tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153292792024-03-07T01:57:32.895-07:00Madville TimesReal liberal media for the great state of South Dakotacaheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comBlogger4540125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-91210005403686047102015-03-08T09:30:00.000-06:002015-03-08T09:58:41.281-06:00Read the Latest South Dakota News at DakotaFreePress.com!Hello, South Dakota friends and neighbors! You've found the original <i>Madville Times</i>, a blog dedicated to providing South Dakota with some real liberal media. I posted here on Blogger from August 2005 through December 2010. I blogged at <a href="http://madvilletimes.com/">MadvilleTimes.com</a> from January 2011 through February 2015.<br />
<br />
On March 4, 2015, I moved blog operations to <a href="http://dakotafreepress.com/">DakotaFreePress.com</a>, where you can find the best blogging on South Dakota politics. <br />
<br />
I maintain this site as an archive of my first five-plus years of blogging, a personal history file on South Dakota, and a backup blog in case of server disasters on my own domain. Come on over, read, comment, and learn what's really happening in South Dakota at <a href="http://dakotafreepress.com/">DakotaFreePress.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>—Cory Allen Heidelberger</i><br />
<i>Aberdeen, South Dakota </i>caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-22655320608467917162013-08-25T10:57:00.001-06:002013-08-25T10:57:05.884-06:00Mayor Boke Fighting Booth Hatchery Closure; Noem Strangely NoncommitalSpearfish Mayor Dana Boke understands that we need to <a href="http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/spearfish/spearfish-s-d-c-booth-fish-hatchery-helped-change-south/article_de822455-582b-5536-a758-5c7a9c8d9e41.html">save the D.C Booth Fish Hatchery</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
“This is part of our culture,” Boke said. “My 10-year-old daughter read about it in the paper, and it brought her to tears. That’s how all the kids feel. There are memories all across South Dakota and beyond of this place and the family memories it’s created over time. It’s tied to who we are.<br />
<br />
“We need to champion the cause and assist in any way we can to get this thing turned around,” the mayor added [Tom Griffith, "<a href="http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/spearfish/spearfish-s-d-c-booth-fish-hatchery-helped-change-south/article_de822455-582b-5536-a758-5c7a9c8d9e41.html">Spearfish's D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery Helped Change South Dakota History</a>," <em>Rapid City Journal</em>, 2013.08.25].</blockquote>
Senator Tim Johnson seems to get it, too:<br />
<blockquote>
“I am very disturbed about the rumors that the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery in Spearfish might be closed by the Fish & Wildlife Service,” Johnson said. “The D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery is a tremendous asset of the Black Hills. I have fought hard for funding to invest in the restoration of the hatchery and to make it an informational and educational showcase of fish hatchery operations in the Black Hills and the U.S.” [<a href="http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/spearfish/spearfish-s-d-c-booth-fish-hatchery-helped-change-south/article_de822455-582b-5536-a758-5c7a9c8d9e41.html">Griffith, 2013.08.25</a>]</blockquote>
I think Congresswoman Kristi Noem gets it, although as usual, Noem's aloof, self-absorbed talking-point detachment makes it hard to tell. Rep. Noem told a packed Spearfish town hall Friday that she'll "<a href="http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_57ff4bb0-0c52-11e3-8e19-0019bb2963f4.html">push to get more information and ask the right questions</a>." But after hearing such vociferous feedback from so many Spearfish residents and even visiting the hatchery herself Friday, our Congresswoman's only social media reaction to the town hall is to <a href="https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/371354999596781568">thank "interested parties" for the "info"</a> and to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151539718677484&set=a.377898142483.163738.308353252483&type=1">post photos of herself</a> while cheering the <a href="https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/370982148703936513">great turnout</a> at "<a href="https://twitter.com/RepKristiNoem/status/370966176286793728">my townhall</a>".<br />
<br />
Kristi, get with the program. You go to a town hall during working hours in Spearfish. Concerned citizens pack the hall to express concern about an obviously bad decision from Washington that will <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/fish-and-wildlife-service-wants-to.html">kill jobs and hurt tourism and tax revenue</a>. The mayor's daughter is in tears! Politically, the D.C. Booth Hatchery issue is a no-brainer. You tell those eager constituents on the spot, "The Hatchery rocks. It stays open. I'll call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and read them the riot act." You use your social media presence to send the message immediately that you listened and you're doggedly on the case. "<a href="https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/371354999596781568">Thx for the info</a>" doesn't rally the troops or make a memorable impression on voters who want to know you'll fight for them and for the Hatchery.<br />
<br />
I understand Rep. Noem may have difficulty getting passionate about an issue that doesn't appear in the weekly briefing points from Speaker Boehner. But South Dakota's lone Representative needs to get off script and join Mayor Boke in representing her constituents and fighting to save the D.C. Booth Hatchery from the thoughtless Washington budget axe.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-24916824873312633902013-08-25T09:19:00.003-06:002013-08-25T22:43:13.491-06:00Jury Selection in Willard Robocall Trial Favors Russ Olson's Wentworth NeighborsA group of randomly selected Lake County citizens will troop to the courthouse tomorrow to see if they win a seat on the jury for Daniel Willard's robocall trial, which will treat them to lengthy discourses on South Dakota campaign finance law, the First Amendment, and the conflicts therebetween.<br />
<br />
Oh, wait, did I say <i>randomly?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
As I understand the process, the state and Willard both get to strike three jurors. That means the first 18 names on the jury list are probably all the further down we need to go to see who's likely to hear the case.<br />
<br />
This case is happening in Lake County because resigning Senator Russell Olson is claiming the harm (remember, Olson, calls it terrorism) from Willard's robocalls. Olson lives in the Wentworth ZIP, 57075, as do 892 other Lake County residents. Wentworth/57075 makes up 7.97% of Lake County's 11,200-person population (I'm using <a href="http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml">2010 Census data</a>). Those percentages would shift a bit if we were talking just legal adults eligible for jury duty, but let's roll with what we have.<br />
<br />
Given those numbers, one would expect a list of 18 people randomly drawn from Lake County to include maybe one or two of Russ's Wentworth neighbors. <a href="http://wps.aw.com/wps/media/objects/14/15269/projects/ch5_race/index.html">Do some math</a>, and you discover that there's a 95% chance that an 18-person random sample of Lake County residents should include no more than three Wentworthers.<br />
<br />
The first 18 names on the Willard trial jury list include <i>nine</i> people from Wentworth.<br />
<br />
Run this experiment one million times, and you should get that many 57075 residents in your jury pool <i>three times</i>.<br />
<br />
In an infinite universe, anything can happen. In Lake County, <i>anything </i>includes a jury pool with a highly unlikely geographical bias toward the influential aggrieved party.<br />
<i><br /></i><b>Tangentially Related Judicial Trivia: </b>Did you know that it is a Class 2 misdemeanor to ask the sheriff or deputy sheriff to place yourself or anyone else on a jury? See <a href="http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=16-13-44">SDCL 16-13-44</a>. Lawyer friends, can you explain to me where that statute came from? And has anyone ever been prosecuted under it?caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-40552824853186023932013-08-25T07:59:00.000-06:002013-08-25T22:41:31.727-06:00Powers Seeks Judicial Activism, Claims Journalist's Shield to Dodge SubpoenaDan Willard <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/anyone-remember-the-dan-willard-criminal-robocall-trial-is-next-week/">goes to court</a> in Lake County tomorrow for making Russ Olson feel bad with some critical anonymous robocalls last year. It is worth noting that the statute under which the state is prosecuting Willard no longer exists, and Olson will no longer be a Senator by the end of next month. But no matter: as our Oglala Sioux neighbors can attest, when you make the South Dakota GOP mad, <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/republicans-want-indians-to-pay-for.html">they will come after you</a>.<br />
<br />
In response, Dan Willard is coming after SDGOP mouthpiece-blogger Pat Powers, subpoenaing him to testify at his trial this week. What Willard thinks he can learn from Powers in court is a mystery (one could say the same about what anyone thinks they can learn from Powers on his blog).<br />
<br />
Whatever Willard's intent, Powers doesn't want to talk. In an <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hqc9q7avepk5x18caob9">affidavit submitted yesterday</a>, Powers asks the judge to quash the subpoena, issue a protection order, and sanction Willard for being mean.<br />
<br />
Perhaps of interest to readers of the South Dakota blogosphere is Powers's appeal to the journalistic shield principle. South Dakota has no shield law for journalists, but Powers angles for some legislation from the Lake County bench. Here are the relevant points from his affidavit [along with some editing we would expect of a journalist]:<br />
<blockquote>
7. Your affiant considers himself a journalist who competes with other journalists for news stories primarily focused on South Dakota state government, politics, and news stories. [<i>News stories focused on... news stories</i>.]<br />
<br />
...9. Your affiant has cultivated relationships with confidential sources that provide me [sic: shift from third person to first person] information on the basis of their anonymity.<br />
<br />
...20. If your affiant is forced to reveal any privileged information gathered as a result of my [sic] reporting and journalistic efforts, it will chill the relationship between myself [sic] and confidential news sources and critically impede the ability to report news.<br />
<br />
21. Your affiant believes that Daniel Willard has subpoenaed me [sic] in this case in order to gather information protected by the Reporter's First Amendment Privilege [Pat Powers, <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hqc9q7avepk5x18caob9">affidavit</a>, <i>State of South Dakota vs. Daniel Willard</i>, 2013.08.24].</blockquote>
