Sibby Online

SDGOP leaders claim local control as their legislative tyranny takes it away

This really shocked me:

A substantially changed version of the governor’s plan to give bonuses to the state’s top teachers could be debated in the Senate as early as today.

The bill still includes Daugaard’s original plan to give $5,000 annual bonuses to the top 20 percent of each school district’s teachers, based on a new evaluation system and student performance. But the revised plan now allows school districts to follow the governor’s original plan, create their own teacher reward plans or not take part at all. A council set up by the state Education Department would help districts develop their plans.

The measure also would start a scholarship program next year for up to 100 college students a year who pursue teaching degrees in critically needed subjects. Recipients would get tuition help for up to two years of college if they teach in subjects where teachers are in short supply for at least five years in the state. The bill also would provide a $2,500 annual reward for math and science teachers in middle schools and high schools.

Tenure would be eliminated in 2016 for any teachers who do not already have the protection, but each school district could decide to keep a tenure system for its teachers.

Senate Republican Leader Russell Olson, of Wentworth, said the measure is no longer the governor’s plan, but is now the “people’s plan” because lawmakers changed it after talking with educators and others.

Lt. Gov. Matt Michels said the bill lets each school district make a lot of decisions, and most are expected to devise their own systems for rewarding good teachers.

“This really is a bill of local control,” Michels said.

But Senate Democratic Leader Jason Frerichs, of Wilmot, said the plan is supported only by bureaucrats, not by teachers and many school administrators.

Hunhoff said the governor’s teacher bonus program has distracted lawmakers from the need to find extra financial support from schools. “It’s been perceived as an attack on our schools and an attack on our teachers.”

Cory at Madville Times has a statistic that proves Sen. Frerichs is right and Sen. Russell Olson is wrong regarding the support from the educators:

Four out of 133 administrators support HB 1234. 3% support… good grief, that’s margin of error in most surveys.

And Cory has more since then:

Rep. Stace Nelson tells me that of the hundreds of e-mails he’s received on HB 1234, Governor Daugaard’s really bad stew of unproven and disproven education policies, exactly ***one*** has expressed support for this bill. One, out of hundreds.

So clearly this is not the "people's plan". This is the globalists plan to centrally control the economy with education as simply a training ground for corporate socialism.

Now to Lt. Gov. Matt Michels' "local control", we go to SB192 that includes the $8.4 million Governor Daugaard wants to spend indoctrinating teachers with the globalists' Common Core Standards. On February 23rd Rep. Dennert moved that SB 192 be amended so that the $8.4 million would be added to the state aid formula and let local school boards determine how best to spend that money. Here is the vote on the passage:

Yeas 37, Nays 30, Excused 3, Absent 0

    Yeas:
Blake; Bolin; Deelstra; Dennert; Fargen; Feickert; Feinstein; Gibson; Hansen (Jon); Hawley; Hickey; Hubbel; Hunhoff (Bernie); Iron Cloud III; Jensen; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Kopp; Liss; Lucas; Miller; Nelson (Stace); Olson (Betty); Russell; Schaefer; Schrempp; Sigdestad; Solum; Steele; Street; Tornow; Tulson; Van Gerpen; Venner; Wismer

    Nays:
Abdallah; Boomgarden; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Dryden; Gosch; Haggar; Hoffman; Hunt; Kirkeby; Lust; Magstadt; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Scott; Sly; Turbiville; Vanneman; Verchio; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Speaker Rausch

    Excused:
Elliott; Greenfield; Stricherz

Then this happened:

Rep. Wink moved that SB 192 be deferred to Friday, February 24, the 27^th legislative day.

Rep. Lucas called for a division of the House.

The Speaker declared Rep. Wink's motion prevailed.

