Nothing leaves you scratching your head in the morning like a SDDP e-mail begging for money:

So, let me get this straight… the bad news is that the GOP is somehow “scared” that Democrats could have “the momentum to win next year.” That’s why the GOP “added South Dakota to the Young Guns program.” And the alleged good news for dems is that they claim to “have potential candidates in EVERY legislative district.”

They’re leaving out the part where the worse news for them is that apparently they have no idea what they’re talking about, as the Republican National Congressional Campaign Committee’s Young Guns program has utterly nothing to do with how many Democrats they claim they’re trying to talk into running for legislative seats.

And you should notice they couch it in terms of “potential candidates in EVERY legislative district.”

That could be true. But it’s as equally as plausible to state that I could potentially be a millionaire if every man, woman and child gave me $10. The potential is there. It could happen.

And after over a decade of Democrats letting their party decay and wither, it might just be more likely.

The remaining ballot measures that are out there circulating are bringing their efforts to a close, and according to the Associated Press, the most lethal one thinks that if they collect enough signatures, it will be “by the skin of their teeth:”

Mentele, who estimated backers had about 15,000 signatures in hand for the medical marijuana proposal, said the group would also send out circulators to people who are housebound.

“Death with Dignity” measure sponsor Angela Albonico said she plans to collect signatures on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations this week as volunteers contact people who have expressed interest in signing on. She said if supporters “do make the ballot, it’ll be by the skin of our teeth.”

House Speaker Mark Mickelson, who is pursuing the ballot question campaign finance measure and a proposal to raise tobacco taxes to improve tech school affordability, said he’s exceeded 15,000 signatures for both proposals, totals that he anticipated would continue to climb.

Read it here.  (Update – new link, the previous one trimmed the article)

The Secretary of State website notes in cases of initiated measures, “the petition must have signatures of registered voters equal to five percent (13,871) of the total vote for governor in the last gubernatorial election.”

And some of these measures are claiming they’re within only a thousand or so of these numbers?  I’d be getting nervous at this point.  Signature collection is difficult, and if they’re only sitting with 14 or 15 thousand signatures in hand, I would not be confident of success.

Whether they’ll pass the Secretary of State’s signature review depends on the petition signature collection accuracy rate, which at least one campaign has noted had suffered a setback as they discovered at least some signature forgeries, which may have set them back, or at least given their opponents something to consider in evaluating if it is worth their while to take a run at the petitions in a court of law.

Stay tuned.

The South Dakota GOP had a great time hunting this past Sunday with fellow Republicans from across South Dakota, as well as a number of candidates who will be on the ballot in 2018.

While the wind was up, so were spirits (as well as the pheasants at Northstream Outfitters):

And just a few photos from the event…

Here Senator Mike Rounds is telling Dusty Johnson, Chris Nelson, and others a hunting story.

Here’s one of the hunting parties on the move under a cloudy prairie sky..

And the pheasants go DOWN!

Lora Hubble might call that plume of feathers a jet contrail…

You can see the dogs racing at full tilt to see who gets to retrieve that bird!

Senator Mike Rounds blocking at the end of one of the fields.

What an awesome day of hunting and fundraising for your South Dakota Republican Party!

SD District 8 Conservatives Monthly Luncheon

The monthly District 8 Conservatives Luncheon will be held Thursday, November 9th, 2017, 11:45AM, at the Second Street Diner, 610 Washington Ave. S., in Madison.  This month’s meeting will be led by SD District 8 Senator Jordan Youngberg, a continuation and latest updates on the upcoming federal mandate of Electronic Log Devices “ELD” for all truckers scheduled to take effect on December 18th, 2017.  Who is covered, what is required by the new laws, and who and what are exempt will be discussed as well as a possible postponement.  Do not miss this meeting as this issue will have big effects to our local truckers including short-distance agricultural hauling.

South Dakota Legislative District 8 consists of Sanborn, Miner, Lake, and Moody Counties in the East Central part of the state.

