SDGOP Bylaws Committee releases report on the problem with precinct committee people, and proposal to remove precinct committee positions

@SoDakCampaigns

This weekend, the SDGOP released the announcement for their 2022 Winter meeting.

While the portion of the meeting where they will elect Executive Board members for the upcoming term of office has gathered attention, as this will be the meeting where Chair Dan Lederman will relinquish the gavel for a new chairman, the earlier portion of the meeting will have wide-ranging impact as the central committee decides if it wants to re-write the rules by which convention attendees are determined. And a proposal is on the table which proposes to trim the number of people attending the State GOP convention by the hundreds.

As it notes in part..

For several years there has been a question of whether the county delegations are properly structured and whether precinct committeewomen and committeemen should be delegates to the state convention.

—

The crux of the issue is that the current delegate structure motivates convention candidates for public office to recruit people to run for precinct committeewoman or committeeman and then get them to the convention for the sole purpose of voting there. It is the experience of many county party leaders that these recruits then rarely, if ever, participate further in their county central committee.

You can read the entire SDGOP Bylaws Committee Report here:

SDGOP Bylaws Committee Report – 12-30-22 by Pat Powers on Scribd

What do you think? It is time to get rid of precinct committeepeople who do nothing?

97 thoughts on “SDGOP Bylaws Committee releases report on the problem with precinct committee people, and proposal to remove precinct committee positions”

  1. The SDGOP should not act hastily. Monae Johnson wangled her way into office by manipulating the convention. It’s tempting to fix that by using primaries. That won’t get rid of her. In primaries the incumbent has a massive advantage. To replace her with a reasonable republican will be a lot easier by mobilizing the majority Reagan Republicans at the next convention.

    1. This isn’t about Monae Johnson. It’s about the people who contribute absolutely nothing being allowed to vote at convention. This most recent convention, those who did pay the fees to attend for the whole convention tried to get their money back, and announced they would not support the slate of nominees.
      Voting at the convention is a privilege that should be earned.

      1. I supported Monae Johnson. I’m still tired of the process being hijacked every time there is a competitive election.

        Gant, Barnett, Monae, Natvig, Ravnsborg, Jackley, Sattgast, Mehlhaff, Fiegen, Nelson, Haeder, Pat Miller, Teresa Bray, Krebs, Tom Deadrick…

        They all screw up our best county gop organization and primary our best precinct people because there objective is to stack the precincts with yes votes at convention not worker bees for the general election.

        If they run for office they recruit precinct people. That’s fine. Those are the rules. They would be fools not to recruit but it makes party organization nearly impossible and the precinct spots are high jacked by someone who is only going to support one candidate and then never shows up again.

        I prefer convention nominations but the Haugaard, Jensen, asshat wing of the party has me wanting a better process. Let it be clear i have no problem with Haugaard primarying Noem even though i didnt agree with him. What i didn’t like was him challenging Rhoden for the sake of denying Noem her choice after resoundingly defeating him. They don’t vote for the best candidate. They vote for incompetent people who would cost the gop several offices. Ravnsborg flipping killed a guy and was imprached and he still had this Rasputin like mind control over a sizable bunch of delegates who are filled with such contempt that they would vote for someone so incompetent (I’m talking about Natvig).

        1. Haugaard ran to unite the party – not deny Noem her Lt gov. pick. Noem/Haugaard would have represented the completed Republican population. Could have been great.

          2. I cannot even believe what I just read. A delusional idea about Noem/ Haugaard trying to work together…..

          3. Yeah he did. He was selfless in offering himself for LG. His speech was filled with flamethrowers(which Kristi probably liked) and darts to bring us all together.

      2. Wow! Contribute absolutely nothing?? we have seen some pretty amazing people contributing a lot of time and energy on issues to protect our kids and our communities as well as slow down the growth of big government. If you shut them down now, you were destroying the very foundations that our country was built on, by the people for the people. I propose we keep them in, and not only help them to do more, but teach them ways to do it better, and set a good example by not deliberately excluding their talents and passion for leaving America better for their children then they found it. We have an opportunity here to continue to engage some of the best so let’s do it and not shut them out.

        1. Well said Rhonda, that was the point I have been making. Instead of being upset cause Committeeman do not always vote the way you want them to, or they do not attend all the committee meetings, etc. We got to remember, these are men and women who are working 1 to 3 jobs, they represent their neighborhoods much closely than do the legislators do.

