May 2013
47 posts
6 tags
Some conservative groups down on Noem as Rounds...
As Rep. Kristi Noem continues to ponder running for U.S. Senate, some national conservative groups are skeptical she’d be the “conservative alternative” they want to former Gov. Mike Rounds in the race.
Rounds, who has drawn some fire from the right for refusing to sign a no-tax-increase pledge, has said he expects a primary challenge. Experts believe Noem would be his most...
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Daugaard to call legislative special session in...
Gov. Dennis Daugaard will call a special session of the South Dakota Legislature late next month to deal with a $10 million cost overrun in the construction of a new state veterans home in Hot Springs.
Lawmakers had appropriated $41 million in state and federal funds for the project earlier this year — but the lowest bid for the project was “considerably above projections,” Daugaard wrote in a...
ArgusPoliBlog: Thune's '04 campaign manager... →
arguspoliblog:
The Mike Rounds for Senate campaign has announced that Dick Wadhams, John Thune’s campaign manger from 2004, has signed on with the Rounds campaign as a general consultant.
The hiring of Wadhams sends a strong message, which is that the Rounds campaign is prepared to get tough. Wadhams has a…
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Next up for SD politics — Pat O'Brien?
The 2014 South Dakota Senate race has already been among the most fascinating in the nation, with a lot of national attention, machinations by multiple parties, hurt feelings and the potential for more to come.
Could it about to get a whole lot crazier?
In a throwaway moment on Adam Carolla’s podcast today, Sioux Falls native and longtime sports and entertainment broadcaster Pat...
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What happened with Noem's official Facebook page?
A commenter on “100 Eyes” today asked about Rep. Kristi Noem’s official Facebook page, which no longer exists.
Noem used to have two Facebook pages — one for her campaign, one for her official office. But now the old page — which used to be at http://www.facebook.com/RepKristiNoem, per this old tweet — is no longer up. Was it taken down?
A Noem aide emails...
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Daschle on Weiland, Herseth Sandlin, and 2014
With Tom Daschle hitting the news again, I went back to my interview with him last week and dug up some of his more interesting quotes:
On Rick Weiland:
“Rick has become an extraordinarily experienced and very well-rounded candidate. He’s been successful in business, he’s been success in politics and government, he’s been successful as a father. He has enormous...
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Politico: Weiland pick spurs Daschle-Reid 'feud'
Lone Democratic Senate candidate Rick Weiland is “not my choice,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Politico, in a surprisingly blunt statement of national Democrats’ preference for Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
Reid also dismissed Weiland, saying “we’re going to have a candidate there; we don’t have it yet.”
The Politico story adds Reid’s quotes...
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Vern Larson, making history
Newly appointed public lands commissioner Vern Larson had already made a mark as the longest-serving constitutional officer in state history, with 24 years as auditor and eight as treasurer after getting term limited.
Now he’s poised to enter the South Dakota political history books again this August when he replaces Jarrod Johnson at School and Public Lands.
He’ll be the first...
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Daugaard taps Vern Larson for School & Public...
Gov. Dennis Daugaard picked veteran government official Vern Larson to fill the remainder of Jarrod Johnson’s term as commissioner of School and Public Lands when Johnson resigns this August.
Larson, 64, has been elected to statewide office seven eight times, including five six terms as state auditor and two terms as state treasurer.
But Larson says he’ll just be a placeholder...
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Quite the exchange on Twitter between Glodt,...
The past two days, state Rep. Stace Nelson (a potential “conservative alternative” U.S. Senate candidate to former Gov. Mike Rounds) has had a fascinating debate on Twitter with Jason Glodt, a senior member of Rounds’ campaign team, about Rounds’ record.
I’ve compiled the exchange, which you can read after the jump:
[[MORE]]
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Someone mailed tea bags to Johnson, Thune
There was some tumult in Aberdeen today, as the local offices of South Dakota’s congressional delegation all received suspicious packages.
Hazmat teams were called in as the buildings were evacuated.
Late this afternoon, word came that at least two of those suspicious packages contained not ricin or anthrax but tea bags — a harmless, if politically symbolic item.
Read the full story here....
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Later that day: Noem, less coy on the Senate
This morning, Rep. Kristi Noem told reporters she hasn’t “spent a lot of time thinking about a timetable” for making a decision about running for Senate and would “deal with politics a little bit later.”
Apparently “a little bit later” meant “that afternoon.”
