South Dakota Searchlight has done an extensive Q&A with the South Dakota Republican Party’s new chairman. And if you’re a South Dakota Republican, it does not bode well for the future of the party.
In fact, I believe I can argue with some merit that Jim Eschenbaum is actually the worst Republican Party chairman in South Dakota history. On to the story:
South Dakota’s new Republican Party chairman is a former Democrat, but he’s been a Republican for nine years. Now he’s concerned about “Republicans In Name Only,” or RINOs, and wants to weed them out.
“RINOs are a real thing,” Jim Eschenbaum said. “People say, ‘Don’t call us RINOs.’ Well, If you’re supporting abortion or gun control in any way, or any kind of sequestering of First Amendment rights, well, that does not align with conservative principles.”
Eschenbaum is a 62-year-old Hand County commissioner and farmer. He was a registered Democrat for 32 years until he and his wife switched when Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
Read all of that and more here… and that’s just the start, as Eschenbaum tells the world that the Republican Party doesn’t need any money to do anything, while at the same time taking a nasty swipe at the Governor’s son, Reggie Rhoden, who was the outgoing executive director:
I agree that people are funding candidates now instead of just throwing all the money to the state or state party. And I am perfectly OK with that. We don’t need any more money thrown to the state GOP than what we need to operate.
And we’ve already taken $77,000 out of the annual operating costs of the state GOP. Reggie Rhoden, Governor Rhoden’s son, was executive director and he was being paid $5,400 a month. He resigned at the meeting on February 22, when we did the elections. And we have decided thus far that we don’t need an executive director. Nobody knows that he was doing much.
Read that in the article as well.
One politico who predates my 37-year involvement in the SDGOP, upon reading this article quipped that “the smack talking of Reggie — the only thing that outpaces Eschenbaum’s arrogance is his ignorance.”
But that’s not all. Why would it be all? Because the fool in charge of the Republican party wants to see The Republican Party producing scorecards on candidates:
I have even proposed a South Dakota GOP scorecard. I don’t know if the state central committee will decide to do it, but it would be based on just those three principles, the two constitutions and the party platform.
When asked about unifying Republicans, Eschenbaum’s response included this passage:
“..some of these politicians, they get elected to office, they get a fat head about what it is they want to do or who they want to benefit, or using government to do business, and that’s not what government is intended to be.”
Read that in the Searchlight article, you ‘fat-heads’.
And finally, perhaps a moment of self-reflection given what he’s done to the Republican party to date:
Just because you’re elected to office currently does not guarantee you’re going to get reelected to office again.
(Well, no shit Sherlock Holmes.)
Go read this wide-ranging interview at SD Searchlight by Joshua Haiar
What did we learn about Jim Eschenbaum? He doesn’t feel he needs the Republican Party to raise money. He wants to institute purity tests via scorecards. He doesn’t think Reggie Rhoden did anything as executive director, and he wants to weed out the people HE THINKS are RINO’s – Republicans in Name Only. I’m thinking this 32-year Democrat needs to look in the mirror and weed himself out.
A legislator, after reading this article pointed out:
Our new Chairman is basically Frank Kloucek with a mustache. The guy vaguely mentions abortion and guns, but otherwise can’t name a single Republican issue. What about limited government? What about free markets and prosperity?
Another long-time politico’s review, and maybe the most prophetic:
Great way to divide the party and burn it to the ground.
And I would agree. If anyone is giving to the party, they really need their heads examined at this point. Political parties have one job – in our case it’s elect Republican candidates, and secondarily, raise money to help elect Republican candidates. Anything else is off task, and will only bring the party to ruin.
In my time, I had always considered former legislator Don Peterson, who had a 2 year stint as GOP Chair, as arguably as having the worst tenure as party chair. Nice guy, and he tried, but when you spend the last 2 weeks of the election golfing in Arizona… that’s not the sign of an engaged chairman. He passed away a number of years ago now, but those who remember him fondly can take solace in that he will no longer be considered by history as not being among the best as Chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party.
Because in his first two months, former Obama Democrat Jim Eschenbaum has swept the boards in being the absolute and utterly worst chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party to date in State History.
As he takes a wrecking ball to the organization that so many good Republicans took over a century to build, it may take the party decades to recover.
If it ever can.
At least one of his priorities will hold true: not raising money.
