Dusty Johnson Campaign Raises $104,000 in First Few Weeks

Dusty Johnson Campaign Raises $104,000 in First Few Weeks

Congressional candidate and former Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson raised more than $104,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016, despite being in the race for only a few weeks.

“People are excited Dusty is running,” said campaign treasurer Greg McCurry. “We are just getting started, but the response to his race is incredible.”

Johnson received significant support from donors large and small. More than two-thirds of his donations were for less than $1000 and his most common contribution was for $100.

Johnson lives in Mitchell with his wife and three sons. He works as an executive for Vantage Point Solutions, a telecommunications engineering and consulting firm.

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Thune to Secretary of Transportation Nominee: South Dakota Depends on Effective, Efficient Transportation System

Thune to Secretary of Transportation Nominee: South Dakota Depends on Effective, Efficient Transportation System

“Without a robust and efficient transportation sector, rural states like mine would be unable to get their goods to market.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today stressed to President-elect Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao, how important that role is to South Dakota. Thune noted that there are 10,000 transportation-related jobs in South Dakota and that the state’s economy depends on an effective and efficient transportation system. Thune also suggested that a top priority for the next secretary of transportation should be safety. The agency should avoid one-size-fits all solutions and instead offer a wide range of tools to combat unique safety challenges, like South Dakota has done with its 24/7 sobriety program to combat impaired driving.

Excerpts from Thune’s prepared remarks:

On the transportation system’s importance to South Dakota’s economy:

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the transportation sector employs over 12 million people nationwide and contributes nearly $1.4 trillion to the nation’s economy, or 8.6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. In my home state of South Dakota, this translates into approximately 10,000 jobs. 

“But, these numbers only begin to tell the story, because so much of our economy is dependent on a thriving transportation sector.

“For example, without a robust and efficient transportation sector, rural states like mine would be unable to get their goods to market. 

“Increasing the capacity and efficiency of our nation’s highways, rail lines, pipelines, and ports is crucial, and will have to be a top priority for the next Secretary of Transportation.”

On the need for safety:

“While our nation’s pipelines, railroads, airways, and highways have a strong record of safety, improvements can and should be made. 

“Of course, it will be important to avoid one-size-fits all solutions on safety. 

“Instead, the Department must offer a range of tools to combat unique safety challenges, as South Dakota has done with its innovative 24/7 sobriety program to combat impaired driving.

“Many of the strong safety improvements this Committee advanced as part of the FAST Act and PIPES Act last Congress are yet to be implemented, and we will expect our next Secretary of Transportation to work with us to ensure speedy implementation. 

“We will also have the opportunity to collaborate on safety improvements when we revisit the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration later this year.”

On Elaine Chao’s nomination to serve as secretary of transportation:

“To my colleagues, I would say that, if you were to imagine an ideal candidate to tackle these challenges, it would be hard to come up with a more qualified nominee than the one before us. 

“In addition to serving for eight years as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Secretary Chao has also served as the Deputy Secretary of the department she’s now been tapped to lead. 

“Her extensive experience also includes leading the United Way of America, the Peace Corps, and the Federal Maritime Commission. 

“Secretary Chao, you have consistently proven your willingness to roll up your sleeves and address the challenges facing our nation.

“I would like to thank you for testifying today and for your willingness to continue your record of service to the country.” 

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Is someone planning to monkey around in the Congressional race? Media company buying up Krebs related domains, and pointing them at their server.

I came across something interesting today.  Several web domains were quietly purchased on November 30th this past year in relation to the race for Congress in South Dakota…

All the domains were registered anonymously, and with privacy protection services…

…so you can’t really tell who registered the domains. Except for one thing.  Without exception, every single one of the domains are pointed to these servers: 

Interesting. That’s a name we haven’t seen for a couple of years in South Dakota statewide political campaigns.  If you aren’t familiar with productionmonkeys.com, you should be. Production Monkeys of Aberdeen, South Dakota is the media company that handled media and campaign promotion for Stace Nelson for US Senate in his third place Republican primary finish against US Senator Mike Rounds, and newly sworn-in State Representative Larry Rhoden.

You could speculate that these domains were purchased for …er, speculation on them, as Shantel Krebs could be simply musing over making a run for Congress. Or Production Monkeys might be looking to sell them to her, or preventing her from buying them herself. But there’s a couple of things that would give an indication that there’s more afoot.