Keep in mind, this is the same Pat Powers who has <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/lincoln-co-states-attorney-has-stolen-bosworth-documents-matter-under-review/">made false and defamatory hay</a> of wanting to know the <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/bosworth-still-looking-at-race-and-where-did-cory-get-those-papers/">sources for my information</a>. But hey, if the judge wants to extend journalist's shield protection to South Dakota bloggers, I'm game!caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-64062201556227728932013-08-24T08:14:00.002-06:002013-08-24T08:17:30.557-06:00Indian Vote Suppressors Frankenstein and Gant Can't AgreeRapid City lawyer Sara Frankenstein and the SDGOP are <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/republicans-want-indians-to-pay-for.html">vindictive bullies</a> for using the courts to <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130824/NEWS/308240017/Voting-rights-case-settled-legal-costs-question-isn-t">shake down Oglala Sioux Tribe members</a> who dare fight for their voting rights. Secretary of State Jason Gant <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130802/NEWS/308020027/Secretary-state-defers-empty-election-panel-Indian-satellite-voting-centers">uses specious obfuscation</a> to <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/02/south-dakota-waves-native-voting-request-150695">further suppress the Indian vote</a>.<br />
<br />
But Frankenstein <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/13/sd-voting-rights-suit-dismissed-native-plaintiffs-targeted-costs-150851">undermines Gant's contention</a> that he can't use HAVA funds to help tribal members vote with satellite voting stations:<br />
<blockquote>
Frankenstein said that in negotiations on her side, she persuaded the secretary of state to change what she termed “internal policies” and release South Dakota’s HAVA money for the satellite office in Shannon County, which overlaps much of Pine Ridge. He could do this, she said, because in May 2008, South Dakota had completed HAVA’s initial requirement to modernize elections with up-to-date voting machines and the like.<br />
<br />
From then on, Frankenstein said, the state was free to spend its federal HAVA appropriation on additional ways to improve elections, including satellite offices. <em>Brooks v. Gant </em>testimony and court documents confirm this. In Judge Schreier’s opinion, she noted that Shannon County residents had “minimal” early-voting access until <em>Brooks v. Gant </em>was filed [Stephanie Woodard, "<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/13/sd-voting-rights-suit-dismissed-native-plaintiffs-targeted-costs-150851">'They Caved': Tribe Claims Win in SD Voting-Rights Suit</a>," <em>Indian Country Today</em>, 2013.08.13].
</blockquote>
<i>Internal policies</i>—that's code for "Jason didn't want to."<br />
<i><br /></i>
Republicans Frankenstein and Gant are both enemies of Indian voting rights. But even Frankenstein can't run with Gant's resistance to using federal money to carry out federal law to help Indians vote.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-71871109166879523982013-08-24T07:39:00.000-06:002013-08-25T22:37:09.100-06:00Republicans Want Indians to Pay for Fighting for Voting RightsSo much for Indian-White <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130824/NEWS/308240017/Voting-rights-case-settled-legal-costs-question-isn-t">reconciliation</a>.<br />
<br />
Earlier this month Judge Karen Schreier <a href="http://leftinsd.blogspot.com/2013/08/lawsuit-involving-gant-is-dismissed.html">dismissed <i>Brooks v. Gant</i></a>, an Indian voting-rights lawsuit brought by residents of the Pine Ridge reservation. The dismissal came only because the filing of the lawsuit forced Secretary of State Jason Gant to open a satellite voting station in Shannon County, thus fulfilling the demands of the plaintiffs.<br />
<br />
The state claimed victory, and Rapid City lawyer Sara Frankenstein (who also happens to be treasurer of the state Republican Party) threatened the state might use that "victory" as grounds for demanding that the "losers" pay the counties' and state's court costs. Representatives of the plaintiffs said the threat to force poverty-stricken Indians to pay rich white folks' lawyers was so morally politically repugnant that it was <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/13/sd-voting-rights-suit-dismissed-native-plaintiffs-targeted-costs-150851">probably just bluster</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
“That’s breathtaking,” said Bret Healy, Four Directions consultant. “They have the insurance public officials typically hold to cover lawsuits. We all met the plaintiffs via their depositions—single parents, one with an epileptic child, others caring for infirm elders, from one of the poorest counties in the nation. The state of South Dakota and the counties are really going to do this? God have pity on their souls.”
<br />
<br />
“Won’t happen,” said [Four Directions co-director OJ] Semans. “It’s just a way to scare off Natives who might want to ask for equal rights in the future.”
<br />
<br />
“Granting costs would discourage plaintiffs from bringing suits to enforce the Voting Rights Act and would be contrary to the fundamental purpose of the Act,” agreed Laughlin McDonald, director emeritus of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. He also doubted it would happen.
<br />
<br />
McDonald, who has litigated Native enfranchisement cases since 1983, explained that a prevailing party in a federal case is ordinarily entitled to recover costs, but not when it comes to voting rights. “Federal courts have denied or severely limited recovery in those cases,” said McDonald.
<br />
<br />
What about recovering attorney’s fees? “I think such a motion would be filed in bad faith and even subject to sanctions,” said McDonald [Stephanie Woodard, "<a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/13/sd-voting-rights-suit-dismissed-native-plaintiffs-targeted-costs-150851">'They Caved': Tribe Claims Win in SD Voting-Rights Suit</a>," Indian Country Today, 2013.08.13].</blockquote>
But Frankenstein wasn't bluffing. She has filed a motion to take over $6,000 in court costs from 25 Oglala Sioux Tribe members. Frankenstein says golly gee, she's not doing this "<a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130824/NEWS/308240017/Voting-rights-case-settled-legal-costs-question-isn-t">to be vindictive or send a message</a>"; it's just what winners do in federal cases.<br />
<br />
Four Directions calls that B.S. and has sent a letter of protest to various state officials, including Governor Dennis Daugaard. Here's a chance for the Governor to expand on <a href="http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=15037">his newly found reconciliatory spirit</a>, admit that the counties and state "won" <i>Brooks v. Gant</i> only in technical terms, and tell Frankenstein to back off.<br />
<br />
Instead, he kicks the Four Directions protest letter to Attorney General Marty Jackley, who <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130824/NEWS/308240017/Voting-rights-case-settled-legal-costs-question-isn-t">flips Indians another finger</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
In an emailed statement, Jackley said: “Under federal law, a prevailing party is permitted to request the court for certain allowable costs. The county defendants have made a request, and if there is an objection the federal court will determine whether and to what extent costs may be assessed” [Jonathan Ellis, "<a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130824/NEWS/308240017/Voting-rights-case-settled-legal-costs-question-isn-t">Voting Rights Case Settled, But Legal Costs Questions Isn't</a>," <i>that Sioux Falls paper</i>, 2013.08.24].</blockquote>
Translation: <i>Don't bother me. You uppity Injuns will get what's coming to you from the court.</i><br />
<br />
Governor Daugaard seems happy to play the benevolent friend of the tribes when they <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/reconciliation-at-work-crow-creek-sioux.html">humble themselves by asking for help</a> and give him a chance to exercise the power of the state. But when they challenge the power of the state, when they have the gall to ask for protection of voting rights that they will likely use to vote for Republicans' opponents, Governor Daugaard lets his friends bully our tribal neighbors.<br />
<br />
Governor Daugaard, you have lawyer Frankenstein's number. Give her a call, and tell her to let <i>Brooks v. Gant</i> go.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-69434480429666701432013-08-23T19:03:00.000-06:002013-08-25T22:34:22.935-06:00Reconciliation at Work: Crow Creek Sioux Invite Highway Patrol to Help at Pow-WowGovernor Dennis Daugaard tells a good story about tribal and state government <a href="http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=15037">taking a positive step toward building trust</a> (I was going to say <i>rebuilding</i>, but has that trust ever existed?) between our two peoples at last weekend's Crow Creek Sioux Tribe pow-wow:<br />
<blockquote>
This year’s pow-wow marked the 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the founding of Fort Thompson, the headquarters of the tribe. Anticipating a large crowd for the event, Chairman Brandon Sazue and the Tribal Council reached out to the South Dakota Highway Patrol to lend a hand with law enforcement and crowd control.<br />
<br />
State authority of any kind on tribal land has long been a sensitive issue, so the council and the chairman knew they were taking a risk. They did it for the safety of their citizens. The Highway Patrol responded enthusiastically, offering five troopers and two police service dogs with handlers for the weekend [Governor, Dennis Daugaard, "<a href="http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=15037">A Small, Important Step at the Crow Creek Pow-Wow</a>," press release, 2013.08.23].</blockquote>
Daugaard says the tribal–HP collaboration went well: troopers interacted with tribal members with respect and cultural sensitivity. Some troopers have volunteered to help at next year's pow-wow if invited.<br />
<br />
Our governor, however, labors under no illusion that one weekend scores all the reconciliation points he needs for 2014... or for the good of all South Dakotans:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
None of us is naïve enough to think one event on one weekend will change decades of distrust. Improving race relations is an ongoing, difficult task. It requires persistence, by all involved. It also requires some risk, reaching out and getting to know each other and beginning to trust each other. At the Crow Creek pow-wow last weekend, a group of good-hearted people did reach out. It’s a small step yet an important one. We can be hopeful [<a href="http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=15037">Daugaard, 2013.08.23</a>].</blockquote>
(Daugaard also gets HTML-special character points: that umlaut on <i>naïve</i> is in his original text!)<br />
<br />
I don't like to mingle reconciliation and score-keeping. But the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe took the harder step here, setting aside their mistrust to admit they needed help and ask for help from The Man. Now it's The Man's turn to reciprocate: what can the Governor and the Highway Patrol do to reach across their mistrust and offer the Crow Creek Sioux an empowering opportunity?caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-25061951008403965592013-08-23T11:27:00.001-06:002013-08-25T22:32:12.651-06:00Weiland Campaign: 123 Towns in 36 DaysUnlike Marion Michael Rounds, who seems to be focusing his Senate campaign on big fundraising events that give him an excuse to fuel up his private plane with campaign donations, Rick Weiland has caféstormed over 100 South Dakota towns in less than 40 days. And unlike Annette Bosworth, who wails <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/09/16/palin-is-a-pale-imitation-of-this-sarah.html">à la Bernhardt</a> that campaigning is "<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/09/16/palin-is-a-pale-imitation-of-this-sarah.html">a huge grieving process for me</a>," Weiland finds inspiration on the campaign trail. From Thursday's presser:<br />
<blockquote>
“People tell me I should be tired, but I’m in fact, drawing energy from the people I meet and the communities I travel to,” Weiland said. Weiland has been talking to South Dakotans about how everyday citizens can “take back” their country from the big money special interests that have high-jacked government and put it on the sides of big corporations and billionaires.
