fewer than 3 times now.  The Judge might be looking at it with an eye that there needs to be a higher standard of conduct applied, and a more severe punishment imposed.  We’ll know more on December 12th.

Speaking of the Koskan case, one thing that has gotten people’s attention is the fact that like other Republican candidates, in the course of normal campaign activity, Koskan had received money from the Senate Republican PAC.  Or, maybe not.

While the Koskan campaign might have filed that supplemental report on October 25th claiming they received a $10,000 contribution, they probably should check the balance in their account before they start paying for “travel” as they used the bulk of their funds for.

Because as soon as the Koskan allegations came to light, Republican Senate Leadership acted immediately. As was related to me by Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, “The Senate Republican PAC stopped payment on check to the Koskan campaign when we learned of his conduct. He didn’t get that $10k.”

Good on them. After the deception that has gone on and sickening allegations against a child, it isn’t much, but the ability to still stop a $10,000 donation to the campaign is at least something.

As I’ve discussed with others, the activity in the affidavit supposedly spanned not just time in the 2022 campaign but the 2020 campaign, and the 2018 campaign. It’s a betrayal of everyone who ever donated or provided assistance to any of his campaigns.

Which shouldn’t come as a shock if the allegations are true. If he’d do that to a family member, why wouldn’t he treat everyone else like that?

When Jamie Smith claims his race is close, his spokespeople have apparently been hanging their hats on the SDSU poll all along. A poll which no one has really believe since it was released.

But when KELOLAND News on Monday asked for support of the claim, Alex Matson, a spokesman for Smith’s campaign, said the toss-up statement referred to a month-old public-opinion survey conducted by South Dakota State University faculty. It showed Noem leading Smith 45-41%.

and..

KELOLAND News also contacted Noem campaign spokesman Ian Fury about the claim. Fury pointed to a more-recent poll conducted October 19-21 for KELOLAND News by Emerson College. It showed Noem leading Smith 56-37%.

“I believe that your outlet may have some polling that answers your question,” Fury said.

Read the entire story here.

You have to wonder if the Democrat Party has now started including grief counselors for their election night party planning.

From Twitter, as I’d talked about last week.. one way or another, there’s no way a sex offender will be seated:

From war zones and disaster areas to cutting-edge research and unparalleled leadership, the men and women of the U.S. military continue to inspire through their selfless service. Throughout our nation’s nearly 250-year history, the tasks we ask of our military heroes have changed considerably, but their commitment to defending our country and our national interests remains resolute.

On November 11, we recognize Veterans Day, and we celebrate Veterans and Military Families Month throughout November. I am proud to represent the 65,000 veterans and the thousands of military families who call South Dakota home. The men and women who have served and continue to serve our country are a special breed of patriots, and they and their families have made considerable sacrifices to secure the freedoms we hold dear.

Veterans have a lot to be proud of, but if you ask them about their service, you’re much more likely to hear about the men and women they served with rather than their own achievements. I encountered this humility growing up. My dad, Harold Thune, was a Navy pilot who flew Hellcats off of the U.S.S. Intrepid in the Pacific theater during World War II. My dad won the Distinguished Flying Cross, but that’s not what he talked about. He did, however, talk about Cecil Harris, among many others. Cecil was one of South Dakota’s aces, whose advice for a deft maneuver saved my dad’s life during a dogfight. Hearing those stories are among my fondest memories.

Earlier this year, we lost the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, who said he wore the medal in honor of the men he served with who did not return home. These warriors who helped save the world didn’t brag about their achievements. They deflected praise. This same humility was on display in the Webster Area High School gym last month, where I had the privilege of  participating in a medal presentation for Vietnam veteran Wayne Wasilk of Grenville, who used the occasion to call attention not to himself, but to the heroic actions of the nurses he served with during the war.

While we can never fully repay the debt we owe our veterans, we have a responsibility to ensure they receive all of the benefits they’re owed, which is something I take very seriously as a U.S. senator. I have successfully fought for over a decade to prevent closures or service reductions at VA facilities in South Dakota to ensure veterans can continue receiving the health care they need close to home. Veterans pledged their lives to the service of our country, and they took upon themselves the burden of defending liberty for the rest of us. We must stand behind our promise to care for them when they return home, which includes keeping our state’s VA facilities open.

I am also deeply committed to ensuring that our military has everything it needs to deter threats and protect America. And, as always, Ellsworth Air Force Base is at the top of my priority list. I am currently working to continue making the needed investments in the facilities and other infrastructure that Ellsworth will need to host the future B-21 mission, as well as to ensure the influx of military families that will move to the area have adequate school capacity and housing access.

Veterans and military families have made tremendous sacrifices to secure our freedoms. We owe them, and the generations that came before them, our eternal gratitude. This month, let us take the opportunity to salute these great Americans and never forget the tremendous price they pay in their service.

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