Anyone out there looking at running for the South Dakota Legislature (or county office) as a Republican for the first time in 2018?

Drop me a confidential note here, and let me know a few basics, such as name, city, what office you’re running for, and maybe a note about your previous political experiences.  I and a friend or two are looking at potentially putting something together for new candidates to help them in their efforts, and am wondering about the level of interest.

I was a College Republican. Once. Long, long ago…  And that’s a big group of future conservative leaders on the SDSU Campus!

Taking time off from running for Governor, Congresswoman Kristi Noem took the time to pop in to say hi to them this evening, and to bring them up to date on what’s happening on the campaign trail:

I read this, and just had to shake my head. Did the Argus even try? The Argus Leader shows us once again how much they don’t know about South Dakota politics:

The field of candidates vying for the attorney general’s office is growing ahead of the March deadline to submit candidate petitions.

and..

With his seat set to come open, two have announced they’ll face off in the Republican primary.

and..

The field is expected to grow ahead of the deadline to run in the state’s June 5 partisan primary elections.

Read all those errors here.

Jesus wept, it’s bad enough that the Argus panders as much as they do to South Dakota Democrats, but most of this article is incorrect.  Did they bother to ask anyone how this stuff all works?

Error #1 – “The field of candidates vying for the attorney general’s office is growing ahead of the March deadline to submit candidate petitions.”

South Dakota Attorney General candidates for the political parties do not submit petitions. Period.   In fact, it’s right there on the Secretary of State’s website:

The following will be nominated at the 2018 state conventions of each political party:

• Lieutenant Governor – 4 year term
• Public Utilities Commissioner – 6 year term
• Attorney General – 4 year term
• Secretary of State – 4 year term
• State Auditor – 4 year term
• State Treasurer – 4 year term
• Commissioner of School and Public Lands – 4 year term

Read that here.

They may want to bookmark the link for future reference.  Statewide, in South Dakota, only for US Senate, Congress & Governor do they submit petitions. For the rest of the statewide executive branch elected offices, they’re nominated at convention. It’s been that way for what? 100 years or more?

State Legislators (State Senate, State House), and offices on down then shift back to a petition process.

Error #2 – “With his seat set to come open, two have announced they’ll face off in the Republican primary.”  There are 4 candidates, not 2 who have announced they’re running. And they have been for quite a while. Otherwise, it looks pretty silly for John Fitzgerald, Charlie McGuigan, Lance Russell and Jason Ravnsborg to be running around the state talking to all the groups they have been for the last several months. They’ve all announced, but apparently the Argus ignored the memo, since it wasn’t coming from the Democrat State Party Headquarters.   Which leads into glaring error 3..

Error #3 – “The field is expected to grow ahead of the deadline to run in the state’s June 5 partisan primary elections.”   Well, it’s going to grow from the two listed, as the 4 have been running for a while, but as noted, they don’t have to petition, and they are not winnowed out in the primary election process. There IS no Primary for AG.  They are chosen at the political party conventions AFTER the primary.

It’s pretty bad when the State’s largest newspaper can’t get basic facts about state elections correct. Even worse when it’s gone through a writer and an editor… and they still screw it up.

Update… They have an updated story now, with the following mea culpa:

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of candidates running for the office of attorney general and mischaracterized the nomination process.

The Jackley for Governor campaign just dropped me a  few courtesy photos, as they’ve been out hitting the campaign trail recently.

Here’s the Jackley parade team at Swarm Days this past weekend…

And at the Pierre Homecoming parade…

And at the Winner Labor Day Parade:

Keep those photos coming!

 

 

Apparently, the eternally outraged have outraged State Representative Lynne DiSanto’s Real Estate Employer over the meme controversy, as they’ve announced that they’ve parted ways with her tonight over it:

As I noted earlier, it’s not something I would have posted on social media. (The last things I posted were that I bought Shania Twain tickets, a picture of Thune Staffer Ben Ready, and a meme over the unending Garth Brooks posts we’re now being subjected to).

But even moreso in light of this action, if Facebook memes are the things we get outraged about, we’ve apparently run out of real things to be outraged over.