<br />
<br />
...“We start each trip early and end late,” Weiland said. “I feel like that classic Johnny Cash song – ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’. What a great way to experience and connect with the people of our state,” he added [Weiland Senate campaign, press release, 2013.08.22].</blockquote>
The best candidates, the best speakers, the best workers get energy from doing their jobs. That Weiland is tapping such energy amidst a grueling early campaign schedule shows that, contrary to some <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/national-journals-inaugural-ranking-for-2014-puts-south-dakota-as-top-race/">wishful thinking</a> and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/hotlines-inaugural-2014-senate-rankings-060021636.html">bored Wikipedia "journalism"</a>, Weiland can indeed keep South Dakota's Senate seat "in play" for Democrats.<br />
<br />
Here's Weiland's list of the 123 towns he's visited over the past five weeks:<br />
<ul>
<li>July 16: Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Madison, Egan, Trent, Chester, Colman & Wentworth</li>
<li>July 18: Worthing, Canton, Beresford, Vermillion, Yankton, Irene, Alcester, Centerville & Meckling</li>
<li>July 30: De Smet, Wessington Springs, Huron, Volga, Arlington, Lake Preston, Iroquois, Cavour, Lane, Woonsocket, Artesian, Fedora, Roswell, Forestburg, Vilas & Howard</li>
<li>August 1: Hartford, Humboldt, Salem, Mitchell, Montrose & Alexandria</li>
<li>August 3: Watertown, Kranzburg, Goodwin, Altamont, Clear Lake, Brandt, Toronto, White, Bushnell & Aurora</li>
<li>August 7: Baltic, Sherman, Garretson, Corson, Brandon, Valley Springs, Alcester, Big Springs, Spink, Elk Point & Centerville</li>
<li>August 8: Davis, Hurley, Menno, Olivet, Turkey Ridge, Scotland, Tyndall, Springfield, Avon, Dante, Wagner, Armour, Corsica, Stickney, Chamberlain, Oacama, Kimball & Pukwana</li>
<li>August 11: Parker</li>
<li>August 14: Henry, Clark, Raymond, Doland, Frankfort, Redfield, Ashton, Northville, Mellette, Warner & Aberdeen</li>
<li>August 15: Bath, Groton, Claremont, Amherst, Britton, Langford, Pierpont, Bristol, Holmquist, Webster, Waubay, Ortley, Summit, Marvin & Milbank</li>
<li>August 17: Rapid City</li>
<li>August 19: Blackhawk, Piedmont, Sturgis, Whitewood, Central City, Deadwood, Lead, Belle Fourche & Spearfish</li>
<li>August 20-21: Keystone, Hill City, Custer, Pringle, Edgemont, Buffalo Gap, Hot Springs & Hermosa</li>
</ul>
<div>
Professor Schaff will criticize Weiland for the <a href="http://www.capjournal.com/news/candidates-close-to-campaigning-in-pierre/article_21dc95c4-0bad-11e3-ae4c-0019bb2963f4.html">absence of Pierre</a> on that early itinerary; Pat Powers surely <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/did-someone-miss-the-memo/">will not</a>. But all four declared Republican candidates need to look at Weiland's list and start playing catch-up.</div>
caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-46427452212946373042013-08-23T10:22:00.001-06:002013-08-25T22:24:48.676-06:00Atheist Billboards, Commitment to Ethics, and Personal Choice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL73ZJIRyibVfMZ2yf608Ck1Pj2QZgjMICg-y47Mw7AASA0fKuIk5T6mKwTrw4ovNIxjyULVL4bTjHj2vEgDvq-cyKrHLjr2Z6_yyJHwYBMfdCVnCg3pwflUwmc5yPWjFIFPcZ/s1600/SDCORbillboardAugust2013.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL73ZJIRyibVfMZ2yf608Ck1Pj2QZgjMICg-y47Mw7AASA0fKuIk5T6mKwTrw4ovNIxjyULVL4bTjHj2vEgDvq-cyKrHLjr2Z6_yyJHwYBMfdCVnCg3pwflUwmc5yPWjFIFPcZ/s320/SDCORbillboardAugust2013.png" width="320" /></a></div>
We missed the South Dakota Coalition of Reason's <a href="http://unitedcor.org/national/news/godless-billboards-blanket-south-dakota">new non-believers billboards</a> in Rapid City and Spearfish on our trip west this week. However, I did hear Southern Baptist theologian (wait: they have those?) Russell Moore promulgate the American Christian persecution complex with the absurd claim that <a href="http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/08/21/bible-belt-christianity">being a Christian is no longer "culturally helpful" in our country</a>.<br />
<br />
As a South Dakota atheist, let me say that if Moore's contention were true, there'd be no such billboards, or at least no <a href="http://mix97-3.com/godless-billboards-in-south-dakota-video/">news reports</a> about them. We also would not see "Christian" in the <a href="http://stacenelson.com/about.html">first sentence</a> of any Senate candidate's bio. (Rhoden waits <a href="http://larryrhoden.com/">until paragraph 4</a> to establish his Baptist cred; Rounds doesn't mention his Catholicism in his <a href="https://roundsforsenate.com/about/biography/">current Web bio</a>).<br />
<br />
The Coalition of Reason makes a <a href="http://unitedcor.org/south-dakota/page/home">declaration of moral intent</a> that should be culturally helpful for any candidate or citizen of any religious persuasion:<br />
<blockquote>
Members of our community and student organizations self identify as atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker, secular, skeptic, non-religious, rationalist, empiricist, and more. Like everyone else, we also benefit from a supportive community of friends and family. South Dakota CoR strives to foster a better understanding of our secular values with our neighbors, and to promote and defend those values in our government. No matter how you self identify, <b>we affirm that all have the ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity</b> [emphasis mine; South Dakota Coalition of Reason, "<a href="http://unitedcor.org/south-dakota/page/home">Welcome</a>," downloaded 2013.08.23].</blockquote>
I can hear my theist friends and even my own skeptical soul asking, "But where does that responsibility come from? Why bother with the 'greater good of humanity' if there is no God?"<br />
<br />
I lost little sleep over that question when I was younger; I lose no sleep over that question now. If I didn't behave ethically, my daughter would be sad and my wife would be mad. If no one behaved ethically, life would suck. That response is selfish, sentimental, and sloppily utilitarian, but it works.<br />
<br />
Some Christians I know will still declare the Coalition of Reason's commitment to ethical living empty and flimsy: how can we rely on a secularist's professed principles when they are rooted in nothing more than personal choice?<br />
<br />
I do not doubt that atheists may make mistakes and fall away from their principles. But in that fallibility, do atheists differ at all from Christians? My Christian friends choose, with the same faculty of free will exercised by me and my secular friends, to follow the teachings of an ancient tribe that caught heck from Pharaoh and walked around the desert a lot, with amendments by a carpenter and convicted criminal from Nazareth. Prominent in those teachings is the idea that all people are fallible. We all suffer weakness. We all make mistakes. Are Christians not by definition as prone to waver and err in their convictions as everyone else we meet in the street?<br />
<br />
I'm not big on joining clubs. I've never gotten the sense that joining a Christian club would help me make wiser, more humane, more effective decisions. I don't think joining an atheist club will bolster my decision-making ability.<br />
<br />
But I do hope that the South Dakota Coalition of Reason can build on these new billboards to open lengthy conversations between people of all faiths—in God, in Wakan Tanka, in human dignity—that will help us all understand our common abilities and responsibilities to build a better world for all of our relations.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-53158747497466986992013-08-22T09:36:00.004-06:002013-08-25T22:23:10.987-06:00Medicaid Stimulus Provides South Dakota over $19M to Promote Electronic Health RecordsWe're still having trouble persuading Governor Dennis Daugaard to expand Medicaid to help South Dakota's working poor. All that Obamacare money is just too unreliable to dirty South Dakotans' hands.<br />
<br />
But Governor Daugaard has had no problem handing out an extra $19,340,218.57 in extra Medicaid money from President Obama to South Dakota hospitals, doctors, and other caregivers. That's the amount of federal money, as of August 7, that the South Dakota Department of Social Services disbursed through its <a href="http://dss.sd.gov/medicalservices/incentiveprogram/">Electronic Health Record Incentive Payment Program</a>. This money comes to South Dakota courtesy of the HITECH Act of 2009, which Congress folded into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—yes, our friend the 2009 stimulus.