A few hours after her morning interview, Noem told The Hill that she is...
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Rep. Kristi Noem still coy on Senate
Rep. Kristi Noem had some news to share.
“I also wanted to make an announcement about something new today I’m going to be doing,” Noem told reporters dialed in to her weekly conference call with the South Dakota media.
But the announcement was that she would be holding an ag-focused conference call with South Dakota citizens next week (at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.).
The...
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$1M ticket or not, the lottery is still a fool's...
News broke this morning that a Sioux Falls store sold a metaphorically golden lottery ticket worth $1 million (minus taxes).
Whenever a local person wins the lottery, or when the PowerBall jackpot gets up into the stratosphere, a peculiar but predictable kind of mass mania tends to take over. People speculate longingly about what they would do if a million dollars or more dropped into their lap....
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Noem's not out of this yet
Rep. Kristi Noem has stayed quiet lately about the U.S. Senate race, with intrigue focusing on the Democratic side of things. But in the past week we’ve gotten two indications that the GOP congresswoman still could very well challenge Mike Rounds in a primary.
First came some anonymous quotes from The Hill last week, after Rick Weiland declared his candidacy but before Stephanie Herseth...
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Rounds headed to Israel
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rounds will travel to Israel this month, his campaign confirmed today.
Stan Adelstein, a Jewish state senator and wealthy businessman who backed Rounds’ gubernatorial campaigns, wrote on his blog that Rounds will have an “intense six-day briefing” in Israel.
“He will have an in-depth confidential discussion with three Israeli generals...
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Varilek appointed to Small Business Administration...
Matt Varilek, the Tim Johnson aide who ran for Congress in 2012, has been appointed to a post with the federal Small Business Administration.
Varilek will be the regional administration for SBA’s Region 8 — a six-state region including South Dakota. It’s one of 10 regions for the federal agency.
As a Johnson aide, Varilek focused on economic development.
He resigned from...
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Herseth Sandlin speaking now to Young...
Fresh off her decision to not seek the U.S. Senate, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is meeting over the lunch hour today with the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network for one of their recurring “A Seat At The Table” events.
The events connect business leaders with members of the Young Professionals, and the description says Herseth Sandlin will be focused on sharing...
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Daugaard declares 'Al Neuharth Day'
Gov. Dennis Daugaard just declared Friday to be “Al Neuharth Day” in South Dakota, in honor of the Eureka native and USA Today founder.
Neuharth, 89, died April 19. The University of South Dakota is hosting a public tribute to Neuharth on Friday starting at 10 a.m.
“From Eureka to USD to USA Today, Al Neuharth was a great South Dakotan who revolutionized the media industry,” Daugaard...
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Letterman hits Thune over gun control
Late night comedian David Letterman has been running a segment criticizing the senators who voted against recent gun control legislation, each night naming a different one “Stooge of the Night.”
On Monday, it was Sen. John Thune’s turn to be the “Stooge.”
The sketches all seem to be the same general theme:
For “Stooge of the Night,” the senator’s official head...
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Daschle goes from encouraging Weiland to endorsing...
The Rick Weiland campaign this afternoon sent an email to supporters from Tom Daschle, explicitly endorsing the Democratic Senate candidate the same day that ex-Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said she wouldn’t pursue a Senate run as many had expected.
“Today Rick Weiland is a capable and accomplished man, fully qualified to give our state a strong, hard-working voice in the United...
ArgusPoliBlog: Huether for U.S. Senate? →
arguspoliblog:
Well, with Stephanie Herseth Sandlin choosing to sit out the U.S. Senate race, I felt it was time to ask Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether if he was giving the race any consideration.
And why shouldn’t he? After all, he’s the mayor of the biggest city in the state.
Here’s what he emailed me:
I…
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Daugaard appoints Canton businessman, farmer to...
Gov. Dennis Daugaard has filled state Rep. Patty Miller’s state House seat with David Anderson, who owns several Canton insurance agencies and also farms in the region.
Anderson’s father, Larry Anderson, served in the state House from 1971 to 1981.
In picking Anderson, Daugaard bypassed two runners-up from the past election — Ann Tornberg, the Democrat who came in third place...
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Weiland, magnanimous
Rick Weiland, the U.S. Senate candidate who just dodged a strong primary challenge from ex-Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, was magnanimous to Herseth Sandlin in a statement he just sent out to reporters.
The statement makes no mention of the policy differences Weiland has with Herseth Sandlin that played a part in his decision to enter the race.
