Americans for Prosperity – South Dakota
Announces New Dream Team Heading Up State Chapter

Speaker Pro Tem and Noem Area Director will lead South Dakota Chapter.

PIERRE – Americans for Prosperity – South Dakota (AFP-SD), the state’s leading grassroots advocate, today announced two key hires to lead its state chapter.

Don Haggar will serve South Dakota in a new capacity as the state director for AFP-SD. Haggar was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2012 after a successful career in the insurance and real estate industries; he served in leadership as Speaker Pro Tem, a position second only to Speaker of the House.

Haggar stepped down from the legislature to take the reins of AFP-SD after Ben Lee was promoted to AFP Regional Director. Haggar expressed his elation at joining AFP and believes he can have an even bigger policy impact with the grassroots organization: “This organization fights for the principles and ideals I hold dear, and has a history of getting results, not just in South Dakota, but across the country. Our state is under attack by those who wish to strip us of our rights, expand government, and stifle free speech. With the power of AFP’s grassroots network, I’ll be able to best serve our state promoting limited government, lower taxes, and personal freedom.”

Additionally, AFP-SD is equally excited that Andrew Curley will be joining the group as the Deputy Director. Curley worked with Rep. Kristi Noem, serving as the congresswoman’s Southeast Area Director in her congressional office. “Opportunities like this don’t come along often. I’m excited to join AFP and I look forward to working alongside the volunteers and activists to advance the cause of economic freedom in the state,” said Curley.

“We really created the dream team to serve South Dakota. Our state chapter is in good hands and I look forward to seeing the continued growth of our volunteer network,” said Lee.

Rep. Haggar Resigns; Governor Invites Public Input

PIERRE, S.D. – State Rep. Don Haggar has resigned his seat in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Haggar, a Sioux Falls Republican, has served in the state House since 2013, and is currently the body’s speaker pro tempore.

“Don Haggar has worked hard on behalf of his constituents and our state, and I am sorry to see him leave the Legislature,” said Gov. Daugaard. “I wish him well in the future.”

Haggar’s resignation, which is effective immediately, creates a vacancy that will be filled by gubernatorial appointment. The Governor is asking the public to nominate candidates to fill the position.

Those wishing to be considered for the appointment, or to offer nominations, should contact Grace Beck or Rachel Graves in the Office of the Governor at 605-773-3661. Nominations should include the candidate’s name, current address, telephone number and relevant background information.

Haggar represents District 10, which includes an area of Minnehaha County encompassing the cities of Brandon, Corson and Renner. The district also includes an area in northeastern Sioux Falls encompassing Washington High School, Laura B. Anderson Elementary School, the South Dakota School for the Deaf and Willow Run Golf Course. A map of the district is available on the LRC website at http://sdlegislature.gov/img/Legislative_Districts/10.pdf.

Gov. Daugaard expects to name an appointee by the end of the summer.

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From KEVN News, Congresswoman Kristi Noem’s efforts to combat addiction were recently featured on their newscast:

Representative Kristi Noem is looking to help families stay together while recovering from addiction with two bills now headed to the Senate. Congresswoman Noem says her bills will make it possible for recovering addicts to be with their children and give them tools to stay together.

The bills passed through the House last week, and now head to the Senate. She says if there aren’t any amendments — she hopes it will head straight to the President.

and…

Noem says, “As we know from statistics we’ve seen across South Dakota — and frankly, across the United States, drug and alcohol addiction has been rising — increasing problems across the state. These bills would help keep families strong and together while they’re recovering from those addictions.”

Read it all here.

United States Supreme Court Rules with 12 Attorneys General on Immigration Law

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that the United States Supreme Court issued a decision allowing President Trump’s executive order, commonly called the “travel ban”, to take effect, with certain exceptions. The Court will hear the merits of the travel ban appeal this fall.

“The President of the United States has extraordinary power and authority to restrict alien entry into the United States for public-safety and national-security reasons. Our nation’s inconsistent immigration policy is unnecessarily affecting public safety and travel in South Dakota and this decision allows for time to review this current policy and ensure that protections are in place for our citizens,” said Jackley.

In March 2017, South Dakota joined 12 State Attorneys General and Governor Phil Bryant of Mississippi in support of the temporary immigration policy.

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I spent a bit of time on the phone today over Lunch, chasing down information on my prior post on the Special session trying to dictate who the next session’s leadership would be, and I had a couple people share some information as it relates to the upcoming election.

The word is that State Senator Stace Nelson was telling a few gathered for the special session that he has not ruled out a run for Governor yet, which might explain why he and Lora Hubbel continue to bicker, since they would likely be splitting the hard right vote in the race.  (If you recall, that catfight began back in April.)

We’ll see in coming months if there’s an actual plan behind the comment, or if it was just talk.