<br />
<br />
So far 29 of South Dakota's 50 hospitals have received EHR incentive payments as a reward for adopting, implementing, and/or upgrading computerized record-keeping methods. Such rewards are money well-spent: electronic health records are good medicine, as demonstrated by the <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/veterans-health-administration-highest.html">pioneering Veterans Health Administration</a>.<br />
<br />
The spreadsheet I received yesterday from DSS also shows 216 individual health care providers who have received EHR incentive payments. They include:<br />
<ul>
<li>76 physicians</li>
<li>68 pediatricians</li>
<li>37 nurse practitioners</li>
<li>5 certified nurse midwives</li>
<li>7 dentists</li>
<li>24 physician assistants.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The first payments DSS lists went out on March 23, 2012, to the Mobridge hospital ($646,400), two physicians, ten pediatricians, and two NPs. A steady stream of disbursements has followed, including, on May 2, 2013, a payment of $21,250 to Annette Marie Bosworth.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes, the Annette Marie Bosworth who, one month and one day later, let leak her first public mention of her intent to run for Senate as a Republican determined to fight government involvement in health care.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Republicans from Governor Daugaard to candidate Bosworth understand the GOP drill: fulminate against federal money, but take all the money Uncle Sam offers.</div>
caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-62781160620608231602013-08-22T06:36:00.000-06:002013-08-25T22:20:13.151-06:00Lake County to Extend Bike Trail, Save Trees!The Lake County Commission went on the road Tuesday to "<a href="http://madisonet.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20476239&BRD=1302&PAG=461&dept_id=181987&rfi=6">research</a>" (I giggle just a little) their bike trail extension plans. Real research would have included riding their bikes out to Lake Madison.<br />
<br />
Connecting the current spur of the bike trail that ends at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entrance (hey! FWS! Close that facility before you <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/fish-and-wildlife-service-wants-to.html">close the Booth Hatchery</a>!) to the <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-public-access-open-at-lake-madison.html">county's public access area</a> on the southwest shore of Lake Madison. To get there, the county needs to lay about one and a quarter miles of new trail south along Highway 19, then east parallel to 236th Street, along the south edge of the remaining county poor farm land. That eastward stretch has a shelterbelt on it. The commissioners and highway superintendent Scott Mathison had the good gosh-darn sense to suggest that the county save the trees:<br />
<blockquote>
Once on site, the commissioners and Lake County Highway Superintendent Scott Mathison seemed to feel the north side of the trees was best. They seemed to agree that putting the trail along the road or going through the shelterbelt would likely require taking out several trees, which would be an expensive proposition.
<br />
<br />
Mathison seemed confident that the trail would work on the north side by taking out the volunteer bushes and trimming up trees. The commissioners did not take any formal vote on the matter [Jane Utecht, "<a href="http://madisonet.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20476239&BRD=1302&PAG=461&dept_id=181987&rfi=6">County Takes Research Road Trip</a>," <i>Madison Daily Leader</i>, 2013.08.21].</blockquote>
Yay for trees! Madison's bike trail currently runs through mostly open country. After a mile or two of leaning into the sun and stiff south wind, all pedalers will enjoy that quarter mile of shade and shelter. Keep those trees!<br />
<br />
The county could save a little concrete by continuing the southeasterly diagonal of the first part of this trail extension right on through the Sunset Harbor development right to the public access area beach. Residents there would enjoy quick and easy bicycle access, and cyclists from town could get to the beach faster with less time spent alongside the noisy highway. Developer Dan Lemme might be interested in such a trail proposal. He met with commissioners on their road trip at Sunset Harbor and proposed that the county swap him some of its poor-farm land for the squiggly, woodsy strip of land he owns on the south shore of Herkimer Pond. Utecht's text is fuzzy here, but she reports that Lemme suggested continuing the bike path through that area for beach access. Perhaps Lemme would also support the <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-public-access-open-at-lake-madison.html">mountain-bike loops</a> that Tony and I think would be a great idea!<br />
<br />
Connecting the current Madison bike path to the county's beach is a good idea. But remember: if you really want bicycle bliss, you've got to build a loop. I have my plan for a <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2009/09/lake-herman-loop-proposal-for-bicycle.html">loop around Lake Herman</a>; our county commissioners should think big and extend their current trail in a long figure out around Lake Madison and Brant Lake down to Chester and back!caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-19559243083942041852013-08-21T08:09:00.000-06:002013-08-25T22:18:14.740-06:00Fish and Wildlife Service Wants to Close Booth Hatchery in SpearfishHoly cow... <i>er</i>, trout! Contrary to my usual experiences in Spearfish, I stop in the Queen City of the Black Hills, and the first thing I hear about is a really stupid idea. It comes not from Spearfishers, but from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which thinks it would be a good idea to <a href="http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_bf589948-0a03-11e3-8f43-0019bb2963f4.html">close the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
For a number of years, the National Fish Hatchery System, a branch of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has struggled with declining funding and annual increases in the costs. In addition to rising operating costs, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Directorate in Washington, D.C., has emphasized and prioritized other programs over those of the National Fisheries Program. As a result, the agency has made the decision to permanently shut down multiple fish hatcheries nationwide, including the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery ["<a href="http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_bf589948-0a03-11e3-8f43-0019bb2963f4.html">D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery to Close</a>," <i>Black Hills Pioneer</i>, 2013.08.20].</blockquote>
Closing the D.C. Booth Hatchery provides a spectacular example of budget-cutting gone nuts. The hatchery is a Spearfish gem. It draws visitors from all over the place. Every time I've walked down there, I've found locals and travelers enjoying the well-kept grounds, feeding the fish, watching the ducks, and climbing the canyon trails. The hatchery provides an excellent educational experience for visitors about fish, wildlife, and the Black Hills, thus supporting the mission of USFWS.<br />
<br />
The hatchery also provides a great boost to the local and state economy. Consider just their summer workforce. The hatchery recruits RVers from all over the country to come serve as interpretive guides and do other work on the grounds. These folks draw no paycheck. In return for their service, the city of Spearfish provides them free camping spots in the beautiful adjacent city campground, listening to the shushing waters of Spearfish Creek. These RVers live in Spearfish all summer, spending their disposable retirement income on groceries and entertainment. Everybody wins!<br />
<br />
The D.C. Booth Society is riled up, and so should you be! Here's the Booth Society's run-down of all the benefits the hatchery provides to the community:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Booth Society is against wasteful spending and supports a fiscally sound government. However, the national fisheries program and a facility like D.C. Booth are excellent examples of good government spending. They provide an economic impact that the public should be proud of. For example a 2011 economic impact study indicates that:<br />
<ul>
<li>Each taxpayer dollar budgeted for the National Fisheries Program generates $28 in economic returns ($28 : $1). The revenue generated can be seen at sporting goods stores, marinas, boat dealerships, guides and outfitter services, bait shops, gas stations, restaurants, and hotels.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>68,000 American jobs are attributable to the economic contribution of the National Fisheries Program.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The National Fisheries Program contributes $3.6 billion in annual contributions to the U.S. economy. That equates to $70 million a week or $10 million a day. In fact, a company with $3.6 billion in annual profits would rank No. 41 on the Fortune 500 List of America’s Most Profitable Corporations – behind Verizon but in front of Kraft Foods. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>$903 million in industrial output results from angling for fish originating in National Fish Hatcheries. </li>
</ul>
On the local level, a 2007 economic impact study on D.C. Booth Historic NFH conducted by Black Hills State University revealed:<br />
<ul>
<li>The operations at D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery results in $2.1 million dollars in annual business revenues.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>An estimated $1 million is spent by nonresident visitors in Spearfish each year who attributed their visit ONLY to the existence of the hatchery.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>$141,393 in local and state tax and fee revenues are collected indirectly from the visitation at D.C. Booth.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Nearly 30 jobs are created locally as a result of the operations at D.C. Booth.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Over 14,000 volunteer hours are donated annually to D.C. Booth. This is equivalent to seven full-time employees [D.C. Booth Society, "<a href="http://dcboothfishhatchery.org/save-the-hatchery-from-closure">Save Our Hatchery from Closure</a>," 2013.08.20].</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div>
Rep. Noem, Senator Thune, Senator Johnson, get on the horn to the Fish and Wildlife Service, and tell them these budget cuts will cost Spearfish and South Dakota far more than they will save.</div>
caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-6711369351098363952013-08-21T07:47:00.001-06:002013-08-25T21:52:25.985-06:00Bosworth Needs Reporter to Tell Her Challenger's NamePat Powers <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/brookings-gop-picnic-dr-annette-bosworth-on-differences-between-the-candidates/">promotes Annette Bosworth</a> for two reasons:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Giving Bosworth <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/is-this-a-preview-of-bosworth-campaign-message/">any positive attention</a> fosters the notion that she is a serious, viable candidate, further divides the anti-Mike Rounds vote, and boosts the chances that Pat's guy Mike wins the primary.</li>
<li>The tips he gets from Bosworth's scheming husband Chad Haber give Pat an excuse to <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/lincoln-co-states-attorney-has-stolen-bosworth-documents-matter-under-review/">accuse me</a> of going Mission Impossible on an imaginary desk.</li>
</ol>
<div>
But wait: let me take a deep breath of this fresh Black Hills air. <i>Aaaaahhh.</i> Let me gaze out on the inspiring Spearfish landscape, houses giving way to the Canyon and Spearfish Peak. <i>Aaaaahhh...</i> </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All is right with the world! I see the good in my fellow man! Pat isn't a first-class ass. He's simply keeping his promise as an honest Republican journalist (I beat down the snarky urge to cry <i>double oxymoron!</i>) not to take sides in the GOP Senate primary. He's presenting campaign news as is. But because he thrives on the synergy of good blogs, he's secretly teeing up the ball for me to swing away at Bosworth...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
[<i>Shakes head, comes to senses...</i>]</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The latest Powers Bosworth flogging further reveals Bosworth's cluelessness. Bosworth's "<a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/annette-bosworth-has-tonights-scoop-check-this-out-from-facebook/">scoop</a>" is taking a picture of Mark Venner at a Siouxland Republican Taliban Women's meeting. But the unmentioned scoop is that in her original tweet, Bosworth <a href="https://twitter.com/ArgusMontgomery/status/369977843461021696">said the speaker was Larry Venner, Sr</a>. Intrepid reporter David Montgomery needed to correct her (Pat's next headline: <i>Montgomery Scolds Bosworth, Proves He's Shilling for Weiland</i>).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why does this matter? Only because Mark Venner has said publicly he may challenge Bosworth and the serious candidates for the GOP Senate nomination. Only because any serious candidate would be briefing Venner out, figuring out who his donors and voters are, developing strategies to steal his supporters. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But the ever-politically clueless Bosworth doesn't even know the name of her potential rival.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I suppose Team Venner could take that as a sign that their name recognition stinks. Maybe Bosworth was deliberately misnaming him as a snide insult. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hang on: let me take an other breath of that Black Hills air... <i>aaaahhh...</i> thoughts cleared.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nope. There's no deliberation on Team Bosworth. She's just clueless.</div>
caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-86935472469603765992013-08-21T07:18:00.002-06:002013-08-25T21:49:04.460-06:00Rapid City Picks People Power over Powertech, Opposes Black Hills Uranium Mine<a href="http://madvilletimes.com/2013/08/goldcorp-wants-out-of-cleanup-guarantee-for-wharf-mine-in-black-hills/">Speaking of mining</a>, the Rapid City Council made my week by voting Monday night to <a href="http://www.kotatv.com/story/23178334/rapid-city">pass a resolution expressing "grave concern"</a> about Powertech's plan to squirt a millions of gallons of drinkable water into the ground to blast uranium to the surface.<br />
<br />
The Council loses two points for letting the term "grave concern" take the place of straight-up opposition in the <a href="http://temp.rcgov.org/agendas/citycouncilagenda/LF081413-04/Resolution%20opposing%20uranium%20mining.pdf">original esolution presented in the agenda</a>. However, even the decision to go as far as to say that Powertech has left too many questions unanswered and that the Canadian companies uranium mine poses an "unacceptable risk" to the Madison aquifer gives cause for celebration to citizen activists and to folks who prefer non-fluorescent drinking water.<br />
<br />
The resolution is a stunning rebuke to Powertech's main Black Hills stooge, Mark Hollenbeck, who simpered that <a href="http://www.kotaradio.com/news.asp?eid=5002&ID=14353">his reputation is at stake</a> (hmmm... one guy's reputation versus public health, agriculture, and tourism...) and then tried to talk the Council down with the <a href="http://www.powertechexposed.com/An_Environmental_Critique_of_ISL.pdf">patently false</a> claim that "There’s <a href="http://mytown.kotatv.com/southern-hills/2013/08/15/mining-opponents-fail-to-get-rapid-city-support/">no way physically possible</a> that we can affect either your quality or quantity of water from what we do at Dewey."<br />
<br />
The Rapid City Council had a choice between doing the bidding of a foreign corporation or listening to the concerns of local citizens. The council listened to and says it shares those concerns. The council put environmental caution over the promises of foreign speculators and extractors. That's pretty remarkable for South Dakota.<br />
<br />
Rapid City's resolution likely won't stop Powertech's Chinese investors from pressing ahead with their plan to take America's uranium, drain our aquifers, and leave us with a warm glow. But the resolution does show that if South Dakotans organize and protest, they can win. Let's take that fighting spirit to the state environmental hearings on Powertech!<br />
<br />
The only "no" vote on the ten-member council came from Steve Laurenti, who fumble-mummed around his fealty to rich exploiters:<br />
<blockquote>
"The problem I have, from a logical standpoint, is to oppose something or even to have grave concern, grave meaning that I have a fear for my life," Laurenti said. "I don't fear for my life over this issue at this point."<br />
<br />
Laurenti said he doesn't necessarily support the mine, but more debate is needed and the council should wait to see what comes from the state permit hearings.<br />
<br />
"The bottom line is, it's very difficult for me to have grave concern about something I don't have a lot of information on," Laurenti said. "I'll be honest with you, I would be dishonest with my constituents and with all of you tonight if I said I had grave concerns about this issue at this point."</blockquote>
My sources tell me that Laurenti had received a whole lot of information on Powertech's plan back at a council meeting back in December. According to one source, Laurenti immediately threw that notebook in the trash. caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-7557688264477801312012-11-06T19:02:00.001-07:002012-11-06T19:02:14.945-07:00Technical Difficulties Cleared! MadvilleTimes.com On Again!Whoo-hoo! After a three-day database disaster, my main blog site, <a href="http://madvilletimes.com/">MadvilleTimes.com</a>, is back online!<br />
<br />
Thank you, dear readers, for your patience while I wired things back up. I have copied all of the posts from the past three days from this site to the main site. I welcome your continued conversation on <a href="http://madvilletimes.com/">MadvilleTimes.com</a>!caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-12466131444934716992012-11-06T07:37:00.001-07:002012-11-06T07:39:20.726-07:00Debunking Two Big Lies about Initiated Measure 15I voted <a href="http://www.movingsdforward.com/">for Initiated Measure 15</a>, the extra-penny sales tax to fund K-12 education and Medicaid. I'm not deeply enamored with IM15. There are <a href="http://defeat15.org/">decent arguments</a> against <a href="http://www.southdacola.com/blog/2012/11/ads-on-m15-leave-out-important-information/">this regressive tax</a>. Whether IM15 passes or not, we will have some serious legislating to do to make our state taxing and spending more just and effective.<br />
<br />
But I can recognize bogus arguments made against Initiated Measure 15. Two of the biggest fibs about Initiated Measure 15 are the following:<br />
<ol>
<li>IM15 is the biggest tax increase in state history.</li>
<li>IM15 dumps much more money into education and Medicaid than has been cut.</li>
</ol>
The first one is a matter of mathematical interpretation. The dollar figure, $180 million in new revenue, may be correct. But raw dollar figures over time and inflation are bogus. Percentages matter. Jon Walker lists changes in the sales tax in <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20121104/NEWS/311040043/Sales-tax-hike-tries-defy-S-D-history">his November 4 article on IM15</a>. We implemented a state sales tax of 2% in 1935 (in the midst of the Depression and the Dust Bowl, no less!). In 1937, we upped it to 3%. Adding that extra penny increased the net sales tax by 50%. In 1969, we added another penny, a 33% increase in the sales tax. In 1980 and 1987, we implemented brief extra-penny increases, each of which was a temporary 25% increase. IM15 proposes to increase the state sales tax from 4% to 5%, a 25% increase. That's a lot of money, but proportionately, it is not the biggest tax increase in South Dakota history.<br />
<br />
The second claim above is also untrue, at least in terms of K-12 funding. Jon Walker provides the following numbers on our state per-student allocation for K-12 education:
<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 48pt;" width="64"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>year</b></span></div>
</td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>per-student state aid</b></span></div>
</td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>change</b></span></div>
</td>
<td class="xl63" style="text-align: right; width: 48pt;" width="64"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>PSA if increased by 3% </b></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2006</td>
<td align="right">$4,238</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2007</td>
<td align="right">4,365</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">3.0%</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2008</td>
<td align="right">4,529</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">3.8%</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2009</td>
<td align="right">4,665</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">3.0%</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2010</td>
<td align="right">4,805</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">3.0%</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2011</td>
<td align="right">4,805</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">0.0%</td>
<td align="right">4949.15</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2012</td>
<td align="right">4,390</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">-8.6%</td>
