Mayor Boke Fighting Booth Hatchery Closure; Noem Strangely Noncommital

Spearfish Mayor Dana Boke understands that we need to save the D.C Booth Fish Hatchery:

“This is part of our culture,” Boke said. “My 10-year-old daughter read about it in the paper, and it brought her to tears. That’s how all the kids feel. There are memories all across South Dakota and beyond of this place and the family memories it’s created over time. It’s tied to who we are.

“We need to champion the cause and assist in any way we can to get this thing turned around,” the mayor added [Tom Griffith, "Spearfish's D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery Helped Change South Dakota History," Rapid City Journal, 2013.08.25].

Senator Tim Johnson seems to get it, too:

“I am very disturbed about the rumors that the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish might be closed by the Fish & Wildlife Service,” Johnson said. “The D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery is a tremendous asset of the Black Hills. I have fought hard for funding to invest in the restoration of the hatchery and to make it an informational and educational showcase of fish hatchery operations in the Black Hills and the U.S.” [Griffith, 2013.08.25]

I think Congresswoman Kristi Noem gets it, although as usual, Noem's aloof, self-absorbed talking-point detachment makes it hard to tell. Rep. Noem told a packed Spearfish town hall Friday that she'll "push to get more information and ask the right questions." But after hearing such vociferous feedback from so many Spearfish residents and even visiting the hatchery herself Friday, our Congresswoman's only social media reaction to the town hall is to thank "interested parties" for the "info" and to post photos of herself while cheering the great turnout at "my townhall".

Kristi, get with the program. You go to a town hall during working hours in Spearfish. Concerned citizens pack the hall to express concern about an obviously bad decision from Washington that will kill jobs and hurt tourism and tax revenue. The mayor's daughter is in tears! Politically, the D.C. Booth Hatchery issue is a no-brainer. You tell those eager constituents on the spot, "The Hatchery rocks. It stays open. I'll call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and read them the riot act." You use your social media presence to send the message immediately that you listened and you're doggedly on the case. "Thx for the info" doesn't rally the troops or make a memorable impression on voters who want to know you'll fight for them and for the Hatchery.

I understand Rep. Noem may have difficulty getting passionate about an issue that doesn't appear in the weekly briefing points from Speaker Boehner. But South Dakota's lone Representative needs to get off script and join Mayor Boke in representing her constituents and fighting to save the D.C. Booth Hatchery from the thoughtless Washington budget axe.

Weiland Campaign: 123 Towns in 36 Days

Unlike Marion Michael Rounds, who seems to be focusing his Senate campaign on big fundraising events that give him an excuse to fuel up his private plane with campaign donations, Rick Weiland has caféstormed over 100 South Dakota towns in less than 40 days. And unlike Annette Bosworth, who wails à la Bernhardt that campaigning is "a huge grieving process for me," Weiland finds inspiration on the campaign trail. From Thursday's presser:

“People tell me I should be tired, but I’m in fact, drawing energy from the people I meet and the communities I travel to,” Weiland said. Weiland has been talking to South Dakotans about how everyday citizens can “take back” their country from the big money special interests that have high-jacked government and put it on the sides of big corporations and billionaires.

...“We start each trip early and end late,” Weiland said. “I feel like that classic Johnny Cash song – ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’. What a great way to experience and connect with the people of our state,” he added [Weiland Senate campaign, press release, 2013.08.22].

The best candidates, the best speakers, the best workers get energy from doing their jobs. That Weiland  is tapping such energy amidst a grueling early campaign schedule shows that, contrary to some wishful thinking and bored Wikipedia "journalism", Weiland can indeed keep South Dakota's Senate seat "in play" for Democrats.

Here's Weiland's list of the 123 towns he's visited over the past five weeks:

• July 16: Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Madison, Egan, Trent, Chester, Colman & Wentworth
• July 18: Worthing, Canton, Beresford, Vermillion, Yankton, Irene, Alcester, Centerville & Meckling
• July 30: De Smet, Wessington Springs, Huron, Volga, Arlington, Lake Preston, Iroquois, Cavour, Lane, Woonsocket, Artesian, Fedora, Roswell, Forestburg, Vilas & Howard
• August 1: Hartford, Humboldt, Salem, Mitchell, Montrose & Alexandria
• August 3: Watertown, Kranzburg, Goodwin, Altamont, Clear Lake, Brandt, Toronto, White, Bushnell & Aurora
• August 7: Baltic, Sherman, Garretson, Corson, Brandon, Valley Springs, Alcester, Big Springs, Spink, Elk Point & Centerville
• August 8: Davis, Hurley, Menno, Olivet, Turkey Ridge, Scotland, Tyndall, Springfield, Avon, Dante, Wagner, Armour, Corsica, Stickney, Chamberlain, Oacama, Kimball & Pukwana
• August 11: Parker
• August 14: Henry, Clark, Raymond, Doland, Frankfort, Redfield, Ashton, Northville, Mellette, Warner & Aberdeen
• August 15: Bath, Groton, Claremont, Amherst, Britton, Langford, Pierpont, Bristol, Holmquist, Webster, Waubay, Ortley, Summit, Marvin & Milbank
• August 17: Rapid City
• August 19: Blackhawk, Piedmont, Sturgis, Whitewood, Central City, Deadwood, Lead, Belle Fourche & Spearfish
• August 20-21: Keystone, Hill City, Custer, Pringle, Edgemont, Buffalo Gap, Hot Springs & Hermosa

Professor Schaff will criticize Weiland for the absence of Pierre on that early itinerary; Pat Powers surely will not. But all four declared Republican candidates need to look at Weiland's list and start playing catch-up.

Atheist Billboards, Commitment to Ethics, and Personal Choice

We missed the South Dakota Coalition of Reason's new non-believers billboards in Rapid City and Spearfish on our trip west this week. However, I did hear Southern Baptist theologian (wait: they have those?) Russell Moore promulgate the American Christian persecution complex with the absurd claim that being a Christian is no longer "culturally helpful" in our country.