          The very fabric of our REPUBLIC is the people meeting among each other at the true grass root level, the neighborhoods.

          I take a lot of pride talking to people, getting to know them, personally, as well as their beliefs. I love sitting down listening to them, actually understanding them and why they think as they do. That gives us the means to best represent people whether at the District level, County Level, Precinct level.

          The beauty of being a precinct person, is your loyalties are NOT always to the party, but more bound to the wishes of the people. The people have the right to push the “Party Agenda” in a different direction.

          I think the Party Bigwigs, the Executive Boards forget who they really represent at times, and need to put more faith in the people themselves.

          I have done all I can to help reach out to as many people as necessary, by making my website, I can reach out to people in more ways than one.

          1. no Mr Z, the precinct captains are elected to represent the party. That’s the whole problem, you never read the job description. As a precinct committee man you work under the supervision of the county chairperson.
            Your lack of comprehension regarding the position you occupy is the reason it needs to be eliminated.

        2. Your husband endorsed Jackley and you voted Natvig even though you knew how bad that office was.

        3. Rhonda, another comment here states you voted for Natvig which tells me you were at the convention, so I want to know how you voted on the resolution endorsing Noem, Thune and Johnson after they had already won their primaries. The mission of the Republican Party is to get Republicans elected, not throw elections to the Democrats.

          How did YOU vote on that?

          1. If you were at the convention, Anne, you know how I voted on the resolutions. And my friends all know that I did not vote for Natvig.
            So how do we censure people who are spreading untruths to create chaos. I don’t think you can blame it on the media this time, but rather those among us.

        4. it’s always fun to watch you all cloak your radical disruptive behavior in the trappings of “true republican” nobility. the gop rank and file have spent decades building the organization you gleefully blast holes in through your various exploits and abuses, in the name of your ambitions, regardless of how you present them. it’s tough when the biggest obstacle to your political success is your own party’s lack of interest in you. usurp away, people.

    2. Reagan Republicans are a dying breed, they lost control of the party in 2008, and most were a bunch of fair-weather ninnies to begin with anyway.
      Expect nothing from them and maybe you won’t be disappointed.

      1. Not really. The establishment just sells the people out.

        I hope we approve this report. The committee did good work.

    3. Monae ran a very good campaign, addressed a wide audience, and she promised to work on the #1 issue facing South Dakotans who elected her: election integrity.

        1. I am a thought leader and intellectual that runs one of South Dakota’s trusted online independent media.

          I don’t look for scoops.

          I take a deep dive into triangulated information from hundreds of sources and draw useful conclusions.

          I don’t work for either side, but I have identified that one side definitely has the moral high ground, and I support their efforts as long as that remains true (holding the moral and ethical high ground).

          I stumped for and voted for Governor Noem.

          I try to do the right thing .. to a fault.

          I listen to everyone and try my best to understand before replying.

          Thank you for asking.

          If you want to take a deeper dive into what I’m all about, please visit PlainsTribune.com (recommend listening from the site as our podcast distribution component is having a bad hair day .. that will be fixed in a few days).

          If you’d like to text me to learn more, I’ve included my number below.

          I’m sure there are some out there that might try to paint me as a terrorist or rabblerouser or “crazy” or “kooky” or leading the rebellion. None of that is true. I’ve been married 20 years to the same woman, and I’m trying to carve out a chance for my kids to live in a world where the truth is respected, money is NOT the most valuable asset, and my descendents have a reasonable chance to find love and start/keep a family.

          My mother was born and raised in Belle Fourche.

          Sincerely,

          John Dale, MS MIS/Entrepreneurship (The University of Arizona)
          Spearfish, SD
          Text: 605 644 5425

  2. This is at least a start to getting to a solution. The past 2 conventions were exactly that, the party malcontents recruited many local precinct committee members – most rarely had any competition for the local seat (they just filed the paperwork and they were in). Then, following their quick trip to Pierre to vote for their candidate (for which they were recruited), they vanished and went home never to be seen again. Yet, that is how it works in the real world, those who show up get to make the rules. It really is up to the party leadership both on the state and county levels to get back to the basics of recruiting quality precinct committee members who will be full participants in the process. It just seems that the party got a bit complacent over the years (what with having super super majorities in both houses and all constitutional officers) and then found that the fringe element had found a way to truly make change, particularly with the selection of constitutional officers. All in all, a primary for all constitutional officers might not be that bad of a thing. Food for thought.