<td align="right">5097.625</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td align="right" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">2013</td>
<td align="right">4,491</td>
<td align="right" class="xl64">2.3%</td>
<td align="right">5250.553</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I added the fourth column to show what would have happened to the state per-student allocation if we had followed the funding formula in 2011, 2012, and 2013 and increased education funding by 3%. We'd be at $5,251 per student. That would be $760 more than we are spending this year per student.<br />
<br />
According to this year's sales tax revenue and K-12 enrollment, Initiated Measure 15 would increase state spending on K-12 education by about $720.<br />
<br />
In other words, Initiated Measure 15 restores 95% of the funding that schools should have received if Pierre had not reneged on the K-12 funding formula for three years in row. Under IM15, compared to where they would have been under the the fiscal policies preceding 2011, our K-12 system will still be running short $40 per student, or a touch more than $5 million statewide.<br />
<br />
IM15 is a big tax increase, but it is not the biggest in South Dakota history. And it does not put back into education more than has been cut. It actually falls just short of filling the gap our legislators have dug in the last three budgets.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-48385221341687103622012-11-06T07:03:00.001-07:002012-11-06T07:38:49.988-07:00Howie Hates Interracial Marriage and Women in WorkforceThe worst writer (and that's saying a lot!) in Gordon Howie's Potemkin blog village, Brad Ford, sullies Election Day with a double dip of doofusry, exposing the true racism and sexism behind Gordon Howie's "conservative" agitation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After all, isn’t the political “Iron Triangle”–government, education, media–really “owned” by the Left? Does anyone think for a minute that Western Civilization, Christianity, and traditional values will fare well under liberals of any stripe? <strong>Gay sex will prosper, racial blending will surge, a food-stamp mentality will flourish, and harassed women will be prominent in the consumer-driven workforce-but is that really progress?</strong> [emphasis in original; Brad Ford, "<a href="http://www.rightsidesd.com/?p=12528">Right Must Work Harder Regardless of Who Wins</a>," <i>Right Side</i>, November 6, 2012]</blockquote>
Good grief. I know <a href="http://www.rightsidesd.com/?p=11677">Howie likes <i>Mein Kampf</i></a>. But wow: in one sentence, Ford says that interracial marriage and women in the workforce are both bad things.<br />
<br />
I don't know who's funding Gordon Howie's little media fantasy game. But we need to find them, show them the racist, sexist garbage Howie is peddling, and ask them if that's really how they want their money spent. If they don't, then they can pull their funding, and Howie can pay his own way for his organization's White Man's agenda. And if they do, we can hold them accountable right along with Brad Ford and Gordon Howie for their retrograde racism and sexism.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-33083071490882544282012-11-06T06:38:00.000-07:002012-11-06T06:40:51.430-07:00Adventures in Online Campaign Finance: Lindsay Late, No Supplemental Filing ButtonDavid Montgomery says Secretary of State Jason Gant's new campaign finance system <a href="http://politicalsmokeout.tumblr.com/post/34778502396/things-i-hate-about-sds-campaign-finance-website">still gives him fits</a>. Yes, it's an improvement over the old paper system, but it's still a pain in the neck for users, especially for the candidates who count on this system to file their legally required data.<br />
<br />
Roy Lindsay likely feels that way this fine election morning. The Democratic District 8 House candidate did not have a campaign finance report on file by the October 26 deadline. Secretary Jason Gant himself said that he had received no pre-general campaign finance report from the Lindsay campaign as of yesterday morning. Team Lindsay swore to me last week that they had filed it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://sdsos.gov/CampaignFinance/TelerikReports/CFDisclosure.aspx?RecordID=420&LoggedID=0&Type=PreGeneral&StartDate=1/1/2011&EndDate=10/22/2012&Pre=0">It's there now</a>, dated yesterday, November 5. Lindsay has $8,687.81 on hand, mostly his own money, after spending a meager $1,792.19 so far. At least $250 of that will go to Secretary Gant as the <a href="http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=12-27-29.1">penalty for not filing on time</a>.<br />
<br />
But it's hard to tell if the screw-up was really Lindsay's or the system's. Consider this cotemporaneous tale of Gant-tastic computer adventures:<br />
<br />
I hear another person who runs a PAC (runs it? I think he <i>is</i> a PAC... but that's a whole nother blog post) was trying to file a supplemental report yesterday. PACs and other committees have 48 hours to file those reports from the time of the receipt of big chunks of cash; if they fail to meet that deadline, they face a <a href="http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=12-27-28">Class 1 misdemeanor</a> penalty, which can be a <a href="http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=22-6-2">year in jail and a $2000 fine</a>.<br />
<br />
So PAC-man's clearly motivated to file that paper pronto. He logs into his account on the Secretary of State's website. He's looking for the button to file "Supplemental." Button, button, button... <i>no button</i>. I haven't filed reports on the new system, so I don't know if there's a supplemental report button or not. But PAC-man says there was one and that it disappeared from his account. He's got a time-sensitive document and the button that would have allowed him to file it has gone poof? That's a hair-raiser!<br />
<br />
PAC-man called and got help: the Secretary of State's office advised simply printing a form and faxing it in, as apparently have other committees with last-minute contributions to report. There's just one more flaw in Secretary Gant's online jalopy: during the busiest time of the campaign, the system does not allow online filing of the most time-sensitive document required by the campaign finance system.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-62524398451480358612012-11-06T06:02:00.000-07:002012-11-06T06:40:41.995-07:00Help Your Neighbors: Keep Affordable Care Act Alive, Vote ObamaA friend of mine is looking for health insurance. He got laid off (these things happen) and thus lost his employer-based health plan. He has a pre-existing condition. He's been turned down by Sanford, which needs to save its money to <a href="http://www.sanfordpentagon.com/">build sports complexes</a>. He'll probably be turned down or charged impossible premiums by every other private insurer. To participate in the American health care system, he'll face two choices: become filthy rich or go bankrupt...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
...at least until 2014, when the <a href="http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/benefits.html">Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act</a> takes full effect. President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress's single greatest piece of legislation recognizes that health care does not work under free market rules. Health care is a community affair that works only when everybody helps everybody else. No citizens other than plutocrats like Mitt Romney can afford their own health care. The only feasible way for the vast majority of Americans to access health care is through cooperative insurance, where we all agree to pay for other folks' medical bills, in return for the assurance that when we get hurt or sick, other folks will chip in to cover us. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Private insurers pervert that system by denying that security to the folks who need it most, the folks who have been sick and who stand a greater chance of getting sick again and requiring our help.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act fixes that problem. On September 23, 2010, it got rid of insurers' ability to exclude children from insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. On <a href="http://www.familiesusa.org/health-reform-central/september-23/Pre-Existing-Conditions.pdf">January 1, 2014</a>, it will extend that sensible protection to Americans of all ages. If my job-seeking friend can hang on for fourteen months, he can walk back into Sanford and get a policy. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But not if we do something silly like <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/05/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-his-health-care-plan-covers-pre-e/">elect Mitt Romney</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Not if we do something silly like <a href="http://www.kristiforcongress.com/news/post/kristi-her-grandma-talk-medicare-in-new-ad">re-elect Kristi Noem</a> to keep voting to repeal the PPACA.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec12/healthcare_08-01.html">best things</a> the Obama Administration has done for this country. It is <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/23/new-report-affordable-care-act-gives-americans-more-security-better-bene">helping more people</a> than Mitt Romney and Kristi Noem ever will. When it takes <a href="http://blogs.seattletimes.com/uwelectioneye/2012/11/04/what-you-need-to-know-about-health-care-and-the-2012-elections/">full effect</a> in 2014, the PPACA will <a href="http://healthreform.kff.org/coverage-expansion-map.aspx">help even more people</a>, including my friend.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Don't let Mitt Romney and Kristi Noem shut it down. Vote accordingly.</div>
caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-15478077215591643802012-11-05T19:02:00.000-07:002012-11-06T06:41:00.161-07:00District 3: Dan Kaiser Would Eliminate State Funding for NSULast week I discussed <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2012/10/dan-kaiser-threatens-to-bring-ron-paul.html">Dan Kaiser's avid support for Ron Paul</a> and the reasons District 3 voters might want to steer clear of his nullificationist libertarianism.<br />
<br />
But if discussions of abstract and mostly ill-thought-out political philosophy don't get District 3 voters out of their chairs, let's try a bread-and-butter issue: Kaiser supports closing Northern State University, one of District 3's biggest employers.<br />
<br />
Say what? Kaiser couldn't have said something so political suicidal, could have he?<br />
<br />
I don't put it past Ron Paul supporters to say any number of crazy things. Kaiser hasn't said, "Let's close NSU!" in so many words. But let's look at <a href="http://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/103954/daniel-kaiser/#">Dan Kaiser's responses to the VoteSmart.org Political Courage Test</a>, under "Budget, Spending, and Tax Issues" and "Education." According to VoteSmart,<br />
<ol>
