No shock to SDWC readers, but Senator Thune is telling KOTA-TV today that he’s definitely running for US Senate in 2022.
Thune said that he’s raising money and doing what he feels is necessary to start his re-election effort.
and..
Thune said that he expects to make an official announcement later this year or early next year.
While a couple of others are busy running their mouths, it sounds like the Senator is getting ready to run a campaign.
2006 congressional challenger Bruce Whalen has posted a video to the island of misfit q-anon followers private Primary John Thune in 2022 facebook group announcing that he is going to challenge US Senator John Thune in the 2022 June Primary, telling the facebook group followers “this is just a brief announcement that I intend to compete against Senator John Thune for a Senate Seat.”
“Intend to compete” might be a strong statement, given that even with the backing of the GOP in 2006 Whalen fell short of 100,000 votes in the 2006 election, as noted by Ballotpedia:
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Stephanie Herseth Sandlin incumbent |
69.1% | 230,468 | |
| Republican | Bruce W. Whalen | 29.3% | 97,864 | |
| Libertarian | Larry Rudebusch | 1.6% | 5,230 | |
| Total Votes | 333,562 | |||
Running before, Whalen was plagued by a lack of fundraising, and a campaign which made disastrous missteps. So, he’s not exactly starting from a position of notoriety or electability.
But, it’s a free country.
Good luck with that.
Just opened up a box I’d received in the mail on some political ribbons I purchased recently all relating to the Edgemont & Hot Springs, SD area. (And I got a good deal). The main items I were after in the purchase were these great ribbons commemorating President Taft’s visit to Edgemont in October of 1911:
And if you’re interested in more about the trip, From the Pierre Weekly Press (26 Oct 1911):
And more recently, from the Rapid City Journal:
In October 1911, Taft made a three-day visit through South Dakota. It was the homeward leg of a swing through the western United States.
Taft’s railroad tour of the state included stops and speeches through larger South Dakota towns, as well as brief stops in smaller communities. The trip provided many people, and several towns, their first opportunity to host and hear a sitting U.S. president.
Taft arrived in Edgemont at 6:50 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. The Lead Daily Call noted that as the president arrived in Edgemont, “he was greeted by cheers, hand clapping, and waiving of handkerchiefs.”
and…
Arriving later that evening in Rapid City, the president’s parade toured the town and its streets adorned with “electric lights.” When he arrived at his speaking engagement, eight Sioux Indian chiefs, including Chief Austin Red Hawk, greeted Taft. The delegation of chiefs presented the president with a peace pipe.
Read all about President Taft’s visit to South Dakota here.
I was familiar with the visit, but not that the citizens of Edgemont had produced any swag to go along with it. These will be a couple of great display items for my political ribbon collection.
Infringed.
By: Governor Kristi Noem
April 9, 2021
The Constitution doesn’t always use plain language, but when it comes to our right to defend ourselves, the Second Amendment is quite straightforward: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
It’s often been said that the Second Amendment exists to defend all the rest, including the First. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why the very first bill that I signed as governor was Constitutional Carry, which guarantees the right of every law-abiding South Dakotan to keep and bear arms.
I love hunting with my family. My grandma Dorris taught me how to bird hunt, and to this day my favorite way to decompress is to hunt big game with my brothers. The Second Amendment guarantees our ability to hunt, but it’s so much more important than that. Government exists to protect our rights, but that doesn’t preclude us from protecting ourselves and our loved-ones. In fact, our Founders intended the Second Amendment to include protection from a tyrannical government. That’s why they took up arms against Great Britain in the first place.
Unfortunately, many politicians seem determined to directly infringe on our right to bear arms, despite the Second Amendment’s clear wording that it “shall not be infringed.”
President Biden recently announced several executive actions regarding gun control. He claimed that these actions wouldn’t infringe on the Second Amendment. But that’s false.
President Biden’s actions include a Red Flag order. Such laws can be used to take away guns from a law-abiding citizen. They deprive individuals of both their liberty and property rights. And they aren’t just an infringement on the Second Amendment; they’re also a violation of both our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure and our Fifth Amendment right to due process.
President Biden is also proposing new limits on firearm sales and ammunition purchases. But these, too, are infringements on the Second Amendment. What good is the right to keep and bear arms if you can’t first purchase them? What good is the right to keep and bear arms if you can’t buy ammo to load them? Why would we want to limit ammo purchases when we’re in the midst of a nationwide ammo shortage specifically because of the threat of gun control?
To top it off, President Biden indicated that his executive orders don’t go far enough, and he called on Congress to further infringe on the Second Amendment. In response to such threats to our rights, I promise that South Dakota will do everything in our power to defend your right to defend yourself and your loved-ones.
“Shall not be infringed” could not be any plainer. If only President Biden could be forthcoming and realize that his actions are a direct infringement on our right to keep and bear arms.
