June’s inflation report showed a 9.1% increase from a year ago. At this point, most of us are seeing the higher prices for almost everything we purchase. These prices are making it harder for individuals and families to make ends meet, and have created dilemmas for construction projects, police departments, and school districts.

Record high fuel prices have imposed unexpected costs on police departments who have to fill up the gas tanks of their patrol cars. To combat these expenses, some police chiefs have asked their department to conduct stationary patrols of neighborhoods instead of driving around to conserve gas. Highway patrols, police departments, and Sheriff’s offices have all seen their fuel costs increase by as much as 50% or more since early 2021. They have adjusted how many patrol cars are out, what types of vehicles are on the road, and how far their routes are.

Meanwhile school districts are juggling increased food costs, energy, tech, school supplies, and transportation costs for bus routes. Adjusting bus routes and rates for contractors are a couple ways these increased expenses have been mitigated but finding ways to escape the burden that inflation has proven to be difficult.

I participated in a roundtable on Thursday with my colleagues from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to discuss inflation’s impact on infrastructure and transportation costs. A hot topic of the conversation was President Biden’s infrastructure bill. Because of massive spending on other Administration priorities, this bill will not create the level of impact on our nation’s infrastructure as Biden had hoped due to the rising cost of supplies and the eroding value of the dollar. But the answer is not spending more money.

Inflationary pressure from poor decisions in Washington weighs on almost every aspect of America’s economy.

We need practical solutions that abide by the laws of supply and demand. Solutions like my bill, theOcean Shipping Reform Act, year-round E15, and increasing domestic energy production will ease the burden of inflation over time—for police departments, schools, infrastructure projects, and American citizens.

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In my four years as Governor, I have focused on finding ways that our programs can positively impact the next generation. This goes beyond reading about what state government does—I go out and see these programs for myself so I can understand exactly what we can do to improve them.

This week, I visited the mother-baby unit at the women’s prison in Pierre. This simple trip did my heart good—it showed me that we are making a difference in these women’s lives.

When Kellie Wasko, our new Secretary of Corrections, joined my cabinet earlier this year, South Dakota was one of only nine states to have a mother-baby program for incarcerated women who find themselves carrying a child. But we definitely had room to improve. I charged Kellie, who is a mother like me, with making this program bigger and better, and I saw the results of her great work this week.

Now, incarcerated mothers can bond with their babies for 30 months after birth. Most of the women who participate in this program will have served their sentences by the time those 30 months are up. Because of the changes we’ve made, they will re-enter their communities with a strong relationship with their children and motivation to stay on the right path. Thanks to our Governor’s House program, a separate home on the prison grounds set aside especially for these women and their children, these new mothers have a safe place to stay and form a community with each other, too. We also provide educational, mental, and physical support as they start their parenting journeys.

As state leaders, we must offer these women the support they need to turn their lives around. To be sure, these women made mistakes. But their babies—born during their mothers’ incarceration—did nothing wrong. They deserve the best start to their early childhood. And their mothers deserve a measure of forgiveness as they repay their debt to society. That is part of what it means to be pro-life.

Several of the mothers I visited told me of the impact this program was having on them and of their desire to leave prison with their new child at the end of their sentence and never return. That is the ultimate goal for these women: leave prison and return home to raise a healthy child in their community as a productive member of our society.

I will continue to advocate for the necessary facility and security upgrades to keep our prisons safe and effective. We have made progress on that score in the last year, and we will continue to do so as time goes on. I know, after visiting our mother-child program in Pierre, that under Secretary Wasko’s leadership, we are on the right track.

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Gov. Noem, Legislators, and Pro-Life Advocates Issue Joint Statement on South Dakota Policies for Life

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem, legislators, and pro-life advocates issued a joint statement on South Dakota’s policies to save lives and help mothers:

“In the last few weeks, it has become clear that South Dakota is the most pro-life state in the nation. Our laws are saving lives, and resources like Life.SD.gov are helping mothers. For these reasons, we are of one mind that South Dakota can prepare to advance on our progress in the regular legislative session, and a special session will not be necessary.”

The statement was co-signed by Governor Kristi Noem; Senators Lee Schoenbeck, Jessica Castleberry, and Erin Tobin; Representatives Jon Hansen, Taylor Rehfeldt, and Rebecca Reimer; Dale Bartscher, Executive Director for South Dakota Right to Life; and Lisa Gennaro, Legislative Liaison for Concerned Women for America of South Dakota.

“Governor Noem is a fierce advocate for the unborn and their mothers. Under her leadership South Dakota is now an abortion-free state except to save the life of the mother,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “We thank Governor Noem and our allies in the legislature for their commitment to life-saving policies that protect unborn children and support women during and after their pregnancies. We look forward to working together next session to find even more ways to help both moms and babies flourish in this new Dobbs era.”

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Gov. Kristi Noem Discusses Foreign Policy Strategy with Secretary Condoleezza Rice

PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Earlier this week, the Hoover Institution hosted Governor Kristi Noem for a discussion with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The discussion focused on foreign policy strategy, as well as South Dakota’s pro-freedom policies. A few key quotes can be found below.

“When I served in Congress, I served on the Armed Services Committee and got heavily engaged in relations with countries who are our friends and allies – and many who are not… It was driven home over and over again the value of strength, the value of clarity of thought and communication… and that every other country is constantly paying attention to how our leaders here talk… That credibility has been greatly damaged,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “We are in a tenuous state in this country right now because we don’t have that consistency of messaging.”

