Drinking Liberally Sioux Falls had some insight on the South Dakota Democrat Party’s outlook for the 2018 elections in terms of how they intend to bring Democrats home to vote. Hint: They’re not:

Democrats continue to lose the Voter Registration battle to Republicans. According to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website, Democrats lost another 449 registered voters in February while Republican registration increased by 325 voters. In all the Republican advantage over Democrats increased by 774 voters in February. Overall, it now stands at 87,112 voters or, to put it another way, by an average of 2889 voters in each of South Dakota’s 35 Legislative Districts. That is a big deficit for a Candidate to overcome and a big hole the SDDP needs to climb out of.

A year ago the South Dakota Democratic Party (SDDP) announced a big voter registration drive. It even got a $10,000.00 grant from the DNC to conduct registration drives on Indian Reservations. The SDDP doesn’t have much to show for its effort. Since last April Democratic voter registration statewide has dropped by 11,360 voters, from 169,688 to 158,328 or 6.7%. I encourage the SDDP to rethink what they are doing. I don’t know what it is but it obviously is not working.

I need a drink.

Read it here.

So, for every dollar their received from the Democrat National Committee for voter registration, they lost 1.136 voters?

Ann Tornberg – you just keep on keeping on. And while you’re working on voter registration, keep teaching Democrats how to win elections.

Noem in Watertown Saturday

Watertown, S.D. – Kristi Noem will attend the Watertown Home Show on Saturday, March 3.

WHAT: Noem to Attend Watertown Home Show
WHEN: Saturday, March 3 – 12:00PM-3:00PM (CT)
WHERE: Codington County Extension Center (1910 West Kemp Avenue, Watertown)

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Sisseton’s Gordon Nielsen Endorses Jackley for Governor

SISSETON, SD: Roberts County attorney Gordon Nielsen announced in an ad released Friday that he is supporting Attorney General Marty Jackley’s bid for governor.

“Marty is South Dakota through and through, and I know he’ll make us proud as our new governor,” Nielsen said. “Marty balances his attorney general’s office budget every year, has the record of an accomplished statewide leader, and has built trusting relationships with law enforcement, business owners, and civic leaders from every corner of South Dakota. That is the background of someone who is prepared to lead as governor.”

Nielsen has practiced law in Roberts County for 20 years and received his degree from the University of South Dakota. He resides in Sisseton with his wife Kari and their children Nate, Blake, Emmalee and Luke.

“Our team is focused on building a bright future for communities like Sisseton, and the encouragement from hometown leaders like Gordon Nielsen is helping us shape that vision every day,” Jackley said. “We’re incredibly grateful for Gordon’s endorsement, and for all the support we’ve seen in Roberts County. Thank you for standing with us.”

The endorsement caps off a busy week for Jackley, who announced two new lawsuits aimed at challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare and supporting President Trump’s travel restrictions on high-risk countries.

“Marty’s commitment to South Dakota runs deeper than his words,” Nielsen said. “His actions speak for themselves, which is why I’m asking the people of Sisseton to support him.”

Nielsen’s endorsement video can be watched here:

Open Primary Elections Ballot Question Petition Rejected by Secretary of State

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, March 2, 2018

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs announced that the petition submitted for an initiated amendment to the South Dakota Constitution establishing open primary elections was rejected by her office.

“My staff have been working diligently to review petitions,” stated Secretary Krebs. “An Initiated Constitutional Amendment requires 27,741 valid signatures in order to be placed on the ballot. This initiated constitutional amendment petition included 37,197 signatures. We reviewed a random sample of signatures, and only 68.57 percent (37,197 x 68.57% = 25,505 valid signatures, not meeting the 27,741 signatures required) 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 rejection of a ballot question petition in circuit court.

The remaining four petitions will be reviewed by the Secretary of State’s office in the order in which they were received. The South Dakota Legislature also has the ability to include constitutional amendments on the 2018 ballot and South Dakota citizens have the ability to submit a referendum petition concerning laws passed during the 2018 Legislative session.

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

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2-1-17.1.   Submission of affidavit challenging petition to secretary of state–Appeal. Within thirty days after a statewide petition for an initiated constitutional amendment, initiated measure, or referendum has been validated and filed, any interested person who has researched the signatures contained on the petition may submit an affidavit to the Office of Secretary of State to challenge the petition. The affidavit shall include an itemized listing of each specific deficiency in question. Any challenge to the following items is prohibited under this challenge process:

(1)      Signer does not live at address listed on the petition;

(2)      Circulator does not live at address listed on the petition;

(3)      Circulator listed a residence address in South Dakota but is not a South Dakota resident;

(4)      Circulator did not witness the signers;

(5)      Signatures not included in the random sample; and

(6)      Petition that was originally rejected.

Any challenge by the same person or party in interest shall be included in one affidavit.

The original signed affidavit shall be received by the Office of Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. central time on the deadline date. If the affidavit challenges any item that is prohibited by this section, only that line item shall summarily be rejected. A challenge to a line item is not a challenge to the petition as a whole.

The secretary of state’s decision regarding a challenge may not be challenged a second time with the secretary of state, but may be appealed to the circuit court of Hughes County. If a person fails to challenge a petition pursuant to this section, it does not deny that person any other legal remedy to challenge the filing of an initiative or referendum petition in circuit court. A challenge to a petition in circuit court may include items prohibited in this section.

