Medical Marijuana Ballot Question Petition Rejected by Secretary of State

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs announced that the petition submitted for an initiated measure to legalize marijuana for medical use was rejected by her office.

“An Initiated measure requires 13,871 valid signatures in order to be placed on the ballot,” stated Secretary Krebs. “This initiated measure petition included 15,157 signatures. We reviewed a random sample of signatures and only 62.48 percent (15,157 x 62.4822% = 9,470 valid signatures, not meeting the 13,871 signature requirement) were found to be valid.”

A rejected petition cannot be challenged to the office of the Secretary of State, however that does not prohibit a citizen from challenging the denial of a ballot question petition in circuit court.

This was the last submitted ballot question for the 2018 general election to be reviewed by the Secretary of State’s office, barring any submissions of referendum petitions from South Dakota citizens concerning laws passed during the 2018 Legislative session.

For more detailed information on potential 2018 Ballot Questions, click here.

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Dusty Johnson once again wins the chase for dollars for the second quarter in a row, and has the most in the bank among his Republican Congressional hopeful colleagues:

Dusty Johnson 2018 1q FEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

$129,193 raised, $63,980 spent, leaving Dusty $489,475 cash on hand to take forward into the quarter leading up to election day.

Thoughts?

Shantel Krebs’ 2018 first quarter report is up:

Shantel Krebs 1st q 2018 by Pat Powers on Scribd

Krebs’ campaign finance report is telling us that she raised 112,179, bouncing back from last quarter, but spent 77,372, leaving 396,426 in her piggybank. Otherwise, looks like Krebs took in $11,500 from Women oriented political action groups on top of individual donations.

Interestingly, it appears that Jordan Mason’s company got close to $6800 for contract work… which you might take as code for circulating Krebs’ petitions.

Read the report, and let me know what you think!

You’d think that the person staffing the Congressional campaign for Trump’s South Dakota Director might not be so quick to go after President Trump for drawing a line in the sand against Syria for the use of chemical weapons. And claiming that the attacks have been done under a “false flag”:

Of course that led others to chime in, such as Sam Kephart, who ran in the Primary for US Senate in 2008, who wanted to note that this is all planned.:

From Facebook:

Libertarian candidate for governor CJ Abernathy is crowing this evening about being nominated to his position.

Unfortunately, I think he might’ve missed an important item.

There are no other candidates for any state offices except him. 1 federal office candidate. 1 gubernatorial candidate… and that’s it.

Last Gubernatorial election cycle, Libertarians had more state candidates than the South Dakota Democrat party did. Now, in 2018, they can barely muster up one. Never mind they forgot to nominate a Lt. Gov to serve as his running mate.

Not sure what more to say. It makes a pretty strong statement just by itself.

From Facebook:

The guy who says it is “an extreme risk for an owner to hire a woman working around men in today’s society, and I think that women are to blame for that” is apparently the Libertarian party nominee for Governor in South Dakota tonight, versus the person with protection orders against him.

Gee… congratulations?

Press Release

God sends plague of ice as gentle reminder for Libertarians to be good to their fellow man as they consider nominations for Governor at State Convention

Acknowledging the Libertarian State Party convention is today in Sioux Falls and that party members will be selecting their candidate for Governor between CJ Abernathey and Steve Novotny, God, through his spokesperson Mother Nature, has announced “Oh, Hell no” and sent a record ice/snow storm as a gentle hint to be good to one another, and to consider someone other than those two idiots.

The plague of frogs will begin if attendees do not heed the warning of the Lord.

Seriously though, the Libertarian State Convention is scheduled for today, and apparently it is going to go on as scheduled. According to the group’s Facebook page it was looking like a skinny crowd to begin with..:

…with about 16 people indicating they are interested in being stranded with the Libertarians at the Sioux Falls Clubhouse and Suites. With this weekend’s storms, it’s likely to cut numbers significantly.

While CJ Abernathey has taken a break from making misogynistic statements in the past week, mainly shifting to talking about Admiralty law nuttery…

..the candidate with a record of protection orders against him for stalking, as well as a history of bigoted and offensive statements, Steve Novotny, is apparently making a point to officially announce that various bloggers and commenters have officially gotten into his head, and his program tonight is going to be based on attacking the people talking about his prior statements.

Since Novotny looks forward to answering any and all questions Libertarians may wish to ask of him, might I suggest asking him to define a term he was using in an October 2017 facebook post:

Honest to god, I have to admit that’s a slur I hadn’t heard before. But the bigger question is why anyone would want to consider someone for public office who tosses out such bigotry as this, and seemingly calling Native Americans “worthless bastards.”

Good luck tonight…

From my mailbox, Shantel Krebs sends another mailer today telling us that Donald Trump needs her, as she tries to out Trump her opponents in the race for Congress.

Jackley Releases Fourth Statewide TV Ad: “Judges”

PIERRE, SD: Attorney General Marty Jackley’s family steals the show in the latest statewide television commercial released by his campaign for governor.

“I think a lot of South Dakotans have come to know Marty as their law and order, tough on crime attorney general—but he also has a caring side and a great sense of humor,” said Angela Jackley, who makes an appearance in the ad with children Michael and Isabella.

This is the fourth statewide ad to highlight Jackley’s conservative agenda, including the protection of human life, the defense of the Second Amendment and a limited government approach to job creation and economic mobility.

“My family means everything to me,” Jackley said. “They’ve been by my side throughout this campaign just like our supporters have. Angela, Michael, Isabella and I had fun with our newest TV ad, and we hope the rest of South Dakota enjoys it, too.”

The ad comes at a busy time for the Jackley family. In addition to dance recitals and sports events, the attorney general is finalizing his preparation for a landmark Supreme Court case.

“Despite Marty’s hectic travel schedule, he always makes time for the children when he’s home,” Angela said. “We’re so proud of him. He’s doing what he does best—fighting for the state he loves and the people he cares about.”

Watch the new ad on youtube :

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Campaign consultant Jordan Mason, currently managing Lance Russell’s effort for Attorney General, offered a comment this morning (Under the Neal Tapio FEC Report post) about appearing on Congressional Candidate Neal Tapio’s campaign finance form as having done work for him, while also circulating petitions for Congressional Candidate Shantel Krebs.

You see…. it’s all about divisions.

It’s just like having one division writing against ballot initiatives, and another going to work for a ballot initiative to increase taxes.

Got it?