Category Archives: SD Politics

Republocratic Politics, SD Politics

Enough Already of the Republocrats!

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Time to get back into blogging, stimulated by an e-mail exchange with a county GOP party leader. Firstly was this comment from radio conservatalker Michael Savage:

Looking ahead to the new year, Dr. Savage mused about the steps needed to “save this country” from both Democrats and a Republican leadership addicted to power, money and big government.

The American people, he warned, may have to adopt the extreme tactics of leftist activists if they wish to succeed.

“In January, I’m going to start telling you what the Republicans need to do to save this country,” Savage said to his listeners.

I don’t know if we can do it, but we’ll try.

We’re probably going to have to get in the face of Boehner, McConnell and the rest of the GOP leadership. We’re probably going to have to become a sort of conservative “Occupy” movement in order to get them to stop screwing us.

I know one rule in life: When Democrats and Republicans get together, the American people are being screwed. That’s what’s going on right now.

Make no mistake: Boehner wasn’t elected. He was brought in on the coattails of all the young conservative people that were swept into power. He and McConnell and the rest of the so-called leaders are hated.

Yet they act like their mandate to keep screwing the American people has been renewed. 

Forwarding the above resulted in this reply:

I can see his point to an extent, but most of the tactics of the left (blocking bridges and traffic during rush hour, flash mobs, demonstrating in malls, etc) just tend to P**S people off – lol

I think the louder and crazier the Left gets, the better it is for us.  Most people aren’t particularly ideological but they DO tend to block out belligerent and noisy.

OK.  Reasonable enough…but it seems to the Chief that that response forgets that one can be more assertive without resort to the hard-core obnoxiousness of the progressive occupiers: Remember when the TeaParty got started?  There was plenty of “direct action” there that didn’t go over the line…the key principle there is that my exercise of rights stops  before rights of others such as free passage, etc., are violated. There are ways of being more assertive in a targeted way without going around the bend crazy like the anarcholeft.

The thing that DOES drive me crazy is the spineless lack of principles exhibited by Boehner, McConnell, and the GOP establishment.  There is no real reason we shouldn’t be standing up for ourselves, rather than knuckling under with stuff like the cromnibus, plans for “comprehensive immigration reform”, etc.

Local case in point: Sen-elect Rounds declaration of a bi-partisan strategy for legislation.  Oh joy.  That sure as hell is NOT what we need…especially when the Dems’ idea of compromise is to propose some new and/or expanded “progressive” scheme, and then reduce the size of the expansion as a “compromise” deal. Of course in all such cases, the only argument is not whether or  not to continue the leftward drift.  The only debate under those terms is how fast we socialize.

Daschle was the Grand Master of this when he was Senate Majority Leader. If THIS is what Rounds stands for waffles on,  Pressler should have been elected–at least HE was honest during the campaign in defining himself as a progressive.

The actual issues themselves are NOT really complicated in spite of what the Republocratic Demicans and the lame-stream media make it out to be, whether it’s health care, taxes, or whatever.  This is worth additional comment, which will be forthcoming in the near future. ’nuff said.

Constitution Watch, SD Politics

HB1277 / 1278 Statement sans Explanation

There has been a running discussion lately in the SD blogosphere relating to support or opposition to HB 1277 and HB 1278, which relate to “obtaining certain information from online content providers in slander and libel actions. ”

There have been thoughtful and thorough comments from various SD blogs. I particularly liked Ken’s comment on SD Politics hearkening back to the “ancient” (to borrow a descriptive designation from the SCOTUS decision bouncing McCain-Feingold) traditions of our early republic, and its lively, invective-filled, and often anonymous debates.

I started on a somewhat lengthy commentary from my own point of view…and finally decided that to address everything I thought about this idea, I would be writing a major thesis.  I have enough writing to do for the history master’s program I’m in, so have to pass on that one for now.

So, it’ll just have to be enough to say that these bills are NOT a good idea for a number of reasons, both technical and philosophical, many of which have been discussed elsewhere by others. The long and short of it is that I don’t see a benefit in extending the police power down to the levels that would be necessary to even attempt to enforce this.  Besides,  based on what I know of history, who would say that sometime in the future it might be considered libelous to criticise officeholders, etc.   This HAS already happened elsewhere, and elsewhen.

I know, “It can’t happen here!”  Wanna bet?  (I don’t!)

It may well be the proverbial cold day in hell since I agree with the ACLU …hmmm…the Saints won the Superbowl…maybe it really is cold down there!

SD Politics

Of Laws and Sausages

From kuchen to gas tax, state lawmakers represent “nook and cranny” ideas

Germany’s Otto von Bismarck (who evidently had a bunch of fans up in ND), observed that “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”

This piece provides some of the details of the legislative side of the process as it takes place up at Pierre.

South Dakota legislators will face important matters of life and law among the 500 or so bills likely to be filed during the 2010 session.

They’ll also face issues that aren’t quite so earth shaking.

The 131 bills that had already been filed last week through the Legislative Research Council included proposals to authorize charter schools, raise the state gas tax and approve a building addition at Northern State University.

Also in the mix were ideas with less-clear impacts on the state — like honoring and supporting “Czech Days in Tabor” and the “Scotland Kuchen Feier on the occasion of its first annual event.”

It’s easy (and sometimes fun!) to throw figurative mud-balls at some of the proposals that float up through the process, but look at the bright side…concerns about community festivals and kuchen MAY distract from other things…like more iterations of nanny-stateism, tax increases, etc.

SD Politics

Candidate M.I.A.

George McGovern’s grandson decides against U.S. Senate run — this time

The grandson of former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern has decided not to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. At least, not yet.

Matt McGovern of Sioux Falls said Tuesday that he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Sen. John Thune.

The Chief is NOT a gambling man, but 5 will get you 10 that he’ll be going for the senatenext time out…like, can anyone imagine Johnson going for another term? There’s a lot better chance going for an open seat instead of trying to a likely futile round of butting heads with popular Sen. John Thune.

Meanwhile, the SD Donkey Party is looking for a sacrificial lamb candidate.

SD Politics

SF Tea Party on Black Friday

Sioux Falls was full to the seams with “black Friday” shoppers, as anyone who had to negotiate traffic around 41st & Louise (for example) can testify.  Not everyone was partaking of said holiday “cheer”(?).

A small but enthusiastic group of the local Tea Party group was out on a late notice event to show their colors along 57th street, just around the corner from Donkey Party Senator Tim’s Sioux Falls office.

