We got through stories 6-10 yesterday, and it’s time for the rest. As we cruise towards the new year this coming weekend, here’s the rest of the list of the top ten SDWC political stories for 2015:
5. The long downhill slide of the SDDP
All year long, South Dakota Democrats have continue to shed voters, as well as high profile candidate possibilities as they’ve limped along to the end of the year. Recently, the party was cited as having the lowest level of Democratic registration since 1972.
Dems started off the year with promises and hosting fundraising events in hopes of improving their chances, but by the end of the year, it became apparent that these were hollow efforts, and we were treated to the “same old, same old” from the party of McGovern.
Rare signs of internal dissent have shown through the walls of silence about the party’s internal workings, showing a party that’s organizationally still trapped in the 50’s, and has ever declining organization and participation.
At a recent central committee meeting held by Democrats, only 18 of South Dakota’s 66 Counties had representation – geographically, representation came from only 27% of the state. Population-wise, it may be worse.
There have been reports of the party working it’s way downhill all year, as they prepare to go into the next round of elections. It’s hard to see a way up for them.
4. John Thune preparing to cruise to another unopposed victory.
Symptomatic of the previous political story is one that has farther reaching implications, and further illustrates the dire straits of the Democrat Party. They are currently preparing to hand US Senator John Thune a second, uncontested election in a row.
As noted in a recent article by a University of Minnesota Professor, “It has been 75 years since the last – and only – Republican U.S. Senator did not face a Democratic opponent in back-to-back elections.” Literally, the odds are ever increasing that we will see a – nationally – once in a lifetime event, where a Senator goes two terms in a row without a challenger.
A goodly part of that can be attributed to Thune himself.
Thune has managed to rise in the ranks in Washington like some of his predecessors, but maintains very strong ties to the state who has elected him. Unlike a Larry Pressler, or Tom Daschle, he has not, and will likely never establish a Washington, DC residence. Literally, Thune is seen in state as much as, if not more, than he’s depicted in his official duties in Washington.
Thune’s lack of any opposition in 12 years has also allowed him to amass over ten million dollars in reserves for a potential fight for his office. That’s enough to scare off anyone of any experience, which makes it tough for Democrats to argue to the inexperienced that they stand a chance.
That’s also borne out by the fact we’re at the end of 2015, with no Democrat candidate. Anyone with any political experience knows that a serious candidate would have been out raising funds six months ago. One fringe candidate, 2002 spoiler Kurt Evans, backed down in the face of Thune’s strength, leaving only another fringe candidate, Independent Mike Myers. Myers, who received 4% of the vote for Governor in 2014, is the only person even discussing the possibility of a race at the moment.
The closer we count down the minutes to 2016 makes the possibility of anyone running – even a poor candidate – ever the more remote.
Here’s another race you can draw a line through for 2016. Thune won this months ago. Period.
3. Blue Ribbon Task Force/Education funding
This was one of those things we talked about all year.
Nationally, there’s a crisis in retaining teachers in the profession. They can receive better pay and less aggravation elsewhere, so there’s been a decline in the numbers in the profession. Nowhere is that more evident than in South Dakota, which ranks last in average teacher salaries, and somewhere in the lower 1/3 of salaries based on adjusted income/cost of living.
Some debate whether it’s a teacher salary problem versus a teacher pipeline problem, but that debate doesn’t fill teacher jobs that are left empty by the time the new school year rolls around.
Governor Daugaard formed a blue ribbon committee charged with examining the problem in depth, and during that process people bickered over the process, the procedure, and proposed special session(s) to no avail.
The Governor gave the committee three clear goals: a quality system of schools focused on student achievement, a workforce of great educators, and an efficient and equitable funding system, and after months of hearings, they came back in November with a report based on their findings. The big ticket item is a $ $75-million teacher pay proposal for increases in ongoing funding for teacher salaries.
$75 million in new ongoing funding is going to be one of the highest hurdles to leap, coming at the same time as counties asking for new funding sources, and finding money within the existing budget to go into Medicaid expansion.
The only difference between these and the other two big ticket items for next session? This one might stand the greatest chance of passing.
2. Petition Madness
Remember Susan Powter? She’s wrote a book about fitness, and blared the term “Stop the Madness!” throughout the media in the mid 1990’s.
That could apply with this years’ glut of initiated measures and state constitutional amendments. Something in the neighborhood of 13 were proposed, 10 were successfully circulated, and now 7 or 8 of them remain to be validated for the ballot.
Proponents of the multitude of measures claim that the measures represent the failure of South Dakota’s citizen legislature to pass legislation, but most all of these measures come from special interest groups who didn’t even bother with going the legislative route, because they knew they would likely fail.
Pro-marijuana measures, public financing of political campaigns, eliminating right to work laws, dueling payday lending limitations, etcetera and so on, were shoved in front of people all summer, testing the limits of “South Dakota nice” to obtain signatures to achieve the ballot. And it was featured on the news almost every night.
