SD/Local Politics

I really thought John Thune was going to run, and the idea of it was scary. He didn’t have great name recognition, but that honestly almost seemed like a good thing with a lot of people divided on Palin and Romney. He would have been a fresh, tall, good-looking face with nice hair and very solid conservative credentials, both for fiscal conservatives and evangelicals more focused on social issues. He would have been a scary candidate.

But he is out. He has decided not to run, citing how difficult it would be to raise enough money considering how he lacked the name recognition of other candidates as a main reason.

Jennifer Rubin thinks Thune has a good chance to replace Jon Kyl as GOP whip upon his retirement in 2012.

Any way you look at it, Thune gained some name recognition and had people discussing whether or not he would run. Next time around more people will know him and he’ll rise a little higher. Who knows?

I still wish he would have run for governor back in ‘04.

Enjoy some SD pub for something other than a contentious bill.

Adam Feser

HB 1171 has set off a bit of an internet wildfire. The bill makes legal homicides in which the act was committed to save the life of an unborn child.

Mother Jones ran a story arguing that this makes the killing of abortion providers legal.

Representative Phil Jensen is the bill’s main sponsor. He said this is untrue. Killing abortion doctors wouldn’t be made legal because the abortions they perform are legal.

Let’s take a look at some of the wording of the bill to see what we find:

Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is.

(Emphasis mine)

I highlighted the word murder because I think that proves Jensen right. Doctors aren’t attempting to commit murder because their actions are legal. This means that homicide against doctors is not justified by the law.

I don’t know that the bill is necessary. In the example Jensen uses, in which the woman is being beaten to induce abortion, she would have the right to self defense without this law, wouldn’t she? It may raise concerns about the motive of the bill, but I do believe that it’s not to spark the killing of abortion providers.

Enjoy SD in the news again.

Adam Feser

President Obama has a new site that allows you to track the progress we’ve made by your location (if you want you can check their numbers going through their sources by clicking on the source).

You can sniff around and see what you see, but to make it easier I’ll do a rundown of some major areas:

Health Care:

• 41,000 South Dakota residents will now have access to affordable health care because of reform
• 10,169 South Dakota seniors benefited from additional coverage when Democrats closed the Medicare donut hole
• 67,000 South Dakotans age 26 or younger can now stay on their parents’ health care coverage
• 217,000 families in South Dakota will receive tax credits and other assistance because of health care reform
• 46 community clinics were created in South Dakota by the Affordable Care Act
• 23,100 small businesses in South Dakota eligible for health care tax credits under the Affordable Care Act

Middle Class:

• 300,000 middle class families in South Dakota received a tax cut through the Recovery Act
• 16,859 new hires in South Dakota for which their emploiyer may be eligible for a tax cut through the HIRE Act, which Democrats passed to promote private-sector job growth
• 9,000 jobs created or saved through October 2010 in South Dakota because of the Recovery Act
• 217,00 families that get health care help (mentioned above)

Economy and Jobs

• 9,000 jobs created or saved (mentioned above)
• 2,215 South Dakota residents who receive relief because Democrats extended Unemployment Insurance
• 300,000 middle class tax cuts (above)
• 23,100 small businesses eligible for health care tax credit (above)

Small Business

• 23,100 small businesses eligible for health care tax credit
• 70,000 loans issued to small businesses through the Small Business Administration Recovery loan provisions (nationally)
• There is also a list of tax cuts for small businesses (8 listed, though it says Democrats have enacted more than a dozen tax cuts for small businesses)

Education

• 500 education jobs in South Dakota have been saved because of the deficit-neutral state-aid bill Democrats passed
• $5,975 can be received from Pell Grant scholarships by 2017 for eligible students
• 23,000 South Dakota families received college tuition help in 2009 from the American Opportunity Tax Credit
• $130,165,683 invested in higher education in South Dakota over the next 10 years

Energy

• 31 Department of Energy Recovery Act projects in South Dakota that will help secure our energy future
• 1,809 South Dakota homes weatherized through the Energy Department between February 2009 and September 2010, reducing energy bills and increasing energy efficiency
• $74,900,000 invested in South Dakota through the Recovery Act for clean-energy projects

There are also stories from South Dakotans about how policies have benefited them. Here is one from Kayla in Brookings, SD:

When Kayla was just 9 years old, she was in a motorcycle accident. While her insurance plan covered her medical expenses, she contracted chronic osteomyelitis, a chronic bone infection. Since contracting the disease she has had over 25 surgeries on her leg. Kayla is now 22 years old and a full time nursing student at South Dakota State University, but in five months, she would have lost her coverage. The new law will make it possible for Kayla to remain on her parents’ plan.

There are other things and stories you can explore, but this should give you an idea of what there is. I think it was a good idea to lay it out state by state (or in larger states, by congressional district).

Enjoy the tolerable weather.

