Secretary of State Monae Johnson is all over the media today with a second interview, this time with Dakota News Now where she talks about her Deputy Secretary of State taking over the position when she’s done:

And for Johnson, the buck stops at the Secretary of State’s office. She hopes to serve two terms, something that hasn’t happened since her former boss, Chris Nelson, did it from 2003 to 2011.

Then, she wants to retire to the Black Hills.

“We will have to find somebody to train, that is the way it should be,” Johnson said of her long-term plan. “The Deputy Secretary should end up being the next Secretary of State. I just want to do this job, and do it well…”

Read the entire story here.

Monae Johnson wants her Deputy to be the next Secretary of State?  Never mind that her Deputy Tom Deadrick came in last when he ran in 2010.

If her plan would bear fruit, with Tom Deadrick currently being at retirement age at 70 now, he would be …78 years old running for Secretary of State in 2030?

This should be interesting..

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..