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SD Politics

Thune Interview: Reid Vulnerable

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Senate giant killer sees new victim: Reid
S. Dakota senator points to Nev. election

Interesting interview piece with SD Senator John Thune in the Sunday Washington Times

Sen. Thune points out similarities with Daschle v. Thune race, and the vulnerabilities of “Dusty” Harry Reid in this election cycle.

The Republican who ousted the Democratic leader of the Senate in 2004 says Harry Reid finds himself in a similar predicament of representing a conservative-leaning state but leading a liberal party.

Sen. John Thune made Senate history when he unseated Sen. Tom Daschle by exploiting the gap between Mr. Daschle’s interests in Washington and those of his home state of South Dakota. That’s exactly where Mr. Reid, the Senate majority leader, is now, he said.

“In the case of Senator Daschle, he was leading a left-of-center caucus and representing a right-of-center state — it was very difficult to reconcile those two,” Mr. Thune told The Washington Times. “I know that Senator Reid will work very hard over the course of the next several months to convince his voters in Nevada that he’s still very connected to them and in touch, but I think that the perception that he’s got to overcome is that he is leading a left-of-center caucus in Washington that’s trying to do all these things with which they disagree.”

Some other issues are also noted in the piece:

Mr. Thune, a former three-term House member, has earned a reputation as a rising GOP star among the upper chamber. The affable Midwesterner has been a fierce critic of government spending throughout President Obama’s first term — during the debate over the stimulus bill, he routinely noted that one could spend $1 million each day since the birth of Jesus and still not match the plan’s $787 billion price tag.

Also, the proposed interstate CCL legislation that almost slid though the Senate in spite of the Donkey Party majority…

He’s also taken the lead on gun rights, and says Second Amendment supporters remain a powerful force despite not winning every vote.

In June, Mr. Thune forced several Democrats to take a tough vote on a measure that would have required states to honor the concealed weapons licenses of out-of-state citizens, who would then be subject to the conceal-carry laws of the state in which they were traveling.

Mr. Thune’s amendment, which he tried to attach to the defense authorization bill, garnered 58 votes — two shy of the 60-vote threshold in the Senate for contentious legislation. The vote was a rare loss for the gun rights lobby, which earlier in the year had a significant win with Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn’s amendment allowing guns in some national parks.

“The issue I decided to take on was clearly the most controversial of all. It energized people on both sides of the Second Amendment debate, but I think that to say that you got 58 votes in the Senate — that somehow [the gun rights] movement is losing steam is just not reflective of reality,” said Mr. Thune, noting that he lost two Republicans but picked up the votes of 20 Democrats.

The Chief notes a realistic dose of realpolitik in his role as a GOP leader…sort of reminds one of Reagan’s approach to the more…moderate…portions of the GOP:

As the new head of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, Mr. Thune — who replaced Nevada Sen. John Ensign after Mr. Ensign disclosed an extramarital affair — hosts the party’s weekly policy lunch and helps shape the GOP legislative agenda. Though members of the conference may disagree in certain areas, he said it’s better for Republicans to have a wide tent that includes moderates who will vote with the party on core issues.

“It’s a question of whether you want to be an ideologically pure minority or a government majority. I think that you know you’re going to have places in the country where a Republican in Maine isn’t going to be the same as a Republican in Oklahoma; that’s just the way it is,” he said. “If you want to set the agenda, if you want to be the party that’s actually leading the country, you’re going to have to recognize that you’re going to have to have a party that includes a lot of people that you may not agree with on every issue.”

ON a less (or more, to some?) serious note, the Senator will have to be careful of a serious “killer” issue.

Mr. Thune, a native of Murdo, S.D., a small town in the central part of the state, said one of his early political lessons came during an appearance he made at a St. Patrick’s Day parade. An avid supporter of the Green Bay Packers, he sported a team sweatshirt at the event, underestimating the passions of a constituency dominated by Minnesota Vikings fans.

“It was bizarre. People were screaming stuff at me and it was just — never again,” he said. “I probably lost a thousand votes doing that.”

When it comes to the Vikings, the Chief admits to being a fan of the BYU Cougars. What’s the connection? It’s football, right?

SD Politics

Hey Guys & Gals: It’s OUR Money!

Hard-pressed leaders pass nuisance taxes

THEY’RE hard pressed?!?!?! What about US?

State and local governments are raising taxes and inventing new ones as they scramble to balance their budgets even as the nation’s economy begins to emerge from the deepest recession in seven decades.

State budgets typically take a year or two to reflect improvements in the national economy, the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Governors Association explained in its latest fiscal survey of states. The report warned that “state fiscal conditions will remain weak in fiscal 2010 and likely into fiscal years 2011 and 2012.”

So, brace yourselves for a deluge of nuisance taxes, sin taxes and “fees,” limited only by the imagination of revenue-starved governors, mayors and legislators.

Wait! Here’s an alternative to try out: STOP SPENDING MONEY!

When us normal (come on, give me the benefit of the doubt!) folks get short on money.,.we have to cut back spending, and perhaps even do without something we would like. MAYBE our government at ALL LEVELS could try this out for a a change!?

What a concept!

Something to keep in mind when the next session up at Pierre opens up.

Glowbull Warming, SD Politics

Glowbull Warming Updates & Cap and Tax

(New York blogging!)

With B.O. and Congressional Donks pushing for the passage of the energy mega-tax bill, these items are either directly or indirectly related.

First Some of their political strategery…

Al Gore not coming to D.C.

Awwwwwwwww!

Former Vice President Al Gore canceled plans to fly to Washington for a news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, and instead was working the phones from Tennessee to help push a landmark climate bill to passage.

Hopefully this next bit is wrong…but we’ll see what happens.

Friday’s vote on the measure is expected to be close, but multiple sources on both sides of the aisle say they’re confident that the bill will pass — with some Republican votes — following a deal between House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson.

Why is this a BAD idea: a number of issues are in play here:

The Cap and Tax Fiction

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.

Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman’s many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers. The leadership’s solution to this problem is to simply claim the bill defies the laws of economics.

This will NOT be doing anything to help the economy, quite the contrary. (Are you paying any attention Congresscritter Herseth-Sandlin?)

The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: “The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap.” [emphasis added]

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

So what else is new in the Glowbull Warming debate?