As a South Dakota atheist, let me say that if Moore's contention were true, there'd be no such billboards, or at least no news reports about them. We also would not see "Christian" in the first sentence of any Senate candidate's bio. (Rhoden waits until paragraph 4 to establish his Baptist cred; Rounds doesn't mention his Catholicism in his current Web bio).

The Coalition of Reason makes a declaration of moral intent that should be culturally helpful for any candidate or citizen of any religious persuasion:

Members of our community and student organizations self identify as atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker, secular, skeptic, non-religious, rationalist, empiricist, and more. Like everyone else, we also benefit from a supportive community of friends and family. South Dakota CoR strives to foster a better understanding of our secular values with our neighbors, and to promote and defend those values in our government. No matter how you self identify, we affirm that all have the ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity [emphasis mine; South Dakota Coalition of Reason, "Welcome," downloaded 2013.08.23].

I can hear my theist friends and even my own skeptical soul asking, "But where does that responsibility come from? Why bother with the 'greater good of humanity' if there is no God?"

I lost little sleep over that question when I was younger; I lose no sleep over that question now. If I didn't behave ethically, my daughter would be sad and my wife would be mad. If no one behaved ethically, life would suck. That response is selfish, sentimental, and sloppily utilitarian, but it works.

Some Christians I know will still declare the Coalition of Reason's commitment to ethical living empty and flimsy: how can we rely on a secularist's professed principles when they are rooted in nothing more than personal choice?

I do not doubt that atheists may make mistakes and fall away from their principles. But in that fallibility, do atheists differ at all from Christians? My Christian friends choose, with the same faculty of free will exercised by me and my secular friends, to follow the teachings of an ancient tribe that caught heck from Pharaoh and walked around the desert a lot, with amendments by a carpenter and convicted criminal from Nazareth. Prominent in those teachings is the idea that all people are fallible. We all suffer weakness. We all make mistakes. Are Christians not by definition as prone to waver and err in their convictions as everyone else we meet in the street?

I'm not big on joining clubs. I've never gotten the sense that joining a Christian club would help me make wiser, more humane, more effective decisions. I don't think joining an atheist club will bolster my decision-making ability.

But I do hope that the South Dakota Coalition of Reason can build on these new billboards to open lengthy conversations between people of all faiths—in God, in Wakan Tanka, in human dignity—that will help us all understand our common abilities and responsibilities to build a better world for all of our relations.

Bosworth Needs Reporter to Tell Her Challenger's Name

Pat Powers promotes Annette Bosworth for two reasons:

1. Giving Bosworth any positive attention fosters the notion that she is a serious, viable candidate, further divides the anti-Mike Rounds vote, and boosts the chances that Pat's guy Mike wins the primary.
2. The tips he gets from Bosworth's scheming husband Chad Haber give Pat an excuse to accuse me of going Mission Impossible on an imaginary desk.

But wait: let me take a deep breath of this fresh Black Hills air. Aaaaahhh. Let me gaze out on the inspiring Spearfish landscape, houses giving way to the Canyon and Spearfish Peak. Aaaaahhh... 

All is right with the world! I see the good in my fellow man! Pat isn't a first-class ass. He's simply keeping his promise as an honest Republican journalist (I beat down the snarky urge to cry double oxymoron!) not to take sides in the GOP Senate primary. He's presenting campaign news as is. But because he thrives on the synergy of good blogs, he's secretly teeing up the ball for me to swing away at Bosworth...

[Shakes head, comes to senses...]

The latest Powers Bosworth flogging further reveals Bosworth's cluelessness. Bosworth's "scoop" is taking a picture of Mark Venner at a Siouxland Republican Taliban Women's meeting. But the unmentioned scoop is that in her original tweet, Bosworth said the speaker was Larry Venner, Sr. Intrepid reporter David Montgomery needed to correct her (Pat's next headline: Montgomery Scolds Bosworth, Proves He's Shilling for Weiland).

Why does this matter? Only because Mark Venner has said publicly he may challenge Bosworth and the serious candidates for the GOP Senate nomination. Only because any serious candidate would be briefing Venner out, figuring out who his donors and voters are, developing strategies to steal his supporters. 

But the ever-politically clueless Bosworth doesn't even know the name of her potential rival.

I suppose Team Venner could take that as a sign that their name recognition stinks. Maybe Bosworth was deliberately misnaming him as a snide insult. 

Hang on: let me take an other breath of that Black Hills air... aaaahhh... thoughts cleared.

Nope. There's no deliberation on Team Bosworth. She's just clueless.

Rapid City Picks People Power over Powertech, Opposes Black Hills Uranium Mine

Speaking of mining, the Rapid City Council made my week by voting Monday night to pass a resolution expressing "grave concern" about Powertech's plan to squirt a millions of gallons of drinkable water into the ground to blast uranium to the surface.

The Council loses two points for letting the term "grave concern" take the place of straight-up opposition in the original esolution presented in the agenda. However, even the decision to go as far as to say that Powertech has left too many questions unanswered and that the Canadian companies uranium mine poses an "unacceptable risk" to the Madison aquifer gives cause for celebration to citizen activists and to folks who prefer non-fluorescent drinking water.

The resolution is a stunning rebuke to Powertech's main Black Hills stooge, Mark Hollenbeck, who simpered that his reputation is at stake (hmmm... one guy's reputation versus public health, agriculture, and tourism...) and then tried to talk the Council down with the patently false claim that "There’s no way physically possible that we can affect either your quality or quantity of water from what we do at Dewey."

The Rapid City Council had a choice between doing the bidding of a foreign corporation or listening to the concerns of local citizens. The council listened to and says it shares those concerns. The council put environmental caution over the promises of foreign speculators and extractors. That's pretty remarkable for South Dakota.

Rapid City's resolution likely won't stop Powertech's Chinese investors from pressing ahead with their plan to take America's uranium, drain our aquifers, and leave us with a warm glow. But the resolution does show that if South Dakotans organize and protest, they can win. Let's take that fighting spirit to the state environmental hearings on Powertech!

