The South Dakota Republican Party has apparently spent some of their remaining few pennies on a new website. And this afternoon at 4:00 PM they sent out notice to the central committee so they could review the site – posted at sdgop.lifelightdev.com for suggestions. Of course, that meant I had it in my hands by 4:05.
Nothing too earth-shattering, as much of the information had been there before in prior iterations of SDGOP websites, except they’ve added phone numbers so everyone can be endlessly called by robo-calling marketers & spammed. But there was one interesting noteworthy item. The new page for the SDGOP’s e-board includes a section for “appointments and volunteers,” a.k.a. the new SDGOP staff.
According to the website, the staff consists of a Kelly Brack, Tanna Brummett, and Debra Elliot.
Kelly Brack, a realtor from Sioux Falls is the new Finance/Fundraiser Director. This was a really weird choice, as from a quick search of followthemoney.org, I’m not seeing right off where she’s ever made a donation to the Republican Party or it’s candidates. Also, she’s President of Siouxland Republican Women, and in the public records for the last year, she doesn’t appear to have donated to even her own group.
Which brings up the question how someone who has never had any skin in the game is going to approach Republican donors and get them to part with their coin? Oh! But she does appears to be an election truther. And she was part of Eschenbaum’s anti-pipeline group:
Given her prior work working with Eschenbaum to oppose the continued success of ethanol in South Dakota, I suspect the chairman was willing to overlook the whole “job experience” thing for one of his minions for the one position he’s allowed to appoint without any board oversight.
Next, a “special appointee” is chairman’s assistant Tanna Brummett, who some may recognize as the former Minnehaha GOP County Secretary, who along with Tornow had a “vote of no confidence” directed at her. Hers was on the basis of being accused of “recording a closed-door session of a South Dakota Republican Party State Central Committee meeting,” according to a Dakota Scout Story.
Finally is the website administrator/IT person, Debra Elliot, who was another person moved over from the anti-pipeline efforts of Chair Eschenbaum to be in charge of data and website for the SDGOP.
As I always find myself saying.. more and more often.. I’m sure this will all go well.
Deb Elliot. Another crazy from Colorado. This group just can’t get any worse.
Oh lord- the party of No has become the party of No to Economic Development. I guess that is appropriate since no company will ever want to try and build anything here after the way our legislature screwed Summit, GEVO and every ethanol plant in the state. Maybe Eschenbama can figure out a way to make a new industry out of rejecting infrastructure projects. Looks like he and his crew have done pretty well for themselves with that type of work.
I hear a giant sucking noise….oh wait that’s a toilet flushing. Sad group of bedfellows. If the Democrats don’t capitalize on this nonsense by putting up some half-decent candidates, it will be their own fault. SDGOP is handing it to them.
Eschenbaum was a Democrat most of his life. They ARE capitalizing on it.
Every time I think there’s nothing else Eschen-bama can do to surprise me, he says, “Hold my beer!”
The embarrassment continues….
The Republican Party has rolled over into zombie status. It moves as if alive, and it eats brains.
Living GOP people of yesteryear, keep giving directly to your candidates, don’t feed the zombie.
Do not.
Yes to this. Money to the candidates directly. The party apparatus as it currently exists will use your money against your preferred candidate and push another crazy down our throats. Encourage good people and then fund them. Taking this back ain’t gonna be cheap for anyone.
I would say more fascists than zombies.
Kooks, kooks everywhere…
It says SDGOP but that is not what they are now but does the E-Board have to be legal residents of South Dakota? Hey! We see legislators that reside outside the districts they were elected to serve. Heck some reside outside the state verses the districts they were supposedly elected to serve.
How long before we have mailbox legislators? California campground where there is a motorhome with South Dakota plates on it.
Native born South Dakotan asks if Motorhome owner With SD plates if they know a person or family from that county.
Motorhome owner responds they don’t even live in the state but obtained legal residency to get out of paying taxes in their home state. Btw! They are a legislator in South Dakota too running as an R even though except for session they are rarely ever in South Dakota.
I think Americans are learning of creative ways to control their own government. Those who have been a part of the republican party since the mid 1990’s are finding themselves being replaced by a new group of Americans who invoked their authority over the government by putting new people in the roles of precinct committee positions forming new political bonds, coalitions with people from each county. Soon, they will invoke Article 26 of the S.D constitution to completely restructure, re-organize and rebuild our political state. Remember what a true republic is, it is a political organization of people that come together to discuss new laws, codes, rules as to how to manage their political state. This is why you are seeing inside the republican party all these new factions of political committees acting in a way to correspond together across the state. This is a revolutionary movement of the people.
What an essay. Here are thoughts I have:
The blitzing of internal structures of the state GOP county organizations wasn’t so much “people creating new ways of governing themselves” but more like “an angry pitchfork rabble revved up by lies from people who wanted the local parties to be wrecked.”
Across the board, you outsiders flung your angry fists and torches at the weak points of the state and local parties. The state and local parties operated like sane businesses run by experienced business people. You hated those people, you kicked them out and took over their jobs – and BEHOLD – nothing works anymore. Who knew?
The kicker that undoes your gentle tale of plucky innovators, is this: you must adopt the ethics and behavior of the people you GOT RID OF to make the party come together and work again – and just like your hero Trump – the LAST thing you will ever do is admit you were wrong and change your ways.
Let us know if you manage to transmute lead into gold.
For decades, whenever a disaffected Republican voter would criticize the GOP, the response was always, “if you don’t like it, get involved.” Now that people are doing exactly that, establishment types are ridiculing the party’s base, attacking their intelligence.
In the past, whenever conservatives have tried to form their own caucuses or action committees, establishment types have attacked them for working outside the party. Now that average joes across the state have successfully used grass roots efforts to gain influence within the party establishment types weep and gnash their teeth complaining that a basket of deplorables have ruined their elite club. Now the establishment are creating their own organizations parallel to the party in an attempt to maintain power and control.
When I find some intelligence, which I would define as having a good working knowledge of a system you purport to manage with expertise – I won’t ridicule it. Also I didn’t ridicule – I declared it to be wholly false, given the actual facts.
Again, personal attacks against the grassroots of the party. It is your ilk who are tearing the party apart. You will only accept the will of the average person if they are in agreement with you; you don’t actually want them to be active. No, you want them to donate money to the old guard establishment and to cast their vote for candidates selected for them by their betters.
You all have destroyed the big tent Republican Party because Trump said so, and I personally won’t forgive that wantonly stupid act. You sure won’t shame me out of my ongoing rage over it.
There are plenty of people who disagree with me that I respect. But forgive me if I do not respect those who scream about stolen elections and chemtrails. That’s stupid and it should be called as much.
But the political parties don’t govern. They don’t set policy. They might think they are doing something important with platform planks and resolutions but it’s just noise.
Political parties raise money. That’s their job. And if they don’t raise money they are just making noise, and fewer and fewer people will pay attention to them.