18.7K Raised. 34.7K Spent, 65.7K Cash on hand. Wow. Dems have got it going out almost twice as fast as it’s coming in. And at this rate, they’ve got about 2 months worth left.

SDDP Sept 2017 FEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

The South Dakota Democrat Party is going through cash like a drunken sailor, spending nearly twice as much as it has coming in for income, despite a monthly $7500 stipend from the National Democrat Party ($67,896.31 so far to date this year).

Not exactly a sustainable model to run elections on, because the cash on hand isn’t going to last forever.

The Johnson for Congress campaign crew was out spreading the Dusty Johnson gospel tonight at the Pierre Homecoming parade.

I heard this evening that Todd Kolden, a former Aberdeen School Board member, and Republican primary legislative candidate for District 3 House this past election passed away today.

Please keep his family in your prayers.

The Indivisible Group out of Rapid City seems to be trying to nominate themselves as maintaining the longest sustained outrage of any liberal group in the state.  In recent weeks, they’ve been yowling on about Rapid City Republicans sponsoring events that they have an interest in, particularly the Family Heritage Alliance, because apparently they think Christians aren’t allowed to espouse their views against abortion and same sex marriage.

Today, they’ve picked a new target of outrage. An outrage so outrageous, they cannot deny their outright outrage!   And today, we find their outrage directed at State Representative Lynn DiSanto, because she posted a meme on Facebook that she thought was funny:

A Republican state lawmaker faced calls to apologize Tuesday after she shared an image on Facebook depicting protesters being hit by a vehicle under the caption, “All Lives Splatter.

and..

“To put up a meme that pretty much encourages violence and possibly murder, that’s inappropriate. She’s a community leader and an elected official,” said Lori Miller, a spokeswoman for Indivisible Rapid City. “Not only is she inciting violence, she is targeting a certain race of people.”

Read it here.

So, as opposed to protesting hunger in America, or human trafficking, or anything of any substance, they’re pouncing on the outrage of a Facebook meme?

In case you’re wondering, this is the meme that has them cowering and running for their press release boiler plate:

I’ve strongly disagreed with DiSanto on things in the past, but trying to gin up outrage over a silly Facebook meme about idiot stick figure protesters who block the roads? Come on.

It’s not my cup of tea for social media. And seriously, everyone knows that running over people is bad. And you’re probably going to go to jail if you do it.  But most our mothers at one time or another said something to the effect of “get out of the road before somebody runs you over.”

If “Eternally Outraged” Rapid City is actually worried about people taking their calls to action from stick figures on Facebook cartoons, I suspect they’re running out of things to be outraged about, because it’s right towards the bottom of the barrel of public concerns.

Thune Introduces SDSU Graduate and USDA Nominee Steve Censky at Confirmation Hearing

“Agriculture has not just been Steve’s profession – it’s been his passion and way of life from his childhood on, and I can think of no one better to work at this level of USDA for the farmers and ranchers of this country and to help me support my home state of South Dakota’s number one industry – agriculture.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today introduced South Dakota State University graduate Steve Censky at his confirmation hearing to become the next deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Censky, who was nominated for the position by President Trump in July, testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, of which Thune is a member. Censky previously served at USDA under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and worked with Thune as a congressional staffer in former Sen. Jim Abdnor’s (R-S.D.) Senate office.

Excerpt from Thune’s remarks:

“Sonny Perdue, in just a few months as USDA secretary, has proven he has the leadership skills to face the challenges of today’s agriculture, and with Steve Censky at his side, USDA will be even more prepared to provide this committee with the assistance we need in writing the next farm bill, as well as covering the broad scope of research, trade, and regulatory issues facing U.S. agriculture.

“Mr. Chairman, I’m very proud today to not only introduce but to strongly support Steve Censky as the next deputy secretary of USDA. Agriculture has not just been Steve’s profession – it’s been his passion and way of life from his childhood on, and I can think of no one better to work at this level of USDA for the farmers and ranchers of this country and to help me support my home state of South Dakota’s number one industry – agriculture.”