The only "no" vote on the ten-member council came from Steve Laurenti, who fumble-mummed around his fealty to rich exploiters:

"The problem I have, from a logical standpoint, is to oppose something or even to have grave concern, grave meaning that I have a fear for my life," Laurenti said. "I don't fear for my life over this issue at this point."

Laurenti said he doesn't necessarily support the mine, but more debate is needed and the council should wait to see what comes from the state permit hearings.

"The bottom line is, it's very difficult for me to have grave concern about something I don't have a lot of information on," Laurenti said. "I'll be honest with you, I would be dishonest with my constituents and with all of you tonight if I said I had grave concerns about this issue at this point."

My sources tell me that Laurenti had received a whole lot of information on Powertech's plan back at a council meeting back in December. According to one source, Laurenti immediately threw that notebook in the trash.

Adventures in Online Campaign Finance: Lindsay Late, No Supplemental Filing Button

David Montgomery says Secretary of State Jason Gant's new campaign finance system still gives him fits. Yes, it's an improvement over the old paper system, but it's still a pain in the neck for users, especially for the candidates who count on this system to file their legally required data.

Roy Lindsay likely feels that way this fine election morning. The Democratic District 8 House candidate did not have a campaign finance report on file by the October 26 deadline. Secretary Jason Gant himself said that he had received no pre-general campaign finance report from the Lindsay campaign as of yesterday morning. Team Lindsay swore to me last week that they had filed it.

It's there now, dated yesterday, November 5. Lindsay has $8,687.81 on hand, mostly his own money, after spending a meager $1,792.19 so far. At least $250 of that will go to Secretary Gant as the penalty for not filing on time.

But it's hard to tell if the screw-up was really Lindsay's or the system's. Consider this cotemporaneous tale of Gant-tastic computer adventures:

I hear another person who runs a PAC (runs it? I think he is a PAC... but that's a whole nother blog post) was trying to file a supplemental report yesterday. PACs and other committees have 48 hours to file those reports from the time of the receipt of big chunks of cash; if they fail to meet that deadline, they face a Class 1 misdemeanor penalty, which can be a year in jail and a $2000 fine.

So PAC-man's clearly motivated to file that paper pronto. He logs into his account on the Secretary of State's website. He's looking for the button to file "Supplemental." Button, button, button... no button. I haven't filed reports on the new system, so I don't know if there's a supplemental report button or not. But PAC-man says there was one and that it disappeared from his account. He's got a time-sensitive document and the button that would have allowed him to file it has gone poof? That's a hair-raiser!

PAC-man called and got help: the Secretary of State's office advised simply printing a form and faxing it in, as apparently have other committees with last-minute contributions to report. There's just one more flaw in Secretary Gant's online jalopy: during the busiest time of the campaign, the system does not allow online filing of the most time-sensitive document required by the campaign finance system.

Help Your Neighbors: Keep Affordable Care Act Alive, Vote Obama

A friend of mine is looking for health insurance. He got laid off (these things happen) and thus lost his employer-based health plan. He has a pre-existing condition. He's been turned down by Sanford, which needs to save its money to build sports complexes. He'll probably be turned down or charged impossible premiums by every other private insurer. To participate in the American health care system, he'll face two choices: become filthy rich or go bankrupt...

...at least until 2014, when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes full effect. President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress's single greatest piece of legislation recognizes that health care does not work under free market rules. Health care is a community affair that works only when everybody helps everybody else. No citizens other than plutocrats like Mitt Romney can afford their own health care. The only feasible way for the vast majority of Americans to access health care is through cooperative insurance, where we all agree to pay for other folks' medical bills, in return for the assurance that when we get hurt or sick, other folks will chip in to cover us. 

Private insurers pervert that system by denying that security to the folks who need it most, the folks who have been sick and who stand a greater chance of getting sick again and requiring our help.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act fixes that problem. On September 23, 2010, it got rid of insurers' ability to exclude children from insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. On January 1, 2014, it will extend that sensible protection to Americans of all ages. If my job-seeking friend can hang on for fourteen months, he can walk back into Sanford and get a policy. 

But not if we do something silly like elect Mitt Romney.

Not if we do something silly like re-elect Kristi Noem to keep voting to repeal the PPACA.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the best things the Obama Administration has done for this country. It is helping more people than Mitt Romney and Kristi Noem ever will. When it takes full effect in 2014, the PPACA will help even more people, including my friend.

Don't let Mitt Romney and Kristi Noem shut it down. Vote accordingly.

District 3: Dan Kaiser Would Eliminate State Funding for NSU

Last week I discussed Dan Kaiser's avid support for Ron Paul and the reasons District 3 voters might want to steer clear of his nullificationist libertarianism.

But if discussions of abstract and mostly ill-thought-out political philosophy don't get District 3 voters out of their chairs, let's try a bread-and-butter issue: Kaiser supports closing Northern State University, one of District 3's biggest employers.

Say what? Kaiser couldn't have said something so political suicidal, could have he?

I don't put it past Ron Paul supporters to say any number of crazy things. Kaiser hasn't said, "Let's close NSU!" in so many words. But let's look at Dan Kaiser's responses to the VoteSmart.org Political Courage Test, under "Budget, Spending, and Tax Issues" and "Education." According to VoteSmart,

1. Kaiser would "eliminate" higher education funding. (He would also eliminate state funding for health care and welfare. He'd give K-12 a "slight increase.")
2. Kaiser favors increasing tuition at public universities.
3. He opposes state funding for financial aid for college students.

Now Kaiser does contend later that he "will be a legislator for the poor and middle class." Yet by removing all state support from higher education, Kaiser would more than double the cost of the college education that is already beyond the means of too many poor and even middle-class families.

Would eliminating state funding immediately close Northern State University? Maybe not. But as Charlie Johnson explained down the road a piece at the District 8 forum last week, you can't keep your university open if students can't afford tuition. And if the state isn't supporting it, it's not really a "state" university.

