Republican candidate for State Treasurer John Haeder is on Facebook today with a challenge to raise $500 this week to fund his campaign activities in seeing the GOP Nomination for his office. From Facebook:

Josh Haeder for State Treasurer

We are working hard to spread our message across South Dakota. The message is simple, we must protect your tax dollars from cyber threats, work to return even more unclaimed property and create a financial education program that can help our people get started down the right financial path.

This isn’t about politics for us, it’s truly about making a difference and working everyday on behalf of all of you every day. Setting realistic expectations and accomplishing the goals we’ve set out to achieve. Our work ethic and passion for this office will help win this race.

Your support means everything to our campaign and we are asking for your help. We’ve set a goal of raising $500 online by Friday to help put gas in the tank as we travel the state. Can you pitch in $10, $20 or $50 today? Your support is greatly appreciated, visit joshforsd.com today to get on board and help us continue to spread our proactive message.

From the Argus Leader, reports are coming in that former State Legislator Gene Abdallah is withdrawing his name from consideration for the Board of Pardons and Paroles:

Gene Abdallah, a former U.S. Marshal and state highway patrol superintendent, said poor health would prevent him from serving in the position.

and..

Abdallah, whom Attorney General Marty Jackley appointed to the board last year, maintained in his withdrawal letter to Jackley that he never made inappropriate comments during his time in office, despite allegations otherwise.

“My friends have encouraged me to fight back against these nasty attacks. If I were younger and in good health, nothing could keep me from the challenge,” Abdallah wrote. “I also want to thank you for standing by me when false attacks were leveled against me by a person who was motivated by political gain.”

Read it all here.

Attorney General Jackley is appointing Anne Hajek in Abdallah’s place.

A website named “myamazingnews.com” recently offered it’s take on the Neal Tapio/Interfaith Rally incident.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t happen:

U.S. Lawmakers Gather To Honor Islam, Infidel Senator Shuts Them Down With 1 Question

Cowardly U.S. lawmakers recently gathered at a capitol building to honor Islam as a peaceful religion during an interfaith meeting. However, before they could finish the event, one senator shut down their shameless liberal propaganda with one brilliant question.

and…

On January 10, lawmakers gathered at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre to hold an “interfaith” meeting, which included Islam. Appallingly, these political elitists stood in support of Muslims, whose Quran repeatedly calls for the slaughter, persecution, and enslavement of religious minorities. Unfortunately for these ignorant legislators, their reverence for Islam was abruptly halted when one knowledgeable senator stood in the gap for Islam’s 270 million non-Muslims casualties.

Former state director for President Donald Trump and recently elected Senator Neal Tapio stood up and interrupted the praise of Islam, shouting, “If you don’t have the freedom to leave a religion, is there a freedom of religion?” according to the Argus Leader. The lone Republican lawmaker refused to be silenced, calling out both the liberal hypocrisy of honoring the oppressive religion and the Muslim attendees’ blatant lies concerning Islam’s violent commands.

Although several lawmakers attempted to drown out Tapio’s truthful exposition by belting out an impromptu rendition of “America the Beautiful,” the indignant senator refused to back down.

This story originated here.

Somehow, the participants in the Interfaith rally now all were all rewritten to be “Cowardly U.S. lawmakers” in the story. Despite the fact that none of the people in the rally besides Tapio were actually lawmakers.

My Amazing News just doesn’t seem that amazing in light of that.

From Facebook, last night the humor facebook page Dakota Posts offered another Stace Nelson cartoon, this time based on a few posts I’ve done about Nelson’s habit of taking to Twitter during committee hearings:

Here we go again.

What was I saying about it being a long session?

FACTS ABOUT KRISTI NOEM’S CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE BUDGET

Statement:

“Kristi Noem spends $190,000 less annually on South Dakota’s congressional office than her predecessor did in 2010, spent less in 2017 than 2016, and has consistently spent around 10% of the budget on travel to ensure that she is in South Dakota as often as possible and to ensure that congressional office employees are traveling the state to help constituents as often as possible.  That’s what she was elected to do, and she’s proud of her record that has resulted in less spending overall.” – Justin Brasell.