Eschanbama is a total buffoon. I would blame the state central committee but they didn’t have much of a choice with crazy Qualm on one side, and the other guy that had no personality. I guess the best thing they’ve could’ve done is hold out until a real candidate came along. Either way, the GOP is now a complete embarrassment. If I was a candidate, I would run as far away from the party as I could.
“We had to burn the village down to save it”.
Thanks Mr Powers. This brings up memories.
Back when Obama was elected, all the beltway insiders and globalists were publicly lamenting that US democracy was clumsy and dangerous and that we should be a one-party power regime like China or the old USSR – a magazine even declared “We’re all Socialists Now.”
This untrue public imaging galvanized the mindless angry reaction of the Republican Tea Party into a formidable political force, ready to defend the American Way – ready for Trump to make into his pitchfork army a few years later.
Trump’s 2016 primary caused major damage up and down the whole GOP leadership structure, but we all cheered him on.
I didn’t understand or like what he did to John McCain, or how he threatened our allies and embraced Russia. I didn’t care until the Jan 6 insurrection, which I found to be disgusting. In the wake of that, sheanderthal Marjorie Taylor Greene called for the GOP to go full MAGA and drive out all the non-MAGA and RINOs once and for all.
All that 2009 chit chat about turning us into a one-party power regime seems to have bloomed all around us in the past 100 days. Congress and the Supreme Court play at their jobs and appear to do things, but the two branches that allowed people of both parties to share and administer power according to the Constitution, seem to have been willingly neutered at the time in history when they are needed most – when a power grabbing executive branch is dismantling the country.
Democrats are still aware and coherent enough to finally understand that the Republicans they used to share power with left the building years ago. Local Republicans need to figure it out too.
The “new” GOP leadership like Eschenbaum and company have dismantled the time-honored complex system of bringing national power down to the local level. We can all be MAGA or be evicted from politics. This rabble is assured that following Trump over the cliff will help “invent” a new form of government of The People.
The elites of 2009 wanting us to be like China – simply pivoted when the Tea Party rose against them. They used marketing and slogans and Rush and Fox News to get us there anyway, all while thinking we were avoiding it.
I don’t know if it helps much at this late date – but I now quickly call b-s when the new GOP paints themselves as heroes and patriots for what they’ve done. I call on anyone who wants their party back – to defend it like you should have done a few years ago when it would have made more of a difference. CALL OUT THE B-S as soon as you see it. And remember, when others here call you a moron, you are probably speaking truth they don’t like. Speak it.
Looks like it’s too late to stop the SDGOP from going full purge.
Make note of what they break and fix it later. Fight for the right and ability to fix it.
Though I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, if I have not MONEY I am but a sounding bell or a clanging cymbal.
Or to put it another way, if I make a loud noise and smell bad, but have no substance, I’m just a fart.
Jim Eschenbaum isn’t just a bad chairman… he’s an existential threat to the South Dakota GOP.
A 32-year Democrat who voted for Obama, switched parties only in 2016, and now presumes to purge so-called ‘RINOs’?
The irony here is STAGGERING!
Eschenbaum’s sudden zeal for ideological purity reeks of opportunism, not principle.
If anyone is a Republican In Name Only, it’s the man who spent three decades opposing conservative values only to reinvent himself as the “gatekeeper” of them.
His leadership is a masterclass in self-sabotage: slashing party funding, alienating key Republicans (like openly mocking Reggie Rhoden), and pushing divisive ‘scorecards’ that will fracture the party rather than unite it.
The GOP’s mission is to WIN elections—not to wage civil wars over arbitrary litmus tests while Democrats consolidate power.
Eschenbaum’s vision? A hollowed-out party, more focused on hunting heretics than defeating the left.
Worst of all, his arrogance is matched only by his ignorance.
Dismissing the need for fundraising and professional leadership proves he doesn’t understand modern politics.
Elections aren’t won on platitudes about ‘principles’—they’re won with resources, organization, and broad coalitions. Eschenbaum’s approach guarantees one outcome: a weakened GOP and a gift to Democrats.
The SD 21GOP didn’t need a wrecking ball. It needed a builder.
Instead, it got a Trojan Horse.”
Tell it, Sam!!!
We got a trojan for sure.
“We don’t need any more money than we need to operate”. What? Operate what? What are your operations if not to raise money to get republicans elected?
