South Dakota War College

You know it's not a good sign when you start your weekend with your car breaking down an hour from home. Just because one of my front wheel bearings went bad and the other was on it's way. I have to give major props to Preferred Transmissions in Miller - they pulled it in, stayed a little late and had me back on the road without too much lost time. One of the gentlemen was going to drive to Milbank, and he stayed an hour late to help me get back on the road. You rarely find a commitment to service like that. If you ever break down in Miller, you'd do well to limp your car to their shop on the east edge of town.

Just another little hint to political candidates that I think I've mentioned more than once. I know it doesn't feel right or might not be comfortable. When posing for a photograph, often the inclination is to clasp your hands together in front of you. However, like many other urges, you should deprive yourself. If you don't, the result is what you see above. A pose that's been termed by Campaign and Elections Magazine as "the fig leaf" photo. And the fig leaf pose doesn't look good. In fact, it looks downright silly. So when there's a camera in front of you, and you get that familiar urge, just deny it, and put your hands at your sides. It might not feel natural, but it makes for a better looking photo. And Quinten, stop that before you go blind.

A group of J.A.I.L. breakers are starting to gear up and there's a few people who should start to sweat over this. The No-On-E campaign, who's website will be at NO-ON-E.COM , has just fired their first salvo back at the Judicial Accountability Act and it's a doozy. I just got done watching their 10 minute DVD which has gone to out many local Government officials across South Dakota, and I predict it's going to be a devastating injury to the Amendment E supporters . It does a great job of pointing out the wackiness of the California proponents of the measure, as well as provide the Public TV coverage of Bill Stegmeier's testimony (or lack thereof) on the resolution condemning Amendment E during this last legislative session. Senator Lee Schoenbeck gets some good screen time questioning Stegmeier as to when he planned on being prepared to discuss Amendment E since he's the one who got it on the ballot. Bill looked more sheepish at that moment, despite all the fi...

South Dakota Politics has an article on how the 2 Democratic Candidates are not advocating for the rule of law, but rather the rule of Argus Leader. So the Argus has to accept their news through press release. Big deal. There are a lot of other news outlets in Sioux Falls. The ever expansive KELOland for one. There's also the associated press for another, of which the Argus subscribes to. Somehow, I think they'll manage to continue to get a newspaper out.

Am I the only one who caught this on the Huron Daily Plainsman website ? Haley takes oath as councilman; board reorganized BY ROGER LARSEN Pat Haley took the oath of office Monday evening to become the newest member of the Huron City Commission. He succeeds Ron Volesky, who chose not to seek re-election in April. Haley was unopposed. Why does it matter? Aside from being an item of interest, I'm thinking that taking the oath of office has automatically triggered a legislative vacancy in House District 22. Yes, it could be one of the shortest terms of office ever, and the appointee might not ever see the inside of the Capitol unless there's a special session. But by the action of Pat Haley taking the oath of office, he now holds two offices at once, that of Legislator and that of City Council member. And I'm not so sure those offices are compatible. Check out Attorney General's opinion 82-23 , (from Mark Meierhenry) which says in part: The South Dakota Constitution Arti...

As I was nursing the worse sinus attack I've had in recent history, myself and my dad were watching tonight's report on KELO of the Sioux Falls School Board's continuing decision on letting the two high school kids who are slightly short on credits due to illness (one suffered a heart attack while participating in school football) participate in graduation with their classmates at Sioux Falls Lincoln. The proposed policy would allow seniors who were being recognized as classmates, and not graduates, to sit separately as a group. But Perez says her son has been away from his classmates long enough and that it's time for him to walk with his peers. She (Wampler's mother) says, "Just to get in line in the W's where he would be walk in sit with the people and when they say his name walk up and for him not to receive a diploma but to just get a handshake and that's it." Nick Kelly is the other Lincoln Student not allowed to participate in the ceremony....

Hey, I have to give big props to the Union County GOP on their website . It looks good, and I'm at the top of their links. Go Check it out at: http://www.unioncountyrepublicans.com/gop/default.asp

I’ve been getting recent reports in on some of the primary races, and most of them have been in relation to several of the candidates where I’ve thrown a pebble or two in their direction. Why do I throw pebbles? Because “Bamm Bamm” is too heavy. Okay, bad joke. On a few of the primary candidates out there, I’ve questioned the logic of their views. On others, I’ve questioned their actions and campaign tactics, as in “What they hell are they thinking.” And there are still others that just plain stink. But anyway, what’s happening out in primary campaign land, South Dakota? On the Stan Adelstein/Elli Schwiesow race , Senator Stan just sent out an 8 1/2 x 11 4 page glossy (i.e. expensive) campaign mailer trashing his opponent. As he tries to downplay a national recognition award from Planned Parenthood, it seems Stan can’t catch a break. Because only a couple of days after he tried to portray himself as pro-life, an e-mail to Republican State Senators from a top member of Senate leadership...

You probably won't see much from me today, as I have an early morning, and a noon meeting. And then I have a candidate in town. So, not much blogging. But.. in the interim, today is the deadline for initiated measures. The suspense will end on legalized poker, zoning, and the Delores Coffing led effort on the drink tax. (I'm not holding my breath on that one). Even Bob Newland will be called on today to see if his signature count can match his commitment to Medical Marijuana (so I can vote no on it in November). I see we're already stuck voting on Video Lottery. Again. The phone tax, tobacco, and school start date are already in as well. It's a big political day, so stay tuned. It's not up today, but I was remiss in not mentioning that the JAIL people were crowing about getting ABC World News tonight to possibly cover their event on Saturday in Gregory. And it gives me the chills to contemplate seeing a political story in the national media portraying South Dakotan...