FACTS:

• In 2016 (the latest year for which the numbers are final), the Noem office’s overall spending was 13% below her predecessor’s last year in 2010.
• Noem’s 2016 spending was more than $190,000 less than her predecessor’s last year in 2010.
• The office’s budgeted spending for 2017 was also lower than 2016.
• Kristi has always kept her office’s travel spending around 10% of her total budget. The 2018 travel budget remains under 10% as well.

2011: 8.8% of total Members Representational Allowance (MRA, the amount allocated for the office to spend)

• 2012: 10.0% of total MRA
• 2013: 10.6% of total MRA
• 2014: 9.5% of total MRA
• 2015: 8.7% of total MRA
• 2016: 9.5% of total MRA
• 2017: figures still being calculated, but expected to be under 10%
• After she helped Republicans win back the majority in the House in 2010, Kristi Noem voted to cut overall congressional budgets.
• South Dakota is larger and more rural than most Congressional districts, naturally leading to higher travel costs than many other districts. For example, New York’s 15th district is just over 10 square miles.  South Dakota is 78,116 square miles.

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FACT CHECK: Travel Numbers

On Sunday, Congresswoman Noem’s campaign issued a statement attacking Marty Jackley with false claims that he has had a “sudden” and  “extreme” increase in his travel budget.1  However, state records for Jackley’s personal travel actually prove there is a decrease.  The Noem campaign is using falsehoods drummed up by the Democratic Party earlier last week.  Here are the facts:

Jackley Personal Travel Expenses while Attorney General

FY2012	$3,313.66 *partial fiscal year
FY2013	$6,810.28
FY2014	$6,769.92
FY2015	$5,146.30
FY2016	$4,054.20
FY2017	$4,803.51
FY2018	1,196.63 *partial fiscal year (July 1, 2017 thru Dec. 31, 2017)

* Note: Attorney General Jackley has access to state vehicles that are also used by other employees in the Office of Attorney General. In 2017, less than 5,000 miles were attributable directly to Attorney General Jackley.

Total Travel Expenses by Office of Attorney General

FY2013	$1,083,682,.95
FY2014	$913,988.08
FY2015	$971,647.29
FY2016	$987,168.69
FY2017	$969,992.04
FY2018	$458.031.73 *partial fiscal year (July 1, 2017 thru Dec. 31, 2017)

“South Dakotans deserve an open and honest campaign,” said Attorney General Marty Jackley. “South Dakotans also work hard for their tax dollars, and they deserve to know exactly how their money is being spent. All candidates running for governor who utilize state or federal resources should release their personal travel records, including detail that is not currently available to the public.”

A review of Congresswoman Noem’s taxpayer-funded travel makes her recent attack on Jackley’s travel perplexing.  Noem’s personal travel records are not public information; however, overall spending for her office travel is available.

Current public records reveal Congresswoman Noem has historically spent far more than double that of the average House Member on travel.  She also ranks 16^th highest of all House Members for travel reported so far in 2017.

Calendar Year	Travel by Congresswoman Noem’s Office	Travel by Average Congressional Office
2011	$129,668.46	$58,473.03
2012	$137,920.76	$52,586.39
2013	$132,441.82	$49,954.52
2014	$122,028.69	$52,922.91
2015	$112,432.31	$53.825.54
2016	$123,711.73	$47,920.97
2017	$74,260.99 *3 quarters of the year (Noem Ranks 16th highest in nation)	$34,997.87

Source: https://www.legistorm.com/expenses/search_details/member_id/2796/name/Rep_Kristi_Noem.html

In the January 14^th Rapid City Journal article, the Noem campaign also defended Noem’s high travel costs by stating “South Dakota is larger and more rural than most congressional districts, which leads to higher travel costs.”  However, Noem’s travel expenses are also substantially higher than her counter-parts in North Dakota and Wyoming as shown in the chart below.

