Back in the saddle after a weekend in the hills! And if there is one thing that had my phone blowing up while I was on the road, it was State Representative Kevin Jensen’s facebook post which seems to have him lamenting over a potential legislative pay cut of $1300 in 2024, as legislative pay is tied to median income:
Oh my. It’s kind of hard to figure out where to start here.
One of my correspondents took issue with his statement where Rep. Jensen notes “Many of us fund our campaigns out of pocket,” as I had a note fired off to me that they couldn’t “resist to see how much of Kevin Jensen’s campaign he funds himself.” They looked:
It ends up being (according to itemized amounts) that he’s given $5000 to himself out of a total of $42,486.4 or just around 11.7%. That is not including the $7619.74 that he has loaned his campaign but it does not appear that his campaign has paid back. Meaning that donations for his campaign today may go to paying debt owed to Kevin himself.
Even if you count the loan, I’m not sure how that costs as “mostly.” Also, and more of a technical item for the SOS.. the campaign finance form really doesn’t provide for loan carry-over information from reporting period to reporting period.
But by and large, the main comments were with regards to another issue that’s more in the news. Noting where Jensen brought up..
I cant think of a day in the last 7 years I have not been involved in issues at some level. Many legislators will tell you the same. Most of us do this out of a sense of duty, not for the money.
Maybe we can’t speak to the last seven years of his involvement in issues at some level, but I and others can’t think of a day over the last few years that a member of his family hasn’t been on the receiving end of a number of state contracts (totaling $528k+), with several that Kevin himself was named as the business fiscal contact.
(You can go look up all those contracts here).
Is Kevin really going to go on facebook and crab about legislative pay when he and his spouse have been involved in state contracts during his tenure to the tune of a half-million dollars?
If he doesn’t care for the legislative pay, he should not run again. Somehow, I think his family has other lucrative income streams which will prevent his starvation.
Wow! I don’t think Rep. Jensen understands how this looks to his constituents.
He probably doesn’t think they’ll find out.
Our elected officials have done an amazing job at keeping their motivations (sense of duty) a secret! I would have never guessed that power, ego, special privilege, or desire to control everyone else’s lives comes second to “sense of duty”. If this is truly a “sense of duty” situation, then why are they all against many attempts to cut their special privileges? They even go as far as overturning the will of the people when it comes to trying to limit their power (IM 22). If I were to guess, I would assume they would say something like “sense of duty to God”, and their “God” wants them to have ultimate power, kind of like how God wants all those televangelists to swindle your grandma’s SS check so they can get a “donation” for a new private jet.
It is a heavy burden that comes with great responsibility to legislate “Freedom for me but not for thee” here in South Dakota homes of the intergalactic famous “Freedom Burger” served with a side of Bigotry and the future “World Famous Libertyland”.
shouldn’t you go back to the dakota septic tank?
What?
Daugaard said voters were “hoodwinked”
I don’t think they were.
The notion that Jensen’s wife can take a half million in state money, and it is not a constitutional conflict for Jensen, is a joke. Ask any divorce lawyer. God forbid, if they divorced, Jensen would be arguing “Hey, half that is mine!” And legally, he would be right.
Its appalling that this has gone on so long, UNDER THE NOSE OF THOSE WHO KNOW and whose job it is to stop it.
Cmon state officials, DO YOUR JOB. This deal stinks to high heaven.
I agree. The AG should act. We don’t need the state Supreme Court to clear any of this up.
Too many don’t want to open this can of worms lest they hurt themselves financially. Better to let Kevin profit and keep their own gravy train going.
Jensen seems to be profiting directly from contracts with the state.
I think whether it’s ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’ is one of the question the supreme court has been asked to weigh in on.
What is more direct than state funds landing in a bank account a legislator has access to? Legislator and spouse, that is one thing under the eyes of the law. AG needs to act now.