First and foremost, I notice that none of these domains are parked in a generic manner.  When they registered them all this past November, instead of leaving them at the default settings, someone made sure they were directly pointed at the assigned name servers for productionmonkeys.com. So, all someone has to do is to add some numbers to DNS settings and *poof* they’re instantly live.

In addition, Kreb’s campaign aide, and office PIO Jason Williams hails from Aberdeen, the same town as Production Monkeys.  And I believe he knows the company principal, which could explain why Production Monkeys are getting the work for a possible campaign run.

Looking at the campaign finance side of things, while former PUC Commissioner and Daugaard chief of staff Dusty Johnson filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission on November 17th, as of today, there are currently no filings that have been made for the 2018 Congressional race to indicate anyone else is running. Yet.

I haven’t been able to suss out if there’s any partially finished web pages or videos out there, ala Paula Hawks’ ill-fated run 2 years ago.  But, at least on the surface, there definitely appears to be something afoot with all the Krebs related domains purchased on 11/30 pointing at the servers for a South Dakota media/web company who isn’t entirely unfamiliar with statewide campaigns as of late.

SDGOP Release: Out-of-State, Dark Money Attacking South Dakota Public Officials

Out-of-State, Dark Money Attacking South Dakota Public Officials

Pierre, SD – January 11, 2017 – South Dakota Republican Party Executive Director Ryan Budmayr called on Represent.us to stop slandering respected public servants. 

Represent.us lied to South Dakotans and put IM22 on the ballot knowing it was unconstitutional.  Rather than helping the legislature fix their flawed measure, this Massachusetts group is spending thousands more in out-of-state money to attack South Dakota’s public servants.” said Executive Director Budmayr.

Represent.us spent nearly one million dollars during the 2016 election to pass IM22.  The sponsors of the bill were told by the Legislative Research Council, a nonpartisan public body, that the bill was unconstitutional.  Rather than fixing the flaws, Represent.us carried out a misleading ad campaign about the contents of the bill, a 17,000 word, 64 section, measure.

In December of 2016, a South Dakota Judge enjoined IM 22, openly and intensely questioning its constitutionality.

“Many legislators make a commitment to our state at the cost of their professions, and time with families. These public servants do not deserve to be drug into the mud and lied about publicly by a dark money, out-of-state group”, Budmayr said. 

Represent.us is a dark money 501(c)(4) organization that is not required to report its donors. Of the nearly $1 million dollars spent in the 2016 election, 98% was donated from outside the state. Represent.us provided the vast majority of these out-of-state funds.

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On Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Noem Helps Introduce New Provisions to Support Survivors

On Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Noem Helps Introduce New Provisions to Support Survivors

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Kristi Noem today joined Rep. Ann Wagner and more than a dozen colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Trafficking Survivors Relief Act.  If enacted, the legislation would establish a process in which trafficking survivors with non-violent federal offenses could petition a court to vacate the arrests and/or convictions that were a direct result of being trafficked. 

According to a recent survey by the National Survivor Network, around 80 percent of trafficking survivors surveyed had lost or not received employment because of their criminal convictions.  Around half had suffered from barriers to accessing housing. 

“Traffickers often use drugs and alcohol as a means of control, deepening a victim’s dependence on the trafficker,” said Noem.  “Many survivors escape to face a stack of legal paperwork for violations committed while under a trafficker’s control.  That makes it extremely difficult for a person to get their feet back under them and move forward.  I’m hopeful this legislation will help relieve survivors of the past, open doors for them, and offer a path forward where healing can begin.

Introduced on January 11, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act has been supported by the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, the National Survivor Network, the District Attorneys Association, and others. 

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SOS bringing Senate Bill 54 – An update to Campaign Finance statutes upended by IM22, as well as a possible solution to out-of-state deep pockets

One of the first measures being brought to fix the damage done by Initiated Measure 22 comes from the Secretary of State’s office, and it contains an interesting provision that might help address some of the problems we just experienced as a result of the multiple measures having been brought to the ballot in 2016:

SB54P by Pat Powers on Scribd

There are some things I agree with in the bill, and some things I don’t (Raising disclosure threshold to $1000 from $500? Why are we asking for less transparency?) but one thing to keep in mind is that this is just the starting point for one proposal, and there’s a long, long way to go before it’s done.