  3. I think that the precinct committeemen/women should be required to participate more in party functions than just show up at the convention. There should be some guidelines regarding their responsibilities and duties.

    1. John, they do have a job description. The biggest problem that many of us have noted is that they get the job immediately prior to the convention, go to convention, and then disappear. Having promised to spend 4+ months getting out the vote in their precincts, they don’t do anything. The bylaws have no enforcement mechanism to make them do what they promised to do. There is no accountability.

      1. Aren’t the naysayers neglecting a situation where the party needs an overhaul?

        Doesn’t this type of thing almost always come back to bite the knee jerkers trying to exclude the newbs from positions of leadership and responsibility?

        Is anyone in the establishment actually contemplating honestly why the precinct strategy was implemented?

        It’s going to be whack-a-mole .. just show them the rules, and the outsiders will find a way to win.

        You have to give ’em credit for the tenacity.

        We’ve this kind of tenacity before .. maybe call it the “tenacity of the righteous”?

        For those who want to understand what is actually going on here:
        https://rumble.com/v2378c2-sd-canvassing-2022-year-in-review-video-montage.html

        Sincerely,

        John

        1. well if there were people using addresses in your precinct to register to vote, but they didn’t actually live there, it was your job as the precinct committee man to figure that out. YOU were the one who was supposed to be compiling and updating voter registration rolls in your precinct. That is the job of the precinct committee man.
          Too bad very few of the precinct committee men and women actually show up to do the job they volunteered for.

          1. The precinct captains should be checking with the County Auditor to find that information.

            1. exactly. the place they should be showing up isn’t at the convention, it’s their county auditor’s office, to look over voter registrations.
              maybe somebody should contact all the county auditors to find out if any precinct captains ever bothered to show up

        2. john witnessed the establisment not willing to let go of control or allow new ideas this week.

        3. Supposedly the current system was adopted in the 80’s because the whackadoodles back then took over all 5 votes at convention. Mickelson had a vision that more precinct people would dilute the nuts from having all 5 votes in minnehaha.

          Now it has turned into them having concentrated hundreds of positions. This is how it bit Mickelson 30 years later.

          I would actually prefer the 3 votes from every county and 5 from minnehaha and Pennington. Then the county leaders would have greater say. They carry the water.

          1. Why would you prefer that?

            To prevent shoring up our elections?

            Because that’s how this plays to me.

            We’re bought by out of state depositors.

            And people are getting hurt because of it (their freedoms and liberties are eroding quickly to protect the deposits which arguably should be put into play as investments into the development and empowerment of our young people that we might save the country).

            MAGA

            1. Elections are fine. You are not. The election wasn’t stolen, Trump lost. Get over it.

              1. Gaslighting? You’re kidding me with this revisionist history, right? The election wasn’t stolen. I’ll keep repeating it as long as you keep lying.

            2. Fully baked John Dale we do not need. Have you tried the Libertarian Party or the friends you have over at that out of state blog?

                1. Whenever I’m this involved in a topical thread, I always look for the moment grudznick crawls out into the sunshine and takes a cheap shot.

                  That’s when I know I’ve won some sort of debate or argument.

                  Hi grudz! They have dollar sunglasses at the thrift store here in Spearfish.

                  Good day sir.

              2. Hello courageous Anonymous poster on The Internet.

                I commend your bravery and willingness to defend your positions.

                I also admire your prolific ability to post so much.

                *rolls eyes*

          2. Actually, that’s not correct. In 1990 election they needed people working the lists at polling places to ensure turnout. So the plan was put in place to change the bylaws to add precinct committee people to the convention process to get them engaged in assisting in voting precincts. The reward to doing the work was that they were added to the list of attendees to go to Convention.

            As time has marched on, and things have become more computerized, you don’t need precinct workers checking off lists at the precinct level anymore, and people are not willing to do that work. But they still take advantage of going to convention.

            So the incentive is still there, but the problem is these people aren’t showing up to do the work.

            And this is the party’s proposal to put things back in balance.

            1. Informative history Pat.

              Thanks!

