Both the Dusty Johnson and Taffy Howard Congressional campaigns have released photos of their volunteer parade crews from this last weekend’s Hobo Day Parade at South Dakota State University, and you can tell from the snapshots they’re posting that there’s a bit of disparity:

I think Taffy has some ground to make up.

And while Mark Mowry wasn’t at the parade, it does appears that he’s selling his guitar equipment to help fund his campaign plan. Which apparently involves another guitar:

Maybe he’ll be doing a campaign speech with a wah-wah pedal.

Now, that might at least be interesting, because it’s been a borefest to date.

From Facebook:

Hot off the press, Dusty Johnson serving as the Republican Leader of the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.  Here, he delivers the opening statement.

Thune: South Dakotans See Right Through Democrats’ Budget Gimmicks  

“It will take 10 years of taxes – and other revenue-raising measures – to pay for programs that could last as little as one year.”

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

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today called out Democrats for trying to disguise the price of their reckless tax-and-spending spree through convoluted budget gimmicks that are designed to fool the American people. Thune warned that Democrats’ massive government expansion and proposed tax hikes pose serious, long-term consequences for the economy and South Dakota families.

This was a crazy tweet coming from a Sioux Falls Mayoral candidate:

A couple years ago my youngest son and I were leaving Target on the east side of town. We drove by a young woman with a baby in her arms holding a sign saying “help for food.”

I turned the car around and went back. I got out of my car and asked her what happened. She… pic.twitter.com/Y8pYOfaXQe

— Taneeza For Sioux Falls (@taneezaforsf) October 24, 2021

Sioux Falls Mayoral Candidate Taneeza Islam is critical of the City of Sioux Falls for encouraging people to support programs that help to alleviate the root causes of panhandling, because she wanted to give someone money out of her pocket instead of helping them to a women’s shelter or other welfare agency?

So what is her purpose in wanting to be mayor? Because she thinks Sioux Falls needs more beggars?

I think we all want to help people and prevent homelessness. But as noted by one university study:

Contrary to common belief, panhandlers and homeless people are not necessarily one and the same. Many studies have found that only a small percentage of homeless people panhandle, and only a small percentage of panhandlers are homeless.26, ‡

The City of Sioux Falls has an absolute interest in encouraging people to support social supports and related charities, and to discourage people standing on the corner holding a cardboard sign by WalMart, downtown, or Interstate off-ramps in Sioux Falls.

Because if they don’t, how long until aggressive panhandlers end up being a quality of life negative, as we’ve seen in many larger cities across the nation?  Literally, San Francisco and Portland are as infamous for crime and people pooping in the street as they are for being tourist destinations.  Islam claims in a follow-up tweet that she wants more taxpayer paid supports.. but how has that worked in other major cities? Because they still have the same problems.

Sioux Falls Mayoral Candidate Taneeza Islam encourages panhandling instead of charities?

Unless her platform is that Sioux Falls needs to be more like Portland, she needs to figure out that her vision is not anything like the citizens of Sioux Falls want.

Jim Soyer: The Heart of a Servant
By: U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

I lost a good friend last week. Lonnie lost her husband of 37 years and her soulmate. The state of South Dakota lost a legendary public servant.

Jim Soyer always listed truck driver, teacher and newspaperman first on his biography. But, he was also an extremely accomplished, humble public servant – having served as chief of staff and press secretary to the likes of former Governor Bill Janklow and former governor of Wisconsin and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. I worked with Jim while I served in the state legislature, he was my legislative director in the governor’s office and, up until the time of his death, he was a member of my U.S. Senate staff.

Jim believed that those private sector jobs held more weight than his public service – because those were jobs “normal people” held – it’s what paid the bills. He would always talk about the “producers” and the “consumers”. Speaking from a taxpayer perspective, he often preached that producers paid the government’s bills (taxes) and consumers spent the money. The infamous “bleeders and spenders” list was a consolidated list that Jim kept and managed every legislative session. To the chagrin of many legislators, lobbyists and special interests – the “bleeders and spenders” list was Jim’s way of tracking all of the taxpayer money that people were trying to spend. Over the years, many of those proposals met their demise – because Jim was looking out for the taxpayer. Jim would say: “normal people” don’t have lobbyists so “they need us.”

While Jim would never volunteer it, the last time I counted, he had either written or had significant input in writing 19 State of the State addresses for governors in two different states. It’s possible Jim wrote more press releases and messages for governors than any other person in the history of our country.

A man, who by all accounts, rose to the highest ranks of state government – believed in the goodness of people and the greatness of our state. He could have been anything and yet he chose to serve others. Jim never wanted the spotlight, yet his impact on our state was as great as any of the political figures he served under. He loved the work and never had an agenda except making our state better.

