Rapid City Councilwoman Laura Armstrong, who was said to have created “naughty list” to shame businesses for not requiring masks, now running for Mayor

@SoDakCampaigns

Rapid City Councilwoman Laura Armstrong has thrown her hat into the ring to run for mayor of that community, according to the Rapid City Journal.

Ward 5 Council member Laura Armstrong announced Friday her intention to run for Rapid City mayor in 2023.

If elected, she would be the first woman to serve as mayor in Rapid City’s 146-year history.

“I want to inspire women to step into the political arena,” Armstrong told the Journal Friday. “I want to inspire others to step forward. We have a lot that we can do together.”

Read that here.

Or should I say, she’s “thrown her mask into the ring,” as it wasn’t so long ago she as making the news for a website she created to shame Rapid City Businesses who weren’t requiring masks during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

Rapid City Council President Laura Armstrong is under fire from business owners and residents after they hand delivered nearly 100 complaints to the City Attorney Joel Landeen.

It all stems from a Facebook page called “The Caring Businesses of Rapid City” that highlights businesses that enforce a mask mandate in their establishment, versus those that do not. The rolodex of businesses not requiring masks has been dubbed the “naughty list.”

The complainants accuse Armstrong of creating or supporting the page and are asking she be removed from the Council.

Read that story here.  And more on the story here.

I have this feeling this campaign isn’t going to go very far.

If she had left it at praising those who required it, I don’t think it would have been a big deal. But when as an elected official you go out of your way to shame businesses that don’t agree with you politically, that’s behavior that people are not going to forget very quickly.

48 thoughts on “Rapid City Councilwoman Laura Armstrong, who was said to have created “naughty list” to shame businesses for not requiring masks, now running for Mayor”

        2. Ten Haken’s comments were taken out of context, he never told anyone to NOT shop at any business. He simply encouraged people to shop at places that promoted a safe, clean, buying experience in relation to the adopted COVID-19 rules.

          I would not lump TenHaken in with the other hardcore democrats or left leaning republicans who strongly supported COVID 19.

          Paul TenHaken wanted to keep the community safe, but he did not recommend any hardcore ordinance or strict regulations on businesses, his belief was more to adopt a resolution that encouraged that the citizens work together to help each other.

            1. I remember the discussion clearly I participated in the public discussion each time during public meetings.

              ALL the MAYOR recommended was his ‘Resolution” he was NOT lobbying for nor pushing to City Council to adopt a hardcore ordinance, yet alone fine businesses, let alone restrict businesses, that policy came from the Council.

              The made recommendations, which he brought forth the resolution, I urged him to remove Section 5, which dwelt with forcing businesses to sign the Safe Sioux Falls Pledge. It was bad policy, but it did nothing..

              Yes, you had businesses signing on to take the pledge to create private rules to enforce Mask Policies across town.

              Yes, the Resolution divided the two types of businesses.

              NO< the Mayor did NOT impose a fine, nor threaten any businesses for not signing the pledge.It was a choice.

              The ORDINANCE adopted by the Council, 6 votes in favor of placed a Hardcore Mask Mandate on it, which changed the specifics of the resolution itself..

              NOW you had this ordinance by 6 members of the council who wanted to enforce masks, to public shame businesses or anyone for that matter…

              It was the COUNCIL who enticed people to shame others, in an effort to force masks on people, NOT the Mayor.

              In fact, I never heard the MAYOR once say to wear a mask, he recommended a mask, he did NOT enforce.

              The Mayor allowed businesses to regulate themselves, enforcing their own rules, and where they wished to trespass people, the mayor would allow the police to uphold the private rule.

              This however, never came to be, no one ever was fined, nor busted under the ordinance..

              You had CITIZENS ratting on each other, and that is what led to all the drama.

              When faced with continuing the policy, the MAYOR listened, he changed Section 5 of his resolution, effecting tell people to STOP shaming others….

              It was most likely thanks to a proud little 10 year old girl who showed up to voice her objections to the rule, asking the mayor to protect kids who are being shamed in school.

              It worked, "WE" convinced the mayor to encourage to change city policy and the ORDINANCE was voted down.

              And then, all hell broke loose, the MASKERS got mad, and attacked the Mayor showing their true colors.

              1. Or, the governor put her foot down because she wanted to be the “freedom” state to help her own ambitions.

                1. Kristi Noem is NOT innocent in this either, her executive orders allowed State Agencies, Departments, School Districts, Counties, Local Govts to adopt their own rules to restrict movements through out the state.

                  Try to be a business owner during that time, especially in the car business, or restaurant business wiht the banks 90% closed, the state govt 60% closed, ‘we’ could not do our jobs, let alone sustain our businesses.

                  You want blame Ten Haken, but give the Governor a pass, she helped cause the panic that to several economic issues during 2020 and 2021.

                  The whole plan by the Establishment was to grab more Federal Funds to operate the governmetn, let alone give to the large Multi-National Corps who were the only ones allowed to really be open, freely, sol ong as they restricted their occupancies, as promoted by the Governor’s orders.