              It doesn’t make sense to me during the primary phase, conceptually or morally in a free market for elections.

              Primary is an internal competition.

              How can the party fairly administer by picking a winner in the primary?

              This seems to be a really bad bug in the system that creates a lot of risk to the general election if we make a habit of not accepting the results of our primary elections because party leadership had a horse in the race.

              I think that no county level committee should be allowed to exclude anyone who is running from access to the meetings or events, should facilitate getting the message out fairly and digitally constantly, and respect the will of registered Republican voters of the will of a central committee or statewide leadership body.

              Don’t pick a horse by picking all of the horses.

              We’d see a real uptick in communication and ideological contention in the short term correction phase for a policy like this, but eventually by working hard in debate, the contention would level off as our policies as expressed through elected leaders caught up to the problems we face today.

              It’s the same with any kind of work. Sometimes we let the dishes go and find ourselves washing every damn dish in the kitchen.

              And it sucks.

              And that’s where we are in my view.

              If you do not have the stamina for vociferous debate prior to the legislature convening (or other deliberative bodies including coffee meetings and dinner tables), it’s time to hang up the political holsters and take-up crochet.

              1. “respect the will of registered Republican voters of the will of a central committee or statewide leadership body”

                should read

                “respect the will of registered Republican voters OVER the will of a central committee or statewide leadership body”

                1. Pat is pretty much right, the PARTIES can make their own rules and procedures as to how htey wish their committeeman to act or not act.

                  However, the very nature of the REPUBLIC is to allow the people to organize into committees with the intent to republic together, and to organize meetings and conventions with the intent to discuss, write, and draft legislation, let alone amend the constitution.

                  We need at least 1 person from each County to act as a Committee Person, and at least 1 person from each Precinct to act in the best interests of the people. Together we form our “Delegation” of who can and cannot attend committee meetings, conventions, etc.

                  When you add in Legislative Delegates, you have the mode of a true REPUBLIC.

                  The PEOPLE when organized well, can operate the State with or without the Legislature itself.

                  At the lowest of all levels, the “People” are not so much intuned with the Political Party, they are more bound to the Constitution.

                  Pat and I may NOT always agree, but I encourage people to get out and learn our American History as what makes a Republic tick. And when you learn that, You will understand who and what the Republic really is.

                  “WE” do not need political parties, we need PEOPLE to be engaged in the governing process, point blank.

                  The Political Parties divide the people into factions, rather than acting as one collective “Republic” sadly.

                  That is my respectful opinion based on my research, and I love to do research, and I have been gaining tons of respect for how I go about trying to educate, inform, and unite people.

                  I have been a loyal member of the Republican Party for nearly 30 years, and I have not always supported the party’s over all agenda, but I am not one to divide and conquer people based on opinion, but you also will NOT see me attack people, insult people, nor harm anyone based on their difference in opinion.

                  I have aligned myself with the Anti-Federalist Movement, bound myself more in the concepts and beliefs of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Mason. I am not always going to agree with the Republican Party Big-Wigs, and Executives, let alone support all their over all agenda. But, I am going to run like hell to help support the people by bringing them to the “Party” to make us stronger as a Republic.

              2. John Dale, you nailed it when you said “There seems to be a really bad bug in the system that creates a lot of risk to the general election if we make a habit of not accepting the results of our primary elections…”

                But that is exactly what Monae Johnson’s army of discontented precinct committee men and women did at the convention; they stood up and declared they would not endorse or support the candidates, Dusty Johnson, Kristi Noem and John Thune, who had just come through the primary. They were the party’s nominees and Monae’s friends refused to accept the outcome of the primary.
                There is indeed a bad bug in the system that allowed that to happen.

      2. It was a great system when we had dems. Now the insane know anyone with an R next to their name will win a general regardless of skill level or competency.

  4. This is just the Party leadership[ mad cause things do not always go there way. They need to change their diapers, and put their big boy pants on and suck it up.The PEOPLE RULE. If they do this, they will lose in the end.

    1. no Mr Z, the world is run by the people who show up.
      Precinct committee men and women are notorious for not showing up.

      1. I showed up to convention, and I show up to meetings, and I appreciate being invited and included.

        I gathered my signatures, won my delegate position, and voted my conscience.

        The consternation over the last convention seems woefully misguided.