<li>Kaiser would "eliminate" higher education funding. (He would also eliminate state funding for health care and welfare. He'd give K-12 a "slight increase.")</li>
<li>Kaiser favors increasing tuition at public universities.</li>
<li>He opposes state funding for financial aid for college students.</li>
</ol>
Now Kaiser does contend later that he "will be a legislator for the poor and middle class." Yet by removing all state support from higher education, Kaiser would <a href="http://www.northern.edu/admissions/pages/costs.aspx" title="self-supported tuition: 2.3x state-supported tuition">more than double the cost of the college education</a> that is already beyond the means of too many poor and even middle-class families.<br />
<br />
Would eliminating state funding immediately close Northern State University? Maybe not. But as Charlie Johnson explained down the road a piece at the District 8 forum last week, you can't keep your university open if students can't afford tuition. And if the state isn't supporting it, it's not really a "state" university.<br />
<br />
No more Northern State University—just one more practical consequence of electing avid Ron Paul supporters like Dan Kaiser to the South Dakota Legislature.<br />
<br />
Worth noting: neither of the Democrats running for District 3 House, <a href="http://votesmart.org/candidate/137843/zachary-anderson">Zachary Anderson</a> and <a href="http://votesmart.org/candidate/137844/bill-antonides">Bill Antonides</a>, have completed the VoteSmart.org Political Courage Test. Republican <a href="http://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/56667/david-novstrup">David Novstrup has</a>: he would slightly increase funding for higher education. Alas, Novstrup would ban abortion in cases of rape and incest.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-63936241650014860162012-11-05T11:34:00.000-07:002012-11-05T11:45:45.649-07:00District 32: PACs Go Big for GOP Incumbents; Indivs Favor Dem SwansonHere's a quick breakdown of the District 32 House money race between Republican incumbent gunbernatorial patronage beneficiaries Brian Gosch and Kristin Conzet and their sole Democratic challenger and teacher Jackie Swanson:<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">donations</span></b></td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Gosch</span></b></div>
</td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Conzet</span></b></div>
</td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Swanson</span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">small indiv</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$8,015.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$425.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$7,900.16 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">big indiv</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$1,500.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$650.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$3,050.00 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parties</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$200.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$460.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$116.34 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">SD PACs</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$16,050.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$10,850.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$2,450.00 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">out-state PACs</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$5,550.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$1,650.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$0.00 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">candidate cmtes</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$0.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$250.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$0.00 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in-kind</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$10.75 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$0.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$700.00 </span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><div style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">total</span></b></div>
</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$31,325.75 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$14,285.00 </span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl63"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">$14,216.50 </span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now let's break that down by percentage:
<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>donations</b></span></td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Gosch</b></span></div>
</td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Conzet</b></span></div>
</td>
<td><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Swanson</b></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">small indiv</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">25.6%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">55.6%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">big indiv</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.8%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.6%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">21.5%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parties</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.6%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3.2%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.8%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">SD PACs</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">51.2%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">76.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">17.2%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">out-state PACs</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">17.7%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">11.6%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.0%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">candidate cmtes</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1.8%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.0%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in-kind</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.9%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"><div style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">total</span></b></div>
</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100.0%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl65"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100.0%</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Every two out of three coins in Gosch's fountain splashed in from political action committees. Conzet got five sixths of her kitty from PACs. Swanson has gotten more than three-fourths of her campaign cash from individual donors, over half from folks giving a hundred bucks or less.<br />
<br />
The Republican incumbents appear to be the PAC picks. Swanson appears to be the people's pick.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-80473733551395314642012-11-05T07:02:00.000-07:002012-11-06T06:41:10.984-07:00Kristi Noem Criss-Crossing South Dakota in Party BusTaking a page from the <a href="http://madvilletimes.blogspot.com/2010/04/road-warrior-gordon-howie-brings-t-rv.html">Gordon Howie campaign handbook</a>, Kristi Noem has decided to counterprogram Matt Varilek's beautiful Buick and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151069950137484&set=a.377898142483.163738.308353252483&type=1">tour the state in a big RV</a>:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vmMaf1h4BJk/UJfDSW3r84I/AAAAAAAADPE/GdLl3Mh_5as/s1600/Noemobile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vmMaf1h4BJk/UJfDSW3r84I/AAAAAAAADPE/GdLl3Mh_5as/s400/Noemobile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Ah, the Noemobile. No word on <a href="http://www.mattforsd.com/2012/10/26/argus-leader-varilek-noem-sells-access-for-donation/">how big a contribution you have to make</a> to get a ride on Kristi's bus.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHy_lDYdanz4f6OIvbuvC3xHUpO_ZKd2u_b6Coy3E0xZlBGi4U47LCwOY-lOSFoWU48jWucHbzey5Yu3uhRdrJd6xlXdiBix_cg1nNmkKDd8AnQIayPoA1eJNvkow-Wi5Wzf5L/s1600/Noemobile-Kassidy-Kennedy-Kick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHy_lDYdanz4f6OIvbuvC3xHUpO_ZKd2u_b6Coy3E0xZlBGi4U47LCwOY-lOSFoWU48jWucHbzey5Yu3uhRdrJd6xlXdiBix_cg1nNmkKDd8AnQIayPoA1eJNvkow-Wi5Wzf5L/s400/Noemobile-Kassidy-Kennedy-Kick.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
There's plenty of room for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151077646457484&set=a.377898142483.163738.308353252483&type=1">high-kicking daughters Kassidy and Kennedy</a>. Komfy, I'm sure.<br />
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Noem is touring the state in RV comfort in what she calls the "<a href="http://www.kristiforcongress.com/news/post/kristis-farms-families-and-friends-tour-schedule-for-nov.-2-5">Farms, Families, and Friends Tour</a>." With this season-ending campaign blitz, Noem is effectively doubling the number of public meetings... although they <a href="http://dakotawarcollege.com/matty-vees-campaign-stalker-taping-private-conversations/">aren't really public meetings open to all citizens</a>, at least not citizens looking to document the vacuous campaign-trail malarkey Noem spreads.<br />
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On her entirely public Facebook campaign page, Noem snaps this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151072276132484&set=a.377898142483.163738.308353252483&type=1">metaphorically appropriate photo</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_nNKkrwxXLAOC8LMJlq_UyS9eeAdUAHkTNEvheMarwbdshxOaN-MVQZSxkG8cmrYu9mLO-e2DhR3ErccyuP7z7lcMdCmoMxH77sg29DnAITfKcYuW73_EmjOLnyk3zspGRDl/s1600/NoemsignMobridgewater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_nNKkrwxXLAOC8LMJlq_UyS9eeAdUAHkTNEvheMarwbdshxOaN-MVQZSxkG8cmrYu9mLO-e2DhR3ErccyuP7z7lcMdCmoMxH77sg29DnAITfKcYuW73_EmjOLnyk3zspGRDl/s320/NoemsignMobridgewater.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The water's rising, Kristi. Let's be honest, admit Noem is in over her head, and elect a <a href="http://mattforsd.com/">Congressman who can do the job</a>.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-33970806777852277772012-11-05T06:30:00.001-07:002012-11-05T11:46:02.769-07:00LAIC Buys into Main Street Program; Madison the New India?Two noteworthy economic developments are afoot in Madison. First, I hear from my local correspondents that Lake Area Improvement Corporation director Julie Gross has officially endorsed—i.e., <i>spent money!</i>—on making Madison part of the <a href="http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/">Main Street</a> program. The idea of the LAIC doing <a href="http://madisonet.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20472040&BRD=1302&PAG=461&dept_id=181987&rfi=8">exactly what I recommend</a> under previous do-nothing CYA director Dwaine Chapel. But Gross has bought into Main Street and convened a downtown development committee that is open to the public. I hope this isn't a sign that we are going to freeze over hard this winter.<br />