Tim from over at Progressive on the Prairie did a post on the No-on-E Weblog (that we're both disseminating information on) detailing some of the dates that the JAIL-4-Judges crew is setting up informational meetings across the state: According to the "old" website for South Dakota's Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (J.A.I.L.), the J.A.I.L.ers are kicking off their "Amendment E Voter Education Campaign" this weekend. According to the site, a "town hall meeting/debate" will be held at the Gregory Memorial Auditorium starting at 1:00 p.m. Similar functions are also currently scheduled for Brandon, May 13; Mobridge, May 20; Hot Springs: June 3; and, Brookings; June 10. June 10th in Brookings. Now that looks like it actually has the potential to fit my schedule. I'll have to pencil that one in, unless they hold one in Pierre first. Now here's a stupid question that comes to mind - If the AmendmentE.com webs...

It's been pointed out in the blogosphere that parts of that Unruh/Looby article in the Rapid City Journal appear to read... Well, parts of it just read "a little funny." And the more I look at it, the more I can't disagree. "Because of their extremism and their sort of radical approach to the issues that I deal with, I have had an interesting three-year career with Planned Parenthood," she said. and... Looby said she is handling the fallout from the bill's passage, but it is taking its toll. She has four school-age children, is going through a divorce and recently moved. "I was thinking this morning, 'What's the one other thing that's going to happen that's going to put me totally over the edge?' And it wouldn't take much," Looby said. Umm... yeah. Aside from that's a bit too much information, how does it benefit the pro-choice movement when it's figurehead seems to be going a little postal? (By her own adm...

In today's Rapid City Journal , Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Kate Looby and Sexual Abstinence Clearinghouse/Alpha House founder Leslie Unruh both talk about the mutual respect they share for each other: "She is equally as adamant on her position as I am on my side. And so, I have to respect that. I don't agree with her position, so I don't respect the position that she takes on this issue, but I respect her as a strong woman," Looby said. "I don't have any bad feelings towards her. I, at one time, had some of the same thoughts, until I lived it," Unruh said. "I'm hopeful that someday, she'll regret this and she'll want to do something to really help women." Awwww.. I also noticed in the article how it talks abut them both having more than the average number of kids (4 and 5 respectively). Which leads me to believe that with 6, I have clearly entered the category of circus oddity. (And commenters, behave)

My wife and I had this discussion today as we read the newspaper, and I'm reminded of it as I read Nathan Schock over at Fresh Glue editorialize on it. Randall Beck over at the Argus called for the Sioux Falls School System to let the two Lincoln High School kids walk across the stage . And despite my disagreements with many of his editorials , I couldn't agree with this one more. Read it here as he petitions to let Nick Kelly and Jake Wampler join their Lincoln High School classmates at graduation ceremonies: The two students won't have enough credits to get their diplomas next month but would like to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates. Jake is five credits short because his heart stopped on a football practice field last year; his rehabilitation has been long and difficult. Nick, whose leukemia is now in remission, is just 1 1/4 credits short. Both have worked hard to catch up. No slackers these kids. The Sioux Falls School Board and Superintendent Pam...

As April wanes in it's last half an hour, I see my visitor record for the month has climbed from 11,000+ visitors in March, to well over 12,000 visitors this April (well over 27,000 page views). Thanks.

Here's a good divergence in political opinion to discuss: With regards to multi-town voting districts, I typically tell candidates that when they go door-to-door (as it says you should in any good campaign manuals) that they should make sure they start in the most populous area. I do that based on the thesis that you stand a better chance on completing it if you start there first. In other words, it's the "Willie Sutton" move - go where the voters are and campaign. If you start in the most populous area, you're likely to spend the most time there because you need to. And you're likely to be noticed since it is the most populous area. Now a couple of my elected official friends disagree. They say, "not so fast, PP." Their opinion is that a candidate should start where they are the strongest, regardless of size. They say that's because even thought you might be spending a lot of time in an area that doesn't have as many votes, you're going...

Congratulations to Jafar Karim who just got a nice job with the DM&E Railroad as mentioned in the media today. Jafar is a local Pierre grad who had previously served as White House Liaison for the Department of Health and Human Services, and worked as Congressman John Thune’s Chief of Staff . Jafar is leaving his current position as the head of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. "Jaf" as he's known to his friends is the son of Ruth Karim (who was a GOP candidate for the legislature many years ago [I think in a primary]), and Mansour Karim, who just set up a large endowment and scholarship fund at South Dakota State University. There's a neat story on his endowment here how he arrived at SDSU with $27 in his pocket and worked at the seed lab at $.20 an hour. Anyway, read the Article here , and congratulations to Jafar on his new job from the SDWC.

At the end of the year in 2005, I offered my opinion that the #6 story of 2005 was the Argus Leader's assault on the Governor. Let's take a look at this little blast from the past: 6. Argus Leader’s Assault on the Governor The Associated Press considered the Argus Leader’s series of stories of the use of the State Airplane by the Governor as one of its top ten stories. Should that be one of the top ten political stories? Some would argue, yes. But there’s something that has come up since that blurs the focus of that issue for me. After that series of stories, there have been editorials from the Argus Leader’s editor, Randall Beck. ( here , here and here ) A story is a story, and that’s fine. But in those editorials from the editor, it’s at least apparent to me that he doesn’t care for our state’s chief executive. One editorial from Mr. Beck blasted a local group for giving the Governor an award. Another took an additional swipe at him. The tone of these editorials comes off...