###
The Center for Effective Lawmaking has completed a study, and a few weeks ago, announced the release of the Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) for the recently-completed 116th Congress (2019-21) in order to come up with a benchmark of the most effective lawmakers in Congress.
And according to the survey, South Dakota’s lone Congressman, Dusty Johnson, was cited as being the most effective Republican in the US House when it comes to Agriculture issues:
Top Performers in the 116th House, by Policy Area
Newly added to the CEL Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) in 2021 are Interest and Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) in each of 21 different issue areas. These are based on issue area codes from the Comparative Agendas Project through the 111th Congress and based on issue areas found on www.congress.gov for the past decade. The methodology that we employed to construct these scores is the same as that for the overall LES; but we simply base our analysis on the subset of bills that each legislator sponsored in each issue area.
Throughout 2021 we will be releasing reports in which we highlight the scores in many of these different issue areas. For now, we list the top performing lawmakers in each area, by party, for both the House and the Senate. Readers interested in exploring these scores more thoroughly can find all of these scores in a new interface on the CEL website.
Most Effective Lawmakers in 116th House, by Policy Area and Party
Policy Area Top Democrat ILES Top Republican ILES Agriculture Gregorio Sablan (CNMI) 63.1 Dusty Johnson (SD) 2.83
Congratulations to Congressman Johnson and thanks for his service to South Dakota working to promote agriculture!
Governor Noem Names Aaron Scheibe as Chief of Staff
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem announced that she will name Aaron Scheibe as her chief of staff.
“Aaron Scheibe is a dedicated public servant with years of experience in state government,” said Governor Noem. “Aaron has a deep love for our state, and I appreciate his willingness to serve in this important role.”
Scheibe, an attorney, will leave his private legal practice to join the Governor’s Office. He previously served in Noem’s administration in 2019 as a senior policy advisor, working in policy areas including public safety, transportation, tribal relations, and energy. Prior to that, Scheibe served from 2014-19 as deputy commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and from 2002-13 as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State.
“I am honored the Governor has asked me to rejoin her administration at this crucial time,” said Scheibe. “I look forward to working with the Governor’s team, her cabinet secretaries and their dedicated staff, and the Legislature to ensure South Dakota is an example of responsible, and responsive, government for years to come.”
A Pierre native, Scheibe is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and George Washington University School of Law. He and his wife, Laura, live in Pierre with their two sons.
Scheibe will assume his new role on May 1.
###
Dakota News Now has the scoop over it’s competitor KELOland, as the Governor sits down and discusses a broad range of topics.. including what she anticipates South Dakota is going to do with Vaccine Passports:
As of now, the governors of Florida and Texas have both used executive power to ban the use of vaccine passports, and Governor Noem says she agrees with those actions.
“We’ve looked at drafting executive orders, I also want to make sure I’m not overstepping my authority and what I can do. The state government will certainly not be mandating or making sure that’s there’s any kind of enforcement on a vaccine passport and we’re looking at what implications are of these types of decisions and what we need to do when it comes to private businesses and other entities in local government as well.”
Read (and watch) the entire 20 minute interview here at Dakota News Now.
Governor Noem is apparently taking note that the House and Senate will only agree to disagree when it comes to the issue of addressing transgender students participating in sports, according to the Argus Leader this AM. And that means she’s not going to call a special session for it, as the House and Senate are just too far apart to come up with legislation that would be able to make it to her desk:
After a conference call between South Dakota legislative leaders and Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday, a decision was made not to include a ban on transgender women and girls from playing female designated sports on the list of potential bills to consider during an anticipated special session in late May or early June.
That’s according to high-ranking Republican members of both the state Senate and House of Representatives, who told the Argus Leader late Wednesday it was determined the two legislative bodies are so far apart in the debate over fairness in women’s sports and transgender sports bans that there is no path to get a bill to the governor’s desk.
and..
The governor has indicated she will call the special session sometime in late May or early June.
Last week, I took a few days off and went out west with stops in Pierre, Rapid City & Deadwood. In Rapid, I picked up these anti-McGovern bumper stickers from an antique shop, which appear to be from the 1974 US Senate campaign (They accompanied a 1974 Bob Dole item, and a 1974 Republicans for McGovern sticker).
And dang.. that sticker in the center is just harsh.
The crass “First the Flood” sticker refers to the 1972 Rapid City flood which devastated the town, and killed 238 people.
We might not be kind and gentle now, but at least we’re not referring to neighbors killed in a tragedy.
Have you ever just spaced off getting a report in on time? I think most people have.
In politics, it happens to candidates and committees where a campaign finance report is due to the Secretary of State’s office.. and it just doesn’t get there on time. Most people look at it as an oops, take their lumps and move on.
