Hot off the press, and courtesy of a reader, the 2025 Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce legislative scorecard is out noting how legislators representing the Sioux Empire have (or have not) represented business growth and jobs in their community during the last session. And while a number of them are good and want to keep their community growing.. a number of them are just awful.
As noted in the accompanying article in the Sioux Falls Chamber Newsletter:
A core value of Chamber membership is knowing your business has a strong, informed voice in Pierre. The Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce works year-round to advocate for policies that support business success and community growth. Throughout the legislative session, we engage directly with lawmakers, provide guidance on keyissues and communicate with members about how legislation could affect their businesses.
Each year, the Chamber compiles a Legislative Scorecard to help members understand how Sioux Falls-area legislators voted on key bills during the session. These are the bills where the Chamber took a formal position, based on the legislative platform set by the Issues Management Council (IMC) and approved by the Board of Directors.
and..
The Scorecard is not an evaluation of any individual lawmaker. It serves as a factual record of how legislators voted on issues important to the Chamber, its members and the Sioux Falls business community.
The scorecard will be available at siouxfallschamber.com. BUT, since we have the hard copy – here’s how the scores went down:
In the State Senate, Senator Tom Pischke was the worst supporter of business in the community, receiving a 22% score, which was the lowest among the Senate members representing the Sioux Falls area. But if you think he’s bad, hang on..
In the House of Representatives, State Representatives Bethany Soye and Aaron Aylward voted against business an incredible 89% of the time. In fact, the lowest scoring Democrat legislators reviewed on the scorecard – Erin Healy, Erik Muckey & Kadyn Wittman all tied, and scored 78% HIGHER than Soye or Aylward, and were noted for their support of economic growth.
Equally surprising, this scorecard also noted that Gubernatorial Candidate Jon Hansen and his running mate Karla Lems voted against growth, development and innovation 78% of the time, tying Tom Pischke on the scorecard for voting to support business only 22% of the time.
Getting by the people who failed to make the mark, big props for supporting business go to Senator Steve Kolbeck, as well as Representatives Amber Arlint, Keri Weems and David Kull for having 100% perfect scores and actually walking the walk when people talk about the state being Open for Business. Good job guys.
In their review of the session, the Sioux Falls Chamber noted some of the mountains it faced dealing with the 2025 legislature:
Unfortunately, a number of important pro-growth initiatives fell short of reaching the Governor’s desk. This outcome points to a broader challenge. We must continue building support and educating our elected officials that addressing growth and promoting development and innovation are essential to making South Dakota great.
and..
South Dakota has long prided itself on being “Open for Business.” To maintain that standing, we must continue to support policies that foster innovation, development and opportunity.
Amen. Either South Dakota is Open for Business – and we welcome the jobs, economic stability and a growing tax base to alleviate the burden on property owners. Or we don’t.
Again, you can find the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce at SiouxFallsChamber.com
“Two Bills” Soye will argue this score. She thinks allowing firearms in bars is supporting business. Everytime she wins an election I cringe.
When do we simply accept that Dell Rapids is crazy town? Year after year they elect the worst legislators in the state. It certainly isn’t a surprise that Pischke and Hansen scored that low. Perhaps we should defund their school district and see how they like it.
It’s about voting for economic opportunity for families in South Dakota, or opposing those opportunities. Their vote is the strongest message the send
“Free market” over evil economic development ((insert eye roll))
They probably think the Chamber is “woke”.
Just watched a Karla Lems youtube ad that came across my FB feed. It was on a John Birch Society channel which looks like it was produced by Amanda Radke. Yikes! Extreme! Birchers are fringe the grandaddy of modern conspiracy pushers.
Anti-business!
The John Birch Society just release a documentary last month dealing with their opposition to the CO2 pipeline. It was called “Unearthing the CO2 Pipeline”. That can be seen for free on their Youtube page for now.
This is the same group that expressed concerns about the 2020 elections that Joe Biden won.
Talking to Spink County landowner Ed Fischbach, there were a number of other issues the anti-pipeline group don’t agree with them on with the exception of their opposition to the pipeline. One thing of note is they commented on the 2024 elections done in South Dakota(RL201 & the 2024 Primary where a # of Republican incumbents were defeated due to their support of the pipeline.) Yet they made no reference to President Trump following his win.
I found the documentary very misleading and inaccurate at times. The fact that they didn’t reach out to Trump to get his views was very bothersome. That being said, I admit I’m biased, I’m not very supportive of what the John Birch Society does.
Somebody please correct me, but I believe this is also the group that have offered their support to Rick Weible and Jessica Pollema with their election conspiracies?
That “documentary” couldn’t find truth or facts if they were served up on a silver platter!
I don’t think it should really even qualify under the term documentary.
This scorecard rated an A- on the Conservatives with Common Sense Scorecard of Scorecards. Bully job, Sioux Falls Chamber fellows. Bully job.
Unless we get resolution of the tariff war soon, we’re one, maybe two, planting seasons away from a repeat of the Farm Crisis. How many small towns will die this time around because these nuts think all growth is bad?
Where can the entire list of legislators be found?
If a legislator votes with a special interest 100% of the time, you can call them a “Rubber Stamp.” How many special interests are right 100% of the time? So rather than a badge of courage, a 100% special interest score indicates fealty more than it shows objectivity and quality representation.