EPA Suppresses Internal Global Warming Study

Scientific findings at odds with the Obama Administration’s views on carbon dioxide and climate change are being suppressed as a result of political pressure, officials at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) charge.

“This suppression of valid science for political reasons is beyond belief,” said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman. “EPA’s conduct is even more outlandish because it flies in the face of the president’s widely-touted claim that ‘the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over.’”

The agency has never made the study public or included it in official reference materials, according to CEI. As part of a recently concluded EPA public comment period on a proposed rule, CEI submitted a set four EPA emails, dated March 12-17, 2009, as evidence that the suppressed study included a critique of the agency’s global warming position.
CEI has asked EPA to make the study public and to allow public comments on it. CEI has also asked that EPA to prevent any reprisals against the study’s author who has been employed with the agency for 35 years.

And then there’s this this bit of common sense:
Electric Cars Will Not Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says Federal Study

The stimulus law enacted in February promoted the purchase of plug-in electric cars by the federal government and the broader market, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this month says that the use of plug-in electric vehicles will not by itself decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

To do that, the report argues, the United States would have to switch from coal-burning plants to lower-emission sources to generate electricity such as nuclear power.

“If you are using coal fired power plants and half the country’s electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?”
Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report and a specialist in energy issues told CNSNews.com.

Well, DUH!

SD Politics

SD Judge Slaps Ed System, Sups.

Judge Sides With SD In Education Lawsuit

The judge in South Dakota’s education funding lawsuit has filed a preliminary decision and she’s sided with the state.

A group of parents and students sued the state, claiming it doesn’t do enough to adequately fund education in South Dakota. After a trial and months of deliberation, Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t prove the education funding system is defective.

Dozens of families and around 70 school districts claimed that the state doesn’t do enough to support education, and the funding formula is flawed.

Some additional details of the decision are noted below:

Judge: Education not a right

South Dakota students aren’t guaranteed a quality education, a circuit judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the way the state pays for education does not violate the state constitution.

Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur’s decision follows a trial that saw six superintendents complain that a lack of money was hurting South Dakota’s students. An appeal to the state Supreme Court now is likely, according to the lawyer representing students and their families.

The state’s funding system has room for improvement, Wilbur acknowledged, but she also found that education is not a fundamental right; the state need not prepare students for college or “meaningful employment”; and the testimony of the superintendents was unreliable.

[B-SLAP!]  Superintendents testimony unreliable?!  That’s gotta hurt!  She basically called thgem a bunch of liars.

The judge said students receive adequate educational opportunities even without the “wish lists” various school superintendents presented at trial.

“Whether school districts, if given more money, could provide more programs or resources, or higher teacher pay, or build better facilities, is irrelevant if the constitutional minimum is being provided,” Wilbur wrote.

This following point is something the Chief CAN get behind.

She said that some policy options discussed at trial could improve education, but those decisions are for the legislature, not the judiciary.

If people are not concerned enough about the issues cited by the Superintendents during the trial to carry them to their legislators, then I guess they get the system that they are willing to accept, and pay for, and the students get the leftovers of the public trough.  Kind of harsh for the schools, but that’s life in a representative republic.

(Disclosure: the Chief is a public school educator currently at a small school district.)

Culture Wars, SD Politics

South Dakota: Free Indeed!

Are things perfect here? No – not by a long shot…but then again, compared to some other places…not too shabby at all!

Freedom in the 50 States: Index of Personal and Economic Freedom

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This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on other individuals’ ability to do the same.

This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: 1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; 2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; 3) we adopt new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.

We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. (Emphases added)

The Chief knew there were a number of reasons why he liked living in South Dakota. Many of them relate to the topics covered in this analysis. Check it out.

If you’re a South Dakota liberal, let not your heart be troubled…Minnesota is right next door and Eastbound I-90 will take you there easily.  Don’t let the door hit you in the — on the way out!

SD Politics

Legislative Notes du Jour

First – the quick thumb-nail snap reactions to some of the recent events up at Pierre:

Lawmaker says seat belt change means federal money

South Dakota could collect more than $5 million in federal money by passing a primary seat belt law, a state lawmaker says. Rep. Rich Engels, D-Hartford, testified on Wednesday for SB79. The House Judiciary Committee will take more testimony on the measure Monday.

“One of the primary reasons for making the change now is there is a federal law allowing us to receive $5.2 million, and that federal law expires July 1,” Engels told the committee. “When there’s federal money available, it always seems to prompt us to do something.”

Congress has that old Pavlov thing down pat…rustle some dollar bills, and the compliant legislators salivate, wag their tails, and roll over on command. Engles as much as admits that the only reason for doing this now is the federal bribery contribution.

The Chief knows that seatbelts are the smart thing to do…but hey, it’s not the role of the federal government to save everyone from their own unsafe behavior. If it was, then skiing, sky-diving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, motorcycle riding, or for that matter working on an Alaskan crab-fishing boat to name just a few examples, should all be banned as being criminally dangerous acts, as Engels wants to do for having the defiant and rebellious attitude of not wearing a seat belt.

House resurrects, passes license plate tax increase

On the final day that legislative bills could pass their house of origin, the South Dakota House resurrected, amended and passed a bill that would raise the cost of vehicle license plates. The bill, HB1007, needed a two-thirds majority. It failed by three votes on Monday but was reconsidered Tuesday night and passed 57-12 after an amendment raised license plate fees even more than the levels that emerged from the House Transportation Committee.

Hmmmm. This sort of makes it sound like it was initially rejected at a lower level, and later passed at a higher level. This increase may be justifiable on rational grounds…but just once, the Chief would like to see the legislooture cutback instead of instinctively going for more money to solve every situation. That’s what I have to do at home when money is tight. Why not the state?

Senate passes preschool planning bill

South Dakota should develop eligibility guidelines for preschool and find out how many children might participate in a program, the state Senate says. The Senate voted 20-15 on Tuesday to pass SB191, which would authorize the state Board of Education to develop eligibility guidelines for a state-supported pre-kindergarten. It would also give interested communities a way to develop a local plan that eventually might be funded by the Legislature.

Supporters of the bill say preschool is essential to help children from lower-income families reach kindergarten with age-appropriate learning skills. The bill would target 4-year-olds from families whose income is no more than 130 percent of the federal poverty level.

Opponents say the community planning process and the state eligibility guidelines would put South Dakota on a path toward mandatory preschool for all youngsters.

You just HAVE to know that in the future it will go mandatory! Government knows no other way.