So on the 24th, Rep. Wink pushed an amendment to reverse Dennert's amendment. Here was the vote:

Yeas 41, Nays 27, Excused 2, Absent 0

Yeas:
Abdallah; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Deelstra; Dryden; Gosch; Greenfield; Haggar; Hansen (Jon); Hoffman; Hunt; Jensen; Kirkeby; Kopp; Lust; Magstadt; Miller; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Olson (Betty); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Schaefer; Scott; Sly; Solum; Tulson; Turbiville; Van Gerpen; Vanneman; Venner; Verchio; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Speaker Rausch

    Nays:
Blake; Bolin; Dennert; Elliott; Fargen; Feickert; Feinstein; Gibson; Hawley; Hickey; Hubbel; Hunhoff (Bernie); Iron Cloud III; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Liss; Lucas; Nelson (Stace); Russell; Schrempp; Sigdestad; Steele; Street; Tornow; Wismer

    Excused:
Boomgarden; Stricherz

I underlined the 11 representatives who switched their votes (plus Greenfield who came off of the disabled list)and local control was defeated in the name of indoctrinating teachers with the globalists Common Core Standards. They went on to pass the entire bill 64 to 4. The four nays were "Hubbel; Lucas; Nelson (Stace); Russell".

So what happened during the time between the two votes on the amendments? While the media portrays the SDGOP as proponents of local control, the media fails to inform the people on how the SDGOP will use their tyrannical methods to take local control away. The Beast (Revelation's one-world government)is being established through the use of deception right here in South Dakota. Warning: we should not accept the authority of the Beast as that may mean we accept it's Mark. As Hunhoff said, teachers are being attacked. And they will also be indoctrinated. And if they refuse to cooperate with the globalists Common Core Standards, they will not be among the 20% who receive bonuses. Local control does not mean, "you can have your education dollars only when you do things our way". Not only is Washington DC using coercion with our tax and borrowed dollars, but so is the SDGOP in Pierre. And the apathetic masses are being deceived by sneaky politicians and the media who receive tons of sales tax-free advertising revenues during the campaign seasons.

Governor's fascist WINS program tucked inside SB48, a bill to spend what the governor cut in 2012, and will SDWC and Bob Mercer take note

Remember last year's budget crisis in South Dakota where the governor wanted to push the reset button and cut 10% across the board? SB48, An Act to revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2012, had passed both chambers of the legislature. That's right, the so-called spending cuts are now being spent. On February 14, Sen. Hundstad was the only no vote. Yesterday it was on the House floor and the Rapid City Journal has some coverage:

Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to spend $5 million [actually the bill will give the governor's office of economic development an extrta $10 million] to recruit 1,000 out-of-state workers survived a challenge Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Money for that program, part of the governor’s South Dakota WINS program, was included in a spending bill, SB48. But Democrats led by Rep. Bernie Hunhoff, D-Yankton, introduced an amendment to delete that funding.

Hunhoff said he wasn’t opposed to funding the recruitment initiative, but he believed it should be given a separate bill.

Rep. David Lust, R-Rapid City, said a separate bill wasn’t needed because the governor already has authority to enter into contracts, like what he wants to do with recruitment firm Manpower Inc. Lust said Daugaard simply needs money appropriated to pay for the contract.

Several other lawmakers said they wanted a special hearing for citizens to testify about whether money should be spent to recruit out-of-state workers for in-demand fields in South Dakota.

But most Republicans in the Legislature said the bill, with the Manpower contract funding, was fine. Hunhoff’s amendment was defeated 41-26.

Here are the representatives who supported the Hunhoff amendment:

Yeas:
Blake; Dennert; Feickert; Feinstein; Gibson; Hansen (Jon); Hawley; Hubbel; Hunhoff (Bernie); Iron Cloud III; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Kopp; Liss; Lucas; Nelson (Stace); Russell; Schrempp; Sigdestad; Steele; Street; Tornow; Venner; Wismer

It was brought to my attention that the governor's office and the House leadership was putting huge pressure on the members to pass the extra spending. Here are the fiscally irresponsible members who voted against the amendment:

Nays:
Abdallah; Bolin; Boomgarden; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Deelstra; Dryden; Fargen; Gosch; Haggar; Hickey; Hoffman; Hunt; Jensen; Kirkeby; Lust; Magstadt; Miller; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Olson (Betty); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Schaefer; Scott; Sly; Solum; Tulson; Turbiville; Van Gerpen; Vanneman; Verchio; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Speaker Rausch

This wasn't the only spending in SB48. There is another $20 million that is being put into a slush fund for Medicaid. Rep. Wismer proposed an amendment to cut that. Here were fiscally responsible members her supported her amendment:

Yeas:
Blake; Dennert; Fargen; Feickert; Feinstein; Gibson; Hawley; Hickey; Hunhoff (Bernie); Iron Cloud III; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Lucas; Nelson (Stace); Russell; Schrempp; Sigdestad; Street; Wismer

