Had a lot of chatter and tips this week that seems to circle back to an organization I’ve recently written about, the Patriot Ripple Effect Group/Political Action Committee based out of Sioux Falls. The group is chaired by Adam Broin, with former Minnehaha GOP Chair Dave Roetman serving as treasurer and main contact for the committee.

I’m told that new Sioux Falls at-large city council candidate Bobbi Andera is a very politically conservative recruit of this group in one of their first forays into finding candidates. She is running to take on incumbent Janet Brekke for one of the at-large Sioux Falls City Council spots. (City Council race watchers should also be aware that word is also that a not-so-hard-right candidate with broad based support will also be getting in the race.)

But even more interesting, I’m also being told that this race was NOT Andera’s first choice. I was told last night that she was originally recruited to run in a primary election against State Representatives Sue Peterson and Richard Thomason in whatever ends up as the reconfigured District 13 legislative district. And that information was in the wild as much as 2-3 months ago, and the switch to City Council is only a very recent development.

The word is that the intent was to try to take out Thomason because there are those who view him as not being one of the hard right members of the Sioux Falls legislative delegation. And the group has eyes on replacing several incumbents they see as not following their dogma.

Where are they coming from in philosophy? You might say that it is reflected by the Ripple Effect’s participation in the anti-incumbent rally this summer.. not to mention the COVID anti-vax protest they recently helped sponsor across the street from the Sanford Hospital.

Now that brings me up to this afternoon. In conjunction with tracking down some calls being made by one of the leaders of this group in the race for AG, I’m told that the Patriot Ripple Effect group is ALSO recruiting for Republican Party precinct positions in hopes of influencing candidate selection.

While legislative races are selected in primaries among Republicans in the population at large, this push for precinct people is a very big deal for Constitutional office candidates; those offices from Lt. Governor down through Public Utilities Commission, as those delegates are the ones who directly select those offices at the State Republican Convention which will be in Watertown next June.

In recruiting for precinct slots, with enough people they could hold sway over who wins the contested races at the next Republican Convention. Which at the moment are currently Attorney General & Commissioner of School & Public Lands.  But, there could be more in this environment of political conflict.

The number of precinct people I was given was that they may be hoping to recruit was around 250 precinct people statewide to help forward their agenda.

With precinct people, that group can also further influence races, as party committee precinct people are the ones who make the replacement selections if legislative candidates drop out of running during the election cycles. Of course, wielding that influence also continues in races in late 2022/early 2023 for county party officials.

It’s hard to guess whether the group is going to gain any traction or influence.

But, unless you are looking for the state legislature to turn into a complete sh*t show like the Rapid City School Board, it’s a good reminder.

If you want to be represented by the best candidates with broad-based support, the world is ran by those who show up.

So be a part of the solution for good government, and make sure you’re showing up. Volunteer, vote, and even better, give running for office a try.

Your community will be far better off if you do.

So after the story in the Argus today where the State House and Senate are at odds over redistricting, reporter Joe Sneve posted the following on twitter as evidence provided him by House members that State Senator Lee Schoenbeck is out to get them:

House members counter by pointing to the last line of this post the senator made on a @SoDakCampaigns as an example of evidence he’s manipulating the process from behind the scenes in hopes of a predetermined outcome. https://t.co/unRopDIiPf pic.twitter.com/Ck4b7NckZr

— Joe Sneve (@Argus_Joe) October 8, 2021

What’s that cliche’ about when you assume things?  Because apparently there are House members who are pulling a comment (made by someone commenting as Lee) pretty far out of context.   Because the comment didn’t come in connection with redistricting.

It came under a post where GOP Chair Dan Lederman was taking Citizens for Liberty Lobbyist Tonchi Weaver to task for her column in the Rapid City Journal attacking Governor Kristi Noem:

In a recent column, Citizens for Liberty lobbyist Tonchi Weaver spent a good number of column inches attacking Governor Kristi Noem for allowing people to exercise self-determination. Weaver tried to claim some great conspiracy of the Governor’s when the COVID epidemic first hit when Kristi suggested in an executive order that the sick and elderly take COVID seriously and stay home for three weeks to help flatten the curve of death and severe illness. In that same executive order, Kristi also suggested people wash their hands and eat well-balanced meals.