SD Politics, Uncategorized

Salary Salvage in the Dump, etc.

A few observations on the proceedings of our legislature:

Some Lawmakers Want ‘Salary Salvage’ Scrapped

Salary salvage: don’t fill job positions so the money can be spent elsewhere.

Sort of a way of doing an end run around what the legislature has actually voted to spend money on.

Not a good practice. This deserves to be dumped.

Senate approves change in school aid

Under this scheme, when state revenues are down, school aid will be down. When revenues are up, the aid will likewise go up. A big problem is that when state revenues are down, school expenses stay the same, regardless, something’s got to go.

As happened recently with Gettysburg, Rutland, and elsewhere, sometimes it’s teachers…who leave behind the same number of students to be taught, with a smaller faculty to carry on and do the job as best they can.

Another very real possibility is that later on, legislators may change the formula again if someone starts squawking that schools will get too much of an increase when the economy DOES finally start improving again.

No solution is perfect…maybe this one will ultimately help. Time will tell.

Misc. Ed. Bill Hearings Postponed

Hearings were scheduled for Wednesday on HB1234, the latest iteration of a Small Schools Kill Bill, HB1293 requiring school administrative consolidation (a defacto educational bureaucracy implementation act, and HB1198 allowing schools to charge activity fees for extracurriculars.

The Chief knows of a number of groups of concerned South Dakotans who had arranged their lives to be able to attend and offer comments to their Solons at work, but it seems said Solons decided not to cover those issues at that time…so those concerned could either rearrange their situation to go to Pierre on Friday, or forget the whole idea.

Perhaps I’m too cynical any more, but it does seem like a handy way to dodge slings, arrows, and mudballs from pesky constituents concerning these issues.

HB1254 and HB1293 both force centralization, and move things farther away from direct local control. HB1198? A mixed bag at best, which given the direction of things at Pierre, would eventually be used as a bludgeon to push for school aid cuts to districts who were unwilling to charge fees…thereby using other funds to support what the local communities felt was a positive (even if extracurricular) part of their school program.

Committee Sends Smoking Ban To SD House Floor

As a matter of principle relating to property rights, the Chief opposes this sort of thing in general.

If someone wants to have a smoking environment on their property, so be it. If you don’t like the smoke, take your custom elsewhere. This is NOT hard to figure out.

By the way, I do not smoke or use any tobacco products, and I do not especially like 2nd hand smoke, but property rights SHOULD BE property rights, irrespective of the irresistable urge of legislators to play nanny.

SD Politics

HB1278 – Carry Rights Protection On Target

House Wants Uniform Local Gun Laws

The South Dakota House says local governments should be barred from adopting ordinances restricting possession of firearms. The House voted 46-20 on Tuesday to pass HB1278, which prohibits townships, counties and cities from adopting general restrictions on firearms.

Supporters said the goal is to make laws dealing with carrying firearms uniform across the state. They said people with concealed weapons permits should be able to go from one community to another without fear of violating a local law.

On principle, anything that extends protection of one’s right to exercise the 2nd Amendment is a good thing as far as the Chief is concerned. Obviously all won’t agree…but then again, there’s lots of laws that the Chief doesn’t agree with. This isn’t one of them.

SD Politics

“Pay to Play” at Schools?

Bill Would Allow Student Fees For Activities

A bill in the South Dakota Legislature would give schools the option of charging students to participate in sports and other extra-curricular activities. Republican Representative Mark Kirkeby of Rapid City says his bill would give school districts a chance to spend more of their money in the classroom.

This idea may have some merit, but it would depend a lot on what the details were. If for example, football were REALLY that important in a community, then why wouldn’t the community be willing to support it? Or, many other activities.

The bill does not set guidelines for how much the fees would cost.

Ooops. What details? If Kirkeby and the legislature wants to go down this path seriously, they need to do the heavy lifting and really figure our pretty explicitly how it all would work. Of course, then they would have to take the heat if it DIDN’T work out well too. Maybe that’s biting off a bit more than they want to chew. The Chief would contend that community responsibility begins at Pierre, as far as setting up some sort of orderly framework for something like this is concerned.

Mary Stadick Smith in the state Education Department says extra curriculars are an extension of the classroom and should not be subject to extra fees.

This is another whole argument in itself. Certainly putting on a play, debate, declam, science fairs, bads, ag judging, etc are obviously an “extension of the classroom”. It’s less obvious to the Chief that this is the case in the case of team athletics, but the Chief is willing to bet that this is another aspect of the question that Kirkeby and Pierre are reluctant to tackle. It’s easy to throw this stuff into the legislative hopper like a drive-by shooting, but another thing all together to deal with it thoroughly and thoughtfully. For evidence of this, all one needs to do is look at the greatest irresponsible piece of drive-by legislation in history…the B.O. Bail-out Bill just approved by Congress.

SD Politics

SD County Roulette Killed

House panel rejects county consolidation plan

A South Dakota House committee has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have started the process of reducing the number of counties in the state.
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HJR1002 sought to amend the constitution to limit counties to no fewer than 25,000 residents or 5,000 square miles, whichever is less.

The Chief noted this in a previous post. If he was a betting man, his bet would have been that this bill was pretty much a no-go from the get-go, and that’s where it went.

SD Politics

Technophobes Dominant in Pierre

1 Comment

Panel kills plan for online public notices

South Dakota law should continue to require government public notices to be placed in newspapers, not on the Internet, a legislative committee says.

The House Local Government Committee voted 7-5 on Thursday to kill HB1135, which would have given state and local governments a choice of using newspapers or Internet web sites to publish minutes, bid offerings and other official notices.

OK. They don’t want ot put public notices on-line.

Supposedly this is so it’s more accessible to print in local newspapers, but how many people have on-line access virtually 24-7 at their home compared to taking the additional expense and hassle of either subscribing to a paper and/or making an extra trip to get one in the town where it is available…but which is off the beaten path, and NOT a normal destination point?

Of course a lot of the opposition to this comes from the dead-tree media, so what else could they say?

The bill would have allowed people to request that they receive government notices by mail, rather than through the Internet. That feature of the bill would increase public notice costs to local governments, said David Bordewyk of the South Dakota Newspaper Association.

“I would suggest you are creating quite a cost,” Bordewyk said.

IF anyone wanted a paper copy, it is one heck of a lot handier to jut print it from the computer than demand snail mail.

