As I was driving back from Spearfish this past Sunday (celebrating my 34th wedding anniversary), had to make an inevitable stop or two along the way. Which gave rise to something I remembered.

What was that proposal from Jon Hansen from a few years ago?

“I would like to introduce legislation to sell off some or all of our interstate rest areas to private individuals or companies. We currently have 25 rest areas that cost the state tens of thousands of dollars each year to maintain. If we were to sell these prime pieces of real estate, could in one painless action cut at least one-quarter of our budget deficit, along with cutting tens of thousands of ongoing expenses in future years.”

– Jon Hansen. Argus Leader 10/26/10. “

Do you think now that he’s stuck driving a camper back and forth to events, does Rep. Jon Hansen appreciate the Interstate rest stops more than he used to?

Or does he still want to “sell off some or all of our Interstate Rest Areas to private individuals or companies” as “prime pieces of real estate?“

Since we last posted our monthly advertising reminder, it appears that we’ve picked up 2 if not more statewide Republican candidates, plus others. If you’re not thinking about your advertising plan, you should be. 2026 is going to be the hottest election season in a generation.

In the first part of the year there will be a burst of announcements – some surprises and some not so well kept secrets. And where is everybody going to read about it? Here at dakotawarcollege.com.

The election will bring many opportunities for advertisers to get their message out to “those in the know” of South Dakota politics and and community opinion leaders as we count the days until the next legislative session!

You’d better also add those who regularly monitor the pulse of the process as readers – whether they love this website or hate it – there are a lot of eyes available to get your message in front of. Literally – thousands are clicking on this website daily for the latest in political news, gossip, and whatever else the state’s leaders are up to.

Advertisers – I have a limited number of spots open, and questions on ad prices, ad positions, and ad commitments may be directed to the webmaster by clicking here. Lots of open space available at the moment, such as spots on the left available, as well as spots #1 & 2 on the right, and spots on both sides lower on the page. Ads run in their position through the site, meaning they are not rotated.  Advertising is available on a first-come first-served basis, and discounts are provided for extended commitments.

Please don’t forget to check out our current advertisers including Monae Johnson for Secretary of State, US Senator John Thune, Dusty Johnson for Governor, Senator Mike Rounds, Emmett Reistroffer for House District 35, Dakota Campaign Store, and more advertisers who will be posting soon.

Drop me a note if you have questions, or if I can hook you up with ad space!

Senator Mike Rounds is out and running with his new campaign commercial which is airing during local news programming. You can check it out on his campaign website, or see it below:

From KELOland news, former Vice President Dick Cheney has passed away:

“Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old,” Cheney’s family said in a statement.

and..

The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.”

Cheney served as vice president during former President George W. Bush’s administration from 2001 to 2009. He is considered one of the most influential vice presidents in modern U.S. history.

Read the entire story here.

Here’s a video that I just came across, where SD Canvassing’s sock-puppet Secretary of State candidate Heather Baxter is declaring to a crowd that her plan is to “upgrade” the system to have all ballots be counted by hand? 

Apparently she makes this demand based on President Trump wanting to end the use of ballot counting machines.

“If not, we’re going to need to bring forward, um.. bills and request that for the machines to be removed.”   And somehow removing machines is going to get us back to “one day voting?”   

Obviously, she’s never visited Minnehaha County during election week, when they can’t even get it done in one day with the machines. (I can’t wait to see how Leah Anderson and crew will do when they need to whip out the fingers and toes.)

President Trump wanting to have his way on the end of using counting machines is apparently Baxter’s justification for removing them, despite studies showing the counting machines are more accurate and less prone to errors. And that 49 of the state’s 66 County auditors are willing to go on record and say they’re against their removal.

Not to mention that voters don’t want them removed, either.

I do hate to bring it up, but if Baxter is demanding support for the removal of ballot counting machines based on President Trump’s request, it sounds to me that Heather is kind of a “cafeteria conservative” with her support if we’re looking at the rest of his agenda.

If that’s the case, maybe Heather can explain where she is going to be on the expansion of data centers in South Dakota? Because President Trump has made huge pushes towards that initiative. I’m also surprised she’s not on the campaign trail for Senator Rounds, since Mike has already received President Trump’s endorsement. Has she gotten her checkbook out yet?