        1. Your job as a precinct committee man was to shoulder “the complete responsibility to conduct the political campaign in (your) precinct?”. You were supposed to get out the vote in your precinct. You were responsible for all voter contact, updating voter registration lists, finding people who were not registered to vote, and getting them registered, all under the supervision of the county chairman. Attending the county meetings isn’t even in the job description.
          Did you do all that? Do you even have a copy of the voter registration roll for your precinct?
          Did you go door to door in your precinct? That was what you were supposed to be doing.

          1. I was not a precinct committeeman, Anon.

            At the time I was an at-large delegate to the convention.

            I get out the vote like you wouldn’t believe, and I’ve done so at such a low cost it makes these archaic and expensive tactics exceptionally frustrating for the folks watching the books. I try my best to work smart, and disregard the comments of imbeciles that mistake motion for value/results.

            If you want the people to show up these days, they have to trust the elections. So, help them trust the elections!

            I’m compelled to think you are either dishonest or ignorant.

            Because the delegate and precinct committee peoples’ job is also to VOTE!!!

            I’m new to this process, which is probably why I still see my vote as sacred, not to be bullied or harvested by anyone else to force policies on us not in our best interests. It’s clear that SD should no longer be a bedroom community for banking depositors. I’m not suggesting anything rash or quick, but perhaps the people making these deposits here would like to move them to Marana, AZ.

            It is in everyone’s best interest (including future people yet to be born) that we repair the process of our elections in keeping with the philosophy of self governance.

            Proceeding down the path of rules changes to suit only the continuation of power will solidify the disposition of this era’s party leaders forever as anti-American, anti-Freedom, anti-Liberty FASCISTS (a much dirtier word than cancer because of how adeptly it applies).

            There is nothing in the laws of SD or bylaws of the party indicating out of state people seeking legal residency are unable to vote in the election. Now, if you’re making the argument that our residency requirement needs an update, EXCELLENT! 😀

            You want to know what leads me to believe that many leaders of today’s party are sophomoric and failing?

            This conversation is not discussing the evidence, the reasons, and treating the dissenters as human beings (rather, a cancer or corrosion on the rings of power), and making headway on issues having nothing to do with religion or the preservation of power.

            Winning an election is the first step in the process of success, not the last.

            The most pressing example I can think of is the failure to act – FOR DECADES – on the obvious issue of cannabis.

            My job as a citizen of SD, beyond any elected positions, is to calibrate our ideas. They are way out of whack, our valves are knocking, and smoke is billowing out the back as we gleefully hit the gas pedal and strafe into a corn field.

            1. County GOP’s can’t even get these precinct members to show up for a meeting so they have a quorum.

              1. The most likely cause is that they feel our elections are a sham.

                It’s not Trump’s fault for exposing it.

                It’s not the fault of late-comers to the process who want to fix it, either.

              2. The South Dakota GOP was handed an army of strong willed, good people to work on the problem.

                What did they do with that intellectual capital and human resource?

                Tamped it, unfortunately.

      2. ^ mood of strong high information, high IQ people who see the problems clearly and want to help, but are classified as carpetbaggers, grifters, rabblerousers, whackadoodles (and the insults go on and on).

        Is leadership going to run the state/country into the ground before asking for help and/or ceding control?

        Mike – I’m glad you wrote your mind. Maybe it’s not too late.

        I’m reaching 10’s of thousands at my website about monumentally important issues with in depth mission-critical information, but I’m not doing my job as an at-large delegate?

        I’ve had many moments of despair and clarity in my life. None of those moments led to self improvement until I admitted to myself that I made the mistake and the people around me deserved better.

        Nobody is perfect, but I think this post perfectly summarizes the mood of the state and country.

        I hope it’s not too late to put in the ringers.

      1. Translation: “The Precinct People are free to vote their conscience and we didn’t like the way they voted so we’re going to Fascistically change the rules.”

        The Republican Party in South Dakota will never live this down, and it will be used as a tool to reanimate the SDDP.

        Actually .. is that what’s happening here? Is our own leadership scuttling the party before they jump lines of control to the “other side”?

        1. Or to create the Independent Statesman Party itself as my friend Bill Nees told me to do back in 2013.

          1. The 200 people who show up are not actually Republicans but a cla@ of libertarians and constitution party voters who just register R to go to convention and reek havoc.