In response to a question from Secretary Rice on the “South Dakota formula,” Governor Noem said the following:

“When I ran for Governor, I ran believing… that South Dakota could be an example to the nation… I had no idea that our opportunity to do that would happen in a pandemic… I will tell you that South Dakota is thriving… We have a AAA credit rating. We have the best pension fund in the nation. I have less than 700 people in the entire state of South Dakota that are on unemployment right now. Our incomes are going up faster than anywhere else in the country… Our children are leading the nation in educational outcomes because they were in their classrooms every day learning… We were the only state in the country that didn’t close a single business, didn’t mandate anything… We are growing at ten times the national average because families just decided that they wanted to come live somewhere where the government respected them.”

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Good mail day for me, as I picked up 2 Huron for Capital Ribbons to go with a Mitchell for Capital ribbon I was able to find a few weeks back:

Mitchell’s a little threadbare, but the Huron ribbons look good, likely from the 1889 or 1890 battle. (If anyone has a Capital fight ribbon I don’t have, I have a Huron ribbon to trade.)

If you think politics are rough in 2022, the South Dakota State Capital battles were fiercely fought with many accusations of underhanded play. And one of the most interesting historic episodes in South Dakota History.

 

When I was pulling the Taffy Howard termination report, I also checked on another one of the Dusty Johnson challengers who went by the wayside, Shantel Krebs who was part of the original challenge for the seat. Because she also recently filed a termination report this year:

“It appears that due to a data entry error that occurred the report needs to be updated. Several donors gave to both the primary and general election in 2018. Due to the fact that the candidate lost the primary the general funds were either refunded or reallocated resulting in a final zero balance in the account. The bank account was closed in 2018 and no further action has taken place.”

Interesting, since the committee, up through 3/31/22 was reporting a bit different situation…

4 years later, that closes the books on that campaign.

The Taffy Howard for Congress Committee has filed a termination report with the FEC, closing that chapter in South Dakota Politics:

Taffy Howard Termination Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

This was the report where Taffy had to pay the piper, with $134,395.06 in expenditures. While she took in $24,542 in donations, she found herself refunding $22,700, which appears to have had big chunks returned to members of the Assman family who had maxed out for both the primary and general in the early days of the campaign.

This likely represents the return of the money donated for the general election, since Taffy doesn’t have one.

In the entire campaign cycle, Howard reports having received $332,055 in donations, which does not count amounts spent by outside groups attacking Congressman Dusty Johnson.

Dusty Johnson raised around 2 Million in the Congressional contest, and delivered the win.

Kristi for Governor Declines Debate Hosted by SDPB

PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Today, in response to an inquiry from South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) regarding why Governor Noem does not plan to participate in their gubernatorial debate, the Kristi for Governor campaign announced that they will not be participating in the debate due to extreme leftist slant from National Public Radio (NPR) and SDPB.

“For years, we have watched as NPR and SDPB both drifted further and further to the left. The final straw was NPR eliminating the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 4^th of July,” said Ian Fury, Communications Director for Kristi for Governor. “In the past, Governor Noem has made clear that she will not participate in debates hosted by hyper-partisan organizations or outlets. SDPB has repeatedly promoted the radical effort to re-write American history and cancel our Founding Fathers. As Governor Noem said at Mount Rushmore, ‘To attempt to cancel the Founding generation is an attempt to cancel our own freedoms.’ Governor Noem has participated in this debate in the past, but SDPB’s extreme leftward swing precludes the possibility of a fair debate.”

Earlier this week, the Kristi for Governor campaign accepted a debate invitation from Dakota News Now and KOTA/KEVN, and Governor Noem challenged her Democrat opponent to do the same.

On July 4, 2022, NPR eliminated its annual tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence and replaced it with a discussion on “what equality means.”

SDPB has repeatedly voiced opposition to Governor Noem’s efforts to promote a true and honest teaching of American history. Last year, they brought Marxist professor Ibram X. Kendi on the air to criticize Governor Noem’s efforts. Kendi’s radical teachings reject the basic fabric of American society with statements like “Capitalism is essentially racist.” SDPB did nothing to press him on these claims.

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I noticed yesterday as I was doing some web updating that Republican Secretary of State Candidate Monae Johnson has apparently made some changes in her branding. And, I hate to be a nit-picker, but iI would argue that it’s not for the better.

Here’s what Johnson was using for her branding pre-convention on her website at monaeforsouthdakota.com:

The website was fairly simple, but it got her message across.  Moving past convention, it looks like some rebranding is going on:

 

Um.. I hate to ask, who decided this? Because this is not better.

When I look at a candidate’s logo, I’m thinking how it’s going to read on a 4×8 highway sign, or a yard sign. First off, candidates should not alter the letters in their name. Dropping the star in the “O” made it more challenging to read, especially with the artsy fonts they’re using. Plus, they shrunk the office to being unreadable in the logo.

A candidate has two basic things they need to get across to a voter – name and office.  While the old logo could have been tweaked or left alone and been just fine, this new one is all over the place.

I’d go back to the drawing board before they spend a lot of money on this. Otherwise, I anticipate they’ll be changing it again down the road.

Thune to Democrats: Stop Standing in the Way of American Energy Production

“Unless Democrats want this inflation crisis to continue forever, and Americans to be facing staggering prices at the pump and on store shelves for the long term, then the administration needs to start encouraging domestic production of conventional energy.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed how the Democrats’ radical energy agenda has helped create record-high inflation and soaring fuel prices. Thune argued that Congress and the administration should instead pursue a pro-growth agenda that reduces the United States’ reliance on foreign countries for oil, cuts costs for hardworking families, and helps restore America’s energy independence.