I’ve mentioned that Neal Tapio will likely jump into the congressional race, but today I’d heard from a couple of sources that State Representative Lynne DiSanto may have her eye on a higher soapbox.  The person I spoke with was noting they’d heard Congress or Secretary of State.

Congress seems unlikely, especially given her hosting of an event for Shantel Krebs.  However, if DiSanto has her eyes on running for Secretary of State, her hosting of the event for Krebs comes into clear focus, since doing a solid for the person currently in the office is a good way to ingratiate herself if she’s potentially seeking an endorsement.

If DiSanto goes on that path, she’s have to contend with State Auditor Steve Barnett who has already announced his intention to run for SOS.

It would not be surprising to see others enter any of the statewide contests we have for 2018, as there’s still an abundance of time left for serious candidates to get in, especially for the constitutional races.

As the saying goes, where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire. And with political rumors, we may be seeing the earliest signs of movement for candidates to jump into the races.

Thune Statement on CBO’s Report on the Senate Health Care Discussion Draft

“Today’s Congressional Budget Office report confirms that the Senate health care bill will soon start lowering premiums for millions of Americans …”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) issued the following statement regarding the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the Senate health care discussion draft:

“Today’s Congressional Budget Office report confirms that the Senate health care bill will soon start lowering premiums for millions of Americans relative to the unsustainable premium increases under the broken Obamacare system,” said Thune. “This legislation does away with the burdensome Obamacare mandates and taxes affecting the middle class and hardworking families — giving Americans the freedom to choose the health insurance that best fits their needs. The bill stabilizes insurance markets collapsing under Obamacare, improves the affordability of health insurance, preserves care for those with pre-existing conditions, and ensures those on Medicaid don’t have the rug pulled out from under them. Americans have suffered under Obamacare for long enough. This bill will enable them to access more affordable, patient-centered health care.”

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Here’s a story coming out of the special session that I hadn’t heard.  Apparently, there were a number of senators who were not very happy at the double-barreled motion coming at the start of the recent special session.

What set things into consternation? It was over the vote for President Pro Tempore:

MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS

    Sen. Curd moved that the Senate do now proceed with the organization of the Senate.    Which motion prevailed.    Sen. Curd moved that Sen. Brock L. Greenfield be elected President Pro tempore of the Senate for the Special Session of the Ninety-second Legislative Session and the Ninety-third Legislative Session.

The question being on Sen. Curd’s motion that Sen. Greenfield be elected President Pro tempore of the Senate for the Special Session of the Ninety-second Legislative Session and the Ninety-third Legislative Session.

And the roll being called:    Yeas 27, Nays 6, Excused 2, Absent 0

Yeas:
Bolin; Cammack; Cronin; Curd; Ewing; Frerichs; Greenfield (Brock); Haverly; Jensen (Phil); Kennedy; Killer; Klumb; Kolbeck; Langer; Maher; Monroe; Nelson; Nesiba; Novstrup; Russell; Stalzer; Sutton; Tapio; Tidemann; White; Wiik; Youngberg

Nays:
Heinert; Otten (Ernie); Partridge; Rusch; Soholt; Solano

Excused:
Netherton; Peters

So the motion having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the President declared the motion carried.

Read that here.

Why was this mundane vote a bit contentious? Look at the language:

The question being on Sen. Curd’s motion that Sen. Greenfield be elected President Pro tempore of the Senate for the Special Session of the Ninety-second Legislative Session and the Ninety-third Legislative Session.

This motion didn’t simply elect the President Pro Tempore for the Special Session. It purported to elect him for both the special session and the session starting in January, and there were those who didn’t care for it, and it became a point of contention.

If we look at the State House, a similar motion met with no dissent in that chamber:

Rep. Qualm moved that the following officers of the regular Ninety-second Legislative Session: Speaker of the House G. Mark Mickelson and Speaker Pro tempore Don Haggar, who are now present be declared elected in their respective offices for the Special Session and for the regular Ninety-third Legislative Session.

The question being on Rep. Qualm’s motion that the Speaker of the House and the Speaker Pro tempore officers of the regular Ninety-second Legislative Session be declared elected in their respective offices for the Special Session and for the regular Ninety-third Legislative Session.

And the roll being called:

Yeas 66, Nays 0, Excused 4, Absent 0

Yeas:
Ahlers; Anderson; Bartels; Bartling; Beal; Bordeaux; Brunner; Campbell; Carson; Chase; Clark; Conzet; Dennert; Duvall; Frye-Mueller; Glanzer; Goodwin; Gosch; Greenfield (Lana); Haggar; Haugaard; Hawley; Heinemann; Holmes; Howard; Hunhoff; Jamison; Jensen (Kevin); Johns; Johnson; Kaiser; Karr; Kettwig; Latterell; Lesmeister; Livermont; Lust; Marty; May; McCleerey; McPherson; Mills; Otten (Herman); Peterson (Kent); Peterson (Sue); Pischke; Qualm; Rasmussen; Reed; Rhoden; Ring; Rounds; Rozum; Schoenfish; Smith; Soli; Steinhauer; Stevens; Tulson; Turbiville; Wiese; Willadsen; Wismer; York; Zikmund; Speaker Mickelson

Excused:
DiSanto; Lake; Schaefer; Tieszen

So the motion having received an affirmative vote of a majority of the members-elect, the Secretary of State declared the Speaker and Speaker Pro tempore duly elected.