No more Northern State University—just one more practical consequence of electing avid Ron Paul supporters like Dan Kaiser to the South Dakota Legislature.

Worth noting: neither of the Democrats running for District 3 House, Zachary Anderson and Bill Antonides, have completed the VoteSmart.org Political Courage Test. Republican David Novstrup has: he would slightly increase funding for higher education. Alas, Novstrup would ban abortion in cases of rape and incest.

District 32: PACs Go Big for GOP Incumbents; Indivs Favor Dem Swanson

Here's a quick breakdown of the District 32 House money race between Republican incumbent gunbernatorial patronage beneficiaries Brian Gosch and Kristin Conzet and their sole Democratic challenger and teacher Jackie Swanson:

donations	Gosch	Conzet	Swanson
small indiv	$8,015.00	$425.00	$7,900.16
big indiv	$1,500.00	$650.00	$3,050.00
Parties	$200.00	$460.00	$116.34
SD PACs	$16,050.00	$10,850.00	$2,450.00
out-state PACs	$5,550.00	$1,650.00	$0.00
candidate cmtes	$0.00	$250.00	$0.00
in-kind	$10.75	$0.00	$700.00
total	$31,325.75	$14,285.00	$14,216.50

Now let's break that down by percentage:

donations	Gosch	Conzet	Swanson
small indiv	25.6%	3.0%	55.6%
big indiv	4.8%	4.6%	21.5%
Parties	0.6%	3.2%	0.8%
SD PACs	51.2%	76.0%	17.2%
out-state PACs	17.7%	11.6%	0.0%
candidate cmtes	0.0%	1.8%	0.0%
in-kind	0.0%	0.0%	4.9%
total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Every two out of three coins in Gosch's fountain splashed in from political action committees. Conzet got five sixths of her kitty from PACs. Swanson has gotten more than three-fourths of her campaign cash from individual donors, over half from folks giving a hundred bucks or less.

The Republican incumbents appear to be the PAC picks. Swanson appears to be the people's pick.

Kristi Noem Criss-Crossing South Dakota in Party Bus

Taking a page from the Gordon Howie campaign handbook, Kristi Noem has decided to counterprogram Matt Varilek's beautiful Buick and tour the state in a big RV:

Ah, the Noemobile. No word on how big a contribution you have to make to get a ride on Kristi's bus.

There's plenty of room for high-kicking daughters Kassidy and Kennedy. Komfy, I'm sure.

Noem is touring the state in RV comfort in what she calls the "Farms, Families, and Friends Tour." With this season-ending campaign blitz, Noem is effectively doubling the number of public meetings... although they aren't really public meetings open to all citizens, at least not citizens looking to document the vacuous campaign-trail malarkey Noem spreads.

On her entirely public Facebook campaign page, Noem snaps this metaphorically appropriate photo:

The water's rising, Kristi. Let's be honest, admit Noem is in over her head, and elect a Congressman who can do the job.

District 8 Legislative Candidates' Forum: What They Said

I managed to watch the final District 8 Legislative candidates' forum this weekend, courtesy of KJAM's diligent election videography.

Here's what I learned:

1. Charlie Johnson could have become a lawyer. In his introduction, Johnson said he was accepted into USD's law school but turned that down to work as a small-farm advocate.
2. The man Johnson wants to replace, Senator Russell Olson, doesn't understand the disconnect between what he says and what he does on education. He says he's deeply concerned about raising teacher pay. He says he opposes Initiated Measure 15 because it doesn't guarantee that the new revenue goes to teachers. He says he supports Referred Law 16 because it is the first time he and his fellow legislators have made an effort to pay great teachers more. But Russ, if paying teachers more is such a priority for you, why didn't you get around to it until the sixth year of your time in Pierre?
3. Leslie Heinemann isn't a complete GOP tool. Instead of the vague, evidenceless claims that Senator Olson and fellow House candidate Gene Kroger make for Governor Daugaard's education agenda, Heinemann admits his reservations about the bonus program for teachers. He says he can "discriminate" in his small business and pay more to the employees he thinks are working hard. He recognizes, however, that it's difficult to impose the private business model on public schools.
4. Charlie Johnson sums up Referred Law 16's merit pay plank best: "I don't cultivate, fertilize, and harvest only 20% of my acres. I take care of all my acres. That's the way we have to do education, take care of all of education." He says Russ and the Governor are using Referred Law 16 as a "diversion tactic" to keep us from focusing on the real problem if their neglect of K-12 education funding.
5. Amendment M is not going to pass, and even Russ Olson doesn't care. He says the amendment on corporate voting and regulation would create a more business-friendly climate in South Dakota—and when Russ says "business-friendly," he means crony-capitalist. But Russ acknowledges that there hasn't been much effort to educate the public on the merits of M, so he appears to shrug at its prospects, as did most other candidates at the podium.
6. As I expected, Gene Kroger is least equipped to deal with policy issues. On Initiated Measure 15, while the other candidates addressed the regressive nature of the sales tax, the size of the proposed increase (excellent rebuttal from Roy Lindsay, explaining that IM15 is not the largest tax increase in South Dakota history), and the merits of spending the money on K-12 education and Medicaid, Kroger reverted to his Grumpy Old Party talk about inflation and how he has to pay twice as much for his pork and beans. Note to Gene: under President Barack Obama, monthly inflation has averaged 1.6%. Under President George W. Bush, it was 2.8%. From 1914 to 2008, it was 3.4%.
7. Asked about rising student debt, Kroger again shrugged his grumpy old shoulders and said students have to "decide if this is what I want to do and do I want to pay the price to do it." He asserted that South Dakota tuition is lower and students have less debt than in other states, which is GOP code for "Quit your bellyaching." It's also only one-third true. South Dakota graduates have the median student debt in the country, which happens to be less than the national average. But South Dakota has the second-highest percentage (76%) of students graduating with debt. And given that our wages are the second-lowest in the nation, those students have an even harder time paying off their debt.
8. All six candidates expressed their eagerness to use government to create jobs by protecting and expanding Dakota State University. Senator Olson confirmed that he is hoping to arrange for the state to acquire the current Madison Community Hospital property when that organization builds its new facility on the south side of Madison.
9. While Russ Olson thinks getting DSU more land and buildings will help the university, Charlie Johnson says that if we want students to fill those buildings, we need to find more state support to keep tuition affordable. 