He also questioned whether digital records could be altered, either maliciously or unintentionally.

“Putting information online does not equate to ink on paper,” Bordewyk said.

Apparently no one at the newspaper association has ever heard of, or understands, or is willing to admit that they know how Acrobat PDF files are set up.

Rep. Darrell Solberg, D-Sioux Falls, questioned whether Internet postings would be accessible to as many people as are local newspapers.

“Readership on the Internet, in terms of legal notices, is meager,” Solberg said.

So he thinks that lengthy legalese notices, printed in a newspaper in microscopically small print is a hot item for readership? The Chief thinks it more likely that readership of legal notices in a newspaper, even among newspaper readers is “meager”.

Besides, if no one looks at stuff on the internet, why do ALL the newspapers have websites with their leading news coverage? Surely a lot of someones are looking at the sites, or else the newspapers themselves are themselves “creating quite a cost” to no good result.

Give me a break.

This just fits the trend of government at all levels dragging its feet at moving into the e-information age….If they did that, maybe they would even have to account more to the voters for what they do when most people aren’t looking over their shoulders.

SD Politics

Nanny-state Takes a Blow

Adelstein: Smoking ban faced “tremendous amount of pressure”

Sen. Stan Adelstein, R-Rapid City, said he’s disappointed the Senate failed to pass a statewide smoking ban this week. “There was a tremendous amount of pressure,” said Adelstein, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services committee.

The Senate voted 18-17 on Tuesday to kill SB83, which would have banned smoking in all indoor public spaces, including bars, restaurants, casinos, hotels, video lottery establishments and tobacco shops.

Disclosure: The Chief does NOT smoke or use tobacco products, and if asked, would discourage anyone from doing so, for both obvious and personal reasons.

Having said that, the state really has no business telling someone that they cannot engage in a legal (and taxed!) activity on private property, if that’s what the owners and customers are willing to accept. If someone doesn’t want to be around the tobacco use, then there is freedom to find somewhre else to take one’s business.

Somehow the Chief is not surprised that stealth Democrat RINO Sen. Adelstein has his paw prints all over this idea. It’s the old lib conceit that governmental meddling can engineer and force us into meeting someone else’s idea of more desirable activity.

Once one goes down this trail, where’s the stopping point? No tobacco? OK. What about no…hamburgers, sugared pop, unsugared pop, butter, steaks, beer, wine, coffee, tea, meat, leather, dairy herds, etc…the list is endless of something that some faction or group claims results in Bad Things happening to us, or being caused by us.

Forget the whole idea…allow folks to make up their own minds about such things. Otherwise, we could end up with a system so intrusive that it  would make “1984” look like a New England town meeting.

’nuff said.

SD Politics

Legislative Wrap – Consolidation Edition, & More

First note would be the previously posted comment on HB1182 which the Chief has Officially Designated as the Small Schools Death Act, imposing a mimimum size limit of 195. This was sent to the hypothetical after-life of the much noted but non-existent 41st Legislative Day of the session.

Then comes HB1298, which would start the theoretical ball rolling towards shutting down one of the SD University campuses. There MAY be some merit to this, depending on how it was done. (Of course there’s still no need for a full campus at Sioux Falls where there are more people concentrated, but hey, what does THAT matter?)

…and now that the consolidation juggernaut is starting to roll for schools, why stop there? All those pesky COUNTIES could consolidate too, according to HJR1002. Of course only 43 counties would probably mean more virtual distance between the Legislooters and those they represent, and that would be a disadvantage…or would it…Hmmmm…from the Legislooter’s point of view, maybe it wouldn’t be a disadvantage at all.

In the never ending search for fresh blood more money comes SB171 to tax pipelines…er…to levy a fee to protect us against pipeline spills (which are SO everyday, aren’t they?).   This would set up a fee per unit of volume passing through the state.  Pretty slick, eh?  Historically, reminds the Chief of the ORIGINAL “robber barons”  in their castles on the hills dominating the Rhine River…where they could and did collect fees on everyone and everything that sailed past them on the river.

It’s even better than road use fees on truckers since the state doesn’t even have to build or maintain the pipelines.

It just goes to show, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Finally, after losing their attempt at ending term limits, they’ve brought it back from the grave, like a bad vampire movie or something:

A state Senate committee has recommended lengthening the term limits that apply to South Dakota lawmakers.

Current law provides that a Senate or House member can serve no more than eight consecutive years in a chamber, although a lawmaker can switch and run for another chamber after being term-limited in one.

The State Affairs Committee voted 5-4 Wednesday to endorse SJR3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would extend term limits to 12 consecutive years in a chamber. It also would change the current two-year terms in the Senate to four years.

Bringing this back indicates that they just don’t get it.

SD Politics

Legislative Wrap – Gambling Edition

It’s the high legislative season in South dakota, and the Chief has taken cognizance of some pithy items that have inspired some commentary:

Democrats push higher state cut of gambling

DISCLAIMER: The Chief is opposed to state-run lotteries or gambling to raise government money. Personally, the Chief considers lotteries and gambling a self-assessed voluntary tax on stupidity. You decide for yourself how stupid you are, and pay accordingly!

If something the government does is important enough to people, they they had darned well be willing to face the reality that things cost money, and somehow contrive to raise enough taxes to get the programs they want. If raising taxes to do this is too onerous, then it may be supposed that the programs maybe aren’t that important to people after all, and deserve to go away (or not get started as a means for Legislooters to bnbe the constituency for votes).

A group of Democratic legislators want state government to take a bigger cut of the South Dakota video lottery revenue.

Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron, is prime sponsor of HB1290, which would give the state 60 percent of the net machine income from video lottery. The state currently takes 50 percent. The higher state cut would last only until July 1, 2010.

What else can be said, except to note that Legislooters do what Legislooters do…try to figure out how to extract rvrtmore money from us to give us stuff that we get to pay for, to impress us so we vote for them again.

(Am I REALLY that cynical about it? Yeah…maybe so.)

Senate panel endorses plan to block Iowa casino

A proposed constitutional amendment that could lead to a huge casino in Sioux Falls was approved Wednesday by a South Dakota Senate Committee.

The measure’s main sponsor, Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls, said SJ1 is not aimed at building a Sioux Falls casino but is intended to be a threat to prevent construction of a casino in Larchwood, Iowa, only a few miles from Sioux Falls.