A number of years back when Chris Nelson was Secretary of State, I was filing for a committee I had, and for some reason I was off by a day on when it was due. (Dammit.) If I recall, that was a $50 fine I had to pay for the day I was off, and I moved on a little wiser (and lighter in the wallet) for the lesson.
Since then, the fines have gotten a little smaller, but the teeth for enforcement have gotten a whole lot sharper. So, what happens when a candidate intentionally ignores the campaign finance disclosure required by law?
This all comes up, as I was perusing the Internet a couple weeks back to see what might be amusing to write about I stumbled across a tiktok video from former Libertarian State Senate Candidate Carl Abernathey complaining about a letter he’d received about a fine from the State, lamenting that the state says he owes $240 for running for State Senate.. while holding a letter which appeared to be from the state’s Obligation Recovery Center.
This was the first time I’d actually heard of a legislative candidate ignoring all those statutory deadlines and notices to the extent that they had to be referred to the state’s collection agency for the fines and penalties accrued for not following state law. All over failing to file a couple of pieces of paper.
In the campaign finance record, there wasn’t anything more than a statement of organization for Abernathey’s campaign, as well as a a one page December notice of termination which was also a letter of violation of filing.
I reached out to the Secretary of State’s office for any additional public documents and information on the referral to the state’s obligation recovery center. The SOS provided additional documentation, and noted that “The attached documents will answer your questions.” And they certainly did.
CJAbernathey Doesn’t File Disclosures by Pat Powers on Scribd
What the documents tell us is that the State of South Dakota exercised the rarely used teeth in the laws under 12-27-29.1 and 12-27-29..4, where after failing to file the Campaign Finance report for his general election activity as required by law, the Secretary of State sent Abernathey a notice of violation and order for a civil penalty of $200, as well as giving Abernathey the option for a contested case hearing with the office of hearing examiners.
That was followed up by the December 23 letter terminating the committee, and giving further notice under SDCL 12-27-29.2.
And it continued on with yet another, and final notice where on January 22 of this year Abernathey was noticed that fine needed to be paid within 14 days, or as the letter states:
What happens if I do not pay the debt in full or make payment arrangements within 14 days?
• We will refer your account to the South Dakota Obligation Recovery Center for collection purposes.
• A cost recovery fee in the amount of $40.00 will be added to the amount due.
And that’s exactly what appears to have happened, noting the former Libertarian Candidate’s ill-directed complaint over it costing him $240 to run for office.
Can the former candidate keep ignoring things? He can, but I’m not sure he’s going to like the results.
Abernathey’s new problem is that while he might have ignored the notices from the Secretary of State, under law, the State’s Obligation Recovery Center has far bigger hammers they can use than just a $240 fine:
1-55-11. Licenses, registrations, and permits withheld from person owing debt referred to center.
No person that owes a debt that is referred to the center may renew, obtain, or maintain:
(1) Any registration for any motor vehicle, motorcycle, or boat, in which the person’s name appears on the title of the motor vehicle, motorcycle, or boat;
(2) Any driver license as defined by subdivision 32-12-1(1); or
(3) Any hunting license, fishing license, state park permit, or camping permit;
unless the debt and cost recovery fee is either paid in full or the debtor has entered into a payment plan with the center and payment pursuant to the plan is current.
In addition to the Secretary of State’s admonishment (in their 1/22 letter) under 12-27-29.3 that they won’t certify Abernathey as a candidate again until his fines are paid, the Obligation Recovery Center adds that the state may refuse to renew, refuse to allow him to obtain or refuse to allow him to maintain his vehicle registrations, any driver’s license, and any hunting license, fishing license, state park permit or camping permit.
If you think the state would not use those hammers on those who owe it money, guess again:
“They told me that If I didn’t pay the bill, they would take my [driver’s] license away,” she said. “I told them, ‘Go ahead, I don’t drive anymore.’”
As a result, her driving privileges have been suspended since 2017.
and…
South Dakota’s ORC can do nearly everything a private collections agency can do plus ask the Game, Fish & Parks Department to suspend a debtor’s hunting privileges if the debt is over $50. The ORC can ask the Department of Public Safety to suspend a debtor’s driver’s license and ask the Department of Revenue to restrict someone from renewing their license plates.
The 20 percent collection fee wouldn’t cover the cost of legal action, so the ORC doesn’t file lawsuits to recover debts, Bollinger said.
The ORC cannot negotiate with debtors who have been ordered by South Dakota courts to pay restitution, fines or court fees, which can make collections on those debts more difficult, Bollinger said. Court-ordered debts also cannot legally be written off, unlike most other debts.
Ultimately, for a campaign finance violation, that just seems like a lot more headache than paying a $200, now $240 penalty is.
Even more so when you consider it would have been less headache than filing out a piece of paper on a timely basis would have been in the first place.