Most interesting are three sections contained in this measure.  First, Section 31 places an affirmative duty on the Attorney General that he “shall investigate and prosecute” violations of 12-27 (or to challenge them civilly) in several instances:

12-27-35. The attorney general shall investigate violations and prosecute any violation of the provisions of this chapter and prosecute any violation thereof relating to a legislative office, statewide office, statewide ballot question, or political committee. In lieu of bringing a criminal action, the attorney general may elect to file a civil action. In a civil action, in addition to other relief, the court may impose a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each violation. Any civil penalty recovered shall be paid to the state general fund. A civil action brought by the attorney general shall be commenced in Hughes County, in the county where the person resides, or in the county where the organization, political party, entity or political committee has its principal office.

This could mark a departure from things being able to go to the State’s Attorney, such as in the case of Chad Haber, Annette Bosworth’s’ husband, who was charged with similar crimes, but the local State’s Attorney handled it instead of the Attorney General.   I’d expect this could be amended, as up until now, prosecutions have not suffered because of there not being a specificity that it must be the AG.

And then there’s the part that really caught my eye, especially as it relates to the financing of ballot measures in South Dakota – Sections 35 & 36:

Section 35. That chapter 12-27 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
If the contributor is a person or entity, no ballot question committee may accept any contribution that in the aggregate exceeds ten thousand dollars during any calendar year. Notwithstanding any other law, no person or entity may contribute more than ten thousand dollars to any ballot question committee. A ballot question committee shall return within ten days to a contributor any contribution that exceeds the contribution limits provided under chapter 12-27. A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Section 36. That chapter 12-27 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
Any contribution by a person or entity to a political action committee or political party is deemed restricted funds. Any contribution by a political action committee or political party to a ballot question committee shall be sourced with the sourcing provided to the ballot question committee at the time the contribution is made to the ballot question committee.

If a political action committee contributes any restricted funds to a ballot question committee, the restricted funds are counted toward the contribution limitation of the person or entity to that ballot question committee.

Any independent communication expenditure by a person or an entity is counted as part of the limitation on that person’s or entity’s contributions to any political committee.

A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Entity is defined earlier in the measure as a new term:

 (9)    “Entity,” any corporation, limited liability company, nonprofit corporation, limited liability partnership, limited liability limited partnership, partnership, cooperative, trust except for a trust account representing or containing only a contributor’s personal funds, a business trust, association, club, labor union, or collective bargaining organization; any local, state, or national organization to which a labor organization pays membership or per capita fees, based upon its affiliation or membership; any trade or professional association that receives its funds from membership dues or service fees, whether organized inside or outside the state; any other entity of any kind, except a natural person, that is, has been, or could be recognized by the laws of this state; or any group of persons acting in concert that is not defined as a political committee or political party in this chapter. The term does not include any candidate, public office holder, or political committee;

And, if I’m reading this correctly – “If the contributor is a person or entity, no ballot question committee may accept any contribution that in the aggregate exceeds ten thousand dollars during any calendar year” – it appears that this measure may be an attempt to significantly limit the amount of money that can flow into Ballot Question committees.

So, If single sources are limited in the amount of money they can pump into ballot committees, that may restrict how many of these go on the ballot in the first place.  But then again, the flipside is that it will make it more challenging to contest them as well.

Watch this bill. It could get a lot more interesting before it’s over.

Dems bring little more than whining in response to Daugaard address.

I had Governor Daugaard’s State of the State address running in the background while I was working yesterday, and while it’s not coming in a year where there are big projects to accomplish, he had a lot of good things to report, and spoke about what he wants to accomplish in the next year.

What did we hear from the Democrats in response? A lot of awful. I caught Governor Daugaard’s Democrat opponent in the last race, Susan Wismer, bumbling and stammering through her hack response. Which was very illustrative as to why Governor Daugaard beat her by one of the largest margins in state history.

And we also had the State Democrat office who had a release prepped to go, which was equally as bad. But don’t take my word for it on how awful it was, here’s what Greg Belfrage on KELO-M had to say on the topic yesterday:

A written release from the South Dakota Democratic Party says, “Unlike today’s lackluster, complacent, and unfocused State of the State Address, Democrats will lead in this year’s Legislative Session by pursuing a pro-economic growth legislative agenda that is focused on making South Dakota work for all South Dakotans and making state government work for all people, not just the powerful and well-connected.”