The mind is boggled by the prospect of amending the state constitution to allow more gambling…in order to prevent…more gambling! (Dang! More gambling Means Less Gambling! That fits right in with WAR IS PEACE, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, etc. I had NO idea that George Orwell was still alive and had moved to Pierre!)

In the short term it might actually slow the wascally Iowegians in Larchwood, but you just KNOW if the authorization is written into the SD Constitution, somewhere down the line there will be an oh-so-vital need to exercise it.  Just put the two items together:  more money and more (potential) gambling…and then it’ll be Katie bar the door to stop S.F, Rapid City, etc. from getting a taste of being mini-Vegas.  What legislooter could resist the combination?

SD Politics

Killed: Small Schools Death Act

This occurred as the SD Legislature continues its annual session. It indicates to the Chief that there is evidence of at least some reason being present this year at the session.

Panel kills plan to raise minimum school size

A bill to make more small schools in South Dakota reorganize is premature, a House committee says.

The House Education Committee voted 12-3 on Wednesday to kill HB1182, a bill that would have required schools with fewer than 195 students to reorganize with other districts. Two years ago legislators passed the current law, which requires reorganization for schools with fewer than 100 students.

The Legislature should see how the current law works before raising the reorganization bar, opponents of the higher minimum size said.

This is a perennial proposal that bubbles up like an unpleasant gas released from the bottom of a slough while duck hunting. It doesn’t help in accomplishing anything, but just gives evidence that something (or someone, in this case) has gotten stirred up.

The given reason for this is of course (genuflect appropriately!) is to save money, which as a general principle is ALWAYS a laudable, if too rare, a thing for any governmental body to contemplate. In this case however, earlier testimony indicated that this would not be the result of this scheme.

State education officials testified earlier that reorganization wouldn’t necessarily save money because the state-aid formula is based on a per-student cost.

So, what’s the point then?

Given that there may be occasional cases of smaller districts being educationally deficient, in most cases this is not a problem, based on testing results. If local communities are willing to support their schools of whatever size, and the school district is able to work our a modus operandi that meets the needs of the students and community, then WHY IN THE HECK ARE SOME LEGISLATORS FROM OTHER COMMUNITIES SO BOUND AND DETERMINED TO IMPOSE THEIR IDEA ON THEIR FELLOW SOUTH DAKOTANS, WHEN THERE IS NO OBVIOUS GAIN IN DOING SO?

Maybe somebody knows, but the Chief sure can’t see the reason in it, so for that reason it is a good thing that H.R. 1138 seems to have met its doom, at least for another year, and community based schools like Rutland, Oldham-Ramona, and others will be able to continue serving the educational (and yes, also social) needs of their areas, just as do the schools of Brookings, Sioux Falls, Tea, Canton, or anywhere else.

SD Politics

Under the TARP

Senators switch stances on federal bailout

Three months after splitting their votes on the $700 billion bank bailout, South Dakota Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune are poised to swap sides on whether to release the second $350 billion installment to the U.S. Treasury.

Thune, a Republican, originally voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) while Johnson, a Democrat, originally voted against it.

A couple of thoughts on this:
Firstly, Johnson won his re-election, so he can climb back on board the Obamanation juggernaut of state without fear of the consequences, in spite of the poor record racked up by the previous applications of “bail-out” funding.

Thune on the other hand is showing the possibility that he is educable…inclining at least in the direction of John Maynard Keynes observation about changing one’s mind when the facts change.

But after seeing how the Bush administration spent the first half, Thune said he’s leaning against letting President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming administration spend the rest.

Thune said he’s unhappy that President Bush loaned $17.4 billion from the fund to Chrysler and General Motors to help them avoid bankruptcy.

Others have complained that the TARP fund has been used to recapitalize financial institutions rather than buying their troubled assets as initially planned. Banks have used the money to bolster their bottom lines, not to make more loans.

Sen. Johnson is no doubt beyond hope, but the Chief hopes that Sen. Thune continues to move into the opposition to what IMHO has turned out to be corporate welfare on the grandest, and most abusive scale in the history of the Republic.

SD Politics

Gov. Surprised by Sudden Legislative Session?

A number of things in Governor Rounds’ budget message this year that at first glance seem to make sense…but…so sorry! No figures ready yet. Stay tuned until the 21st, which sort of leaves the legislature twiddling their thumbs as regards their most significant function.

Maybe Gov. Mike needs to get a Palm, or Blackberry or something, along with instructions on how to set reminder alarms. If this was a college paper, coming in 2 weeks late would earn an “F” grade.

Granted, in the current economic situation this job is harder than usual, but really, it’s not like the opening of the 2009 Legislative Session was a surprise…or was it?

SD Politics

Johnson Taking Conservative Role on Bailout!?!

The Senate bailout vote

Sen. Tim Johnson (Donk, SD) voted against the Great Gravy & Omnivorous Omnibus Bailout Bill (GGOOBB), while Rep. Sen John Thune voted in favor of it.

So who’s being more conservative these days?

Two probable factors involved here, in the Chief’s humble opinion.

(1) The DC Senate Donks KNEW there were PLENTY of votes to pass the GGOOBB and gave clearance with a wink and a nod to Johnson to vote no, in cognizance of his delicate condition as a Donk seeking re-election in SD, considered a solidly “Red” state (at least Presidentially).

(2) Sen. Thune has a LONG record of what was referred to in Naval Terminology as “brown-nosing” McCain, going back to the McCain-Feingold Political Speech Limitation & Incumbent Protection Act (otherwise known as campaign finance “reform”), and more recently, his EARLY heartfelt endorsement of McCain.

So, what’s new? Politics as usual?  Maybe it’s a bit more cmplicated at that…the tax aspects of this thing are causing a number of libDonks to oppose it, or at the least to wrinkle their noses, while the otehr earmarks have the same effect on the conservatives.  So who knows REALLY without reading the whole 400+ page GGOOBB.

Probably no one knows for sure, because no one has actually read the whole thing.

Culture Wars, SD Politics

McCain Loses It, Big Time.

1 Comment

Treasury Could Begin Spending $1 Trillion on Bailout Without Congressional Approval, McCain Says

What’s the point anymore? If there isn’t any difference between the Republocratic and Demmican candidates, then what’s
the advantage of electing one party over the other?

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, indicated on Tuesday that the Bush administration could simply bypass Congress, if necessary, to begin dealing with the nation’s financial crisis. “The Treasury has at its disposal about a trillion dollars that they could begin, without congressional authority, buying up some of these terrible mortgages and help stabilize the situation,” Sen. John McCain told Fox & Friends.