Conservatives from District 8 are invited, as well as from the surrounding area.  Order off menu, daily special available.  For information call 605-270-2991.

From Facebook this evening, Melissa Mentele, the person in charge of two of the pot petitions, the kill grandma (assisted suicide) petition, as well as also circulating a number of the other measures that would like to make the ballot, has taken to complaining on her public Facebook page that she’s having problems as they go into the home stretch:

So, the head of circulating petitions for darn near anything that’s left out there to be circulated is complaining about someone working for her who is “pulling some shady sh*t” and she directly complains that people are committing “forgeries?”

I mean dang… there are people who want to do illegal things who might be doing something illegal? Perish the thought.

If I was planning on challenging petitions this year, I’d be marking this one down as an exhibit #1 in my case.

My Top Priority for Tax Reform: Middle-Income South Dakotans
By Sen. John Thune

The American people have had a rough time over the past few years. Fifty percent of Americans consider themselves to be living paycheck to paycheck, while almost a third of voters say they are just $400 dollars away from a financial crisis. That’s not acceptable. Fortunately, there are things we can do about it, starting with comprehensive tax reform.

Comprehensive tax reform is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to provide financial relief to American families and get our economy back on the path to long-term health. That’s why Republicans in Congress have spent several months working with the Trump administration on a tax reform framework that we believe will lead to more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks, and why the tax-writing committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives are currently hard at work drafting legislation.

Our tax reform framework prioritizes tax relief for middle-income Americans by ensuring working families receive a much-needed increase in take-home pay. To start with, our plan will lower income-tax rates for hardworking families around the country. We will also double the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for married couples who file jointly. While all Americans will benefit from this provision, it will particularly benefit the low-income families who need help the most. Under our tax plan, a family making $24,000 or less per year will not have to pay a dime in federal income taxes.

There is no denying that raising a family in the United States is getting more and more expensive. That’s why we will also help working families by increasing the size of the child tax credit. This will free up money that families can use for anything from dentist bills to college savings. And for low-income families who won’t pay income tax under our plan, up to $1,000 of this new, larger child tax credit will be refundable.

In addition to direct relief for working families, our tax plan will also provide for the kind of economic growth needed to give hardworking Americans access to new jobs and opportunities and increase their take-home pay. To start with, our plan will lower tax rates for small businesses and family farms and ranches.

Small and medium-size businesses are an important engine of economic growth, but our tax code makes things more difficult for these job creators by saddling them with high tax rates — at times even exceeding those paid by some large corporations. By lowering tax rates for these businesses, we can help them reinvest more of their earnings into their operations. The Republican tax plan will also allow small and medium-size businesses to recover their costs more quickly, which will also help free up money they can use to grow their business and create new jobs. This is good news for the American worker.

Americans have spent too much of the past decade struggling with high taxes, stagnant wages, and a lack of opportunity. It’s time to give them relief. Right now, we have a unique opportunity to implement pro-growth tax reform policies that will provide more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks for hardworking individuals and middle-income families across the country. As we move through the legislative process, I will continue to work with President Trump, my fellow members of the Senate Finance Committee, and leadership in the House to ensure that comprehensive tax reform makes it to the president’s desk for his signature.

*Note to editors: A similar version of this column was published on www.time.com.  

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South Dakota’s Economy Benefits from NAFTA
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

Free and fair trade is vital to South Dakota’s economy. Not only does it open up important markets for South Dakota products, it results in higher wages and supports our small businesses and producers. Last year, we exported $1.2 billion in products to other countries, including goods, machinery and electronic equipment. In particular, the North American Free Trade Agreement—NAFTA—between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, South Dakota’s top two exporters in 2016, continues to benefit our farmers, ranchers and manufacturers.

Since taking office, President Trump has indicated that he has a desire to renegotiate our trade agreements, and in May of this year, he announced the administration would begin talks with Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA. I am supportive of him making the best possible deals for American producers, however simply withdrawing from NAFTA, without a similar structure in place, would harm South Dakota’s producers.

