South Dakota War College

The SDDP Auction for the " Monumental Blue " Willie Nelson print is over and at $202.50 - the item did not meet the reserve price. So, instead of making a couple hundred on the item, it ended up costing them about $5 - 10. That's actually a pretty common occurrence in fundraising efforts. Often, something that seems like a pretty good idea ends up going over like a lead balloon. Picnics, golf tournaments, casino nights, wine and cheese parties, you name it. Sometimes they hit, and sometimes they miss - and if you miss, count yourself lucky that you didn't miss big. Here, the SDDP isn't out much, aside from pocket change and the lesson. Imagine if they had held a dinner where as a sponsor, they had to guarantee payment for a 100 person minimum at the event hall. And no one showed up. Those are the ones that really sting. I was involved in a campaign within the last few years where someone wanted to put on a big shindig for us, which sounded ok. They wanted to put o...

I'll bet she's not telling us what house she bought because then we'll see how she keeps her lawn. It's going to get pretty long between congressional breaks. And the darn papers are going to pile up. From the Brookings Register , please see the article below. *update* In the 10 minutes since I posted this, my wife taunted me as I laid down in bed - she believes she has the location. If I had bought the first house I looked at which was for sale by owner, we'd literally be neighbors. As it is, the local gossip has her located a mere five or so blocks from me. Actually, if the rumor holds true, she would be closer to progressive republican's House. As it is, the rumored house supposedly is just a straight shot up the street from me on 17th Avenue South. I'm wondering about the whole secrecy thing in the article below. Isn't all that stuff recorded at the register of deeds office? As public information. As in, the public can go look at who bought a house...

Scoop from the War College - Coming up in this weekend's newspapers (or shortly thereafter) Watch for Celeste Calvitto's column in the Rapid City Journal . I just heard that she did an interview with Bill Napoli and not just about his ballot initiative. Supposedly it might touch on his electoral future among other topics.

I'm starting to hear rumbing on the horizon with regards to the Republican State Central Committee Meeting that was postponed until October 1. A few people are making statements one way or another on the set of bylaw amendments that were proposed, but no major activity has taken place yet. It is interesting, to say the least. Next week, I suppose I'll have to break down and prepare for the meeting, and do some further organizing. Fron that point on, it will literally be a flurry of activity getting ready. Maybe I should host a keg the night before the event? I'll at least bring donuts that morning. Interestingly enough, I heard that I was being referred to as one of "the ringleaders" on the effort to prevent the bylaw changes. Me? Nahhhh. Did I send a nice note to many of the GOP officials and county chairmen asking for their consideration of what I believed? Yes. And I heard back from many of them, with only one person who didn't agree with my position. ...

Did anyone catch the KELO news report last night on the guy out in Belle Fourche ? The gentleman with KBFS-AM who applied for and was granted a 9/11 loan for companies impacted by the 9/11 attacks. It’s not often that a South Dakota news report makes my mouth hang open in shock. But this dude did. As you have probably read, the guidelines for being considered “impacted” were pretty loose. If you were a business adjacent to the twin tower complex, you were impacted. And apparently if you were a radio station in South Dakota who covered the event – and didn’t play revenue generating commercials – you were considered impacted. Station Owner Karl Grimmelmann said, "We were airing the national thing because it was of national importance. Nobody knew what was going to happen the next day. There was two solid days of new coverage of what was going on, what we could anticipate." He says the extended coverage hurt business because the station lost advertisers and money from commerc...

I sometimes mix up political fundraising limits because they vary at certain levels. So from time to time, I need to refresh my memory at the Secretary of State's website . So without further ado, straight from the SOS: No individual may contribute more that $1,000 to or in behalf of any candidate for statewide office in any calendar year. ( SDCL 12-25-1.1 ) No individual may contribute more than $250 to or in behalf of any candidate for legislative or county office in any calendar year. ( SDCL 12-25-1.1 ) No individual may contribute more than $3,000 to or in behalf of any political party in any calendar year. ( SDCL 12-25-1.2 ) There is no limit on the amount an individual may contribute to a political action or ballot question committee. Voluntary work for or on behalf of any candidate is expressly permitted. ( SDCL 12-25-12 ). Now, the key is the little phrase "in any calendar year." We're just hitting the fall in t...

I had a call waiting for me on my cell phone a couple nights ago. One of my friends had left me a message noting "I'm coming to town to work on our website, and I know nothing about them. Can you help me get it set up? It's terribly out of date. I'd like to get it updated and have a weblog on it. If you can help me do it, I'll get those ten questions you were asking for done this week." Well, he's got me over a barrel there. One of my long overdue sets of ten questions. Do I give up seeing that 10q anytime soon, and throw him to the technological wolves, or do I give up watching the re-broadcast of Friday's Battlestar Galactica, or whatever DVD I decide to watch because I'm bored, and help him? My only other entertainent this week was to be reading my daughter's Harry Potter book. As you can tell, I'm hard up for entertainment. During the week the life of a weekend commuter is seriously pathetic. So, of course I'm going to help him. Thi...

Well, not really. It's the early fall, so we're in the middle of interim meetings and study commissions. But clicking here will take you to the audio archive/live streaming page of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Not only do they have meetings coming up in the near future, but you can also catch the meetings that have already taken place. Government Operations and Audit was yesterday, and the Constitutional Revision Commission will be up tomorrow and Thursday.

Hot off the press, the South Dakota Right to Life Organization has just started their own blog, and the inaugural post is up. I've got them included in my feeds, so you'll see what they have to say on an updated basis as they post.

I *just* got back into town, and I'm rushing to get some lunch and get into work, but here's a couple of quick items - Bidding on the auction for the Democrat poster has stalled at $202.50 . And they still haven't hit the reserve yet? You've got a reserve on this item upwards of $202.50? Hint to the Democrats regarding the nice print autographed by Willie Nelson. If I recall, the last big thing that Willie Nelson did was the " Dukes of Hazzard " movie. Considering how universally that movie was reviled, I think I would have started it at $5 and taken what I could get. More seriously, Tim Johnson must have had the chili for lunch at the Senate Cafeteria, and sounded a blue note on the SDDP blog. It started out as a nice message of unity in the wake of Katrina. And he had a nice comment about the cooperation on Ellsworth. But then, he has to go and bring up the mainstream coalition: Another encouraging sign is the recently formed Republican Mainstream Co...

Four years ago today, I was ambling down the hall in the hospital in Pierre awaiting the impending birth of my fifth child. My wife had been in light labor as of the previous day and since early that morning had been moving towards more serious efforts at childbirth. My kids were at school or at daycare, and my father, who was out of town was expected home that day from visiting a brother and sister in New Jersey. He was to going to be on a flight in the morning out of the Newark, N.J. airport, into Minneapolis. My mother, who had doted on her granddaughters, had passed away the previous November, and this was to be the first child born into the family that she would not see. As my wife lay there having contractions, I walked out into the hallway where I noticed some floor nurses paying unusual attention to the television. They seemed awestruck, and as I walked over they noted that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. It seemed a horrific accident until shortly ...