The citizens of Philip, South Dakota are on the record today on Fox News expressing their extreme dislike for the president and his policies that killed the Keystone XL pipeline:
“Biden and his administration ran on Build Back Better, and, that is, from where I’m standing, a load of crap,” West Central Electric Cooperative CEO Jeff Birkeland told Fox News. “I think his new slogan should be ‘butchering booming business.'”
Now that the main run of session is over, except for the vetoes, the State House of Representatives has finally made a decision on whether or not grounds exist for impeachment of the South Dakota Attorney General.
Except that decision was to tell the Governor to quit picking on them.
However, House Speaker Spencer Gosch, the Glenham Republican who’s presided over the months-long process of vetting the attorney general’s conduct related to a fatal crash in September 2020, said no decision has yet been made by the committee about any such recommendations.
And..
And Gosch said Thursday a cease and desist order will be issued in the coming days in an attempt to compel the Noem administration to stop making public statements and press releases related to Boever’s death and the attorney general.
So the biggest decision they’ve made is to try to squelch the Governor’s freedom of speech to pressure them to figure out what they’re doing?
When I asked yesterday if we will “know if there is sufficient evidence to move forward with impeachment before the parties select candidates?” I thought I was being facetious.
Apparently it might not have been an entirely flippant question.
Secretary of State Steve Barnett was in Aberdeen today where he formally announced his Candidacy for reelection at today’s Brown County Republican, March Reagan lunch!
Barnett has been serving as South Dakota’s Secretary of State for the past 4 years, and had also served two terms as South Dakota State Auditor (2010 and 2014).
Steve is a graduate of Roncalli High School and received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Dakota. He later earned his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Sioux Falls. Steve has held positions within the South Dakota Republican Party, Wells Fargo, and United States Senator John Thune’s office.
REED SEEKS ELECTION TO DISTRICT 7 SENATE SEAT
Tim Reed announced today his intention to seek election to the South Dakota Senate in Legislative District 7.
Senator V.J. Smith has withdrawn his candidacy for the District 7 Senate seat. The District was well served by Senator Smith. Reed commented: “V.J. was a great legislative partner, he was proud of Brookings and advocated for the citizens of South Dakota every day, I will miss working with him.”
Reed stated: “It has been an honor to serve District 7 in the South Dakota House of Representatives. I want to continue advocating for the citizens of District 7 as a member of the State Senate. I will continue my work to positively affect policies for all citizens of South Dakota.”
Representative Reed is completing his third term in the House of Representatives. During those six years he has served on multiple standing committees including Judiciary, Taxation, Energy and Commerce, and Local Government.
Reed is a member of the Drug Court Advisory Council. He also serves on the Criminal Justice System Response to Mental Health Oversight Council for the Unified Judicial System. In 2019, he was appointed to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Legislative Advisory Committee. Over the past two years Tim has served as the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment.
Reed represents South Dakota on the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board and is currently serving as the Vice President. The Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board works with members of the business community, state legislatures, and tax administrators to simplify and modernize the sales and use tax systems throughout the country to help make the collection of remote taxes as simple and burden-free as possible, while at the same time protecting state sovereignty.
Read commented: “During the past six years in the legislature I’ve been able to effectively serve District 7 and South Dakota through pragmatic legislative activity and serving on governing boards, study committees, task forces, and advisory committees.”
Representative Reed was active with city and county government, South Dakota State University, economic development, mental healthcare, sex trafficking, and sexual assault victim assistance bills. He sponsored and successfully passed bills modifying courtroom practices to help child victims face their abuser, allowing school, city and county governing boards to go into executive session to discuss security plans, funding for a bio-products institute at the Research Park at SDSU, and publishing public notices on the internet.
Reed, a Republican, has served District 7 for six legislative sessions. Before serving in the legislature, he served in Brookings City Government for 13 years including three terms as Mayor. He is a graduate of SDSU with a degree in Commercial Economics. After graduation, Tim worked in Supply Chain Planning, Information Technology, and College Development. Tim currently serves as the CEO for the Brookings Economic Development Company.
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State Senator Jessica Castleberry Announces Re-Election Bid
District 35 Senator seeking another term, committed to lowering taxes, protecting quality education based on the Constitution, gun rights, and the unborn
Jessica Castleberry of District 35 (Rapid Valley, Box Elder, and northeastern Rapid City) has announced her intention to seek re-election for the South Dakota State Senate.
In 2020-2022 Jessica tackled many subjects that affect quality of life and protect South Dakotans. She not only served on the Senate Taxation Committee, voting against several tax increases, she also prime sponsored HB 1039, the Grassland Tax Relief Bill to help ranchers, and HB 1253 to provide an assessment freeze on property taxes for the elderly and disabled.
Jessica took on quality education as the prime Senate sponsor for HB 1012, a bill to protect students and teachers in our institutions of higher education from being forced to endorse the divisive concepts behind Critical Race Theory. Jessica is dedicated to fighting for freedom and the Constitution. Speaking with Epoch Times, in an article covered in 27 countries, Jessica said, “It is very easy to live in a free country and decide you want to be a Communist. It is impossible to live in a Communist country and decide you want to be free.”
Serving as the Senate vice-chair of Transportation, Jessica secured $20 million to rehabilitate the railroad from Fort Pierre to Rapid City, which helped South Dakota leverage $64 million more in funding to support our rail line and economy. Also vice-chair of Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Jessica played a significant role in securing funding for the Liberty Center which will directly support the B21 mission at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Upholding the Second Amendment to protect our freedom is paramount to Jessica; she promoted over a dozen bills to protect law-abiding gun owners, prime sponsoring four. There were also several efforts to protect the vulnerable, abused, and unborn, prime sponsoring legislation to prohibit threats of coercion of abortion and to provide information to grieving families regarding perinatal hospice, among several other potentially life-saving pieces of legislation.