I feel compelled to tell people that despite Weaver’s alarmist column, no one who failed to wash their hands or who ate an extra dessert when COVID first hit was unjustly persecuted by the state.

Read my post here, and the original column here.

And it was under my coverage of the GOP chair’s column where Senator Schoenbeck wrote the comment.

Given the fact that the lobbyist for Citizens for Liberty was attacking Governor Kristi Noem, and the State GOP Chair was responding.. not to mention the groups’ track history for attacking Republicans.. it wasn’t unlike a number of comments under that post.

But apparently there are some paranoid House members who believe that defending Governor Noem and wanting to be rid of the Citizens for Liberty goofballs is tantamount to trying to take them out. And they’re monitoring the comment section for those they think might be criticizing them?

Not sure what to say to that. (Except that if House members are paying that much attention to my comment section – it’s a great plug for advertising here, because you know you’re getting your message in front of many of our state’s leaders! )

Governor Noem Appoints First Members to Freedom Scholarship Board

PIERRE, S.D. — Governor Kristi Noem today announced the appointment of five board members for the Freedom Scholarship endowment. The appointments set the stage for the state to begin delivering awards for its first-ever needs based-scholarship program. Dana Dykhouse, Miles Beacom, Phyllis Heineman, Diana Vanderwoude, and Chris Houwman will serve as the inaugural board members for the Freedom Scholarship endowment.

“I am grateful to these five South Dakotans for volunteering their experience and talents to help us launch the Freedom Scholarship. This endowment will allow us to tap into a network of students who are eager to excel in their studies and professional pursuits,” Governor Noem said. “This scholarship will ensure that South Dakota is securing some of the top talents in our colleges and universities. As more and more companies move to our state, we need today’s workforce ready to take on tomorrow’s jobs.”

Dana Dykhouse is the CEO of First PREMIER Bank and currently serves on the board of the Build Dakota Scholarship Fund. Miles Beacom is the CEO of PREMIER Bankcard and has a strong record of community service, including as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of South Dakota Beacom School of Business. Phyllis Heineman is a former educator, South Dakota State University alum, and has previously served on numerous boards, including the South Dakota Partners in Education. Diana VanderWoude has 40 years of experience in healthcare administration and education and is currently the Vice President of Learning, Education, and development for Sanford Health. Chris Houwman is CEO and President of Malloy and currently serves on the South Dakota Workforce Development Council.

The Freedom Scholarship endowment was created in the 2021 legislative session. Senate Bill 171 initially authorized $50 million to be allocated to the Freedom Scholarship endowment. In partnership with First Premier Bank, T. Denny Sanford, and other private donors, the fund is now at more than $175 million in commitments.

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From the Argus Leader, State Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck is mincing few words on redistricting as he believes House members are trying to draw lines to protect themselves after saving their proposals for very late in process, and trying to keep a district that was drawn 10 years ago to protect incumbents:

“Ten years ago, a conurbation district didn’t exactly give us a great proposal for District 25. It’s oddly shaped,” Crabtree said last week. “I don’t think we should go back and make the same mistake we did 10 years ago.”

Schoenbeck told the Argus Leader on Friday the House’s map, drafted by Dennert, is “gerrymandered” and looks like “they gave a monkey a switchblade and said carve up South Dakota.” He accused House members of inserting self interests into the process.

“The Speaker put people on the committee who’s goal is to draw lines to protect Legislators who have, let’s say, unique worldviews,” Schoenbeck said. “It’s the House committee taking care of a few of their friends.”

and..

Gosch pointed to a proposed district map Schoenbeck published on a conservative blog this summer and its similarity to the map the Senate Redistricting Committee is recommending.

Read the entire story here.

“a conservative blog?”  Apparently the Argus must have an editorial ban on mentioning the SDWC.  (You can read Schoenbeck’s “alluded to” column here.)