On the whole, if you have to pick a Republican in District 8. He at least shows signs of critical thinking that go beyond what Fox News or Governor Daugaard tell him to think. But the joy of living in District 8 is that you do not have to pick a Republican. You have a full slate of Democratic candidates. Charlie Johnson, Scott Parsley, and Roy Lindsay will legislate with more concern for the common good and sensible, evidence-based policy than their Republican counterparts.

Matt Varilek habla español. ¡Sí se puede!

Wow, haven't hit that button for a while!

While I continue to repair the MadvilleTimes.com database, I can't resist posting this remarkable video, in which Matt Varilek demonstrates that he's not only well-educated and well-traveled, but also bilingual:
 

In this interview with Sioux Falls media outlet La Voz, you hear Matt Varilek speak more Spanish than Kristi Noem has probably spoken in her life.

Meanwhile, conservative political scholar Jon Schaff doesn't even damn Noem with faint praise. He derides her non-record and her desperate campaign against Varilek as verging on "ignorant provincialism":

Noem seems to have little to offer as a candidate other than being "more South Dakota than thou."  As a challenger that isn't really a problem.  But cute ads and plaid shirts are not a subsitute for legislative achievement.  It is not enough that she shares the views and "values" of most South Dakotans.  She's not been elected to share our values, but to do something about them [Jon Schaff, "Noem Not Gonna Get Out Dakota'd," South Dakota Politics, November 4, 2012]. 

Bob Ellis suggests that a good stiff narrow victory may teach Kristi Noem to get back to her values. As a teacher, I reject the notion of giving failing students passing grades. They won't learn that they haven't performed up to standards from a passing grade. The best way to teach Kristi a lesson is to give her an F so she can go back to the farm, think about the errors of her ways... and brush up her Spanish for 2014!

SDGOP Digging Fiegen's Grave with False Whining about McGovern's Name

South Dakota Republicans have been moaning about Matt McGovern's name since long before McGovern's run this year to replace appointee Kristie Fiegen on the Public Utilities Commission. They tried launching that moaning as a last-minute campaign ad yesterday:

Narrator: Who is Matt McGovern? Well, his real name was Matt Rowan. He was born in Wisconsin, moved here in 2004, worked for Obama and Gore’s radical energy policies, which would cost South Dakota families over $2,000 a year — an expense he said was “minimal.” He wasn’t born here, hasn’t lived here, changed his last name just to run for the PUC, and now he wants to be in charge of your utility bills. South Dakota can’t afford to be fooled by Matt McGovern.

I'd play the video, but the SDGOP has pulled it from YouTube. According to McGovern's Facebook page, so have five television stations, because the ad is malicious malarkey:

"It's unfortunate that my opponent and her allies have lowered themselves to false personal attacks rather than focus on the issues that matter to South Dakota families and businesses. I wasn't born in Wisconsin and I also wasn't born yesterday. I know that allowing the utility companies to hike rates on South Dakota families is the wrong thing to do. As Public Utilities Commissioner, I'll fight any rate hike that forces South Dakota families and businesses to pay more so that some over-paid CEO can avoid standing in line at the airport."
BACKGROUND FACTS:

• At age 2, Matt McGovern's parents changed his name from Matthew David Rowen to Matthew David McGovern-Rowen.
• In 2007, he officially changed his name to drop the hyphenation.
• He is the grandson of former U.S. Senator George McGovern.
• 5 television stations have pulled the South Dakota Republican Party ad for inaccuracies [Matt McGovern for PUC, Facebook post, November 1, 2012].

SDGOP exec Tony Post sniggers that the only factual error in the ad was the misstatement that McGovern was born in Wisconsin. Post says, complete with snarky emoticon, that the party will be happy to correct the ad to say McGovern was born in Washington, D.C. If Tony keeps this kind of failure, he'll be out looking for a new job before the Republicans who will lose on Tuedsay.

The GOP's name game is foolishness. Kristie Fiegen changed her name, and no one freaks  out about that. "Fiegen" is as real a name as her maiden name. "Heidelberger" is as "real" a name for me as any of the matrilineal names in my family tree.

Matt McGovern is as much a McGovern as he is a Rowen; the only reason anyone notices is that we cling to patriarchal anachronisms that make Dad's last name somehow more legit than Mom's.

Republicans, if you want to defend Kristie Fiegen's seat from the McGovern surge, have the decency to stick to policy, not irrelevant distractions about names.

Dan Kaiser Threatens to Bring Ron Paul Nullification Agenda to State House

The South Dakota Democratic Party twists Pat Powers's knickers again with a hard attack postcard sent to District 3 to tie police officer Dan Kaiser to his support for Ron Paul's radical libertarian agenda.

Now Kaiser doesn't mind. In a July interview, he invited all comers to "feel free to drag me through the mud... bring it on."

But this card isn't mud; it is essentially true. Dan Kaiser calls himself an "avid Ron Paul supporter." Ron Paulavidly if impotently supports legalizing drugs. Ron Paul was weaselly on Social Security during the 2012 primary, but he has said Social Security is unconstitutional, has compared it to slavery, and that he'd like to get rid of it. Ron Paul would eliminate farm subsidies. It is hard to imagine Dan Kaiser being an "avid" Ron Paul supporter and not aligning with Ron Paul's positions on these significant issues.