It got even more lively when one ballot measure sponsor claimed homeless people were being shipped in to *gasp* eat at his coffee shop. At the same time he attacked the sponsors of a competing measure as being fake. It was sheer nuttiness into November, as courthouses had volunteers stalking visitors, and you could not go into a post office without being accosted.
Ever since, we’ve all been waiting to see how many of these measures ultimately will be placed on the ballot.
That is, of course, after the lawsuits on the ballot measures start being fought.
1. Annette Bosworth
What was I saying about “Stop the madness?” After her US Senate loss, and criminal charges arising as a result of her manner of certifying that she witnessed petition signatures, Annette Bosworth was inescapable in the news over the course of the past year. And it shows no sign of abating.
We watched her fight her battle in the media. We watched her surrogates attack the Attorney General often, and repeatedly, regardless of the truth. We watched her raise unknown amounts of money through solicitation letters for her legal fund, which many times made statements far past the realm of credibility, and so on and so forth.
We thought that much of this would end with her trial, and inevitable conviction. (She did admit she signed the things claiming she witnessed signatures while being on the other side of the planet, after all). But, of course, that would have been asking too much.
The Bosworth family circus has continued on since the trial with having her medical license revoked, court and license appeals being filed, and most recently, being sued by her former attorney Joel Arends for her characterizations of him.
And let’s not forget that late in the year, her husband, Chad Haber, has now been charged with the same offenses that Annette was convicted of.
Annette Bosworth dominated the political news in 2015, and unfortunately, it’s likely we’re going to continue to hear from her for a bit.
God help us all.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know your thoughts on the top ten stories below!
My list in order.
– Gear Up and EB-5; corruption taints SD GOP brand in SD.
– Lisa Furlong and the 18% petition cheats
– SD Dems leaderless
– Blue Ribbon task force
– Bosworth fiasco (Bonnie, Clyde, Joel Arends and Patrick Davis)
– anniversary of Mickelson year of Reconciliation shows no progress. Red lives matter.
– Cory H blog surpasses all other SD media in delivering political scoop
– Off the radar: SD GOP fails to steward its supermajority with integrity resulting in party defections, me and others in Sioux Falls.
– Medicaid expansion politics
National: Trump, Islamic invasion within a refugee crisis, racial tensions
Is it just you leaving the GOP, or are you taking your overinflated ego with you?
Number 10 on the list should be how angry anonymous bunholes ruined dialog on DWC.
No it’s not just me, you jerk. There are notable people in Sioux Falls who meet and invited me to join them in forging a new way.
Very Christian response Reverend.
Are you going to have a press conference announcing you are leaving the SDGOP? Remember it’s always about you!
ALL lives matter! I am sick and tired of saying only certain lives matter. ALL lives matter, and the sooner we all realize this, the better off this country will be.
Natives in our state don’t believe their lives matter. If white SD had the suicide problem in 2015 that red SD had the issue would make all our lists. We celebrate our low unemployment rate but don’t factor in native unemployment because those unemployed folks don’t count. We just had a white cop acquitted for tazing a native guy on pine ridge twenty some times. Barely even made the news. There isn’t a native in SD who feels like our state justice system is fair for them.
Steve, it is sad what is happening on the rez in SD. The only way that people count on the unemployment rates is if they are actively looking for employment. Our national unemployment rate is low because they are not counting all of the people who have quit looking for employment. Is it sad? Yes. Why are so many Native Americans unemployed? Could it have anything to do with living in a place where there are few jobs? I believe the reservations are doing more to hurt the Native Americans than anything else.
I agree we need a new generation of leaders on the Rez. But I don’t agree that natives need to move to find employment. Without government help agriculture in SD wouldn’t be a money maker. We don’t tell them to move (though many have as we’ve decided to only back corporate farms and leave the little guys to make their own way.) We can put our best minds together and concoct EB-5 types of things to overcome insufficient investment capital and a need for workers. If we cared more we could develop programs like SD TRADE for the Rez which was a proposal of mine. Even so, biz activity and jobs aren’t the starting place to improve relations in SD. Talk about a life changing legacy for some SD governor— we need a leader who takes an interest in solving our state’s biggest issue— 3rd world conditions within our borders. The Feds may have jurisdiction but they are half the problem. South Dakota neighborliness can fix it. If we cared. I think many of us even here on DWC do. We just need the leadership to see it happen. I proposed a sister city idea a couple years ago—- deaf ears all the way around. East should adopt west and west should adopt east. There are 23 communities That make up rosebud. Towns and churches could connect with a sister town and people can becomes friends for life and a message will be sent that we care. I know it works because it’s what I spent years doing.
Government should make everyone give hugs to make all the boo-boos go away.