In other words, “Hey, we HAVE the money (or at least the printing press!), so who’s going to stop us from spending it? Screw teh will of Congress, who has the gall to actually listen to their constituents on this. What do THOSE bozos know anyway?”

At this point, as far as the Chief is concerned the ONLY two things that John McCainiac has going for him are
(a) National security issues, and
(b) Sarah Palin. (She would be an improvement if he were to die…she’s more conservative than he is by a long shot.)
IT’s not a

SD Politics

Thune Catches RINO-virus With anti-Drilling Bill

Senate “Gang” (Including Thune) Sells out to Donks on Drilling

Not-So-Slick Oil Bill

Intro to Article: Some GOP senators allied with Democrats are peddling a “drilling” bill that actually adds exploration restrictions, raises taxes and may even end up meaning no new domestic oil. Some Republicans never learn.

Does this ever nail it! It’s even worse than Charlie Brown trying to kick the football!

Whenever the nation is faced with a big problem that the people demand be solved, we can always be sure of one thing: A group of Republican senators will scramble away from their party’s principles to join Democrats in some grand “compromise” scheme.

This kind of stuff just drives me nuts! What’s wrong with showing some cojones for a change instead of falling for the false belief that a “Republican” compromise gesture gets us ANYTHING, except farther away from where we really need to be going.

Unfortunately SD’s lone GOP Senator John Thune has bought into (or been bought into) this display of political pusillanimity.  Or maybe the RINO (Republicans In Name Only) virus in in the CapitolHill water.

The bipartisan “Gang of 10,” led by Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota has grown into a “Gang of 16,” with GOP Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Sununu of New Hampshire the newest misguided Republicans. A more apt nickname would be “The Gang That Couldn’t Think Straight.”

The “comprehensive” bill that these four, plus fellow Republicans Bob Corker of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Johnny Isakson of Georgia and John Thune of South Dakota are joining with Democrats to push would exclude — permanently — the entire Pacific Coast from drilling. It would also limit a lot of the Atlantic Coast, and ban drilling anywhere within 50 miles of shore.(Emphasis added.)

Hey, Senator…if EVERY ACRE in the country was planted to ethanolic corn crops, it STILL wouldn’t be enough to maintain our fuel supplies…we need to drill wherever there’s oil – and the recent experience of the Gulf production platforms in the face of repeated hurricanes, shows that this can be done with extremely minimal environmental risk.

It’s almost enough to make a life-long (the Chief started his involvement with Youth for Goldwater before he could even vote) Republican activist give up on the once Grand Old Party…but for what alternative? Maybe it’s time to revive the Whigs or something, since The Libertarians, and other minor parties are fatally flawed at present by their hopelessly blind situational awareness concerning the national security problems we have with Islamofascism, and the resurgent Soviet Union Russia and Putin’s Cold War II.

SD Politics

Government vs. Government

Districts can’t pay to sue S.D.

School districts don’t have the authority to spend district money to support their lawsuit that challenges the state’s education funding system, a Pierre judge ruled Thursday. Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur also ruled that school districts don’t have the standing to sue the state to declare its education funding system unconstitutional.

This one leaves the Chief somewhat conflicted… like happening upon a rattlesnake fighting with a scorpion. Neither side in the argument makes you want to pick a winner.

It’s a fact that SD is at the bottom of the heap for teachers’ pay scales. (It’s also a fact that the Chief is teaching at a SD school district that is at the bottom of the SD heap.) More money would be good for this, but…

The Chief has also noted in SOME cases at least, that school boards, administrators are all too willing to spend money on their pet interests, and ignore (if not actually de facto denigrate) the teachers, and their needs and concerns.

On the other hand, there’s a REAL queasy feeling when one level of government starts spending tax money to sue another level of government about not getting enough of THEIR tax money passed down the line to them, which also requires the defendent side to spend even more tax money to counter the suit.

Sort of reminds the Chief of MAFIA fighting over the take of the protection/extortion rackets.

The final upshot? No matter how it turns out…the taxpayer takes it in the shorts, and the lawyers out to do good, end up doing right well for themselves!

Anyway, this decision doesn’t bode well for the school boards in this case.

SD Politics

Sen. Johnson Speechless in Debates

This has been out there today…and is still worth noting:

Sen. Tim Johnson says no to debates

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson says he won’t take part in “traditional political debates” during his 2008 re-election campaign. Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage in December 2006 and went through extensive rehabilitation, slowly learning to walk and speak again. The 61-year-old Johnson, whose speech is slurred, is still undergoing speech rehab.

“I have been open and honest about my recovery,” he said in a news release. “While my speech continues to improve, it is not yet 100 percent and I have not yet reached a point in my rehab where my participation in a debate would accurately reflect my capabilities. Therefore I will not participate in traditional political debates during this campaign.”

To notice the 500 lb gorilla in the corner on this one, the Chief would note the possibility that the point reached in his rehab WOULD accurately reflect his capabilities. Of course no one is supposed to actually say so, but it’s still sitting there anyway.

More surprising to the Chief is the following, from the Argus-Leader:

Update: Johnson repeatedly vowed to debate before today’s decision to back out

After initially vowing to participate in political debates, Sen. Tim Johnson said today he would not debate Republican challenger Joel Dykstra. When Johnson announced he planned to run for reelection, Dykstra said, “he was quoted early on as being committed to debating his opponent… We hoped his campaign staff would have let him complete that promise.”

Johnson’s past statements show that Friday’s announcement is an abrupt departure from what the senator and his campaign manager said previously:

The piece then goes on to cite the specific instances when the debate question was previously discussed:

• In December, Johnson said in a conference call with reporters that he will participate in debates if he is asked. “How many and where are put in reserve, but I will participate in debates,” he told the Associated Press.
• In March, Steve Jarding, who heads the Johnson campaign, told the Argus Leader there will be debates.
• In April, Johnson again told the AP that he expected to debate the winner of the Republican primary.

Jarding said Friday the senator was not talked out of debates by his staff. “It’s his decision. Tim’s his own guy. He knows himself best, and God knows with health issues that should be in his hands,” says Jarding. “Obviously the calculation the Johnson staff has made is they feel the cost of snubbing the Dakotafest debate (and subsequent debates later this fall) is lower than the cost of doing it.