Office Travel by Members of Congress from South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming

Members of Congress	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017 *3 quarters
Noem (SD)	$129,668.46	$137.920.76	$132,441.82	$122,028.69	$112,432.31	$123,711.23	$74,260.99
Cramer (ND)			$77,840.87	$61,076.85	$74,260.99	$90,197.80	$67,752.36
Lummis (WY)	$109,086.03	$119,860.70	$85,183.77	$90,532.61	$90,783.43	$52,351.24
Cheney (WY)							$45,534.00
Average House Member	$58,473.03	$52,586.39	$49,954.52	$52,922.91	$53.825.54	$47,920.97	$34,997.87

Source: https://www.legistorm.com/expenses/search_details/member_id/2796/name/Rep_Kristi_Noem.html

1. Tupper, Seth (2018, January 14). Noem Ranks 16^th in House travel expenses. Rapid City Journal, p. A4

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From a facebook conversation a week or two back, in response to a question about party, City Council candidate (and former Democrat legislative candidate) Clara Hart made a point to draw attention to the non-partisan nature of Sioux Falls Municipal races:

Too bad her campaign finance report does not reflect that:

Compared to what Hart has spent on her council race, Sioux Falls City Council candidate Clart Hart spent SEVEN TIMES as much on Democrat candidates and Democrat causes than she has on actually campaigning.

Over .85 cents of every dollar in her City Council race has been turned over to Democrats and Democrat causes.

But as she says, “Municipal positions are non-partisan.”

Mostly.

Seriously, I don’t actively go looking for this stuff. But it’s hard not to notice when a Gubernatorial Candidate actually tries to link Common Core educational standards to an increase of suicide rates.

It would be as if someone said during the Bush years that ‘No Child Left Behind’ was related to an increase in mining explosions. It’s pretty much just crazy talk.

Tax Reform is Already Working for South Dakotans
By Sen. John Thune

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which became law just before the beginning of the new year, is already working for South Dakotans and the rest of the American people. When we were debating it in Congress – myself, as a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee and the conference committee that negotiated the final tax bill – I repeatedly laid out the reasons why I thought it was the right policy and the right time to pursue it. The results are starting to speak for themselves.

Exactly two weeks after this historic legislation became law, businesses from coast to coast announced they were awarding bonuses to more than 1 million workers, cumulatively, as a direct result of pro-growth tax reform. With Walmart’s recent announcement that it will be raising wages, offering bonuses, and expanding other benefits for its employees, including more than 5,300 in South Dakota, that number has already grown to more than 2 million.

From a story right in our own backyard, Great Western Bank, which is based in Sioux Falls and has branches throughout South Dakota and eight other states around the country, recently announced that it will be raising wages, offering bonuses, and enhancing employee health care offerings as a result of tax reform. In the announcement, the chairman of Great Western Bancorp said, “We want to kick off 2018 by investing in our people and communities.”

The end-of-year announcement by Molded Fiber Glass (MFG) that it will keep its doors open longer than expected was welcome news for its employees and the entire Aberdeen community. Since tax reform maintained existing law as it related to the Production Tax Credit, something I strongly advocated for throughout the tax reform debate, a substantial order was placed that will keep operations going and give MFG additional time to explore other partnerships.

This is all good news, but it’s only the beginning. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered rates for all taxpayers in 2018, workers will soon see their paychecks go up, too. The government’s new payroll withholding tables were just released, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury expects nine out of 10 workers will see larger paychecks starting in February.

And when taxpayers file their 2018 tax returns next year, middle-income South Dakotans will feel the benefits of a doubled child tax credit and a doubled standard deduction (which, for example, means a married couple filing jointly will not pay taxes on the first $24,000 of their income).

The fundamental difference throughout this tax reform debate was that Republicans believe Americans know better than the federal government how to spend their hard-earned money. Our votes on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reflected that belief. Democrats believe the federal government and its bureaucrats know more about your bottom line and can spend your money better than you can. Unfortunately, their votes on the tax reform bill reflected that belief.

I helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and voting for it will be one of the most memorable moments during my time in Congress. I strongly believe that by supporting this bill, Republicans stood on the right side of history, and I’m glad the American people are already reaping the benefits from it.     

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