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The LAIC also gets to <a href="http://madisonworks.com/News/Details.aspx?id=209">toot its horn</a> about <a href="http://www.dsu.edu/news/2012/advantenon-partnership-1101.aspx">Dakota State University's new partnership</a> with <a href="http://www.advantenon.com/whyrural.html">Advantenon</a>, the evil overlord of Gamma Regulus whose robot hordes are invading this sector of the galaxy—oh, oops! Sorry, the cool alien name threw me.<br />
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Advantenon develops software for mobile devices. They base their business model on employing college students in rural areas to keep costs down—i.e., to pay less wages than they would hiring experienced talent in spendy urban areas. Advantenon discusses this strategy on a page called "<a href="http://www.advantenon.com/whyrural.html">Why Rural?</a>"<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Advantenon delivers mobile applications more efficiently, with fewer issues than applications outsourced to offshore teams, at costs up to 50% less than traditional on-site development.<br />
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By leveraging technically competent resources in lower cost rural communities, project costs are significantly reduced. By combining staff located outside major metropolitan areas with a limited number of onsite resource Advantenon delivers the benefits of rural and onsite flexibility [Advantenon, "<a href="http://www.advantenon.com/whyrural.html">Why Rural?</a>" company website, retrieved November 5, 2012]. </blockquote>
For years, IT companies have been saving money by offshoring labor to India and other lower-wage countries. The labor cost-savings outweigh the disadvantages of language barriers, time-zone separation, and quality control. As wages in India <a href="http://www.tlnt.com/2012/07/10/2013-salary-increases-i-hope-youre-ready-for-another-year-around-3/">catch up with the West</a>, the cost advantage erodes. South Dakota wages may still carry a premium over India, but they are <a href="http://www.bls.gov/ro3/qcewdcdata.htm">29% lower than in Minnesota</a>, Advantenon's home base. Hire college students, and the premium is even less. For their money, Advantenon gets quality work (you DSU kids do have the storied Midwestern work ethic, don't you?) from folks who <i>sprechen sie Englisch</i>, are smack in the middle of most North American customers' time zone range, and are a short domestic flight away from a snap inspection by the boss.<br />
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This can be our niche, South Dakota! Get trained, know your tech, and you can be the next Indians. You won't even have to make up a normal sounding name to answer the phone... until the Chinese become our primary customers.<br />
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And when you get done with work, you'll be able to walk downtown and enjoy a wonderfully revitalized commercial and cultural core district.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-58734801578484979102012-11-05T05:58:00.000-07:002012-11-05T11:46:11.022-07:00District 8 Legislative Candidates' Forum: What They SaidI managed to watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZopADBFsuo#!">final District 8 Legislative candidates' forum</a> this weekend, courtesy of <a href="http://www.amazingmadison.com/pages/14354128.php?">KJAM's diligent election videography</a>.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AZopADBFsuo" width="500"></iframe><br />
Here's what I learned:<br />
<ol>
<li>Charlie Johnson could have become a lawyer. In his introduction, Johnson said he was accepted into USD's law school but turned that down to work as a small-farm advocate.</li>
<li>The man Johnson wants to replace, Senator Russell Olson, doesn't understand the disconnect between what he says and what he does on education. He says he's deeply concerned about raising teacher pay. He says he opposes Initiated Measure 15 because it doesn't guarantee that the new revenue goes to teachers. He says he supports Referred Law 16 because it is the first time he and his fellow legislators have made an effort to pay great teachers more. But Russ, if paying teachers more is such a priority for you, why didn't you get around to it until the sixth year of your time in Pierre?</li>
<li>Leslie Heinemann isn't a complete GOP tool. Instead of the vague, evidenceless claims that Senator Olson and fellow House candidate Gene Kroger make for Governor Daugaard's education agenda, Heinemann admits his reservations about the bonus program for teachers. He says he can "discriminate" in his small business and pay more to the employees he thinks are working hard. He recognizes, however, that it's difficult to impose the private business model on public schools.</li>
<li>Charlie Johnson sums up Referred Law 16's merit pay plank best: "I don't cultivate, fertilize, and harvest only 20% of my acres. I take care of all my acres. That's the way we have to do education, take care of all of education." He says Russ and the Governor are using Referred Law 16 as a "diversion tactic" to keep us from focusing on the real problem if their neglect of K-12 education funding.</li>
<li>Amendment M is not going to pass, and even Russ Olson doesn't care. He says the amendment on corporate voting and regulation would create a more business-friendly climate in South Dakota—and when Russ says "business-friendly," he means crony-capitalist. But Russ acknowledges that there hasn't been much effort to educate the public on the merits of M, so he appears to shrug at its prospects, as did most other candidates at the podium.</li>
<li>As I expected, Gene Kroger is least equipped to deal with policy issues. On Initiated Measure 15, while the other candidates addressed the regressive nature of the sales tax, the size of the proposed increase (excellent rebuttal from Roy Lindsay, explaining that IM15 is not the largest tax increase in South Dakota history), and the merits of spending the money on K-12 education and Medicaid, Kroger reverted to his Grumpy Old Party talk about inflation and how he has to pay twice as much for his pork and beans. Note to Gene: under President Barack Obama, <a href="http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/">monthly inflation has averaged 1.6%</a>. Under President George W. Bush, it was 2.8%. From 1914 to 2008, it was 3.4%.</li>
<li>Asked about rising student debt, Kroger again shrugged his grumpy old shoulders and said students have to "decide if this is what I want to do and do I want to pay the price to do it." He asserted that South Dakota tuition is lower and students have less debt than in other states, which is GOP code for "Quit your bellyaching." It's also only one-third true. South Dakota graduates have the median student debt in the country, which happens to be less than the national average. But South Dakota has the <a href="http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php">second-highest percentage (76%) of students graduating with debt</a>. And given that <a href="http://www.bls.gov/ro3/qcewdcdata.htm">our wages are the second-lowest in the nation</a>, those students have an even harder time paying off their debt.</li>
<li>All six candidates expressed their eagerness to use government to create jobs by protecting and expanding Dakota State University. Senator Olson confirmed that he is hoping to arrange for the state to acquire the current Madison Community Hospital property when that organization builds its new facility on the south side of Madison.</li>
<li>While Russ Olson thinks getting DSU more land and buildings will help the university, Charlie Johnson says that if we want students to fill those buildings, we need to find more state support to keep tuition affordable. </li>
</ol>
On the whole, if you have to pick a Republican in District 8. He at least shows signs of critical thinking that go beyond what Fox News or Governor Daugaard tell him to think.
But the joy of living in District 8 is that you do not have to pick a Republican. You have a full slate of Democratic candidates. Charlie Johnson, Scott Parsley, and Roy Lindsay will legislate with more concern for the common good and sensible, evidence-based policy than their Republican counterparts.caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-11161078433772506382012-11-04T17:11:00.002-07:002012-11-04T19:10:54.074-07:00Matt Varilek habla español. ¡Sí se puede!<i>Wow, haven't hit that button for a while!</i><br />
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While I continue to repair the MadvilleTimes.com database, I can't resist posting this remarkable video, in which Matt Varilek demonstrates that he's not only well-educated and well-traveled, but also <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlLzXhkYvHE">bilingual</a></i>:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nlLzXhkYvHE" width="500"></iframe><br />
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In this interview with Sioux Falls media outlet <i>La Voz</i>, you hear Matt Varilek speak more Spanish than Kristi Noem has probably spoken in her life.<br />
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Meanwhile, conservative political scholar Jon Schaff doesn't even damn Noem with faint praise. He derides her non-record and her desperate campaign against Varilek as verging on "<a href="http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2012/11/noem-not-gonna-get-out-dakotad.html">ignorant provincialism</a>":<br />
<blockquote>
Noem seems to have little to offer as a candidate other than being "more South Dakota than thou." As a challenger that isn't really a problem. But cute ads and plaid shirts are not a subsitute for legislative achievement. It is not enough that she shares the views and "values" of most South Dakotans. She's not been elected to share our values, but to do something about them [Jon Schaff, "<a href="http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2012/11/noem-not-gonna-get-out-dakotad.html">Noem Not Gonna Get Out Dakota'd</a>," <i>South Dakota Politics</i>, November 4, 2012]. </blockquote>
Bob Ellis suggests that a <a href="http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2012/11/noem-not-gonna-get-out-dakotad.html?cid=6a00d8341c046f53ef017ee4bef3fd970d#comment-6a00d8341c046f53ef017ee4bef3fd970d">good stiff narrow victory</a> may teach Kristi Noem to get back to her values. As a teacher, I reject the notion of giving failing students passing grades. They won't learn that they haven't performed up to standards from a passing grade. The best way to teach Kristi a lesson is to give her an F so she can go back to the farm, think about the errors of her ways... and brush up her Spanish for 2014!caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.com2