Incredibly, Powers manages to raise a larger issue: does the South Dakota Democratic Party misfire by attacking Kaiser (and Rep. Jon Hansen, according to a DWC commenter) on national policies that won't be much in his bailiwick as a state legislator? I agree that the Dems' attack on Kaiser smells of the same irrelevancy that I've heard from folks like Gordon Howie and Jason Bjorklund who campaign for state office on Tea-Party karaoke that has little to do with immediate practical policymaking.

However, Dan Kaiser appears to be using his candidacy for State House to promote himself and his pursuit of Ron Paul's national agenda. Listen to Kaiser holding forth in this July video interview with national "Paul Fest" organizer Mat Larson (starting at 32:30):

Popout

Kaiser says he is running to promote the "cause of liberty" and "revolution" to "take this country back from a state level all the way up." He says he is seeking to get his name more visible in party and statewide, with an eye toward other races.

Interestingly, the next office most clearly in his sights is not national but local: when a caller tells him to run for sheriff so that he wouldn't have to answer to anything but his personal interpretation of the constitution, Kaiser says he'll consider it in two years when the current Brown County sheriff's term is up. Kaiser says a State House position could get him the name recognition to easily win sheriff's race.

Kaiser sees himself as promoting Ron Paul's national agenda even now in uniform as an Aberdeen police officer. He does so in a careful dance between his strict libertarian principles and the need to keep his job... which Officer Kaiser himself calls "hypocrisy." He speaks with apparent regret of busting a drug house. "If I happen to come across an illegal drug... I'm going to do my job to require me getting a paycheck." Kaiser "would challenge anybody to find any record that says I've ever wrote... a seat belt ticket." The video host says Kaiser won't be out as a "Nazi cop" there enforcing local laws, and Kaiser doesn't disagree.

Apparently Officer Kaiser thinks his role is not merely to enforce the laws the people have chosen, but to decide which laws are worth enforcing. And his commitment to enforcing some laws appears to be no deeper than his selfish commitment to keeping his paycheck.

Kaiser shows his Ron Paul stripes clearly with his language on guns. He says the Second Amendment is not about self-defense or hunting. He says the Second Amendment isn't about going to shoot deer with a government-approved license. He says the right to bear arms is about having the ability to overthrow the government if it becomes too tyrannical "To clarify," Kaiser adds, "I'm not advocating that right now."

Kaiser refers to "garbage" from Mitt Romney about assault weapons having no place in our communities. He declares Romney an "idiot." Kaiser says he is "an avid carrier myself" and believes that "everyone should carry."Everyone.

Instead of defending Kaiser, Powers should be going ape over Kaiser's Republcian apostasy. Relevant to drug policy, Kaiser says, "I don't want the government telling what I can and can't put in my body." That sounds like a direct endorsement of drug legalization.

Kaiser also says "I don't want the government telling me whom I can and can't marry... if it doesn't affect me, I don't care." That sounds like a rejection of the GOP's insistence on denying homosexuals the right to marry.

In a move that might endear him to some Republicans, Kaiser sounds inclined to skirt campaign finance laws. A caller urges him to send a note to a Ron Paulite PAC. The caller notes that Kaiser Dan can't coordinate with the PAC after that first call. Kaiser says he'll do that. That sounds like a sleazy wink-wink dodge of our already too-weak campaign finance laws.

Kaiser also drops the big Ron Paul nullification bomb. He says we "need to get liberty-minded folks across the state to understand such things as nullification, just so we can kind of flex our states rights under the tenth amendment." Like his fellow Ron Paulite Rep. Hansen, Kaiser embraces the idea of ignoring the laws we don't like. That attitude should disqualify a policeman. It should also disqualify a legislator.

And just to send the GOP a signal that they shouldn't mind the Dems' attack, Kaiser makes clear he'll be the next Stace Nelson. On Pierre and politics, he says, "I have no ambition of going there and making friends. I want to go there and butt heads with some of them... we might need a cop in there because there are a lot of criminals in state legislature right now. I want to go there and clean house...." Later in the video, the first legislator that springs to mind as worthy of his and Ron Paulites' endorsement is Rep. Stace Nelson, as well as conservative radicals Isaac Latterell, Manny Steele, Lance Russell, and Brian Liss. Kaiser dismisses all of his potential Senate counterparts: he says "we've got no hope" in the Senate and "can't think of any Senators that are real staunch liberty folks."

Ron Paul's policy positions may not all be relevant to state legislative policymaking. But Dan Kaiser's embrace of Ron Paul's nullificationism appears to cause him to ignore his sworn oath to uphold the law, not just the laws that he prefers. In this regard, pointing out Kaiser's allegiance to a national ideologue and agenda are perfectly relevant to District 3's evaluation of his fitness to hold public office.

Ohio Loses Two Seats: Kucinich Unbound?

The Congressional redistricting that will arise from the 2010 Census won't help Dems, but I figured that, since South Dakota's already as low as it can go in House representation, there's not much to get excited about.

Then one of my favorite Ohioan transplants sends me this depressing Christmas note: Ohio will lose two Representatives, and one may be my man Dennis Kucinich!

Ohio's population grew by 183,000 people over the last decade to 11.5 million, but it wasn't enough to keep up with fast-growing states in the South.

Ohio has 18 congressional districts that now will drop to 16.

...In November, Democrats lost five out of 10 U.S. House seats they currently hold in Ohio. The remaining five are tightly packed into an area that stretches from Toledo through Cleveland and into Youngstown.

...Among the Ohio Democrats in Congress who could face losing their districts are Cleveland's Dennis Kucinich and Betty Sutton, who represents Lorain and Elyria, plus suburban Cleveland and the Akron area.

Both are in areas that have lost population in the last decade ["Ohio Loses 2 Seats in Congress, Sutton and Kucinich May Go," AP via Morning Journal, 2010.12.21].

On the bright side, I'm pleased that the Republicans might consider Kucinich a sufficiently big thorn in their side to draw him off the Congressional map. But I'll bet some elephant in the map room is thinking, "Hey! If we redistrict Dennis out of a job, maybe he'll change his mind and run in the 2012 primary against Obama!"