Going to be an interesting special session.

US Senate Hopeful Bruce Whalen posted a bizarro campaign video to Social Media Site ‘Rumble’ this week from the front steps of the State Capitol where among several things, he says he sent Senator Daschle packing, and mixes a talk about what he would do in the US Senate with rambling about the end times:

“He (possibly referring to Senator Thune) should not be calling us conspiracy people… because we know the election was stolen …from President Trump.”

And

“This is really a spiritual battle. And… I intend to win this. How far down the road are we going to get? Revelation is coming. What’s been prophecized in Daniel and other books of the bible … it’s going to come. We’re going to come across hard times. What I’d like to see is some people saved out of this period now so they don’t get into them hard times. But it’s coming and so.. I’m not looking to bring a better life to people and say ‘hey look,’ guess what. It’s coming anyway because (unintelligible) But I want to say I want to see stand up and say God we are with you. We’re with you when you.. when Jesus comes for the rapture we expect to be going with you. Because tribulation is going to hit, it’s going to hit hard. So.. that’s how I feel about it. Let’s get in and let’s turn things much as around as we can. I’m not looking for a second term. I think I can get things what I want done in the first term….”

You can open up this can of revival tent crazy here.

Um.. yeah. So Bruce declares that we should not be referring to “them” as conspiracy people. And tribulation is going to hit.

“Conspiracy people” might be the nicest thing that people would say about his candidacy at this point.

Government Overreach at Its Worst
By Sen. John Thune

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) already knows how much money you make. And now, it wants to know exactly how you spend it. Washington Democrats are attempting to fund part of their reckless tax-and-spending spree through a new proposal that would increase funding to the IRS by $79 billion so they can double – yes, double – the size of the agency. Their proposal would require banks, credit unions, and other financial service providers to report to the IRS when a business or customer makes total deposits or withdrawals that exceed a certain amount – $600 if the president has his way. Essentially, anyone who has a job or has saved a bit of money could be subject to Washington bureaucrats snooping through his or her checking account.

South Dakotans want no part of this big government overreach, and I couldn’t agree more. My office has heard from thousands of concerned South Dakotans who do not want IRS agents prying into their most basic, personal information. They won’t, if I have anything to do about it.

We do not need the government monitoring every purchase law-abiding Americans make from the App Store or how many times they buy a cup of coffee or what they’re getting their kids and grandkids for Christmas. This proposal is a blatant invasion of privacy. And for anyone familiar with the IRS, it’s not at all reasonable to believe the agency has the capability to manage all of this additional information given its troubling record of already failing to protect confidential taxpayer information. Flooding the IRS with more – and I would argue highly unnecessary – data, while at the same time burdening taxpayers, financial institutions, and already overwhelmed IRS service centers with more paperwork lacks common sense.

How would a proposal this far out of the mainstream even be a serious topic of discussion in Washington? Great question. A big reason is that Democrats are looking for new ways to fund part of their multi-trillion dollar tax-and-spending spree. The Democrats’ proposal to double the size of the IRS and track taxpayers’ financial activity should never have even seen the light of day. But these days, there is pretty much no area of life that Democrats think wouldn’t be better run by the federal government. If there was a clearer difference between the two parties, I’m not sure one exists.

Rest assured, I am working hard to stop this nanny-state style monitoring of your bank account. I recently led dozens of my colleagues, including every Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Banking Committee, to stand up to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and push back against this excessive intrusion into Americans’ private lives. I also cosponsored legislation to place necessary guardrails around the IRS and protect taxpayers’ rights. South Dakotans entrusted me to stand up for them against invasive, radical policies, and I will continue to be a tireless fighter on their behalf.

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Guest Column: The Meaning of Native American Day from the Perspective of a Lakota Woman
By Shawnee Red Bear
October 8, 2021

This guest column is written by Shawnee Red Bear, who works in Congressman Johnson’s Washington DC office

This Monday, October 11^th, marks the 31^st year South Dakota will celebrate “Native American Day”. South Dakota is one of just 14 states that observes Native American Day instead of Columbus Day.

