Since yesterday, the John Fitzgerald campaign has released several endorsements for his candidacy for Attorney General:
Stay tuned.. more election information to come!
I finally had a moment to upload my photos from last night’s Americans for Prosperity – South Dakota Gubernatorial Debate. Enjoy!
Moderator & AFP Director Don Haggar questions Marty & Kristi.
Attorney General Marty Jackley addresses the gathered crowd..
As does Congresswoman Kristi Noem, who makes a point…
…as Don listens intently.
Another shot of Marty.
Closing the debate. An absolutely great event!
I’ll have more photos up in a bit, but both of these gentlemen had a good night last night. Mayor-elect Paul TenHaken, and AFP Director Don Haggar!
Jonathan Ellis at the Argus repeats some of what I wrote about last week about the final days of the Loetscher campaign in his column which will likely appear in Sunday’s Argus, in his newest column “The week that doomed the Loetscher campaign”
Loetscher fully embraced the Democratic Party, campaigning at the state party’s annual McGovern Day fundraiser and running on a platform of identity politics of racial diversity and gay rights that is unusual for South Dakota.
and…
Loetscher decided to play for all the marbles. She went negative. She mangled it.
and..
Suddenly, she had a trust issue, an issue that only got worse when authorities found no evidence of hacking. Then, too, came scrutiny of her “biotech company.” Prior to her foray into politics, Loetscher had started a dog poop cleaning business. Any small business owner or entrepreneur brings value to politics. But Loetscher overplayed her hand by referring to the venture as a biotech company.
and…
Meanwhile, on policy issues, the police union repudiated her plan to create police precincts.
Everything had gone very badly. Indeed, she likely would have done better if she’d simply taken the final week off and taken a vacation somewhere. Instead, she suffered a historic defeat.
With Loetscher saying she will “grow her biotechnology company” in her concession speech, I’m not sure she ultimately gets it. That her tendency towards exaggeration was ultimately her achilles heel in this election. A point illustrated and underlined several times in a landslide of a complete and total victory for her opponent when he brought home an authoritative 62.7% against her 37.3% vote.
Restlawn Alliance Group seeking stronger cemetery protection measures in South Dakota
State Attorney General Marty Jackley was recently interviewed by KELO’s Angela Kennecke for a two-part story about Restlawn Memory Gardens, a cemetery south of Huron. The story focused on troubling issues at the cemetery including extraordinary delays in the delivery of pre-paid markers, failure to repair damaged markers, poor maintenance of the cemetery and mausoleum, and questions about the state of the cemetery’s endowed trust. Jackley noted as a priority the importance of examining situations like these for evidence of criminal activity or a violation in the use of the trust funds.
Here is a link to the first part of the story:
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/investigates/families-upset-by-cemetery-s-condition
Here is the link to the second:
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/investigates/grave-disgrace
Jackley also stated that, in light of this situation, he would encourage South Dakota legislators to look into cemetery laws to prevent situations like this from happening again. We, from the Restlawn Alliance of South Dakota, a group of citizens who are concerned about the cemetery, appreciate Jackley’s stand. We encourage other state officials to help enact laws and enforcement mechanisms to protect not just this cemetery, but all cemeteries across South Dakota.
You can read more about the Restlawn Alliance at restlawnalliance.com
Wow! The District is PACKED tonight with well wishers for Paul TenHaken.
They must be expecting good news as the vote is holding around a devastating 62-38% lopsided total for TenHaken, the presumptive next mayor of Sioux Falls with 62% of precincts reporting.
Fantastic event from Americans for Prosperity tonight!
I will recap more later. On my way to the other big event tonight. The Mayoral victory party!
Interesting contrast in speaking styles between Noem & Jackley at the AFP debate.
Congresswoman Kristi Noem engages with a more warm & relaxed conversational style of addressing the crowd in attendance…
While Attorney General Marty Jackley uses what I suspect is similar to the style he uses in addressing a jury, standing when he speaks, and moving across the stage.
I don’t believe either style is a clear favorite. Marty’s is more commanding in person, but with a stationary camera for live-streaming, Kristi is relaxed and continually in frame, while Marty moves in and out of the screen.
More to come….