Should we ask what her opinion is on President Trump’s support for the legalization of recreational Marijuana? He’s in on that as well.

Stay tuned while we keep working on the list.

The Scariest Shutdown
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

We are now 31 days into this government shutdown, and Americans are really starting to see the scary impacts of what will soon be the longest government shutdown in American history. I voted back in September to prevent all of this. It was a vote to keep the government open and to keep serving people.

Here are some of the scariest impacts of this senseless shutdown:

• Starting tomorrow, full SNAP benefits will not be paid to 42 million Americans. This unnecessary pain on the American people doesn’t have to happen. There is a funding proposal in the Senate which would ensure SNAP and other government programs continue to serve the people who need them most. I’m supporting the Keep SNAP Funded Act to ensure benefits continue to go to families who need them. The simplest solution is to open the government.
• Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have missed paychecks because of this shutdown. Many of these employees are still working on behalf of the American people but are now questioning their ability to put food on the table due to missed paychecks. It’s not fair for these individuals to go without pay, so I’ve made sure I won’t receive a paycheck either during this government shutdown. I recently introduced the Shutdown Fairness Act to pay government employees and troops who are forced to work during the shutdown.
• Air traffic controllers are some of these federal employees who are missing paychecks. More than 50% of recent flight delays have been caused by staffing shortages. Delays and service interruptions will grow as this shutdown continues, and air traffic controllers will continue to work without pay.
• Every day, 320 small businesses cannot access Small Business Administration loans – that’s one every five minutes. Federal approvals and inspections are also paused or delayed, and federal contracts are not being paid. Economic growth slows during shutdowns.

The impacts of this shutdown continue to mount as the American people feel real pain. It’s time to open the government and get back to work. I’ve been working in South Dakota helping folks manage the impacts of this shutdown. If you need assistance, please reach out to my office.

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Democrats’ Shutdown Has Gone On Long Enough
By Sen. John Thune

 Senate Democrats have kept the government shut down for over a month now. Republicans have given them more than a dozen opportunities to reopen the government with a clean funding extension, but, every time, Democrats have blocked it and forced hardworking Americans to continue suffering.

How much longer are Democrats going to keep the government shut down? The victims of Democrats’ shutdown are piling up, but Democrats don’t seem likely to spare anyone anytime soon. Air traffic controllers and other federal employees are working without pay. Military families are turning to food banks. Millions of American families will be without nutrition assistance thanks to Democrats prolonging this shutdown. And amid all of this, we hear Democrats talk about using the shutdown as an opportunity for “leverage.”

While Democrats search for leverage, Republicans are trying to reopen the government. Again, more than a dozen times we’ve offered a clean funding extension. We’re not asking Democrats to support Republican policies. We’re just asking them to reopen the government and end all of this pain and uncertainty. A few Democrats have voted for it, and even labor unions that often align with Democrats have endorsed the clean bill. But the vast majority of Democrats remain dug in.

Democrats claim they want to negotiate with Republicans about the Obamacare issue that they created, and we are happy to have a discussion about Obamacare’s failures just as soon as Democrats stop holding the government hostage. Republicans are ready to have discussions about health care because we know that Democrats’ signature health care law, Obamacare, has done nothing to address the problem of rising health care costs. Democrats, of course, promised it would. But every time we hear them talk about Americans facing a health care crisis, they’re admitting that Obamacare failed.

Now they want to put a band-aid on Obamacare by extending the Biden COVID bonuses at the cost of $350 billion to taxpayers, which will do nothing to stop Obamacare premiums from going up by double digits. Republicans are ready to have a discussion about actually lowering health care costs for hardworking Americans and increasing health care accessibility, but we won’t do it while Democrats hold the federal government hostage to their partisan demands.

Over the last month, Democrats have done everything they can to spin their shutdown as somehow Republicans’ fault. But let’s be clear. Democrats passed Obamacare without a single Republican vote. They created the Biden bonuses without a Republican vote. They set the expiration date for those subsidies by themselves. They chose to shut down the government despite Republicans putting up a nonpartisan funding extension and promising to discuss the problem Democrats created. And now they have kept that shutdown going for a month and wreaked havoc on countless Americans’ lives.

