I’ve been tracking a story over the last couple of days where I had heard that the non-partisan “Ready to Run” group in Sioux Falls is having a big thing to do in Sioux Falls on April 13th and 14th with panels of speakers and everything. Except that maybe it’s not exactly so non-partisan.
And maybe it doesn’t exactly sound like they had confirmed with at least one of their speakers. From the e-mail box of the director of the program to the participants:
On Apr 5, 2018, at 4:17 PM, Blaalid, Brooke wrote:
Good Afternoon Lovely Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are incredibly excited to have you as presenters/panelists for our inaugural Ready to Run South Dakota campaign and leadership training on April 13-14th. Before the big day arrives, I need a few bits and pieces of information from you. I have them listed before for your convenience. I have also attached the program agenda and paper registration form. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or text my cell at 605-660-9721 or email. I am beyond honored and grateful to have all of your support!
- Please check your name and credentials on the agenda to make sure we have it spelled correctly. We also made a few adjustments to the agenda. If for some reason, you are unable to make your session, please let me know ASAP.
- Please send me a bio of yourself that is no more than 2 paragraphs, single spaced. Things to include would be education, elected office, positions you have held in terms of leadership/stakeholders, etc. If you are struggling with this, please let me know and we can work together! Send this to me no later than April 12.
- As a presenter, you are invited to our networking reception on Friday, April 13 from 5:30-7. Feel free to bring your significant other or a friend who would enjoy the networking and social gathering. Please RSVP by next Monday, April 9th if you are available to attend the social and the number of quests attending.
- If you would like to participate in the training session and attend the training beyond your session, you are welcomed and encouraged. Please fill out the attached registration form that is a fillable PDF. As a presenter, you cost of the training is FREE.
- Lastly, If you know of any women (or men) who are interested in running for office or becoming more involved in community leadership, we encourage you to share this information with them. You can also find additional information at our website www.readytorunsd.org You can also share on Facebook, twitter, Instagram as well!
Thank you again for all of your time, energy, and support!
Brooke
Brooke Blaalid, MSW, PhD CandidateDirector, Ready to Run: SD
Master of Social Work Program
University of South Dakota
Health Sciences Center; Rm 367
1400 W 22nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
Okay.. that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Except that one of the listed presenters, Karon Gubbrud, hadn’t exactly been asked if she would be a speaker (I’ve cut this response down a bit, btw..-PP):
From: Karon Gubbrud
Sent: Sunday, April 8, 2018 6:00 PM
To: Blaalid, Brooke
Subject: Re: Presenter Info NeededDear Brooke,
I have put much thought, and some prayers, in to my reaction, and my response, to this.
Several months ago, you had Sara Lindquist invite me to join the two of you, at your home, for a glass of wine and conversation. You wanted to meet me. You also knew I was involved in politics; and you wanted to tell me about this new group you were bringing in to Sioux Falls. You were very excited about this new group. That was very clear.
and…
Then last Thursday, I get this e-mail from you, announcing what you hope will be a big event, and seeing my name on the agenda/program, as part of a panel over lunch. That day, at your home, you and I had spoken, quite briefly, actually, about the possibility of me serving on some sort of a panel at an event or meeting you were planning…..an event that was well down the calendar road at that time. You did not have many details at all at that time. You asked me if I would suggest other women to serve on this panel you were assembling. I told you I would not offer anyone else to you without speaking to them first. Then I never heard anything more from you.
You did tell me you were “thinking about” having Stephanie Herseth Sandlin as your featured speaker. I strongly discouraged you from that, since you had told me, repeatedly, during our conversation that this group of yours was “strictly non-partisan”. Stephanie is known state-wide as a big time, very liberal, Democrat. I highly encouraged you to invite someone whose political leanings are a less well known, as your featured speaker, if you wanted to demonstrate your non-partisan nature as an organization. You did seem quite determined to have Stephanie be your featured speaker, though.