Weiland:
Making the decision to run for public...
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Stephanie Herseth Sandlin will not run for office...
Former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced this morning that she will not run for office in 2014, as she had considered.
In a post on her Facebook page, the Democrat cited her family and job as reasons for not running.
“While I know you share my confidence that working together we could win a statewide race next year, I’m also confident that the decision not to run is the right...
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Weiland hires consulting firm
Rick Weiland has hired the national political consultants Democracy Partners to help run his U.S. Senate campaign, the Democrat announced at 6:17 p.m. on a Friday.
Mike Lux, the co-founder of Democracy Partners singled out in Weiland’s release, is a veteran Democratic political operative dating back two decades. He was recently a liaison for the Barack Obama transition team “to the...
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Jeff Barth now chair of Minnehaha County Democrats
Minnehaha County Commissioner and former U.S. House candidate Jeff Barth was elected chairman of the Minnehaha County Democratic Party last week.
It’s the blunt-spoken Barth’s second turn at the helm of the county party. And in a twist of fate, his first time as chair happened indirectly because of Rick Weiland.
It was 1996, when Weiland was engaged in a tough primary against Jim...
ArgusPoliBlog: The not-so-open Mike Rounds →
arguspoliblog:
Former Gov. Mike Rounds took a hit today on the conservative news site The Daily Caller. A story there examined the former governor’s position on open government.
My colleague, David Montgomery, has a summary of the Caller’s article over at Political Smokeout.
The basis of the DC’s article…
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The honeymoon is over, part two
My prior post on Rounds’ open records laws initially suffered from a reading comprehension error — I missed the line where Daily Caller reporter Alexis Levinson said that it was “a Democratic group” that filed the open records request Rounds denied, not the Daily Caller.
That doesn’t change anything about the fact that Rounds has a vulnerability over his position on open...
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And so it begins...
Mike Rounds’ honeymoon is over.
He’s known all along that running for Senate will mean facing criticism for some of the things he did — and defended — as governor. One of Rounds’ weaknesses is open government, something he’s always been leery about.
This morning, the conservative news site The Daily Caller reported on Rounds denying their a Democratic group’s...
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Does Weiland make Noem more likely to run?
Rep. Kristi Noem has refused to rule out a run for U.S. Senate against Mike Rounds. Her decision here will have a big impact on the race, as the biggest Republican name out there who could challenge Rounds in the primary.
I think her chances of running this morning are considerably higher than they were 24 hours ago.
Why? It has to do with what I think are two of Noem’s key goals here:
1)...
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Rick Weiland's past campaigns
C-SPAN producer Craig Caplan digs up this video, of Rick Weiland speaking to the 1996 Democratic National Convention. It’s brief, and reflects the same sort of liberal populism Weiland focused on yesterday. (Unfortunately not embeddable.)
Meanwhile Pat Powers at the South Dakota War College has two of Weiland’s 2002 campaign commercials:
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What the other guys have to say to the Weiland...
Mike Rounds:
We’ve said from the beginning that we will be prepared to take on all comers. Our focus continues to be on engaging South Dakota voters and gaining their support for the U.S. Senate race.
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin:
Anyone and everyone is welcome to join the race. I deeply appreciate the support and encouragement I’ve received from South Dakotans who believe my past...
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Brendan Johnson backers say he won't run, praise...
Rick Weiland said one reason he was running for Senate was because he was had spoken with U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson — and come away convinced Tim Johnson’s son wouldn’t run for Senate, as he had been widely rumored to be considering.
“Brendan and I have had some pretty serious conversations about this,” Weiland told us. “He’s focused on his job. I...
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First Dem to run for SD Senate is... Rick Weiland?
Jonathan Ellis and I just broke the news that Rick Weiland, the former Tom Daschle aide who ran for U.S. House in 1996 and 2002, has announced he’s running for U.S. Senate.
Weiland is the first Democrat to enter the race, and is a bit of a surprise. Speculation until now had centered on Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Brendan Johnson.
The jury’s still out on what Herseth Sandlin will...
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Daugaard's Mall trip isn't about the handshakes
Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to visit the Mall of America and spend an hour meeting shoppers, encouraging them to consider living and working in South Dakota, has drawn some criticism lately.
Some of this is funny:
I can think of no better place to recruit Minnesota workers than a mall where no Minnesotans shop.argusne.ws/YqAWm3
— Fake SD Gov Daugaard (@DennyDogood) May 6, 2013
But others...