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Bonus Ohio love: Bob Schwartz has been enjoying a solstice resurgence, cranking out lots of good blog posts on new START (passed!), ethanol, Thune hypocrisy, and other matters over the past week. Keep those keys clicking Bob!

Lange: SD Can Learn from Minn. Statesmanship, ND Criminal Justice

Last week I noted the difference in fiscal politics between Minnesota and South Dakota. That essay arose from a conversation with my neighbor and outgoing state legislator Gerry Lange. In the following guest column, he exapnds the view to include North Dakota:

Recent headlines here in Madison and in Minnesota highlight our two states’ sharply contrasting value systems. Here in South Dakota, our leaders are telling us we’ll have to cut ecucation funding to balance the budget! There in Minnesota, the finally-elected new governor, a multi-millionaire heir of the Dayton fortune, is acting like a statesman with “noblesse oblige!”

Rather than slashing education and vital services, he’s calling on his own class of affluent “winners” to come up with more income tax to patch their budget holes. How could sister states be so different? Could be a matter of their preferring a number one quality of life where it’s worth the trade-offs: more taxes for better wages, better infrastructure, and no taxes on food, clothing, auctions, and building contracts.

National government publications are rich with “best practices” from other states. As legislators, we brought home numerous “success stories” from meetings all over the country. One of the best that could save us millions is as close as North Dakota! They’ve been doing “electronic monitoring” and intensive probation for quite a few years. Results? 1000 fewer in prison than here, and a ten percent recividism compared with some fifty percent in most states.

Most of our leaders in Pierre know this, so it’s puzzling as to why we don’t adopt this successful approach. Do South Dakotans really believe that converting colleges to prisons has been a better strategy? Do tax-fearing voters really prefer to balance the budget on the backs of our kids?

—Gerald Lange, December 2010

DWC Botches Facts on Reid Nay to 9/11 First Responder Bill

Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, patriotic champion of 9/11 first responders... unlike Senator John Thune.

Or, Note to Cons — when attacking check your facts first.

Tyler Crissman steps to the conservative mic this afternoon and gets mom's spaghetti all over his sweater. In an attempt to deflect criticism from major Dakota War College ad-buyer and Senator John Thune for his unpatriotic obstruction of medical compensation for sick and dying 9/11 first responders, Crissman fumes that the Left blogo-hemisphere hasn't criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his own nay on the Zadroga bill.

Why, oh why, wouldn't we liberals have issued such criticism of the Senate Majority Leader?

Fifty-seven Democrats voted for the bill and 41 Republicans opposed it. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, switched his vote to 'no' at the last moment, a parliamentary move that allows him to bring the measure up again for a vote ["9/11 health 'Zadroga bill' fails in Senate test vote," AP via SILive.com, 2010.12.09].

I eagerly await Mr. Crissman's retraction. Or maybe they'll just delete that post and all the comments that follow. Revisionist deletion is the Dakota War College way.

Meanwhile, if you're from Nevada, call Senator Reid and tell him to keep fighting for H.R. 847. If you're from South Dakota, call Senator Thune and tell him to stop fighting H.R. 847.

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Update 19:04 CST: Dang it! How are we supposed to sustain a healthy blog snarkfest if we go issuing corrections and apologies and straightening out our facts? Mr. Crissman replies promptly with a mea culpa... and corrects my shoddy geography. Harry Reid is indeed senior Senator from Nevada, not New Mexico as I originally stated.

Thune Blocking Compensation for 9/11 First Responders

Mr. Feser alerts us to the guff Senator John Thune is rightfully catching for his opposition to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. What's this bill? Oh, just a little compensation for men and women who ran toward fire and sacrificed their health and lives to try saving their fellow Americans on September 11, 2001.

Senator Thune voted to block a vote on health care compensation for 9/11 first responders on December 9.

Now I can't tell whether Thune and his War College lackeys would call this bill pork or prosciutto. Since it would help New Yorkers and not South Dakotans, I suppose they'll bleat pork! I just call it fulfilling our obligation to our neighbors who risked their lives for us in the face of terrorism.

My friend Adam posts a couple of videos showing 9/11 first responders talk with Jon Stewart about the Zadroga bill. Below are some comments from OpenCongress.org's page on HR 847:

I'm a 40 year old retired cop from the First Pct. in lower manhattan. I was there the morning of 9/11 and worked over 2,100 hours in the pit the months that followed. My breathing ailments are too long to get into and I understand I will be heavily medicated for whatever time I have left. I'm writing this and urging passage of this bill for my kids sake. (Ages 8 & 6)What's done is done but at least give me the peace of mind of knowing they will be taken care of. Ret. PO Dave Smith.

I am one of the forgotten rescue workers who spent weeks and months in the "pit". I do not seek glory or a pat on the back for what I did. I live with the choices I made. I wouldn't change a thing except I hate to see my family watch me deteriorate. I can't do things I used to, I have no energy, I can't breathe, I can't sleep. I am waiting for the inevitable and it sucks. I never smoked and now I am on all kinds of respiratory meds and a machine at night. Please pass this bill, I am not the only one in this position. Passage will help the people and families of those who dedicated their time and for some, their lives, to help others in need. God Bless America!

John Thune has supported borrowing over a trillion dollars to kill people and break things in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he won't support spending $7.4 billion to treat the people who responded to the first shot of that war.

Senator Thune thought it was more urgent to rush tax cuts to his richest friends than to provide health care for dying patriots. Well, now that that baby's been put to bed, the junior senator from South Dakota should have no more reason to oppose Zadroga, right?

Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House in passing this bill in September. Senator Thune, get on board. Make South Dakota proud and do right by these brave Americans by joining the Republican senators Kirsten Gillibrand says will support this bill.
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Update: Watch the Daily Show video, and you'll see Mike Huckabee tell the Republicans to pass this bill.