Adam Feser

Sioux Falls rep Hal Wick-R seems to not have a problem wasting taxpayer dollars introducing a bill that would require all South Dakotans over the age of 21 to carry a gun. He and his friends Reps Thomas Brunner, R-Nisland, Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, and Senators Tim Begalka, R-Clear Lake, and Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City think this is a good way to protest government mandated health care coverage.
This is pathetic waste of time, energy and tax payer money. It is no secret that I am against Obamacare but there are other ways to protest this. Right off the bat this cost South Dakotans $101.75 in printing costs to print the bill for everyone.
In a time of budget crisis and other major issues that need to be talked about, these guys put this crap on the floor in protest. We should be taking time to figure out how we won’t have to make education cuts and still fix the budget problems in Pierre.
These republicans should be ashamed of themselves.

South Dakota Democrats are working on a plan to counter Governor Daugaard’s budget proposal. One proposal is to spread the cuts over three years. Democrats’ budget plan won’t be complete until there are more projections of tax collections in March, but they do have some ideas. From bloomberg:

Democrats want to use some reserves, extra earnings from trust funds dedicated to education and health care and about $37 million from the final installment of federal stimulus aid. They also suggest using some money from the state’s cash flow account, which they said holds more than $800 million.

They argue this would be favorable to increasing class sizes, closing nursing homes, and increasing property taxes in order to offset the cuts.

Republicans have also said they will not develop their budget plan until later, but they think the Democrats’ plan is flawed. It doesn’t solve the problem, they argue.

I wish I could say it’s shaping up to be a battle, but Democrats aren’t exactly in a position of power. I do hope their efforts can lead to some sort of compromise so that schools don’t suffer too much.

Adam Feser

Does South Dakota have a budget crisis? Yes. Is it as bad as other states in the union? NO.

Yesterday, Governor Dennis Daugaard proposed an average 10% across the board cuts to the state budget. No department or agency was left off the list. Even the governors salary as did his executive members of the Governors cabinet took a 15% cut when they stepped into office.

The line item that most people are bringing up is the 10% cut to the local school districts or about $480 per student. While I understand that this is a crushing blow, the school districts have to understand that they aren’t the only one getting money from the state. With the other funding that districts get, they will lose about 5%. Still large, but in my opinion, manageable.

The governor did offer ideas and suggestions yesterday(not all I do not think he supported) to help balance the states budget. He told the school districts that they could go to the voters and try for an opt out. Some districts like Aberdeen said the history of opt outs in this county and city aren’t a very good option. Other ideas tossed out were to increase the state sales tax by 1 cent(I would support this) and then there is the idea of a state income tax (which I don’t support).
Last year, Gov Mike Rounds offered cuts to specific departments, but people raised holy hell about that idea…so in my opinion, Daugaard thought the fair way, and that was across the board cuts and I tend to agree…
Look on the bright side, we could live in Illinois where they are getting a 66% tax increase….

First off, Stephanie pulls it out, 50% – 49%.

District 2 House: Elliott and Dennert
District 3 House: Novstrup and Feickert
District 3 Senate: Novstrup

U.S. House Total: Democrats 210 and Republicans 225
U.S. Senate Total: Democrats 53 and Republicans 47

Those are my (optimistic) predictions. They are based on not very much other than a few elections I think Democrats will win that others have picked the other way. An example of my logic: Reid sucks but no way does he lose to Angle. It’s not scientific in the least, just how I’m thinking about it. I don’t really feel like doing a ton of research to learn about how we’re going to lose seats.

Enjoy Nebraska dominating the Big XII in it’s last tour.

Adam Feser

This is sick. It implies that Kristi Noem will kill your children if you send them into a crosswalk. I have not always agreed with Noems choice of advertising but this ad springboards over the line of just plain wrong. SHS should immediately ask DCCC to remove this ad.

See and judge for yourself. I have seen posts by our good friend over at the Madville Times saying(caheidelberger) this ad is acceptable

Adam, your thoughts?

Are the Dems throwing in the towel in the South Dakota congressional race? It appears that way.

According to the Rapid City Journal the DNCC has announced that they are cutting funding by $150,000 to the democratic incumbent.

$150,000 is a considerable amount that could buy a lot of TV spots, pay for campaign staff, or just get her around the state. And when her opponent, republican challenger Kristi Noem, out-raised her 2 to 1 in the third quarter, this could give a huge advantage to Noem. The $1.1 million Noem raised was the most by any challenger for a congressional seat and it is being noticed across the country.

We are less than three weeks away from the election, expect to see these two out trying to earn your vote.

Democratic National Committee Executive Director Jennifer O’Malley recently said John Thune scares her. This is because he could be the most dangerous contender in 2012 (though I don’t think it’s as scary as the prospect of him actually being president). She went so far as to say he gives her nightmares.

O’Malley and others recognize that most of the possible GOP contenders are flawed, but she sees something in Thune that is threatening. I personally think he’s flawed, but when compared to Palin (lying quitter) and Romney (who implemented Obamacare before Obama was near the Oval Office), I guess it’s easy to stand out.

For some reason I think Newt Gingrich is scary, and he seems to want to run. The least scary thing in the world would be Palin winning the Republican Primary. The most scary thing in the world is that she has a chance to win the Republican Primary.

Enjoy the quick ramping up of the 2012 election in mid 2010.

Adam Feser