                  Kristi Noem, also publically stopped a Local Race Track from hosting a race in North Sioux CIty, effectively shutting down the event causing fear that people may get sick. And you want to attack the Mayor of Sioux Falls?

                  IF you actually read the executive orders, they gave more power to the Department of Health to enforce “Contact Tracing” meaning the State was collecting data, names, compiling a list of people effected by COVID-19, let alone those who they came into contact with,

                  The ORDERS instructed people to rat out those who did not comply, by shaming them, let alone reporting them to the Department of Health.

                  When I got sick in 2020, I voluntarily took the test, which I now since wished i had not, for it placed me o that list, and within 2 days, the State calls me to attempt to get me to provide them a list of NAMES of who I came into close encounters with, I SAID NO.

                  The bigger the State made that list, the more federal funds it received from the Federal Govt.

                  We in fact received close to 2.5 Billion Dollars from the FEDS over the course of 2021-2023 with funds still coming today.

                  I am not attacking, nor critizing the governor, she did what she thought was best, however, to attack the Mayor of Sioux Falls for one tiny, little video, when the Governor herself played an even bigger role in the matter, is nuts…

                  Kristi Noem is NOT innocent in that matter,

                  But, I assume, some of you will hate what I say, and call me some type of nut, oh well.

                  I lived it, and I saw the effects of several of the Governor’s orders, let alone policies, and Legislative actions ….

                  1. Who’s the establishment and define establishment. All that word seems to be is a dog whistle.

              2. False. he went on social media and did a live video or made a video about how he wanted to expose businesses that were open.

    2. in parts of the country, mistakes causing vast exposures to at-risk populations left many people dying in ways we hadn’t seen before, or suffering long term loss of physical and mental function. civic leaders and health professionals did not set policy lightly. others couldn’t be bothered by some newfangled flu. people die every day ya know? what a time it was.

  3. In addition to being wrong on masks, she was also one of the loudest screeching for lockdowns. I hope she loses spectacularly.

  4. This reminds me of when TenHaken posted photos of cars in front of businesses early on in the pandemic to his Twitter page.

          1. I forgot about the noem tenhaken feud. He wanted shut down. She said no. She won.

            I hope the gop continues to follow Noem once she is out of gov office and the moderates don’t take over.

  5. This medical family thanks her for letting us know which businesses were safe for us and our immune compromised friends to do business with. Now that our friends and we are fully vaccinated and boosted we’re feeling safer among those who don’t honor our safety.

    1. LOL
      Sheep
      The facts are clear now & you post the above?
      Not even dems are agreeing with you. The lock downs were a mistake.

  6. Surprising after being a KGB-style snitch and now being proven wrong about masks, she would still be naive enough to think she actually could win…or is it a ploy to get a fat job as a Biden flunky somewhere in the administration.

  7. Anyone who still believes in the effectiveness of wearing a mask in stopping the flow of molecules measured in microns have zero understanding of how easily water blows through a screen door in wind driven rain. It is all physics in every way imaginable and for children especially the worst thing we could be doing.

      2. Anonymous at 8:22…

        You’d do well to trust Charlie on this. All the medical specialists were spectacularly wrong on everything during the pandemic. Instead of respecting the hard-won wisdom on how best to respond to a seasonal virus, the politicized public health crowd went all in on control, which previously had been rejected as harmful. And that’s the same conclusion now. Not only were masks, distancing, shields, and testing during this pandemic ineffective in general, they prevented schoolchildren from learning and made them so miserable it amounted to child abuse. My contempt for the control freaks is total.

        1. Cliff thanks for the concurrence and just an FYI if anyone wants to wear a mask or a face shield or helmet or breathing apparatus in public at work or at home please by all means do. Just don’t try forcing same on folks who don’t subscribe to that level of political theater.

    2. Also, if people think soap can kill germs, they are stupid libs. Not washing your hands makes your immune system better to fight off future diseases. Stop washing your hands people, if you think water can wash off feces, you probably took too many booster shots.

      2. I hope you have surgery and the surgeons don’t wash their hands and see how you come out. Good luck with sh*t in your mouth.

    3. doctors wear masks to prevent at-risk patients from the doctors own germs. you don’t wear a mask to selfishly protect your own body intake portals (doesn’t work well as you point out), you wear the make to protect others FROM YOU. your mask keeps your germs from being flung all over the breathing air and body surfaces of people and objects in every room you maneuver your possible-disease-carrying body into. it astonished me how so many people see masks with only a fixation on their personal safety and comfort.

    4. If and when you go in for heart surgery or any other type of surgery will you demand your surgeon and staff not wears masks when they operate on you?

  8. COVID protocols are the Big Lie of the left. They’ve learned from Trump to shamelessly never admit failure no matter what.

    1. That’s why we need more Noem. She got it right.

      Tenhaken, Armstrong, etc will never get my vote in a primary. They got the biggest issue in recent years completely wrong.

      1. May she’ll be doing some ‘digital trading cards’ like the orange one is trying to sell as well.

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