Dusty Johnson’s campaign for Congress is bringing it home with the most raised in the final report before the primary:

Dusty Johnson Pre Primary Report by Pat Powers on Scribd

The Dusty Johnson campaign raised the most of any campaign this reporting period, outpacing the Krebs campaign just slightly less than a 2-1 basis at $70,549. Johnson spent $253,627, and was going into the last few weeks with $306,392. However, $197,228 of it is already spoken for in money owed by the committee.

Shantel Krebs for Congress’  pre-primary FEC Report is up for the pre-primary reporting period of 4/1/18 through 5/16/18.  While she has cash on hand, her fundraising was just so-so:

Shantel Krebs Pre Primary FEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

Krebs took in a little under $40,000 for fundraising at $39,978. $212,161 went out the door on expenses, leaving Shantel 212,161 to go into the last few weeks with.

Noem Campaign Goes Negative in Final Days

PIERRE, SD: The terms of the Kaiser settlement were negotiated by the Governor’s Office of Risk Management. The Attorney General had no authority over the process, settlement, or final result. The Office of Risk Management has sole authority and control over settlements involving state government litigation – not the Attorney General.

“Attorney General Jackley had no authority over the Kaiser settlement and claims that he delayed the settlement are baseless,” said Jackley for Governor campaign manager Jason Glodt. “Marty Jackley has been a tireless advocate for victims and South Dakota will see through any attempt to detract from his character in the final days of this campaign.”

“This is nothing more than a desperate political stunt orchestrated by the Noem campaign 11 days before the election,” Glodt said. “Congresswoman Noem’s DC funded campaign has been rapidly falling in the polls and is going into attack mode. Noem admitted making a negative campaign commercial featuring the plaintiff  to attack Marty Jackley and we expect other unfounded charges to be made by Noem in the coming days. Now we know why Noem refused to sign the Clean Campaign Pledge.”

Gov. Daugaard To Appoint Judge Mark E. Salter
To South Dakota Supreme Court

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today that he will appoint Mark E. Salter of Sioux Falls to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Salter is a circuit court judge in the Second Judicial Circuit.

“Judge Salter is a brilliant legal mind, and he will be an outstanding addition to our state’s highest court,” said Gov. Daugaard. “I also appreciate Judge Salter’s leadership of the veteran’s treatment court, and his commitment to new approaches to addressing the problems of addiction.”

Salter will be the 51^st justice in the history of the South Dakota Supreme Court. He will succeed Justice Glen A. Severson, who will retire in June after nine years on the Court. Like Justice Severson, Salter will represent the Second Supreme Court District, which is comprised of Minnehaha County.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to continue my judicial service as a member of our Supreme Court,” Salter said. “I am grateful for Gov. Daugaard’s confidence, and I’m eager to begin serving the State of South Dakota on the Court.”

Salter, 49, was born in Huron and is a graduate of Parker High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University in 1990 and was a Thomas Sterling Honor Graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1993. Following law school, Salter worked for a year as a law clerk in the Third Judicial District of Minnesota.

Salter was commissioned in the United States Naval Reserve in 1993 and entered active duty with the U.S. Navy in 1994. While in the Navy, Salter served in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps as both a prosecuting attorney and a defense attorney. He was released from active duty in 1997 and later served in the active Naval Reserve until 2002. He served as an inactive reserve officer until 2012 when he was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant commander.

After leaving active duty, Salter joined the Cutler & Donahoe law firm in Sioux Falls, where he became a partner and focused on civil and business law. While at Cutler & Donahoe, Salter also served for a year as Turner County deputy state’s attorney.

Salter joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2004, where he was the chief of the office’s appellate division from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure he worked with U.S. Attorneys Jim McMahon, Marty Jackley and Brendan Johnson.

Gov. Daugaard appointed Salter as a circuit judge in the Second Judicial Circuit in 2012, and he took office in early 2013. Salter is the presiding judge for the Minnehaha County Veteran’s Treatment Court, and has sat as a temporary justice with the Supreme Court. Salter also serves as an adjunct professor at the USD School of Law, where he previously taught advanced criminal procedure and currently teaches advanced appellate advocacy.