South Dakota is home to the 9 tribes of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota speaking Natives. As a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Lakota woman, Native American Day is about more than just honoring Native American history and culture.

My entire upbringing revolved around being “Indian”. In fact, I always assumed “Indians” were everywhere. My summers were filled with native traditions like attending powwows, an event filled with dance, song, and socializing; chokecherry picking, a fruit indigenous to much of North America; and hanging out with my Unci (Lakota for grandma). As a child, I paid little attention to life outside the reservation.

As I got older, I began to learn about the dark history that plagued my people. Forced assimilation and western religions attempted to strip our ancestors of their cultural identity.

Outside of states like South Dakota, the stories of the thousands of Native children who were taken from their families against their will and shipped off to boarding schools to be “civilized” are not often told. Hundreds of those children never made it home and tribes are still working to get their remains back.

“Celebrating” Native American Day doesn’t come with flag waving and parades, it is more solemn than that. As a 30-year-old single mother residing on the Pine Indian Reservation, I am only a few generations removed from these atrocities that attempted to eradicate my people and my culture.

But this isn’t the end of our story. Across the country, native people have begun to reclaim our cultural identity, revitalize our native languages, and bring awareness to our tragic history.

I am excited to see Lakota language preservation programs being funded and offered in our communities. I am proud of the work that the Murdered Missing Indigenous Women movement has done to bring justice to families. I am grateful that the remains of Native children who died at Carlisle Indian School are being returned home to Rosebud Sioux Tribe here in South Dakota. These are all steps in the right direction to reconcile the past.

For me, Native American Day means knowing that it is no longer discouraged to be a strong Lakota Winyan (woman). I am proud of how far my people have come.

Shawnee Red Bear is the Fall 2021 Ben Reifel Fellow in Rep. Dusty Johnson’s Office, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Veteran Service Officer & Director of Veteran Services. She served in the United States Marine Corps from 2009-2013 and currently resides in Pine Ridge.

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Don’t wait till Monday to celebrate Native American heritage

By Governor Kristi Noem
October 8, 2021

The second Monday in October has been recognized as a federal holiday since 1968. In 1990, South Dakota was the first state to do things a little differently than the rest of the nation. In South Dakota, we recognize Monday, October 11^th, as Native Americans’ Day. We recognize that the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota people and their culture is part of who we are collectively as South Dakotans.  We recognize them traditionally as the O’ceti Sakowin meaning the Seven Council Fires — more commonly known throughout the world as the Great Sioux Nation.

In 1990, Governor George S. Mickelson lead the “Year of Reconciliation.” It’s been my goal in public office to continue that mission of recognizing and respecting the nine tribal nations that share our geography. It is my goal to come to the table with tribal leaders to support tribal communities, businesses, and families.

One of the people who is instrumental in my work with Native Americans is Dave Flute, Secretary of Tribal Relations. As a veteran with the 235^th Military Police Company and a proud Native American leader across the Great Plains, Dave has spent his life in service to his people and his country. He’s taught me a lot about what is important to the Native Americans in South Dakota and how to strengthen the relationship between our communities.

My vision for South Dakota is strongly based in family values. This is common ground I share with every tribal leader. I have learned a lot about the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota values through this lens. Providing strong support systems for youth, families, and elders are missions I share as a mother, caregiver, and as a South Dakotan. Strong families are what make South Dakota special. “Tiwahe wasagyapi wicawake’ye.” (I believe in strong families.)

Through the Department of Social Service’s Foster One and Stronger Families Together program, I have supported and urged Native families to open their homes, to adoption and foster care. We need more Native families to open their hearts and homes to children. Much like tribal communities, South Dakota was built by families supporting families. “Oyate kin na tiwahe tawapi okciyapo.” (Communities and families need to help each other.)

This holiday weekend, I encourage every South Dakotan to reach into their own community to support Native-owned businesses, learn more about the local Native American culture, and recognize the shared values we have as South Dakotans. Don’t wait until Monday to celebrate Native American heritage.