It’s time for Democrats to end their political games. It’s time they stopped thinking about their political leverage and considered the consequences of their shutdown. Supporting a clean funding extension shouldn’t be hard. We just need a handful of Democrats to be courageous enough to stop bowing to demands from the far left and do the right thing.

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Attorney General Jackley Announces Arrest Made on Rape Solicitation and Child Pornography Arising From State Driver Licensing Scheme

 PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that an Aberdeen man has been arrested on felony charges of Solicitation of Second-Degree Rape, Possession of Child Pornography, and Unlawful Use of a Computer System.

“These allegations raise serious safety and privacy concerns that will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Jackley. “As our investigation continues, I anticipate identifying other victims and filing additional charges in multiple counties.”

Mark Charles Rathbun, 66, was arrested Friday and is being held in the Brown County Jail. He faces maximum possible prison sentences of 25 years for Solicitation of Second-Degree Rape, 10 years for Possession of Child Pornography, and two years for Unlawful Use of a Computer System.

Rathbun is a former employee of the State Driver Licensing Office in Aberdeen.

The defendant’s first court appearance has not yet been scheduled.  He is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.

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Attorney General Jackley Releases Final Ballot Explanation for Proposed 2026 Initiated Constitutional Amendment on Property Taxes

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has released the final ballot explanation for a proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment submitted by sponsors that would repeal property taxes in South Dakota and replace them with a “retail transaction” tax. The proposed amendment would be on the 2026 general election ballot if 35,017 valid petition signatures are collected.

Attorney General Jackley takes no position on any such proposal for purposes of the ballot explanation.  As required by law, he has provided a fair and neutral explanation on the initiated Constitutional Amendment to help assist the voters as required by state law. The sponsor of the proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment is Abolish Property Taxes SD, a Statewide Ballot Question Committee formed by Julie Frye-Mueller, Matt Smith, and Mike Mueller.

This proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment would repeal the South Dakota’s property tax scheme set forth in the Constitution and replaces it with a tax “on each retail transaction.”  For each “retail transaction” of $15 or more, a flat tax of $1.50 is assessed.  For each “retail transaction” less than $15, a 10% tax is assessed.

The Attorney General’s explanation was finalized after a review of all the comments received during the 10-day comment period on the Attorney General’s draft explanation. A total of 229 comments were received by the deadline.

Language for the final initiated ballot measure explanation can be found here.

Ballot Explanation Comments can be found here.

For more information regarding ballot measures, please visit the Secretary of State’s website.

PUC schedules leadership elections Nov. 6

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission will elect new leadership at their regular meeting on Nov. 6, 2025, at the request of Chairman Gary Hanson. Current Vice Chairman Chris Nelson is expected to be nominated for the role of chairman. Commissioner Kristie Fiegen is expected to be nominated for the vice chairperson position. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. CSTin Room 413 at the State Capitol in Pierre.

Hanson is currently serving in the commission’s top leadership spot, a role he has held on many occasions since first being elected to the PUC in 2002. Hanson also held the chairman’s seat in 2005, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2020.

Hanson proposed the leadership change as he began treatments for cancer, which was detected earlier this month. “It is sensible to turn the leadership reins of the commission to my very capable fellow commissioners as I enter this new phase,” Hanson said. “I expect to be fully engaged and fulfill my duties as a public utilities commissioner during this time,” he continued.

Hanson’s treatment will be directed by a team of medical professionals in his hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “I am encouraged and impressed by the many doctors and medical staff I have met during this journey so far. Their knowledge and skills combined with my own determination and the support of my family and friends will result in what I expect to be a positive outcome.”

Nelson has served on the PUC since January 2011 and has carried the gavel as the PUC’s chairman in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2022. He is a board member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Organization of MISO States. Nelson is also a member of the Electric Power Research Institute Advisory Council and the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. Prior to joining the PUC, Nelson served as the South Dakota Secretary of State for eight years.

Fiegen’s tenure with the commission began in August 2011. She holds leadership positions in the Southwest Power Pool regional transmission organization, the Gas Technology Institute’s Public Interest Advisory Committee and the NARUC Committee on Gas. Her public service career includes four terms in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

For more information about the Public Utilities Commission, visit the agency’s website at puc.sd.gov.

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