What surprises the Chief on all this is that the Argus-Leader actually pointed out the change in Johnson’s willingness to openly debate.

Culture Wars, SD Politics

Gov. Continues to Push for SD Pre-school

Witness skeptical about preschool

Gov. Mike Rounds continues to push for preschool standards in South Dakota, but a Stanford educator says studies so far don’t support a “full-scale” program.

Erik Hanushek, a Stanford professor who is among expert witnesses for the state in a school-aid lawsuit, seems lukewarm about the value of preschool, which he admits is “complicated.” “There are some good but very small-scale studies showing positive effects of preschool,” Hanushek said in an e-mail exchange. “Most of the positive effects, however, are not educational improvements but reductions in crime and incarceration. These might well be good investments for society, but they do not solve the education problem.”

Rounds, in an address to school superintendents in Pierre on Tuesday, said, “Preschool is something that is very, very important.”

EuroSocialists, Lenin, Hitler, and Plato would all be in agreement with the Governor on this one. How so?

Mrs. Chief recently received some correspondence from Norwegian cousins who related that their first child was starting the (government mandated) kindergarten – at one-year of age!!

Plato’s Republic advocated that the training of children was too important to leave to the parents, and that to obtain good citizens of the polis, systematic removal from parents for training was the ideal to be implemented.

The above noted 20th-century devotees of the superior wisdom and knowledge of their respective states (of totalitarianism) also advocated, and implemented programs to reduce the influence of parents in the early childhood education of children, again, in the interest of getting more reliable citizens of their versions of a “new world order”.

While Governor Rounds obviously is NOT in the category of these stark practitioners of the superiority of the state in all that matters, his trend on this issue is clearly in the same direction: that the early education of children is too important to leave to parents…this proposition being a (possibly unintended) keystone in the development of more TOTALitarian (get it? TOTAL – as in state control of all aspects of life, including for example, child-rearing) relationships between the state and the people.

This path is NOT a good direction to start down.

SD Politics

Petition Does End-run around Gov, Senate RINOS

H/T to PP at Dakota War College on this one. He notes that he got it on an e-mail notice…the Chief is on the same mailing list, but can’t access that e-mail acct. at work, but am posting anyway based on the second-hand version.

Clean and Open government act makes the ballot

South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government ballot committee today announced that Secretary of State Chris Nelson has certified the more than 26,500 signatures collected to place the South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act on the November ballot.

“This is a great moment for South Dakotans who will finally have their voices heard that they want more transparency in their government. This time, the bureaucrats will have to listen,” said Jim Anderson, board member from Sioux Falls. “The fact that better than one out of 15 voters in South Dakota has already gone on record as strongly supporting this vital initiative clearly indicates that it will soon become the law of our state.”

After the veto, and the support of the veto by Knudson et al in the Senate of SB 1233, this is a good follow-up response.

The measure submitted includes the following:

* Taxpayer funds could not be used to lobby or campaign for partisan political agendas, including increased taxes.
* Legislators and their staff would be unable to use their legislative positions to secure a “golden-parachute”, state-contracted job.
* The “pay to play” system — where state contracts are traded for campaign donations — would be outlawed.
* A simple, searchable website with information on all state contracts over $500 (excluding employment contracts), would be launched so citizens can know how their money is being spent.

Sounds like a plan!

SD Politics

SD GOP Notes

Quad County Lincoln Day at Brookings

The Chief was in attendance at the combined Brookings – Duel – Grant – Moody County GOP Lincoln Day dinner Friday night at Brookings’ new Shamrock center.

As one might expect many of the legislative and congressional candidates were on hand, and had a chance to give a thumbnail presentation of their candidacy and views.

H/W is the Chief’s humble reaction to some of this:

7th District Senate Primary:

An interesting race in the Senate primary between incumbent Orv Smidt, and DAKOTA WAR COLLEGE blogger Pat Powers. Smidt first noted his extensive ties to the Pierre and Brookings movers and shakers, and, as an example of his effectiveness commented on progress for the Federal mandating of state sales tax collections. Sen. Smidt cited the currrent $2M/year the state receives from the semi-voluntary sales tax collection that in in force now, and contrasted the expected $24M/yr haul after the new rules are in place. (DOUBLETHINK ALERT!) He THEN stated that this was a very good thing for the state of South Dakota, since it would help to prevent future tax increases!

HUH????!!!! Time out for a logic check: (Think, think.) $2M/year now, vs $24M in the future. No tax increase. Uhhhh…OK, so where is the extra $22M coming from, except from reaching deeper into the taxpayers’ pockets? Hmmmmmm. Taking more money from the taxpayers sort of seems like a tax increase to the Chief however it’s described. (If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then hey, must be a duck!).

By the way, not a word on voting to upbold the veto of the state spending disclosure website. I guess that’s not worth commenting on.

His opponent, Pat Powers, a late entry in the race, also introduced himself, and noted his support for the disclosure measure.

Admittedly, since the Chief is in the 4th District, not the 7th, he doesn’t have a dog in that fight…but if he did…the nod would have to go to PP, based on both these issues.

District 7 House: Incumbants Carol Pitts and Larry Tidemann both look good to the Chief.

8th District Senate: Russell Olson, looking to move up from the house to go for the Senate seat presently held by Dan Sutton (no comment). Hopefully he will be able to move up. This sort of stretched out district includes Flandreau, and the southern part of Moody County, along with Lake, and Miner Counties.

District 4 House: Incumbant Val Rausch not able to make it, but Brookings dairyman Jim Gilkerson who has also filed for the House was present. He presented a very strong, and very good statement of the basic Republican principles that would be the basis for his actions if elected. The Chief has known him and his family for a number of years, and looks forward to helping his campaign in northern Moody County as needed. He’s a great candidate, and will make an excellent legislator!

US House: Chris Lien will make a strong run for Stephanie’s seat…if he runs a strong conservative campaign she should have vulnerabilities resulting from her de-facto alignments with left-lib Donks in Washington.

US Senate: Kephardt vs Dykstra

Both candidates presented well. Dykstra correctly noted the fundamental importance of teh 2008 election cycle, but the Chief was particularly impressed with Kephardt’s highlighting some of the recent financial instabilities on and around Wall Street. This is an issue of fundamental importance…every bit as vital as the war on Islamofascism…and IMHO the fact that he was the only one to mention this, is a point in his favor.

Hmmmm. This race is tough. Both look good. Will take further thought.