Just last year, American producers sent $20.5 billion worth of exports to Canada and $17.8 billion worth of exports to Mexico, which is the largest market for U.S. corn and soymeal. Mexico is also the second largest market for U.S. soybeans and the third largest market for U.S. beef. American trade with our NAFTA partners has more than tripled since the agreement took effect, and has increased more rapidly than trade with the rest of the world. Between 1993 and 2016, according to trade data reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. trade with Mexico increased by 544 percent and trade with Canada increased 158 percent.

Agriculture is South Dakota’s number one industry, and trade contributes to the overall health of the ag economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) concluded in a recent report that NAFTA has had a positive impact on North American agriculture over the past two decades. The value of U.S. agricultural trade with our NAFTA partners has increased from $8.7 billion in 1992—before the agreement was implemented—to $38.1 billion in 2016, while imports rose from $6.5 billion to $44.5 billion. The leading NAFTA-traded products are meat and dairy products, followed closely by grains. South Dakota is a top producer of these products.

I have encouraged the administration to maintain strong ties with our NAFTA partners as they continue their negotiations. I have repeatedly asked our U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, to stand up for the United States’ agricultural industry abroad, and work to open up new markets for American products. Earlier this year, the administration reached an agreement to allow for U.S. exports of beef into China. This was a win for South Dakota ranchers, who are now able to sell their top-quality beef in a lucrative market.

Canada and Mexico are essential trading partners for our state and nation, and I encourage the administration to continue working with their leaders to maintain an agreement for free and fair trade among our countries. At a time of economic downturn in our agricultural sector, continuing to increase trade with our North American neighbors and other global allies is of vital importance.

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Questions from My Latest Town Hall
By Rep. Kristi Noem

It often goes unreported, but the House has passed more than 250 bills this year, many following through on the conservative priorities I’ve been discussing for nearly a decade. These 250 House-passed bills include the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, resources for President Trump’s border wall proposal, protections for unborn children, VA reform, and a rollback of numerous Obama-era regulations.

More than 50 of these bills have become law, including many regulatory repeals and national-security legislation I wrote to bring more women into peace negotiations. Others, such as Obamacare repeal, continue to be debated in the Senate. This was the opening report I gave at a recent town hall in Mobridge – one in a series of town halls and telephone town halls I’ve done in recent months.

After that initial report came questions. The first was from Carson, a senior at Mobridge-Pollock High School. He wanted to know what had been done on the issue of abortion. I talked to him about how I helped introduce legislation that would define life as beginning at conception. While we haven’t had the opportunity to vote on that specific provision yet, the House did recently pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions after 20 weeks (the point at which studies indicate babies can feel pain). We were also able to get legislation signed into law this year that would empower states to withhold family-planning funds from organizations like Planned Parenthood.

The next question came from Jayden, who was wondering what I thought of President Trump. I explained that I was pleased the president was strong on national security, which is his number one job. President Trump also campaigned on building a wall on the southern border, repealing Obamacare, and reforming the tax code – all of which are priorities that I share. Additionally, he put a pro-life Supreme Court justice on the bench, which was a huge accomplishment.

Then, a Navy veteran from the area asked about the inefficiency that happens in many government-run agencies. I’m incredibly grateful for this man’s service and believe his concerns are well founded. I’ve fought this kind of inefficiency and waste many times, including through my CUFF Act. This legislation, which has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate, would stop certain Social Security benefits from going to people wanted for felonies and parole violations.

The grand finale question came from a young woman interested in my thoughts on unions. South Dakota is a “Right to Work” state, which means individuals can’t be required to join unions or be forced to pay for union dues as a condition of employment (something that’s required in other states). I think “Right to Work” is the right approach.

I was grateful to everyone who made it to my town hall in Mobridge, and I hope to either see you at one in the near future or talk with you during one of my upcoming telephone town halls. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to visit one of my offices, give us a call, or send me an email. To get the location of the office nearest you, please visit my website: noem.house.gov