In this unfortunate Republican civil war, I have friends on both sides. There’s some things I align with more closely with one faction, and some things I align more closely with the other faction. Ultimately, the party is toast unless the ad hominems and name calling ends. One side throws out “whackadoodle” while the other throws out “RINO”. We have more in common than we do not. There are bad ideas and good ideas. We need to fiercely debate ideas and challenge each other, but the personal affronts have to end if we have any hope. We need good ideas, and good people, who can challenge each other, respectfully. I find fault on both sides of this war. Litmus tests and absolutes will simply empty the tent, not widen it. Almost no one can 100% pass an arbitrary absolute purity test. I can be with you on 80% of your positions and be an effective ally. The only person I agree with 100% of the time is myself – and even that isn’t true – I question myself often. I would offer to those who consider themselves more moderate, or, as some would say – and I hate to use the term – “establishment” – that empathy is important here. There’s a very real sense from a large segment of people that has been building for the last few decades that leaders of all stripes, and both parties, are answering more to those who are well connected with the right connections, and leaving the average joe behind. Whether that’s true or not (there’s some truth to it in my opinion – whether intentional or unintentional) – isn’t the point. The point is its a perception, and its driving the movement we see today. I firmly believe Donald Trump didn’t start a movement as much as he capitalized on a movement that had been fermenting and just waiting for someone to give voice to it – and he did. That’s not me giving an endorsement (or not) of Trump, its just me recognizing that its a real thing. It’s interesting because putting on my amatuer political analyst hat on, it seems to me the same dynamic driving the hard left who would support a Bernie Sanders or AOC are the same dynamics that have driven the rise of Trump and the “populist” wing – the feeling that leaders have lost touch with the average citizen. The hard left feels like the power players in the Democratic party are too cozy with corporations and those well connected, and the populist wing of the Republican party feels the same about the power players in the Republican party are doing the same. I don’t think they are completely wrong either. This really started to gain momentum I think in 2008 with the crash and bailouts, maybe even in 2000 after the tech crash. Rather than dismissing the “populist” wing, there needs to be some serious self reflection and empathy – putting oneself into others shoes to see the world the way they see it, to truly understand and to try to win back their support.
On the other side, those who consider themselves the “real” or “pure” R’s right now need to not dismiss those who are more moderate and use litmus tests to disqualify those who don’t completely agree with your personal positions. Not everyone in power is corrupt, or “bought”, and just because they disagree with one of your positions doesn’t disqualify them from being a member of your party (at least it shouldn’t).
There’s some overarching positions we can agree on and join together to champion, but at the micro level there are going to be differences, and that’s OK. The quote from the Republican chairman is instructive here:
“Well, If you’re supporting abortion or gun control in any way, or any kind of sequestering of First Amendment rights, well, that does not align with conservative principles.”
The absolutes in this statement are unrealistic and just not the way the world works, or any of our laws, and agreed upon social norms function. If you support … “in any way” or “any kind of”. Taking two of the three cited issues. Gun control – it would seem self evident that 2nd amendment and gun rights is a foundational tenent of conservatism. No doubt about it. That being said, what does “in any way” mean as it relates to gun control? Most gun control I do not and would not support and I believe are ineffective, let alone unconstitutional, but there are restrictions, and good people can disagree on where that line is. You can’t buy an automatic machine gun or a bazooka. Are you not a conservative if you are OK with that? How about “any kind of sequestration of first amendment rights”? I’m a huge champion of the first amendment, and I am the first to say the most offensive speech, and the speech that is most critical of government has to be protected first and foremost, but the idea that the 1st amendment is absolute is completely disconnected from law, precedent, and our society. Yelling fire in a crowded theatre, defamation, and slander are just a few examples. Again good people can disagree on the line drawing, but its overly simplistic to think any right is “absolute” or “unfettered”. I would be the first to support your right to protest, but if you are standing in the public street blocking traffic or blocking the doors to a business or government building, you’ve crossed the line.
Absolutes and litmus tests are overly simplistic, and ignores serious policy considerations and makes vigorous debate and exchange of ideas impossible. Personally attacking each other only divides us, and makes most good and reasonable people, myself included, not that interested in participating, and we step back from the nonsense. I’m not interested in listening to my more moderate friends personally attack my friends in the more populist wing, and vice versa. Debate fine, criticism of bad ideas, fine. Name calling, no. It’s an utterly depressing place we find ourselves.
With respect, I would encourage the chairman to give some serious thought about his approach. Why would any Republican, elected or potentially thinking of running for office, consider associating themselves with, donating to, or supporting a state party that might use any funds, ideas, or efforts they provide to the party, to then denigrate them or actively work to defeat them? Right now, if I don’t pass an arbitrary purity test, I’m excised from the club. That’s a dead end for the party as an effective organization.