Last Thursday, at 4:30 PM, when I returned home from a day of teaching, I found this e-mail of yours. Quite honestly, I was shocked by it! Suddenly, I was listed on a panel for this event, which I gather, you hope will be quite large. I had not heard a word from you in months, and suddenly, with just one week’s notice, I am listed as a guest panelist! Really?!?
At a class that night, a woman came up to me and asked me “how long I had been involved with Ready to Run”!! “Involved with”!! She and several legislators and their wives had received information about this event, with me listed as being on this panel a full week before that!! But, I did not get this e-mail,about it until last Thursday!?! That is appalling, and quite honestly, insulting!!
Brooke, I cannot possibly participate in this! On top of this late notice, there is nothing “non-partisan” about it!! Your featured speaker is a well know, very liberal Democrat. You have, not just one, but two speakers from LEAD SD, which is well recognized as a very liberal, Left leaning, basically Democratic, organization. You have Paula Hawks, another raging liberal Democrat! You have three or four others listed as presenters, who are well known in all political circles, as being very liberal Democrats. You have a couple who claim to be Republicans, so they can actually get elected; but their voting records, and many things they say and do, tell a whole different story!
and…
I wish you well. I hope that your event is well attended, and turns out to be all that you hoped it would be. I am sure you have put much time and effort in to planning it. But I cannot participate.
Karon Gubbrud
Oh.. that’s not good.
Usually most of the time panelists actually know they are panelists within more than a week of the event being held. The organizer of the Ready to Lead event did offer her apologies. Kind of:
From: “Blaalid, Brooke”
Date: April 9, 2018 at 9:35:40 AM CDT
To: Karon Gubbrud
Subject: RE: Presenter Info NeededGood Morning Karon,
I am very sorry that I have made you feel this way. I am deeply sadden by this news. I was under the impression with our conversations that you were willing to discuss your involvement with working on political campaigns as you have been instrumental in helping republican candidates. I am not exactly sure what Sara is referring to as I had to told her that I sent you a follow-up email and we spoke at the cracker barrel. I too have been dealing with some health issues and haven’t had as much time to connect with individuals as I wanted to, especially you.
Ready to Run South Dakota is nonpartisan and will continue to be. While President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is our keynote and we do have panelists from LEAD, we also have many great republican women on our panels such as Anne Hajek, Casey Murschel, Carol Twedt, and Georgia Hansen. Unfortunately, both Carol and Georgia won’t be able to attend due to having unplanned family events this weekend. Additionally, we have had many great republican men and women give us their support in terms of financial donations and connecting us with potential speakers as they already had planned vacations during this time.
One of the things that we decided when putting our panelist together was that we would not have any individual who was actively running a campaign to sit our panels. This has been a struggle for us as several amazing women from both sides of the isle are running this year. I would have loved to have Shantel Krebs as one of our speakers along with Deb Peterson, Deb Sohl, Kristine Erickson, etc.
Again, I am very sorry for the confusion and that you wont be able to join us this weekend. I am more than willing to continue to have meetings and conversations with you and find ways that your voice and the voice of other republican women can be heard.
All my best,
Brooke Blaalid, MSW, PhD Candidate
Director, Ready to Run: SD
It’s good that Brooke recognizes that the GOP has many amazing women on our side of the aisle. Or at least she sort of recognizes it when she mentions “Deb Peterson, Deb Sohl, Kristine Erickson, etc.” We might have even believed her if she’d actually gotten any of their names right. (Deb Peters, Deb Soholt, & Christine Erickson).
The Ready to Run SD conference is April 13 and 14, 2018, at the Downtown Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls. Maybe Republicans are invited. But they probably won’t get your name right.
Or you might find yourself on a panel.
I was impressed after listening to her interview on the Patrick Lalley Show on KSOO and contacted her afterwards. She was neutral and offered help whichever political affiliation one was with a goal of getting more involvement in the process.
The “non-partisan” Patrick Lalley Show ? Not buyin…
Does anybody listen to that show? I tried a couple times, but it was boring, boring, boring. If you’re going to be an unapologetic lefty at least be entertaining!