        2. in the case of John Dale – he signed up to be a precinctman initially and then his party Chair told him to withdraw and pull paperwork for delegate at large. She knew she couldn’t control Dale the same way she bullies everyone else

          1. This is a fair assessment.

            I was a newbie, and the LCR acted conservatively to understand my disposition before exposing the committee to my own inexperience.

            I appreciated Mary Fitzgerald’s conservative guidance, and think her leadership will prevent an actual coup by actual Democrats, secret society sociopaths, or anti-American louts.

            The thing I appreciated most about Mary is that she didn’t shut me out through abuse of her power, and took the time to understand what I’m trying to do before cutting my legs out (which she could have).

            For the record: Mary didn’t decide to have me run as a delegate rather than committeeman. That was MY decision and it was a very good one.

  5. We have people that say they live in a precinct but they really don’t. They live in Sioux Falls and not Spearfish. Hopefully Monae gets this problem solved.

    1. Haugaard’s campaign manager Denny Fusaro was from Virginia until they needed his vote at convention. Then suddenly he was a precinct man on his way to convention.

          1. The alternative is a primary. Schoenbeck has said this much.

            The choices are:

            Status quo: legislature makes primary

            Bylaws committee option: keeps convention and makes enough legislators happy.

            Legislatures change: primary

            So the option is not status quo. If you like the convention you want the by laws proposal. If you want a primary you have status quo or no proposal.

  6. Good change. Not about Monae or any one race – it’s about the health of our party going forward. There are more positions than interest in helping the party. Good for the By Laws Committee.

    1. I agree. I have written monae a check. She has my support.

      This is about a bigger cancer. Good for the party to fix this process.

    1. John Dale is not a county party officer. You have no idea how hard it is to organize a party when candidates recruit precinct people to never show up again.

      1. The vacant positions favored the status quo.

        That the positions were vacant or that the people who volunteered didn’t participate is an indictment of the status quo, not the new people desiring to participate.

        In some respects, it’s a numbers game, isn’t it?

        You have to go through a lot of folks (some folks multiple times) to find the ones that provide real value, not just yes men/women.

        Also, having a healthier economy would be good. I define a healthy economy as when one of two parents can work half time and support a family.

        Whose job is it to structure, design, and optimize our economic infrastructure? Remind me again?

        My God we are so far behind.

        1. “WE” do not need to organize a party, “WE” need to organize the PEOPLE as such, so the PRECINCTS have 1 Member Each, and the Counties have at least 1 Committee Person. Together we can best hold Public Meetings so long as the Counties have a Quorum (majority of members), and the the Precinct Committees can hold public meetings so long as they have a Quorum (majority).

          Each County Committee person can hold town halls inside the county, whereas the Precinct Persons can hold town halls inside their precincts.

          IF The PEOPLE were organized as such, the Republican and Democrat Party Establishments would lose their Effective Power.

          IF the people were organized as such, we would NOT be divided in Party Platforms.

          1. You understand this process very well, Mike. The day after the election is the first day of work for the next one.

            I’m trying to break this gently to this round’s losers, who have some potential in my opinion.

            1. I met a guy about ten years ago, by the name of Bill Nees on a chat forum, we began talking to each other by chat rooms, phone, and ‘we’ met in person a few times. He taught me a lot about the governing process, and other stuff.

              He lived in Valdosta, Georgia – he placed himself on the ballot for President in Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama, mainly to prove that the common man can do so with a little luck, effort, and commitment. He knew he would not be elected, cause he was only on the ballot in 3 states, and he would never have been able to get so many electors, unless, electors in the other States chose him as their “foreign choice” outside their State which is legal as per the constitution.

              Electors are suppose to choose at least 1 Choice for President inside their State, and at least 1 Choice for President from outside their State. This is a little known fact…

              But most importantly, what I learned over the years, that there are nearly 47% of the Population nationally that are not associated with the Republican or Democrat Parties. IF, if we were able to harness that power, organize them into one “coalition” we could very effectively bring down the two main political parties, but “WE” need to begin locally, state by state, to connect this silent majority.

              Bill Nees was a Truck Driver by trade, self employed, so he had the time to travel for his business, meet with people, he wrapped his trailers with the slogan “American Vision” and with the moniker “Independent Statesman Party” – his goal was to talk to as many people as necessary, to help educate them, inform them, and represent them as he traveled the country.