Unfortunately, the release doesn’t articulate any “pro-economic growth” ideas. It’s simply a list of all the state’s failures and shortcomings.

You’ve got to wonder when state Democrats are finally going to catch a clue that their  “South Dakota sucks” message just doesn’t resonate with voters.

Read it here.

There’s a reason Democrats continue to shed legislators and registered voters. And they’re doing a good job illustrating why they’ve become irrelevant in South Dakota.

IM22 zealots keep missing an important point.

From the Argus Leader:

About a dozen supporters of a voter-approved ethics law rallied in Pierre Tuesday to oppose its repeal.

And…

“We passed IM 22, we told the legislators what we wanted and now they’re turning around and saying that they’re going to take it away or that we didn’t know what we were voting for,” Doug Kronaizl, spokesman for Represent South Dakota, told the law’s backers. “It was pretty clear when we went to the polls what we wanted.”

Read that here.

Is it just me, or do IM22 zealots keep missing an important point in all of this?

Initiated Measure 22 IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL! NO AMOUNT OF WHINING ABOUT IT OR IGNORING THE FACT IS GOING TO CHANGE IT! You were warned about it ahead of time, and a judge just underlined that fact.

Good gosh.

Coming up this legislative session:

I was asked to make an appearance on the Greg Belfrage show at KELO-AM this morning, and had assembled some notes about what we can expect to come up for session. As is typical, you never have enough time, but my notes are a good rundown of what we might expect in part.

This will be a quiet session in terms of big items. No big asks as we had for teacher pay and roads, so no one anticipating new taxes. Senator Deb Peters called it a “Slow down year” noting revenue is slowing, so spending will as well.

IM22 will dominate talk early in session. Legislators will have to decide between 2 approaches

  1. Pulling it apart, removing the objectionable portions, such as the taxpayer funded political campaigns. And,
  2. Do nothing, and let the courts kill the entire thing.

I suspect the legislature will put an ethics panel in place, as there is a need for addressing some of the more technical violations, such as not having disclaimers on items, and the type of things that got Annette Bosworth and her husband in trouble.

Bathroom Bill/Trangender Bill -There’s a push on it now in response to last year’ veto, and the promised ballot measure. Not sure who is taking the lead on this, but there’s a question of whether there’s the legislative will to fight that battle. I’ve already heard that some conservative leaders may limit the bill to showers only.

Constitutional Carry Bill – The legal carrying of a handgun, both openly and concealed, without the requirement of a permit is going to possibly one of the sleeper bills that people aren’t paying attention to now, but it’s coming, and stands more than a good chance at passing. I believe Lance Russell will be leading this.

Drug Testing for TANF recipients – It was tried last year, but went down in committee 9-4. It’s a big government solution requiring more employees and more in taxpayer dollars for a problem we don’t have. Liz May is one of the sponsors on this, but, it’s not one that limited government Republicans can support. If someone is arrested for drugs, that’s what the courts are for. We don’t need to set up government bureaucrats to substitute their judgement for a judge’s.

Transfer of nursing home beds – Because nursing bed licenses are limited, allowing the transfer of bed licenses between facilities to better meet needs on a geographic basis is a pretty good idea. And it’s a good free market solution.  Watch for Wayne Steinhauer to be the lead on this.

Intellectual diversity bill – Jim Bolin is bringing back 2006 bill requiring regents to report what’ being done on campuses to promote intellectual diversity. Narrowly defeated back then, but with the climate on campuses with groups protesting and shutting   down conservative speakers, it’s a good time to revisit how we keep discussion open  in South Dakota.

Petition reform – Discussion on petition reform is likely. Too easy for out of state groups to buy their way on the ballot, and as we saw with initiated measure 22, flood the airwaves with propaganda which doesn’t tell the whole story, misleading voters as to what they are getting.  Several, including Don Haggar have expressed a willingness to try to fix this mess, so we’ll see who takes up the cause in the legislature.

I’m hearing Meth is going to play a part in the State of the State today, so watch for something addressing the increasing meth crimes across South Dakota.

And there will be more. Keep watching the SDWC….