The list of speakers is a lineup of Leftists. Ready to Run is just another Democrat front group.
Has anyone reached out to her to try to balance out the speakers? I was under the impression it was trying to get everyone more involved to help improve government rather than discourage or be selective.
802 am. Are you kidding ? So we (right of center) need to do the reaching to balance a self described non partisan group ? That’s a heavy lift.
Pondering,
I’d call them progressive/liberal front group. But, the point is the same.
Fair point.
PhD Candidate? She can’t write very well. Poor sentence structure and spelling “aisle” as “isle”? Also, if you are so poor at communicating with people and understanding your relationship and position with them that you schedule them to speak at an event without confirmation you are probably not somebody to be running some kind of outreach group.
It’s the “non” part that keeps the funding coming under the guise of a pure effort. Because who would be opposed to woman voting ? Federal Grants (tax $$) Foundations (think Clinton) and as she suggests, Republicans. Let’s get a look at those dupes ! Then we can sick PP after them. I hope he doesn’t have a conflict.
maybe she’s a ph candidate, leaning toward alkaline.
You guys fear them, don’t you? And depending upon on well Jo does in tonight’s Sioux Falls mayoral race will tell if your fears are warranted.
I think the only thing anyone fears is being named as a panelist without being asked.
I am tired of these conservatives talking crap about those of us Republicans who are liberal, and frankly I am offended that you perpetuated this with Karon’s comments. Senator Peters and Senator Soholt are well known to be prochoice. If their voters keep electing them, who are you or Karon to say anything about it?!
Call us liberals, RINOs, traitors, whatever! We are not going anywhere! Deal with it!
Ready to Run SD has worked very hard to make this an inclusive event. Many of the people involved in this organization have learned that hyper-partisanship does not do South Dakota or the nation any good and we want to have a conversation that benefits our communities and leaders across the state.
The goal of this program is to bring women who are interested in politics, no matter their party affiliation, together to meet one other, learn from each other, and become more comfortable with the idea of running for office. It is clear that I was not on the same page as Karon and deeply regret not specifying the role I had hoped she would play. A lesson learned in the planning process.
We do not have current candidates on the panel list, and a decision was made early on to follow a guideline recommended by the national office at Rutgers University. Do we wish people like Congresswoman Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Shantel Krebs, Deb Peters and Deb Soholt could share their experiences with our attendees? Of course we do. Moving forward, the conference will be held in the fall and many of the conflicts we found with candidates will be alleviated.
We will continue to reach out to Republican women in the state and hope that those not currently running for office can join us. Women have powerful voices and Karon Gubbrud is one of those voices. We hope she can join us or be a featured speaker at another event.
We welcome anyone who wishes to attend our event regardless of their political leaning. The discussion this weekend will not include platforms. Topics including how parties choose candidates and how to become active in the party will be part of the discussion, but only because candidates need to know how to position themselves in the party with which they identify. If there are members of the Republican Party who wish to share their perspectives, please come on Saturday. We will also talk about the nuts and bolts of running a campaign and how anyone can get involved in the political process. The more people that are educated on our local and state politics the better South Dakota will be.
Brooke, Thank you for the work you are doing! 🙂
It it’s not partisan, how many Republicans do you have as panelists, and how many Democrats?
Exactly.
Or, you know, you could just take her at her word. What, you think this is some sort of ‘honeypot’ to lure in unsuspecting Republican women so they can set up a child porn ring in the basement?
democrats used to be elected because of their top-level connection to republicans, i.e. daschle & johnson tied to the bill janklow support base on some issues, and to the liberal wing of the state republican party on others; i.e. janklow democrats, daschle republicans. given the partisan and acrid split between the party extremists in this era, with animosity to even their own centrist party members, this cross-pollenation doesn’t really work. i don’t blame democrats for wanting to rebuild this crucial bridge. they’d be dumb not to want it back.
Dunno why Republicans wouldn’t want it as well – lest you get saddled with neo-Nazis and old men who think “women have a way of shutting that down”.