In 2005, Northern State University recognized Jim as one of their distinguished alumni. Of course, Jim first mentioned his work as an educator before mention came of his public service. You see, Jim Soyer was at the table when Citibank moved to South Dakota, property taxes were cut, wiring the schools in South Dakota took place and when the state started the Internet Crimes Against Children program. But one of the items I appreciated the most was his ability to tell a story. It was that skill that helped to convince the people of South Dakota to invest in an old goldmine and convert it into the world-class Sanford Underground Research Facility at Homestake. He shared the powerful message of opportunity for young people to participate in this technology or they would leave our state. Jim was at the heart of my legislative team while I was working as governor. Any success we had could be largely attributed to Jim.

Jim’s humility was on full display in 2005. Despite his many professional accomplishments – he told the story of how he believed his role was to “gather, organize, analyze and boil down accurate information so his superiors can make the most well informed decision.”

Frankly, Jim has been with me in public service for the last 30 years. With a lump in my throat, I sadly reflect that this is the first column I’ve ever written without his input.

I’ll miss my friend, Jim Soyer.

###

Listening to the House Redistricting Committee meeting yesterday, a couple of things got my attention.

First off, while they voted to approve the latest iteration of the “Grouse” map.. it’s actually still not done, because they’re noted they are  going to meet again on Friday. (which isn’t on the calendar). They noted that it’s their intent to meet, and carve up at least two legislative districts into single member districts, 26 and 28, as they are that way now.

So, technically the map is mostly approved. Mostly.

Secondly, and more notably, the House Committee discussed that it might be a good thing to put together an informational column to explain how they reached some of their decisions on redistricting.

This revelation that they want to explain what they’re doing is coming months after their counterparts in the Senate were proposing and releasing maps all throughout the process, and lamenting that the House was holding their maps alternately secret, or incomplete, and many House members had no idea what the redistricting committee was doing. I haven’t spoken with any rank & file House members this week about the topic, so I’m not sure that they know yet.

And while they are thinking about what to write in their first disclosure about their process & deliberations, Senate Redistricting chair Mary Duvall fired off a third or fourth column from the Senate Committee about where they ended up on the Senate side.

We’ll watch and see what’s out there when the House finishes up their tweaks of the map, and when they finally get around to disclosing what they are proposing and why.

There’s a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck that notes “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.”  I would say that along those lines, when I compare how the House went about the redistricting process versus how the Senate went about it, I have a better feeling about knowing what went into the Senate’s version.

From the Argus Leader, at GOP senator’s recent retreat last week, they at least discussed whether it might be best to bring legislation or to roll the dice at the ballot box:

Senate Republicans this month, during a two-day legislative retreat in Sioux Falls, spent time discussing the potential for the Legislature to pre-empt a pair of proposed ballot measures seeking to expand Medicaid with legislation of their own.

“How has our reluctance to act worked in the past?” said Sen. Wayne Steinhauer, posing the question to his colleagues while pointing to cannabis and minimum wage policies.

And,,

Schoenbeck said Friday that given the amount of money on the table through Medicaid expansion, and the ever-changing political climate, it makes sense for lawmakers to consider their options.

“The question is ‘is more federal welfare good for South Dakota?’,” he told the Argus Leader.

Read it all here.

That might be a challenging issue to get the rank and file of the GOP to accept, much less the House of Representatives. And the Governor.

We’ll see. Never say never in politics.

He was complaining on facebook last night that the Senate redistricters were drawing a plan he didn’t like, and now he’s in the Argus Leader complaining about the map that the State Senate has designed might cause him to have an election.

State Representative Tom Pischke just doesn’t seem to be starting this week on a positive note:

“I do feel the Senate map is targeting me and other conservatives,” said Rep. Tom Pischke, the District 25 Republican from Dell Rapids who’s among several House members to speak out against the “Blackbird” proposal, the formal name for the redistricting map being carried by Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, and endorsed by Senate members on the redistricting committee.

and..

And some House members wonder if that’s all a recipe to rid the Legislature of a few social conservatives while protecting moderates.

and..

The source of the controversy around the Blackbird proposal, he (Schoenbeck) said, stems from how “gerrymandered” the current legislative districts are. Fixing that with a new map will compact districts, and more straight lines will unavoidably cause some heartburn among incumbents.

“Nobody owns a district,” Schoenbeck said. “The process is way more important than any one of us.”

Read it all here.

Tom should turn that frown upside down.

Voters don’t like a grumpy candidate, and he might have to be hitting some doors before this is all over.