Read that here.

From what I’m told, the Director of the Legislative Research Council was supposedly referring to it as a procedural throwback to the years when they would have session every other year. But if we look at how they handled in during the previous special session, they looked at it moving backwards to the previous session, as opposed to looking forward:

House:

Rep. Lust moved that the following officers of the regular Eighty-sixth Legislative Session: Speaker of the House, Val Rausch; Speaker Pro tempore, Brian Gosch; and Chief Clerk of the House, Karen Gerdes; who are now present be declared elected in their respective offices for the Special Session.

Read that here.

Senate:

Sen. Olson moved that Sen. Gray be elected President Pro tempore of the Senate for the Special Session of the Eighty-sixth Legislative Session.

Read that here.

Now, I’ve heard rumors about which this was done, but I’ve also heard that this kerfuffle might have also affected the type of compromise they were bale to hammer out, at least in the Senate.

I’ve heard they had to look forward because they had adjourned sine die from the previous session, but, if we use that line of logic, then didn’t they adjourn the same way from the special session?

The legislative rules looked back to those passed in the prior session for their structure…

Your Joint-Select Committee appointed on joint rules respectfully reports that it has had under consideration the joint rules and recommends that the joint rules of the Ninety-second Legislative Session be adopted with the following exceptions:

and as it applies to elections (per the constitution)..

Art. III, Sec. 9, Par. 3. Rules of proceedings–Officers and employees. EACH HOUSE SHALL DETERMINE THE RULES OF ITS PROCEEDINGS, SHALL CHOOSE ITS OWN OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES AND FIX THE PAY THEREOF, EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THIS CONSTITUTION.

And in Senate Rules…

CHAPTER 3. OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES S3-1. Elective officers. The officers of the Senate are a president pro tempore of the Senate, a secretary of the Senate and such other officers necessary to conduct the business of the Senate, who shall be formally elected by a majority vote of the members-elect of the Senate. Employees necessary to conduct the business of the Senate shall be appointed by the president pro tempore and their appointment shall be announced at the opening of the session.

The question might be contemplated as to whether the rules of the Ninety-second Legislative Session (or Ninety-second and a half) can bind the participants of the Ninety-eighth, and can elections held in the Special Session bind the following session, since they reach a point of adjournment where they close the session.

As noted, ultimately per Article III of the State Constitution, “EACH HOUSE SHALL DETERMINE THE RULES OF ITS PROCEEDINGS,” add “SHALL CHOOSE ITS OWN OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES..”

If the question is “whether they can elect officers for the next session 6 months early”… the best answer might be “if they feel like it.”

We’ll have to see if they still feel the same in January.

I haven’t seen an invitation yet, but I’m hearing that there’s a big dollar $1000 a head fundraiser coming up in South East South Dakota at McCook Lake or Dakota Dunes in the next couple of weeks for Shantel Krebs as she campaigns for Congress.

If anyone has a copy, send it to me here.

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Dale Bartscher, who helped turn the Family Heritage Alliance into the statewide group it is today, is joining the Marty Jackley Campaign for Governor:

I was reading a story on the Internet this weekend about the demise of newspapers when I caught a quote about how some newspapers were instituting “story quotas,” in that there are measurements as to how many stories reporters have to have to produce per quarter, etc.  I’d never read much about the topic or given it much thought, so just for curiosity’s sake I did a search on what guidelines reporters allegedly have for our state’s largest newspaper – the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, via being a Gannett owned property. Here’s a little bit of what I found:

As noted by the Gannett owned Asbury Park Press, there appears to be hard quotas set for reporters of how much content they’re required to produce:

The goals are pretty straightforward. Each metro reporter is expected to produce a minimum of one A1 story a month, one watchdog story a week, one iPhone video a week, and tweet 4-5 times a day on stories of interest to their Tier I and II towns. If you exceed the goals, and we want everyone to go beyond the minimum, you will get a higher performance rating.

and…

Also, let your bureau chief know about iPhone videos you have uploaded. He or she will keep track of your videos for the dashboard. If you see a mistake on the dash, let me know and we will fix it.

And, to bury the lead, we will start a monthly rewards program next month. We will recognize outstanding work with Amazon and Target gift cards.

Read that here.