              The first thing he asked me to do, was reach out to as many people as I can across my State, organize the Precincts in such a manner, that ‘we’ could actually start the Independent Statesman Party in South Dakota.

              Under the mission statement, and objectives of the Independent Statesman, our “American Vision” – we would organize the people, holding Town Halls, Committee Forums, county by county, precinct by precinct to best represent the people, not by stripping them of their voice, but by giving them a voice in the “State”.

              People have to understand, “WE” do not have a republic where the people cannot act as one in committees, conventions, let alone where their voices are not heard.

              A “Republic” is where the people nominate, elect chosen members, county by county, precinct by precinct, to hold Committees, Commission like quorums around the State, region by region, city by city, etc – at these commissions/committees, “WE” discuss topics of public interests that matter to the people, of which we sit down, draft, write, and adopt resolutions, initiatives all of which can be placed on our Primary or General Election Ballots.

              Through these Commissions, Conventions, we then have a greater ability to demand the the Legislature do as we ask them to do, holding Public Hearings, Investigations in the Legislature, to establishing Statewide Conventions to Adopt amendments to the U.S or State Constitutions.

              The Republican and Democrat Parties can make all their by-laws they wish to make, but if they are seen as excluding people from doing what they have a right to do, the people will leave the associations, the party’s, to join other organizations, associations, that best represent themselves.

              The truth is, “WE” have two Kingdoms today, the Republican and Democrat Kingdoms, both are Left leaning platforms, there is NOT a conservative or natural concept these parties support that is not born from, or adopted of the people. The parties were born to steer the country into “federalism style politics”, exactly what scared guys like Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, Patrick Henry, and exactly what George Washington said himself. Beware of Political Parties of whom create political factions of which manipulate and lose focus of what the people really believe in. IT is why Washington never joined a political party himself.

              The Precinct Committee men and women are closest people we got today to the people themselves, they are more closely a direct representation to the landowners, property holders, the businesses, the people themselves. Their interests are NOT exactly the interests of the party, as much as their interests lies directly to the people themselves.

              Their JOB is to relay the talking points, the minutes created at those commission like forums, to the legislators, allowing the legislature to understand what the people wish for, want, and desire, if the legislature is no longer going to listen to the people, then it is time to change course, and organize the people themselves.

              The Republican Party better be very careful here, if they wish to strip the Precinct Committees of their voice and votes in the Party Conventions – well…

              It can be seen as the Party itself gravitating to special interests, becoming further removed from the people.
              “They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.” – Patrick Henry

              My idol, Patrick Henry, he said it best, for God placed in our power, not the governments, nor any such political party, the RIGHT to self government, and to control the means of governing our state government in our best interest.

              So, if the Republican Party desires to cancel out a specific people, who may or may not believe in the same concepts and agendas as the party leaders, they will forever lose the people’s support, and if that were to happen, the people will revolt, and go a different route.

              “WE” wish to guide the people in a positive manner, we wish to guide the party to become a more direct representative of the people, we wish to bring back the faith, the belief, and trust in the Republican Party, not destroy it.

              The People are moving fast, to organize the precincts, and that is what I saw as hundreds of Precincts changed course, and direction within the Republican Party today.

  8. As always, thank you for considering my thoughts and ideas.

    If any of you would like to follow up with me to continue the conversation in person or over the phone, please use the number at the top of PlainsTribune.com to TEXT me (it’s a text only number that I wrote software to interface with).

    Thank you and good day,

    John

  9. John Dale, it is apparent you have no idea what’s been going on for the past several years. The behavior of precinct committee people has been a source of irritation for years.
    Candidates for constitutional offices have found it’s not necessary to court the votes of the various county central committees, they only need to convince a bunch of their poker buddies to register as Rs and become precinct captains. Your concern about office holders who simply have Rs after their names should be directed at precinct captains who only have Rs after their names. They don’t do any work, they don’t contribute anything, and at this last convention they complained about having to pay the convention fees, they complained about paying for their own meals and motel rooms, they believed somebody else should be paying their costs, and then a lot of them declared they wouldn’t support the ticket in in the general election.
    When you don’t want to be responsible for your own expenses and you don’t support the party’s ticket, you have no business calling yourself a Republican. It wasn’t the votes for Monae that revealed the party had glaring problem, it was the votes in the rules committee meeting and the votes on the Resolutions that revealed it. We had a mob of Democrats show up at the last convention. Fortunately we had enough real Republicans in attendance to stop them from bankrupting the party and to stop them from the embarrassment of not endorsing our own slate of candidates. If we do not fix this we might not be so lucky next time.