For information about resources, events, and other Tribal initiatives, go to sdtribalrelations.sd.gov.

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The Pandora Papers: Puff and Point
by Thomas E. Simmons

Since Monday, there has been a buzz – to put it mildly – relating to the trust administration industry in South Dakota. The leaking of 11.9 million private financial records was very big news and it’s reverberating around the globe.

Let me say that again: eleven-point-nine-million financial records. How much data is that?

Simmons is a professor at the University of South Dakota’s Knudson School of Law and concentrates on trusts, estate administration, and the estate tax. Prior to becoming an academic, he was a partner with the Rapid City law firm of Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP.
I think it’s fair to guess that some financial records are more than just one page long. Let’s say on average – conservatively – a financial record comprises three pages. (The records include a variety of documents; emails, spreadsheets, contracts, etc.) At three-pages each, that amounts to 35 million pages.

A full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica is about 32,000 pages. So, that’s 1,093 sets of encyclopedias worth of leaked documents.

I don’t know about you, but – despite my ambitions as a young person – I never finished reading our family’s encyclopedia set. (We had the World Books at our home, which are a slightly easier read than the Encyclopedia Britannica.)

I never completed even a single volume, although I made it partway through “L” if I recall correctly. If a person could finish reading a full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica at the near-maniac speed of six months, at that rate, it would still take over 500 years to sift through the entire Pandora Papers. Maybe you delegate the task to 100 persons; that way it would only take five years.

The project to bring the Pandora Papers to light reportedly engaged 150 news organizations, and you would need that kind of workforce to make even a small dent within a reasonable period of time – otherwise the information would be too stale to be newsworthy. And some of the information is too stale to be of much interest as it goes back to as early as the 1970s.

My point is this: It’s a lot of documents. An almost unmanageable volume of documents. The Washington Post refers to it as a “massive trove.” They’re not kidding.

Nevertheless, journalists have somehow managed to summarize them for the public. What do they show?

Thus far, the Pandora Papers journalism has identified several bad actors who have utilized trusts. There are, for example, indications that a Cambodian antiquities dealer named Douglas Latchford used trusts to traffic in looted cultural artifacts. The Department of Justice caught up to him and he hadn’t utilized a South Dakota trustee but rather a trust company in Jersey (one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France). Latchford died last August.

For trusts administered in South Dakota, there are accusations, too. The journalists list 30 South Dakota trusts holding shares in companies which have been accused of “corruption, human rights abuses or other wrongdoing.” That’s a concern, and one which should be taken seriously by professional trustees and government regulators of trust companies alike. But it’s also important to note what the allegation says – and what it doesn’t say.

The allegation is that some trusts administered in South Dakota hold shares in companies which have been accused of wrongdoing.

My friend owns shares in Volkswagen AG, a Germany company not just accused of wrongdoing, but guilty of violating the Clean Air Act by fraudulently manipulating emissions test results (the “diesel dupe”).

I personally used to hold some shares in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., an American company not just accused of wrongdoing, but actually guilty of an account fraud scandal of such staggering proportions that it generated a $3 billion dollar fine. (That’s billion – with a “b.”)

Those are examples of some pretty serious corporate wrongdoing and not mere allegations. Now, I could just as well own some Wells Fargo shares in trust, let’s say a college-savings trust I’m managing for my children’s future college costs. I’m pretty sure that would not make the front-page news.

There are some points in the Pandora Papers journalism which are emerging as concerns that deserve attention and perhaps even regulatory reforms. But, at least so far, there’s also quite a bit of puff. With such an enormous stack of documents, perhaps there are more serious concerns to come.

Or perhaps not.

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These are the views and opinions of the writer and not those of the University of South Dakota, its Knudson School of Law, or the South Dakota Board of Regents.

From the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Facebook page, it looks like state Democrat Party Chair Randy Seiler has lost his second election in the last six months this week after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has voted him out as an Associate Justice of the Standing Rock Tribal Supreme Court:

Seiler also lost an election for Ft. Pierre City Council in April.

Associate Justice Michael Swallow was also voted out in Tuesday night’s election.