From Facebook, just in case you didn’t realize that everyone was in on the plot to keep Terry LaFleur off the ballot, Terry LaFleur is announcing that, as well as the fact he’s running as a Constitution Party candidate for Governor:
In an article at the Argus Leader this AM where Dana Ferguson profiles several women running for office for the first time, apparently she had her anti-Republican bias glasses perched on her nose while writing it. Because of all the candidates mentioned in her article titled “Women see path for state’s first female-majority Legislature” not one was a Republican. Not one.
She profiled several Democrats, and stretched so far as to mention an independent. But a Republican? That’s apparently not in her wheelhouse.
Despite several female Republican candidates running for the legislature for the first time such as recently appointed State Rep. Marli Wiese in District 8, Tamera St. John for District 1 House, Maggie Sutton in Senate 10, Amber Mauricio in House 13, Tammy Enalls in House 25, Rebecca Reimer in House 26B, Scyller Borglum in House 32, Amanda Scott in Senate 33, Janet Jensen and Melanie Torno in House 33, or Jess Olson in House 34, apparently the Argus Leader’s phones don’t work when calling Republicans.
I’m probably missing someone, but that does give you an idea how many first time Republican women candidates are running. And how big the list of Republican candidates was that Ferguson ignored, (something you don’t get in the Argus Leader.)
Seeing the Argus’ continuous and shameless bias against Republicans and outright advocacy for Democrats just gets old. Do no editors review this stuff and say “It would balance your article if you profile a few Republicans as well?”
It would appear not.
I just hope Republican candidates remember that when it comes time to make decisions where to spend their advertising dollars.
I just had it confirmed from Kea Warne at the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office that Dr. Terry Lee LaFleur did not make the ballot.
Oh well. So much for steering the narrative.
Update – LaFleur speaks – he says all the signatures were good, but he’s being railroaded by Jackley… Noem… or MAYBE BOTH!:
(Or maybe he simply didn’t do as well as he thinks he did.)
While we wait to see if his petitions are valid, Terry Lee LaFleur, Republican candidate for Governor is launching a salvo against his opponents in the GOP Primary, claiming they’re “plagiarizing his campaign issues.”
Okay…
Update: Bonus post from Terry. Things Gubernatorial candidates should not share on Facebook:
I’m not sure why a Republican candidate for Governor felt they needed to share that.
Paging Lora Hubbel….
From Facebook:
South Dakota Democrats were boasting to the Pierre Capitol Journal that they’d filled all 105 State Legislative slots. So, where are they?
Early Thursday, the Capital Journal tallied three of the 35 districts statewide that still lacked a Democrat as a candidate, and nearly a dozen districts that lacked a complete pair of Democrats as House candidates. But Matson told the Capital Journal he’s expecting a complete slate of Democrats as candidates, filling all 105 slots in the legislature.
Krebs told the Capital Journal that some candidates from both parties – for various state offices – had failed to meet the minimum number of signatures, and would be notified by letter. The website does not include a list of candidates who didn’t have enough signatures.
If all the Democratic legislative candidates have enough valid signatures, Matson said it would be the first time the party has had candidates in all 105 slots, since 1984 when the current format for the state legislature was adopted. The legislature has 35 districts, each represented by a senator and two members of the House.
The previous high came in 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected, when 101 out of 105 slots were filled, Matson said.
I’m counting 92 at the moment. Not exactly 105. And there are a number of those that are obvious placeholders.
You have to wonder how deep a dive they had to do to fill that many slots, as they’ve gone to some unusual lengths to recruit before, as noted in this example from 2012:
There are places it wouldn’t be shocking to see the address of an assisted living center but listed as the residence of a political candidate is unique.
“They didn’t have anyone ready for the primaries. So they thought of something to do, to get out petitions and place my name on the ballot,” Dorothy Kellogg said.
Kellogg says she didn’t intend to actually run for the two-year term.
Democrats in the Watertown area needed another name on the ballot. So she planned to have her name there as a placeholder. Then she’d file the correct paperwork, take her name off and replace it with another democrat.
But Kellogg, who served in the legislature in the 80s and 90s, recently received a letter saying her complete paperwork didn’t make it to the Secretary of State’s office by the deadline. So her name, by state law, will stay on the ballot.
According to the Secretary of State, August 7th is the last day for placeholder candidates to withdraw from the general election (ARSD 5:02:07:05. (SDCL 12-6-55).
We’ll know by then what cards Democrats are actually holding. And how much they’re bluffing.
Thor Bardon, candidate for Sioux Falls City Council, has a video out encouraging people to go vote an an early absentee basis:
The Argus Leader did a joint interview and profile of Christine Erickson v. Nick Weiland in the Sioux Falls City Council race.
And they couldn’t be more different.
One’s a liberal. One’s a conservative.
One’s held office before. One hasn’t.
One champions limited government. The other wants government to do more.
The backgrounds and political philosophies of Christine Erickson and Nick Weiland couldn’t be further from one another, and that means Sioux Falls voters shouldn’t have much trouble figuring out which one best reflects their own values and ideas.
And…
And though she’s a Republican, partisan politics take a backseat when making decisions about city business, she said.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “In this role, you’ve got to build those relationships to get stuff done.”
And..
We can address what we can’t get done in Pierre and Washington D.C. here at home,” he said.
During his campaign, which started as a pursuit for the mayor’s office, Weiland floated ideas that tend to align with his political party, like establishing a municipal minimum wage, creating a needle exchange program to address a growing opioid epidemic and more social programming.
Erickson, though, says much of that falls outside of the realm of the traditional role of city government. Rather, the city needs to focus on ensuring individuals, property owners and entrepreneurs aren’t saddled with unnecessary regulations.
So, while Erickson wants to remove unnecessary regulations and barriers to doing business, the dude with a man bun wants to hand out needles to drug users.
Wow.
I think I know how this one is going to go.
I was out of the house most of last night, seeing my dad in the hospital, meeting with a candidate, and doing a bail bond. When I finally rolled back in, my wife noted to me that she received an interesting polling call.
It started out innocuous enough, but soon went out into several “if you knew Shantel Krebs did this”.. or “voted for this”.. would it affect your vote for the candidate? And some of the questions were harsh. She was asked “if she knew that Shantel supported putting monitors in personal vehicles, would it make her more likely or less likely to support the candidate,” and it ramped up from there.
It hit on Krebs’ support for the national popular vote movement, increased taxes, lack of transparency, her ‘Facebook Page scandal,’ etc. Some of the statements were so harsh my wife had to stop them and question whether they were true. She eventually hung up, but indicated the messages they were testing were very direct and pulled no punches.
I did ask team Dusty if they were in the field polling, and they indicated they were not. So it’s unknown whether the Tapio campaign or a third party is out there seeing what the best way is going to be to take the bark off of Krebs in the campaign.
But someone is out there seeing what might work.
Stay tuned.
Ah, the gift that keeps on giving – Lora Hubbel’s Facebook page. Tonight, I find out that according to Lora, my station in life has been elevated:
#3 in the SDGOP line up? So does that put me ahead of, or behind Governor Daugaard? I’m guessing according to Lora, it certainly puts me ahead of Matt Michaels, despite the fact I do not have the capability of growing a fine mustache like that.
I never thought that writing a political blog and selling a few campaign signs would elevate me into such rarefied air.
Prepare to bow to me. (I’m going to be making a few new rules around here!)