Thune, Klobuchar Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Agriculture Data Research of Conservation Practices

“This legislation would help farmers and land-grant universities better utilize USDA’s massive collection of conservation data and enable them to choose the best conservation practices that would improve productivity on farming operations.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, this week joined Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), also a member of the Agriculture Committee, in introducing bipartisan legislation to improve agriculture data research of conservation practices to help farmers reduce risk and increase profitability. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently manages and stores valuable producer data, but the data can be better utilized to inform producers’ understanding about which conservation practices reduce risk and improve profitability. Individual producer data would be kept confidential and secure, and, under the provisions of this legislation, it would never be publicly divulged.

“One of the greatest challenges with applying the most effective conservation practices, like cover crops on working lands, is measuring the economic value these practices can provide, such as increased crop yields on subsequent crops,”said Thune. “This legislation would help farmers and land-grant universities better utilize USDA’s massive collection of conservation data and enable them to choose the best conservation practices that would improve productivity on farming operations.”

“Farmers sustain an important pillar of our nation’s economy, and do so under unpredictable market and weather conditions year-to-year,” said Klobuchar. “This bipartisan legislation will ensure hardworking farmers are able to capitalize on the United States Department of Agriculture’s vast resources to streamline their operations, enhance yields, and increase profits.”

“Conservation is a key element of South Dakota’s production agriculture landscape, and there’s an urgent need to learn more about the value of conservation practices in enhancing crop production, improving soil health, and reducing risk,”said Lisa Richardson, executive director of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association. “The Agriculture Data Act of 2018 could provide land-grant universities, such as South Dakota State University, better access to USDA-compiled conservation data, resulting in more accurate recommendations for conservation practices and precision agriculture tools that are most beneficial for crop production and soil health.”

The Agriculture Data Act would direct the secretary of agriculture to collect, collate, integrate, and link data relating to the impacts of covered conservation practices on enhancing crop yields, soil health, and otherwise reducing risk and improving farm and ranch profitability. It would also give the secretary of agriculture the authority to establish a secure, confidential cloud-based conservation and farm productivity data warehouse to store operational, transactional, and administrative program databases and records that support business, statistical, and other analysis.

The Agriculture Data Act could create savings through accurate economic assessments of conservation practices, which may result in lower crop insurance premiums due to improved yields and reduced indemnities on land where covered conservation practices were applied.

To learn more about Thune’s 2018 farm bill, please visit the farm bill section on www.thune.senate.gov.

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Apparently dark horse Republican candidate for Governor Terry Lee LaFleur h as a campaign video out there, and in terms of quality, it’s surprisingly well done (if you’re comparing it to the video offerings of the other dark horse candidate, Lora Hubbel).

Now, the content is still a bit paranoid whack-a-doodle, and needed heavy editing and a cohesive message, but again, it’s at least a professional looking product.

According to YouTube, the video has actually been out there since November, which begs the question – Why are we just seeing it now? It’s probably the best presentation of this candidate to date. You would have expected it to be facebooked and tweeted constantly. But it hasn’t been.

And now, we’re at about 3 months out until the election, with questions out there whether LaFleur will even make the ballot. That might be very telling in the kind of campaign that LaFleur has run to date. There…really hasn’t been much of one.

More than anything, the video represents a missed opportunity that could have caught some of the attention he’s been seeking. As well as volunteers who could help him get on the ballot.

Attorney General Jackley Joins Support of President Trump’s Immigration Travel Restrictions for Eight Heightened Security Countries

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined 14 State Attorneys General and the Governors of Maine and Mississippi in a lawsuit supporting the President’s Proclamation suspending the entry of aliens from eight countries with a heightened national security risk into the United States.

“Our Nation’s inconsistent immigration policy is affecting our public safety and workforce in South Dakota. I am supporting President Trump’s temporary suspension of aliens from eight countries identified as posing a heightened national security risk. It is time for Congress to address our public safety and workforce needs with a comprehensive immigration policy,” said Jackley.

The Proclamation’s travel restrictions classify aliens by nationality and not religion. The Attorneys General argue that the challenged Proclamation is a lawful exercise of the President’s broad authority to suspend the entry of any class of aliens from the following countries:

• The eight covered countries- Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia- are identified as “Countries of Identified Concern,” from which entry is suspended or limited as “detrimental to the interest of the United States.” The Proclamation restricts aliens that were outside the U.S. on the effective date of the Proclamation and who did not have a valid visa on the effective date of the Proclamation. It also applies to aliens who did not have a visa that was cancelled or revoked under an Executive Order issued on January 27, 2017.

The President’s Proclamation has been challenged, and the 12 State Attorneys General and Governor of Maine have weighed in to support the action taken to protect the public and our national security.  The State Attorneys General and Governor argue they “have a significant interest in protecting their residents’ safety. But because the States possess no authority to restrict or set the terms of aliens’ entry into the United States for public safety and national-security reasons, the States and their elected officials rely on the federal Executive Branch to carry out that function, pursuant to the laws of Congress.

A couple of days ago, we had a press release from Neal Tapio for Congress critical of the Obama Era Criminal and Juvenile Justice reforms.

On the Tapio website today, it has a bit more …incendiary headline:

Oh my.

Noem Earns 62% Support in USD GOP Poll

VERMILLION, S.D. – Kristi Noem today earned 62 percent of votes in a poll sponsored by the University of South Dakota College Republicans.

“Thank you so much to the USD College Republicans and those who voted in their recent poll,” said Noem. “We know that work remains, as the only vote that matters is the one that happens at the ballot box, but this is certainly encouraging.”

The multi-day Twitter poll was hosted by the USD College Republicans. The results were as follows:

• Kristi Noem: 62%
• Marty Jackley: 32%
• Terry LeFleur: 3%
• Lora Hubble: 3%