And take note in that quota how much of it is social media based – because social media may not be optional – social media may be mandatory:

The newspapers that mandate participation on social media emphasize a newsroom-wide approach to traffic growth. The Gannett-owned Jackson Clarion-Ledger, for instance, requires its writers to maintain Facebook and Twitter profiles and everyone on staff helps draw attention to the site, Executive Editor and Director of Audience Engagement Brian Tolley wrote in an email.

Editors and social media managers play a bigger role in audience-building than other staffers, though, Tolley said.

Read that here.

Multiple sources cite that Gannett apparently has a mandatory minority/ethnic viewpoint requirement in news stories, and owned newspapers are rated on how well they implement this:

Some in the newsroom objected, saying sources should be quoted because they were the most credible on a topic or the most articulate, not because they fit an ethnic profile. They said they feared the day they might have to delete an insightful quote from a majority source in favor of a less useful quote from someone who would help the newspaper meet corporate goals.

Paul Anger, editor and vice president of the Free Press since its acquisition by Gannett, defended the policy, saying the paper was “absolutely committed to this.”

Read that here.

Third sign? A requirement that every story include at least one minority quote—even if the story had nothing even remotely to do with race, class, diversity. Profile of a country singer? Need a minority quote. News from a Republican meeting? Minority quote. Silly, stupid, paint-by-numbers journalism.

Fourth sign? Relating to No. 3—no real interest in issues of diversity. Talking a good game, but doing shit about it.

Read that here.

Courtney Shives was being interviewed by a reporter from his local paper, The Greenville News, two and a half years ago for an article about his recovery from a terrifying accident. It was the kind of human interest story that is the staple of many newspapers. Shives explained how a car had slammed into him as he was biking, crippling his left leg so badly it had to be amputated above the knee. Reporter Deb Richardson-Moore asked all the predictable questions: How long did your recuperation take? How did you cope with it emotionally? How have you dealt with the pain?

But the reporter had one more query: “Was there anybody involved in your rehabilitation who is a minority?”

and…

The Greenville News has made it quickly to the top of the Gannett class, scoring 9 out of a possible 10 in the 1998 All-American Contest, as the mainstreaming competition is known. “Three other newspapers also received 9.0s, but no one had a higher score,” executive editor John Pittman wrote in an e-mail congratulating the staff. How has the paper done so well? By taking Gannett’s philosophy to an extreme, reporters say. “If Gannett had a Bible,” says former staff writer Melinda Young, “The Greenville News would be the fundamentalist version.”

and…

“I’ve had some really embarrassing moments with the mainstreaming,” says staff writer Tilly Lavenás. She describes once having to search for a minority source for a story about food for Hanukkah. Because religious minorities don’t qualify, Lavenás tried to find someone who was both Jewish and a racial minority — no mean feat in Greenville. “I could not find any Ethiopian Jews,” she says. “I called the synagogue and asked if they had any African Jews. They said no.” (An editor, recognizing the futility of the quest, let Lavenás off the hook.)

Last fall Lavenás, who is Hispanic, found herself devoting an entire day to hunting for a nonwhite to quote in a story on gourmet dog biscuits. She started with the 50 members of her Hispanic women’s group, but “not one of them had dogs,” Lavenás says. “Finally, I remembered this Indian woman I’d interviewed, and remembered she had a German shepherd.” Bingo. “She was very good-natured,” Lavenás recalls. “I call her for all kinds of things.”

Read that here.  (BTW, this story is often quoted in books, university studies and stories about media).

Why did we read so many *@$%@ bicycle stories in recent years? Gannett newspapers will push “passion topics,” at the expense of legitimate news stories:

The latest effort, being pushed in Gannett papers this year, involves figuring out readers’ “passion topics”—a basic news-sense skill that was a given and a requirement in pre-Gannettization newsrooms.

These “passion topics” will supposedly help Gannett’s papers and websites start to better cover stories readers really care about.

Critics are skeptical and see the new effort as a too-little-too-late attempt to find more ways to use fewer reporters and editors to turn out products while ignoring important reporting that readers cannot know they would be passionate about without getting the information.

Read it here.

And in a case the horse chasing the cart, it has been said that in some cases, the lede is written before the story to provide a teaser. And some think that the story ends up chasing the lede, no matter what the facts are:

Likewise, several practices at Gannett are counter to what most idealistic journalism students learn in college—from its often-bizarre overuse of the passive voice to framing stories before reporting them.

Gannett reporters and editors sometimes write the “lede”—the first paragraph of a news story—before they talk to a source or attend an event. The idea is to focus on what’s important, but the reality is editors commit to proving the lede is true rather than discovering what is true and then writing the lede.

Read that here.

What are your thoughts? Does this help promote good journalism, or is it the opposite?

Anyone else aware of any other trends in news for the owner of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader being talked about on the Internets?  Send me a link to the source.