Salter and his wife, Sue, have four children. They are members of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Sioux Falls.

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From Facebook, Congressional hopeful Shantel Krebs is noting that her candidacy has received the endorsement of Congressman Steve King of Iowa:

From the Argus Leader, this afternoon Republican candidate for Congress Dusty Johnson has earned the nod from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader for his demeanor and being “a longtime conservative voice in South Dakota”:

The current goal is obviously to gain the GOP nomination, and only registered Republicans can vote in the primary. But all South Dakotans should be rooting for Johnson’s credibility and experience to win the day.

You can’t effectively represent the entire state if you’re a one trick pony like Tapio, who plays off ignorance and fear to advance a hateful anti-Muslim agenda. And Krebs has taken a sharp turn from her successful stint as Secretary of State, running hard to the right in an apparent attempt to lure Trump’s most steadfast supporters in South Dakota.

At times, the “extreme vetting” campaign pledges of Tapio and Krebs have played like a race to the bottom of the question, “Who can be the most xenophobic?”

and…

His refusal to reach for a dog whistle enhances his status as a mature and moderate Republican voice.

Throughout his political career, the 41-year-old Pierre native has displayed a consistency in his ideals and demeanor, and in turn a faith in the South Dakota electorate. He is banking on voters looking past the bombast to rely on a more principled level of leadership when they head to the polls.

Read it all here.

 

On Eve of PBS Debate, Tapio Blasts South Dakota Swamp, Career Politician Opponents

(Wednesday, May 24, 2018) With Public Broadcasting’s televised debate between South Dakota’s GOP Congressional candidates just hours away, Neal Tapio today hit hard against his two career politician opponents and used a detailed outlay of examples of scandal and corruption in state government as examples of what to expect should either Dusty Johnson or Shantel Krebs be elected to Congress: Blind eyes and silence at the direction of whatever mainstream GOP leadership demands. Tapio says promises by either that they would help drain the swamp are laughable and ironic, given that both were at the power center of South Dakota’s political machine during the most scandalous period of politics in state history.

“People who willingly serve the public relations silence of a Governor and administration with the authority and responsibility to find those answers have no business promising to drain the swamp in Washington D.C. They’ve already proven that the swamp is where they are most comfortable.” Tapio said.

“Dusty was chief of staff to Governor Daugaard. Dusty has chosen a pathway to power so common in politics. Build your resume, keep your mouth shut and wait your turn,” Tapio said.

“Unfortunately, during Dusty’s time in Pierre, unprecedented corruption hit South Dakota as multiple Federal programs run by the state led to corruption, cronyism, criminal charges and death,” Tapio said.

“Gear Up, EB5 and the refugee resettlement programs are state-run Federal programs that have gone terribly bad and no one inside government is ever held responsible,” Tapio said.

“Dusty Johnson talks a smooth game when it comes to reforming government, but when he had his chance, Dusty remained silent. When the Director of Indian Education, LuAnn Werdel, tried to expose fraud and corruption in the Gear Up Grant program a full three years before people ended up dead, she was fired. When state government tried to own and operate a meat packing plant by raising capital by selling citizenships to foreign investors through the EB 5 Program, things went horribly wrong. The business went bankrupt, investors lost their money, the state ended up in massive lawsuits and the state employee in charge committed suicide,” Tapio said.

“Neither Dusty nor Shantel will challenge the system. They are part of the system and have been for a combined 40-years in Pierre,” Tapio said. “Dusty promises to stand up to liberals like Sen. Barbara Boxer. I’m afraid she is not the biggest problem. Establishment Republicans are the problem. If you will not stand up to Establishment Republicans during the most scandalous period of politics in South Dakota history, what are the chances of standing up to the Establishment in Washington?” Tapio said.

Tapio says the people of South Dakota deserved transparency and a fair vetting of EB-5 and Gear Up that never came, despite pleas by himself and other members of the Government Oversight and Audit Committee demanding that a deeper investigation into the Gear Up scandal be undertaken.

