South Dakota War College

LIBERTY, Ky. - A Casey County man has been convicted of using cash and whiskey to buy votes in a school board election. Ellis gave pints of Ancient Age whiskey and $5 bills to Stella Johnson's son and daughter and a friend during a meeting the day before the November 2004 election, according to testimony during the trial. Defense attorney Raymond Overstreet argued that Ellis was simply engaging in good, old-fashioned "electioneering," but Commonwealth's Attorney Brian Wright said it was much more serious than that. Read the whole thing here on Yahoo News. Some light political reading on your Saturday morning. It might be "good old-fashioned electioneering" in Kentucky, but I think that's where you can also legally marry your 13 year old cousin. There and Ft. Pierre. (Sorry, I couldn't resist). South Dakota's election laws prevent this sort of thing as well. What do they say? 12-26-15. Bribery of voter as misdemeanor - Acts constituting bribery. ...

Ugh. I just rolled into Brookings on a whirlwind trip around the state, and I'm sitting at home waiting for my ride to drop off a vehicle, so I thought I'd check the state of the SDBlogOSphere. Wow. Today marks the 20,000th individual visit to my weblog since I've been tracking stats (42,174 page views). And to top that off, both Todd Epp and Mt. Blogmore were nice enough to point my post on simple things each campaign should do. Props back at you guys.

I think Democrats are invoking that Walt Disney quote as they prepare for a seminar with Montana House Speaker Dave Wanzenried who is going to explain how they turned Red State Montana into a "barely blue" state. From the SDDP.org website: Twelve years ago, Montana looked like South Dakota. Bright Red! Republicans held a big majority in the State Senate and the House of Representatives, most Constitutional Offices were held by Republicans; and the Governor was a Republican. Sound familiar? Today Democrats hold a 27 to 23 majority in the Montana Senate. The Montana House is evenly split, 50 Democrats - 50 Republicans. Democrats hold many Constitutional Offices. Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer was elected by more than 20,000 votes in 2004. Progressive and responsive state government has returned to Montana. The same thing can happen in South Dakota. Join us on Friday, November 11th in Rapid City and Saturday, November 12th in Sioux Falls to start working on a plan to tur...

Politics is the housekeeping of Good Government. I advise folks in the military service to get into politics because somebody who is ready to lay their life down for their country qualifies more than those you see there now. They're always greasing up something to pass for their local communities instead of looking out for the whole country. --Joe Foss, The American Legion Magazine, February 2003 Joe Foss certainly had his opinion about the people who should be serving in Politics. And he was clear about the dedication and honor of those in the military . I wanted to do something a little different for Veterans' Day, so I had some information culled from the Blue Book on which of our elected officials served in the Military. You'll also note them featured on the scrolling banner above. Many of them may be speaking to groups gathered to honor the occasion this weekend. If you happen to be in one of those areas, stop and listen for their message of community, responsibility, ...

From this morning's Rapid City Journal : Corporate income tax won’t be on 2006 ballot By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer PIERRE — The sponsor of a proposed constitutional amendment to create a state corporate income tax said he failed to get enough signatures to put the measure on the 2006 ballot because he did not get enough support from various interest groups. Rep. Gerald Lange, D-Madison, said he made a mistake in not lining up support earlier from groups representing schools, counties and other interests that would have benefited from his proposal. He said he realized about two months ago he would not be able to get the 33,456 petition signatures required to put the measure on the November 2006 ballot for a statewide vote. The measure would have used revenue from a tax on corporate income to repeal the sales tax on food, give state aid to counties and boost spending on education at all levels. The deadline for submitting petition signatures for prop...

I was working my day job today, and had to make a trip over to the Capitol. While I was up there, I was handed something I had noticed before, but not paid much attention to. They're for my kids, but I might have to hang on to one or two of them for my collection. Governor Rounds "Baseball cards." As a long time political collector, there is a certain coolness factor. There's a limited number of them, they're specific to South Dakota - another plus in my book - and nobody else out there is doing them. Now if I was going to amp up the très cool factor, and do a SDWC version, I'd do them on all the politicians, and pack the back with alot more information - but most of it probably wouldn't be kid appropriate. Regardless, this can go in my collection along with my unused Bush Aberdeen 2002 Presidential Visit Ticket. (Yeah, that visit.) Speaking of campaign coolness, I was walking by something on my bedroom shelf that reminded me that nothing has "outcoo...