Jessica has volunteered, donated, and participated in dozens of community events. Whether in a parade, at a festival, or attending meetings and fundraisers, Jessica is involved and available to the community. A lifetime resident of Rapid City, Jessica is an award-winning business owner. She was awarded SD CEO’s Young Enterprising Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016 and the Small Business Administration’s South Dakota Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year Award in 2018. She’s a graduate of Leadership Rapid City, Leadership South Dakota, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. In addition, Jessica was the only legislator in South Dakota selected for three national leadership programs in 2021, the National Council of State Legislatures Emerging Leader Program, the Leadership Institute, and the State Emerging Legislative Leaders Foundation Program.
Jessica believes in her oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of South Dakota, fiscal responsibility, limited government, our right to protect ourselves as citizens of the United States, and the rights of all Americans to pursue happiness. She feels we can rise above ugly politics and do what’s best for our state through decorum, honesty, skilled and passionate debate, and hard work. Jessica has been proud for the opportunity to represent District 35 in the South Dakota Senate and looks forward to facing new challenges ahead with conviction and grit.
Gov. Noem Signs Bills into Law
PIERRE, S.D. – Yesterday, Governor Kristi Noem signed 23 bills into law:
HB 1016 makes an appropriation for costs related to disasters.Governor Noem has signed 125 bills into law and vetoed one this legislative session.
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While the State House of Representatives is having an issue with considering the Governor’s initiatives, the Secretary of State’s office is apparently moving things through for our State’s Chief Executive, as Governor Noem’s petitions are the first that have been certified for the election ballot.
You don’t see Jamie Smith or Steve Haugaard as filed and certified for the ballot, and it’s a testament to the level of commitment of her campaign staff and volunteers that she’s the first one out of the gate.
Currently, no other statewide elected candidates have their petitions certified, although I’m sure we’ll see at least a couple more in the coming days.
Lost amongst the din of the current battles going on within the legislature, much of it caused by House Appropriations, is another House Committee, albeit one which has met sparingly over the course of session.
The House Select Committee on Investigation was formed to investigate whether sufficient grounds exist to move forward with an impeachment motion against the Attorney General for the circumstances surrounding the traffic accident in which a man was killed.
After Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch declared back in February 2021 – a full year ago – that “It is crucial that we create an open, transparent, and fair process for all parties involved,” to the general public, the process has been anything but.
With battles over the secrecy of who even voted for the special session, as well as executive session, after executive session, after executive session, it seems at most times that we’re not sure they’re going to move forward with any public decision, much less provide an open and transparent process during the 2022 legislative session.
In fact, based on what has happened to date, it seems like this process might just drag out through the party convention/nomination process itself.
In the meantime, the GOP appears to most definitely have activity in the race for Attorney General.
Former Attorney General Marty Jackley has been actively running for the office, announcing for the race in the Spring of 2021, and aggressively pursuing it. SInce then, Jackley has secured the endorsements of at least 59 State’s Attorneys, 63 Sheriffs, and has raised hundreds of thousands in campaign donations.
And in case you forgot, the Attorney General and Governor Noem put to rest any rumors of remaining rivalry over the 2018 election with mutual endorsements in the 2022 election.
But lest you think there isn’t a race at this point, put those notions away. Because by all appearances, while no official announcement has been made, there is very much an active campaign either on the part of the current Attorney General, Jason Ravnsborg, or on his behalf, with an eye to his re-election.
For months, while not always choosing to headline, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has been an active participant in many Republican events, speaking at the 2021 Young Republican Convention, and participating in this years’ Republican Day at the Capitol. Ravnsborg was also in attendance at a Trump Rally in Texas, where he received a shout-out from the podium by former President Trump.
And there has also been a concerted effort to place delegates favorable to the former Attorney General into the Republican Convention Nomination process which will take place this June.
Nebraska-based website “Dakota Free Press” noted in January that Ravnsborg was spotted meeting in Brookings “reviewing the South Dakota Republican Party bylaws and talking about county central committees, delegates, precincts, and open seats.” There have also been reports that members of the Patriot Ripple Effect group based out of Sioux Falls (with members in Brookings), have been actively working efforts to install Ravnsborg-friendly delegates in a stealth effort to prepare for his official entrance into the race.
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg himself is remaining mum at the moment on any official announcement, which may be part of his legal strategy to rebuff efforts at the impeachment.
Given the pace with which the House of Representatives is conducting their investigation, versus the dwindling number of days until the Republican Convention (107 as of today), the strategy may be to run the clock down, and swoop in with a concerted effort to capture the nomination.
So far, that speculation doesn’t seem all that crazy.
After some quiet rumors that she would not be running again for this seat, but could opt to move over to the House, State Senator Julie Frye Mueller filed paperwork with the Secretary of State this week to run again for District 30 State Senate. Mueller already has a challenger in State Representative Tim Goodwin who intends to move up to the Senate in what is sure to be a hard fought primary.
This race may be a test of how bizarre the actions of an elected official must be to be voted out of office, as Mueller has certainly had her share over the course of the last two years.
Among her actions has been a crusade against school handbooks, telling parents not to sign or to click “accept” to school handbooks – Because you will be giving permission to vaccinate or give transgender surgery to your children.
And let’s not forget the bizarre ‘dynamic duo’ interview she gave at the Pillow Guy Symposium:
You can watch the video for yourself by clicking here.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This one will be entertaining to watch, to say the least.
Gov. Noem Signs Bills into Law
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed 16 bills into law:
Governor Noem has signed 102 bills into law and vetoed one this legislative session.
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