How many people have jobs because of what you are doing? BTW, I would like to see most of the subsidies removed for agriculture. There is no reason, for example, for there to be a subsidy for corn. I have only anecdotal evidence of stories of past experiences of people investing in the reservations, but I am pretty sure businesses would build there if they could be sure they could get the people to work.
Very good idea Steve, but it starts with ethical councils who put their people first instead of corrupt governing.
The Native people are oppressed by their corrupt leaders who learned from our corrupt leaders.
The reservations are a major part of the problem for Native Americans. They, along with our govt programs, do not encourage personal responsibility, pride, or self-reliance. There have been people who have tried to establish businesses on the reservation, only to find that the work force there is in a great part unreliable. If they needed 3 employees, they hired 5 just to ensure that enough showed up each day to work.
I think it is past time to get rid of the reservations, treat Native Americans just like the rest of us Americans. Give them back their pride and see what they could do!
Their form of socialist/communistic government is not working. Let THE INDIAN people decide what works for them. Their authentic culture does not worship money, power and greed.
“Natives in our state don’t believe their lives matter”
Only a blind racist could or would make a statement like that.
“There isn’t a native in SD who feels like our state justice system is fair for them.”
There aren’t too many natives or non-natives who think tribal government or courts are fair to them. What are natives doing about that?
Native people are treated as second class citizens. But their children are cash cows for the state.
“Cory H blog surpasses all other SD media in delivering political scoop”
Like what?
Anyone who associates with that guy does not have God is his or her heart.
It is a very exclusive blog. Anyone who disagrees with him….Bye, bye your forbidden, or your post is taken down. lol. He does have some good stuff.
Annette Bosworth was a non-story. It was about someone who ran for the Senate and lost and did something wrong and got punished for it. Big deal. There were several of your picks that actually had a real effect on what is happening in SD. But it is your blog and you get to choose what you think are the top stories. Personally, I quit reading anything about Bosworth.
I would bet you will not find one physician in SD not including the appointees by the Governor that believe Annette Bosworth is a danger to society and should lose her license. Shameful what she has been put through.
The top stories are how liberal the SD GOP has become and how corrupt. Third is how Thune, Rounds and Noem funded planned parenthood, amnesty, refugees and got us deeper in debt with majorities in both the House and Senate.
That about sums up the year and how disgusted the GOP rank and file is. But, hey, that would take more than just propaganda and blind allegiance to party and not principle. The communist operated the same way.
Whatever, Lora.
I don’t think Lora goes by Anonymous.
Primaries and elections are there for a reason. If you feel so strongly about this then run and primary one of them. There is nothing wrong with putting your name on a ballot to let the voters decide.
10. Noem on Ways and Means and her seconding of Paul Ryan
9. Non Existant SDDP
8. GOP Legislative Leadership Shakeup, Back to back Senate Majority Leaders resign for private sector jobs, Corey Brown leaves Senate Pro Temp to run for Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader Dan Lederman leaves legislature
7. Teacher Pay/Blue Ribbon
6. Democrats use Petition process to advance agenda
5. Jackley and Mickelson gearing up in 2015 for 2018
4. Secretary of State’s office turnaround under Krebs
3. Medicaid expansion proposal unites Dems/splits GOP
2. Suicide Epidemic on Reservations/Dog Attacks
1. Gear Up
Thumbs up.
Two Cents:
Perfect list except I think I would move Noem as high as number 7 because she is on Paul Ryan’s 8 person group. (signals to me that the odds of her running for governor might be decreasing.)
Actually I might move Noem up to 5. That’s a pretty big deal.
Pat, when are you going to add an SDDP membership countdown ticker?
lol
Good one Spencer! Hahaha! The defections will only increase with the crazies that should be on some street corner in Haight Ashbury San Francisco most likely high or trippin on something rather than in South Dakota. 🙂
Haight Ashbury is a street corner in San Francisco.
Actually it is a neighborhood and a tourist destination.
Intersection with each street name but now a neighborhood
The fact Annette dominated the news is not a positive reflection on the state of political conversation. I think the most significant political “news” is that nothing is new at the SDDP with regard to anything despite sustaining a modern history shellacking from the top of the ticket to bottom.
I must disagree there, Birthday Boy. The Bos saga is the SD version of the disturbing trend in all politics globally, where people are so starved for leadership, they’ll look to follow anyone who gives voice to their feelings, no matter how unqualified, mentally disturbed, narcissistic or simply criminal. The breakdown of the party structure is a symptom, not the cause, of the seemingly endless onslaught of con artists seeking public leadership roles.
The conversation will be who steps up? Where’s the Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan or Thatcher that will give us all direction again and how will we little party soldiers begin to sow the ground now to grow the next generation of leadership?
mhs, Good for you to speak up over at the stoner blog!
I’m truly baffled by the turnaround there. Incredible work exposing Bosworth that has turned into a empowerment zone for trolls like Kurtz. Puzzling and sad.
Will photo op take more pictures and go to more basketball games.I wonder?