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60 years of legislative resignations
As part of my story this weekend on legislative resignations, the Legislative Research Council provided me with a spreadsheet of every legislator who’s resigned since at least 1957.
You can view that spreadsheet here.
Here’s the breakdown by governor:
My research also dug up a document from the National Conference of State Legislatures, outlining how every single state handles...
Jackley backing Rounds for Senate
Not a surprise — Mike Rounds originally appointed Marty Jackley to be South Dakota’s attorney general — but a fundraiser invitation posted by the South Dakota War College shows Jackley is cohosting a fundraiser for Mike Rounds’ Senate campaign along with Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who already endorsed Rounds.
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ArgusPoliBlog: Casey out at Raven →
A scoop from Jonathan Ellis:
arguspoliblog:
Ryan Casey, the man who started the Draft Brendan Johnson movement, is no longer with Raven Industries, where he’d been a military analyst for the company the last few years. Casey told me via email that he resigned.
He is also the chair of the Lincoln County Democrats, and he said he’s working…
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Tea Party Express talking to potential SD Senate...
Strategists for the tea party group Tea Party Express spent several days in South Dakota this week interviewing possible Senate candidates as they weigh possible involvement in the Republican primary.
So far Mike Rounds is the only declared candidate, and unlike the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Tea Party Express is considering backing the former governor.
“He’s the front-runner at...
Mike Huckabee endorses Rounds for Senate
Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed Mike Rounds for U.S. Senate.
The two were in office around the same time and worked together through groups like the National Governors Association.
“His experience as governor of the great state of South Dakota, dedication to tackling the federal debt, strengthening and honoring our military, border security, as well...
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The politics of SD's representatives in Congress...
In my story today on Stephanie Herseth Sandlin drawing fire from the left, I used a political science tool along with quotations to examine the question of Herseth Sandlin’s ideology. DW-NOMINATE was designed by political scientists Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal to analyze voting patterns in Congress — going all the way back to the very first Congress.
It’s pretty...
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Considering candidacy, Herseth Sandlin draws fire...
During her years in Congress, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin emphasized her moderation and her leadership in the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats group. It served her well in several elections as she racked up big majorities in a Republican-leaning state.
But as Herseth Sandlin considers a run for the U.S. Senate, her Blue Dog past is causing problems as some Democrats criticize her for being...
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Republicans 'seeing a chance for mischief' with SD...
There’s a real, if possibly overstated, divide among the South Dakota Democratic Party base, between liberals who want Brendan Johnson to run for Senate against an allegedly too conservative Herseth Sandlin, and moderates who see Herseth Sandlin as the party’s best chance to retain Tim Johnson’s Senate seat.
In the latter camp, controversially, are national Democrats with the...
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Gosch statement on court fees ruling
Yesterday evening, Rep. Brian Gosch emailed the following statement in response to my phone message about the judge’s ruling that Stephanie Strong owes him more than $20,000 in attorney fees:
With regard to Judge Trandahl’s recent decision, I am pleased that the Court has required Stephanie Strong to reimburse me for attorney’s fees. The fees I incurred were expended defending...
April 2013
54 posts
5 tags
More interesting tidbits from the Dykstra...
Earlier, I transcribed every reference to Rep. Stace Nelson from the Gary Dykstra interview that attorney Joel Arends said implicated Nelson in last year’s robocall campaign.
That’s not all that’s interesting in the 72-page transcript, the accuracy of which Dykstra affirmed in an affidavit. A few other choice bits:
Involvement of other conservative activists
On pages 37 and...
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Strong hit with $21,000 attorney bill for Gosch...
Judge Kathleen Trandahl yesterday ordered Stephanie Strong, who had sued to remove Rep. Brian Gosch from the 2012 ballot, to pay Gosch’s attorney fees.
The bill is hefty — $21,257.50 in fees, plus $57.08 in taxes.
The conclusions of law signed by Trandahl say Strong’s lawsuit was frivolous and aimed at producing media coverage rather than winning.
I’ve left messages for...
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What exactly did Gary Dykstra say about Stace...
When Joel Arends filed his affidavit last week implicating state Rep. Stace Nelson in last year’s robocalls, one of the pushbacks was the unusual nature of the affidavit: an attorney attesting to what he was told in an interview. Nelson himself called Arends’ affidavit “hearsay” — and a judge said he was inclined to agree yesterday.
Now I’ve got my hands on a...