Update 2010.12.20 21:44 CST: The GOP is feeling the heat:

"I can tell you, whoever votes against 9/11 responders a couple of days before Christmas is truly un-American," said John Feal, a former New York Police Department supervisor who lost a foot when a steel beam fell on it during in recovery efforts at the World Trade Center and who launched the non-profit Feal Good Foundation to lobby on behalf of first responders [Laura Mascaro and Tina Susman, "GOP under Pressure for Opposition to 9-11 Responders Bill," Los Angeles Times, 2010.12.20].

Noem Fails to Land Seat on Agriculture Committee

Someone please unspin this for me: Kristi Noem, soon to be South Dakota's lone Representative in the U.S. House, for all her supposed pull with the new Republican majority, fails to land a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.

The Agriculture Committee is the one committee for which Noem has more experience than I do to serve as a useful member. She relentlessly touted her lifelong farm background on the campaign trail. Right after the election, Noem herself said landing a seat on the agriculture committee was among her top priorities:

Once in Washington, Noem says she hopes to serve on the agriculture committee.

"But then we'll go on from there. Maybe commerce; energy will be extremely important. We'll see what we can do and we'll be on the one that's best for South Dakota," Noem said [Shawn Neisteadt, "Noem Reflects on Campaign, Looks Forward," KELOLand.com, 2010.11.03].

Noem repeated later in November that she wanted an Ag seat, plus Energy and Commerce. She also mentioned Natural Resources.

Noem got little of what she wanted. She landed the Natural Resources Committee, which is apparently "less competitive to get a seat on" (i.e., Noem got the crap assignment), and the Labor and Education Committee, for which she as a non-college graduate from a union-busting state is singularly unqualified. And all Noem's spokesflunky Joshua Shields can whimper in response to a direct question about the failure to get the ag nod is "there are several good committees Kristi considered. She is pleased with her assignments."

My only hope is that she will use her position on Ed/Labor to put her Tea-Bag cred to work and kill No Child Left Behind. Why, oh why, do I keep hoping against hope that Republicans will display philosophical consistency?

Noem's assignments are one more sign that the GOP leadership sees her as more valuable as a trick pony for their fundraisers and press appearances than as a strong voice for South Dakota interests. Maybe they noticed that she never did get around to posting a coherent ag policy on her campaign website. Or maybe even the GOP leadership couldn't ignore Noem's clear conflict of interest over making a living off farm subsidies and subsidized crop insurance.

Either way, South Dakota has just lost its only voice on the House Agriculture Committee, which shapes legislation on all manner of ag issues as well as on the rural electric systems and rural development.

MHS Bond Issue Early Voting Open! But Don't Wear Your Bulldog Jacket....

KJAM reports that early voting has begun in the $16.98-million new gym and high school renovation bond issue placed before us by the Madison Central School District. (Worth noting: one of KJAM's main media personalities, Matt Groce, is also leading a committee advocating passage of the Madison Central school bond issue.) The early voting information is also available (in annoyingly unnecessary PDF format) on the Madison K-12 website. (Who at MHS seriously thinks it's easier to publish a simple text notice as a PDF? What are you teaching those kids?)

The school is going to great lengths to make voting as convenient as possible. You can vote by mail or by dropping in to business manager Cindy Callies's office at the high school. Callies and Madison Education Foundation exec Monica Campbell will also have ballots handy "at many events and community locations prior to the election." Callies will even arrange to bring ballots to your place of employment so you can get all of your employees to vote.

Wait a minute. I'm all for universal enfranchisement. I'm all for absentee ballots. But voting at "school events" and other "community locations"? How do we arrange poll-watchers for this kind of everywhere, anytime voting?

This activity falls safely within the rules for absentee voting. I know in 2008 when I was out walking for Obama and other Dems, we could offer to deliver absentee ballots for interested voters.... Update: but as I review the Secretary of State's guidelines on absentee balloting, I am reminded that the only time we did that was in case of voters who were homebound by sickness or disability who would authorize a messenger in writing to convey their ballots.

But if the school district is organizing voting at events and workplaces, the school might want to take a look at SDCL 12-18-3, which governs electioneering and other conduct at polling places:

12-18-3. Electioneering, offices, distracting communications devices, and signature gathering prohibited near polling place--Violation as misdemeanor. Except for sample ballots and materials and supplies necessary for the conduct of the election, no person may, in any polling place or within or on any building in which a polling place is located or within one hundred feet from any entrance leading into a polling place, maintain an office or public address system, or use any communication or photographic device in a manner which repeatedly distracts, interrupts, or intimidates any voter or election worker, or display campaign posters, signs, or other campaign materials or by any like means solicit any votes for or against any person or political party or position on a question submitted or which may be submitted. No person may engage in any practice which interferes with the voter's free access to the polls or disrupts the administration of the polling place, or conduct any petition signature gathering, on the day of an election within one hundred feet of a polling place. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Read more relevant statute and cause for concern about Madison Central's early-voting scheme in my follow-up post on this topic.

I know the county courthouse takes the sanctity of the polling place seriously. I walked into the auditor's office once with a campaign t-shirt on. Absentee voting was going on in the office next door. The gals in the auditor's office immediately told me I had to cover up that shirt.

If the school district intends to establish polling places at concerts, ball games, and various workplaces around town, they had better ensure the integrity of the vote. If the school district is handing out ballots for people to mark at basketball games, they had better be on the P.A. system before the game alerting everyone that state law prohibits any discussion of the school bond election, pro or con.

Arguably, the school may have to ban Bulldog jackets, buttons, and signs at school events where voting is offered. If the "Vote Yes for MHS Committee" adopts any MHS logos or slogan for its campaign, if they adopt school colors maroon and gold for their advertising, then the presence of such school paraphernalia at polling places could well qualify as electioneering that could sway votes.

Open voting is great, but the school will need to work to assure the public its rolling polling places satisfy South Dakota election law.

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Possibly related: I learn from Monica Campbell that Jon Hunter is getting into webcasting with live streaming video from Madison Bulldog home basketball games on the MDL website, starting Thursday night. No word yet on whether the school district has designed an accompanying Web widget that will let listeners vote on the bond issue electronically.