From the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan: Area Men Earn State Honors Swier, Nesselhuf To Receive Service Awards By: By Rita Brhel rita.brhel@yankton.net Scott Swier never saw it coming. When the Yankton man was told he would be receiving one of 10 Outstanding Young South Dakotan Awards from the South Dakota Jaycees this weekend, he could barely believe his ears. "I was very surprised, very pleasantly surprised but very surprised and very honored," said Swier, a long-time attorney who now works out of Sioux Falls and a very active volunteer in the Yankton community. "It was a very humbling experience to be included in the list of honorees." Swier isn't the only area person who will be honored with a black-tie banquet and awards ceremony tonight (Saturday) in Watertown. Benjamin Nesselhuf, a Vermillion insurance agent and South Dakota lawmaker, will also be recognized for his public service, and personal and professional accomplishme...

The MAINstream coalition has recently added a membership form to their website where you too can join the group. As you might already know, as described in the Rapid City Journal , “One theme of the group so far is separation of church and state. Organizers said that though this has been brewing among them for some time, the role of Congress - and religious factions - in the recent Terry Schiavo case prompted a reaction.” That being said, about the whole getting religion out of government thing, I just have one question. If there is concern over religion being involved in government and politics, why is there a reduced membership rate for clergy? Continuing on the topic, it looks like there will be an 'expose' on the group in the November 23 issue of the Dakota Voice – as you can see here . South Dakota Mainstream Coalition: what is the real agenda? Looks to be an interesting, albeit opinionated article. I signed up for my free issue just to take a look. And yet even mor...

Just like Metamucil, I try to help keep you regular. ...Except it’s on politics, not the other thing. Confiteor. Mea culpa, mea culpa As one of my friends so generously posted my hot tip for me at about 2:15 pm yesterday, the J.A.I.L. Amendment people reportedly turned in about 46,800 signatures to place the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law on the ballot for November 2006. That signature total is significant. It places the JAIL Amendment in there with a pretty strong margin over the 33k+ total that was needed to get it on the ballot. If you’re going to try to get the measure killed before it gets to the ballot, a 13,000 vote margin is going to be pretty tough to whittle down. A few hundred? Sure. A few thousand? A definite possibility. But 13,000? The Magic Eight Ball says “Not likely. Ask again later.” To use the adjective from last week when I mentioned Senator Napoli turned his petitions over to the Secretary of State – they’re in with authority. After today, that leaves them...

This just in (I had to call and have someone post this for me.) The J.A.I.L. Amendment people just filed petitions with the Secretary of State for their measure with a reported count of 46,800 signatures. More on this as the story develops!

Recently on the J.A.I..L. website , the signature thermometer went from around 12,000 signatures to just under 35,000. Add this to a comment from Bob Newland on my blog (under a prior post) where he noted that they’ve got a lot of signatures. Does that mean we’re going to see the J.A.I.L. petition show up on the Secretary of State’s doorstep before the deadline? According to the Secretary of State's useful (as always) website the State Constitution says the big bad deadline day is today according to Art. XXIII, Sec. 1 (that’s article 23, section 1 for the Roman numerically impaired) which states in part: “An amendment proposed by initiative shall require a petition signed by qualified voters equal in number to at least ten percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the last gubernatorial election. The petition containing the text of the proposed amendment and the names and addresses of its sponsors shall be filed at least one year before the next general election at which the...

Lots of coverage from Ron Volesky making his bid for Governor official. Here's a few selected passages from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader : "The Republican Party has ruled this state too long," Volesky said. "It's time the Democratic Party has the opportunity to govern the state of South Dakota." and.. "Volesky promised to pursue a personal income tax and a corporate tax for South Dakota." and.. "If he succeeds in acquiring the university and wins the general election, he said he can lead both the state and the school because he never planned to be involved in the day-to-day management of the college." Read the whole thing here . Wonderful. The Republicans have been in authority too long, and we need a change. So let's institute taxes that South Dakota has resoundingly rejected over and over for years. ( Excellent letter in the Argus on this very topic this Sunday AM , BTW) And there's "we need a change, so I'...