January 7 2021 MAGA’s intent was twofold – get Trump back in power, and make the nation’s politics fully MAGA. The worst of them say outright that Democrats are traitors who must be eliminated, even while they live the lie that Biden cheated to win in 2020 – and the Jan6 traitors are good patriots. Eschenbaum’s work fits right in with that plan. I’ll have none of it, I’ll have McCain and the Cheneys and Bushes and all the GOP faithful ruined by Trump restored to rightful honor. There won’t be some hybrid GOP that’s half MAGA and half not. There can’t be. We need to demand anew that the best people serve in leadership, not agenda driven bullies. We need to fight and demand the best – just like Thune and Rounds FAILED TO DO when they voted to approve Trump’s clown-car-cabinet. Fight or get out of the way.
Keep perspective and take the long view. Every state has had similar struggles at some point. Republicans in South Dakota have been blessed with great leadership over the years, but Gov. Noem’s national ambitions truly messed up the party. It’ll take time to build up a new team. In the meantime, let’s count our blessings: The Dems are in much worse shape.
“Governor Noem’s national ambitions truly messed up the party” is the most inane statement ever read. Have some common respect for the Governor that fought for your freedom everyday.
Fighting for our freedoms? How much of the time did she spend outside the state trying to nurture her national profile? Now, she poses in front of deported immigrants and flags border patrol agents with the barrel of her weapon in photo ops. She hasnt fought for much of anything besides her own political interests.
Obiously youbl Pat Poeers worshipers have not learn3d anything yet.
Little early in the AM to be drunk typing, isn’t it?
Good one, Mr. Powers.
Constitutional Conservative aka Constitutional Party activists, Libertarians, Christian Nationalists/Fascists, John Birchers, Tea Party, QAnon, Trump Party.
Constitutional Conservative is a rebranding of all of the above sounding less scary to voters since they were on the far fringe of political discourse being soundly rejected in public opinion and at the ballot box. With their history they should be voter repellant when they claim to protect the constitution. The complete opposite occurs when they are in positions of power.
These are not Republicans, Grand Old Party, The Party of Lincoln, Party of Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and Teddy Roosevelt. This populist group of Fascists have hijacked and ransacked state GOP political parties across the nation.https://forwardky.com/what-is-christian-nationalism/
Abraham Lincoln must be rolling in his grave!
We had members of leadership in our BPOU and congressional district that wanted to use South Dakota as a dumping ground to get rid of the crazies that were costing them elections and donors. This group then praised South Dakota, encouraged them to move and offered to help load up their trucks and moving trailers.
What happened to these refugees? They took over what used to be the SDGOP.
I was getting paid $4,357.50 a month with no benefits.
I’m not perturbed, but it certainly seems a weird thing to lie about after begging me to stay on board until the next meeting. It’s especially odd when I’ve spent dozens of hours over the past few weeks trying to help his team with a smooth transition– A transition he should consider allowing his board to complete before speaking poorly of the only person genuinely trying to help them out.
He hasn’t even arranged for anyone to come to my office to pick up the files they so badly wanted to audit! I hate to think how that audit must be going thus far if the Chairman is publicly misrepresenting the only salary they have to keep track of. By proxy it must also be hard for the Chairman to imagine that the ED did much when the Chair doesn’t even know what the Chair does.
Mr. Rhoden, your righteous anger is justified. I’ll be surprised if these True Republicans will last through the next election cycle.
Some excellent analysis here. Thanks Greg, Dan, and others. Interesting times for sure.
Eschenbaum needs to look at his own voting record. He has supported tax increases and health benefits paid 100% by taxpayers for commissioners. Not ideal conservative policy.
He also fought against a CAFO in the county, even though the application met every requirement in the county ordinance. His reasoning? Neighbors didn’t like it. So much for a landowner’s property rights.
I on the other hand, have never been a democrat, support economic growth, have voted against tax increases and for tax reduction. I have an A rating from right to life and the NRA. I have carried legislation that protects landowners from restrictive ordinances in counties and fly by lawsuits. I was the prime sponsor of legislation restricting foreign ownership of ag land in South Dakota.
But they call me a RINO.
Rhetoric over deeds.
We can truly thank the 80% of voters in SD who didn’t show up for the primary.
Change the name of the party to either SDTRUMP Party or SDQAnon