    1. We agree on the problem, but disagree on the solution.

      “no idea what’s been going on for the past several years”

      Speaking in these kinds of absolutes dilutes the value of what I think is otherwise a somewhat useful analysis.

      Referring to the people who won delegate and committee person positions as “poker buddies” means I’m not the one who is lacking accurate information. I know many of the good Christian (and other faiths) South Dakotans who want election accountability and integrity. They are not simply poker buddies, which means to me you’re not recognizing the issue that motivated them (it wasn’t a Democratic Party takeover, although I’m sure there are many D’s in our midst .. why is that?).

      What if you’re observation is correct that the new attendees didn’t “want” to pay is incorrect?

      Perhaps on the heels of a plandemic and controlled demolition of the US economy with inflationary costs skyrocketing, people are being more frugal and were off-put at the notion that they must pay for access to the political process? Selling out access to the political process, to me, makes my heart heavy with sadness. Without some kind of formal research, it is impossible to conclude reliably, and we should be careful to make conclusions such that “poor people cannot be Republican”, especially when that is packaged with no analysis is what is making them poor (yeah, I know .. pull yourself up by your bootstraps, the world doesn’t owe you anything, and the election wasn’t stolen, and our country isn’t being looted to launder money to Ukraine, etc etc).

      The only thing you have to do to become a Republican is re-register as a Republican. That is literally the only barrier by law, as it should be. A big pool of new ideas means a healthier ecosystem of problem solving results. Good leadership means taking the human capital, regardless of its disposition, then through a fair process deriving political courses of action that benefit as many South Dakotans as possible.

      Your arguments depend on many un-provable and unidentifiable or unquantifiable things:

      “Real Republicans”
      “mob of Democrats”
      “bankrupting the party”

      See my reply to Pat regarding what may actually be causing the lack of endorsement of Republican candidates by the base post primary.

      It defies the credulity of your fitness for leadership that you don’t demonstrate an understanding of the difference between primaries and general elections.

      There are no legitimate endorsable candidates without a fair, trustworthy process in primary elections.

      I saw exclusion of challengers from meetings and events, favoritism for candidates through process, unearned free main stream media, denial of editorial access to newspapers by challengers, and suppression of vital information (election integrity and the plandemic) by big tech on down to the local pubs before the primaries that give me little confidence in the “endorsable results”.

  10. Rhoden won 39 counties at convention.
    Haugaard 11
    Tied 6
    Did not show up 10

    Most county gop officers are eager to pass this to prevent a future coup.

  12. To understand the motivations of the people wanting change and better audit trails, I watched 2000 Mules.

    While I found it to be an underhanded advertisement for mass surveillance and 5G, it also clearly illustrates that there was a massive ballot trafficking operation going on in 2020 (that’s illegal).

    Is the election uncertainty being caused and pushed by big tech?

    I learned from some crime drama awhile back that detectives consider motive, means, and opportunity.

    Big tech has all three of these.

    1. You know you can easily find information debunking the convicted felon D’Souza’s fantasy movie, right? You want facts, right?

      1. So do it. And post it. I’ll read it and give a truthful response.

        Or was this just a drive-by cheap shot about his conviction and the time he served for .. what did he serve time for exactly?

            1. He was convicted and then pardoned, idiot. Also, notice you had very little to say about 2000 Mules. Color me shocked.

  14. If it is really so easy to “stuff the ballot box/precinct positions” why wasn’t the “establishment” able to pull it off, it’s not like they didn’t have paid recruiters trying, they just failed. I suggest this change in rules before the county level elections is because some county office holders realize they are not in the main stream of their county party.
    When you look at the results, convention was pretty balanced, the only race upended was the guy that perpetuated Democrat talking points concerning elections both in bill testimony and high school government class presentations, the fact that delegates where looking for an alternative shouldn’t surprise any Republican.

    1. Marty Jackley less than 60% shows that it wasn’t balanced. Slam dunk candidate vs flawed candidate, shouldn’t have been close. A primary of that race would’ve been 80-20

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