“When we asked for subpoenaed testimony from the central figures in the Gear Up scandal, we were told that it wasn’t the committee’s responsibility to find answers to how it all went wrong,” Tapio said. “We were told it wasn’t the committee’s responsibility to determine wrongdoing or to seek answers about the corruption that cost a family of six their lives,” Tapio said.

“I think the people of South Dakota should be asking, why it is that their elected politicians absolutely refuse to take responsibility and seek tough answers and truth when scandal and corruption leaves a trail of missing money and dead bodies that stain our state reputation,” Tapio said.

Noem Endorsed by Pro-Life SBA List

“With her proven record of pro-life leadership, we look forward to seeing Rep. Noem take the helm as governor of South Dakota.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The national pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) today announced its endorsement of Kristi Noem for governor of South Dakota.

“We are proud to endorse pro-life champion Representative Kristi Noem,” said Marilyn Musgrave, SBA List’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “During her time in Congress, Rep. Noem has fought to protect unborn babies from selective abortions based on their sex or race, stop barbaric dismemberment abortions, and ensure that abortion survivors are given equal treatment under the law. She has worked diligently to get taxpayers out of the abortion business. With her proven record of pro-life leadership, we look forward to seeing Rep. Noem take the helm as governor of South Dakota, one of the nation’s most protective states for unborn children and their mothers.”

Noem welcomed the endorsement, saying: “I am honored to receive Susan B. Anthony List’s endorsement. As a mother of three and a woman of faith, I believe life is precious and deserving of the utmost protection. Taxpayers should never be forced to fund abortion. I have fought for those principles in Congress and will speak out for the vulnerable and the voiceless as governor.”

A mother of three, Noem was first elected to Congress in 2010 after serving in the South Dakota House of Representatives. She has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, including co-sponsoring the Heartbeat Protection Act, Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2017, and legislation to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion.

SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. SBA List is a network of more than 630,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.

Rounds, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Protect Tribes from Costly Obamacare Employer Mandate

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) joined Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and James Risch (R-Idaho) to introduce legislation to protect Native American tribes from Obamacare’s employer mandate.

“The federal government has a trust obligation to provide health care to Native Americans, yet tribal governments and tribal entities are being wrongfully forced to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s employer health care coverage mandate or risk paying expensive fines to the government for opting-out,” said Rounds. “In South Dakota, the fines issued by the IRS for failing to comply with the mandate could devastate tribal businesses. Our legislation would exempt tribal employers from the employer mandate so they will no longer be penalized for failing to comply with a mandate they never should have been subject to in the first place.”

The Tribal Employment and Jobs Protection Act will exempt tribes and tribal employers from Obamacare’s employer mandate.

The employer mandate places an undue burden on tribes, leading to lost jobs and increased unemployment. Instead of bolstering tribal economies, it drives out opportunities and wages. Tribal members were already exempt from the individual mandate in the original Obamacare law. This legislation upholds the United States’ trust responsibility to Indian tribes while honoring the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the U.S. government.

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Five Former Legislators Endorse Ravnsborg for Attorney General 

YANKTON, SD: Five former Legislators endorse Attorney General Candidate Jason Ravnsborg.

Bob Deelstra—Bob was a member of the State House of Representative from 2011-2013 representing District 9.

Charles “Charlie” Hoffman—Charlie was a member of the State House of Representative from 2009-2015 representing District 23.

Brian Liss– Brian was a member of the State House of Representative from 2011-2013 representing District 13.

Patty Miller—Patty was a member of the State House of Representative from 2011-2013 representing District 16.

Orv Smidt—Orv was a of the State House of Representative from 1999-2005 and the State Senate from 2005-2009 representing District 7.

“Every endorsement reminds me to work harder for the people of South Dakota every day.” Said Ravnsborg. “It’s this kind of support that has helped me reach my fund-raising goals and keep moving forward.”

Learn more about Jason and his campaign at JasonforSouthDakota.com and follow the campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JasonforSouthDakota

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