And those who agreed to the extra spending:

Nays:
Abdallah; Bolin; Boomgarden; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Deelstra; Dryden; Gosch; Haggar; Hansen (Jon); Hoffman; Hubbel; Hunt; Jensen; Kirkeby; Kopp; Liss; Lust; Magstadt; Miller; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Olson (Betty); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Schaefer; Scott; Sly; Solum; Steele; Tornow; Tulson; Turbiville; Van Gerpen; Vanneman; Venner; Verchio; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Speaker Rausch

Note these votes are not on the bill summary. I got the above votes from the Journal. The only vote from yesterday listed was the final passage og SB48:

Yeas 48, Nays 17, Excused 5, Absent 0

    Yeas:
Abdallah; Blake; Bolin; Boomgarden; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Deelstra; Dennert; Dryden; Fargen; Feickert; Gibson; Gosch; Haggar; Hawley; Hickey; Hoffman; Hunt; Kirkeby; Kopp; Lust; Magstadt; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Olson (Betty); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Schaefer; Scott; Sigdestad; Sly; Solum; Street; Tulson; Turbiville; Van Gerpen; Vanneman; Verchio; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Wismer; Speaker Rausch

    Nays:
Feinstein; Hansen (Jon); Hubbel; Hunhoff (Bernie); Iron Cloud III; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Liss; Lucas; Miller; Nelson (Stace); Russell; Schrempp; Steele; Tornow

    Excused:
Elliott; Greenfield; Jensen; Stricherz; Venner

All three votes should be on any scorecard worth its salt. This is how Democrats out score Republicans on scorecards that expose fiscal responsibility. Perhaps the Democrats real agenda is to instead spend it on education. Those votes is on HB1234, and the Democrats are getting a few conservative Republicans to vote no on that bill. So this session is really strange and unfortunately the media is not doing enough coverage on the fascist tyranny that now controls Pierre.

Most importantly, this bill is proof that the 2012 budget has a huge surplus built in last year. With the latest revenue forecast for 2012, that surplus is at least $100 million. SB48 is spending over $30 of that. So why are they not restoring those cuts from last year, instead of letting the governor spend the money? And will the SDWC stop repeating the lies and Bob Mercer start exposing the myth of the 2012 budget crisis.

South Dakota War College promoting RINO lies to defend Lust and Rausch, while SDGOP proceeds to implement Obama's healthcare and education agenda

SDWC, the SDGOP Establishment blog started by Pat Powers (currently a director in the Secreatary of State office), goes to deception in order to defend the RINO leadership of the South Dakota House:

This past legislative session has been an interesting one to say the least. There is a striking rift between certain members of the legislature and different “conservative” factions across the state. The troubling thing is, it seems we are dividing our party while splitting hairs.

Speaker Val Rausch and Majority Leader David Lust have been lambasted by some members of the legislature. Now I know the rap on David Lust is that he is a “moderate,” but it’s strange that a moderate would cut the state budget across the board by 10% while also standing up to many of the leaders in the South Dakota public school system in order to deliver a substantial budget cut.

...

I would suggest you couldn’t find many budgets as fiscally responsible as those passed during Rausch and Lust’s tenure in the state house.

What we are not being told is that all but $2 million of those 2012 cuts were added to other areas, primarily the Department of Social Services Medicaid. We now know that the 2012 Medicaid budget is about $150 million too fat, of which $50 million is from the General Fund.

What we are not being told it that the Lust/Rausch legislature passed a 2012 budget that had a $45 million surplus that was based on revenue projections that were understated by $40 million. That is how you get $78 million in "Special Appropriations" (one-time money) to now hand out 5% bonuses to state government employees. Anybody think Lust or Rausch will say no to those spending increases?

Also lost in the discussion is the 100s of millions of Obama stimulus that was added to the state budget. That brings the total federal funding to nearly $2 billion, meaning nearly $800 million is part of the federal debt. And that is fiscally responsible?

And how conservative is the SDGOP leadership who is continuously all to happy to implement Obama's healthcare and education agenda? Check out the research that was sent to me (person asked not to be identified in order to avoid retaliation):

Governor Daugaard's campaign promise was to sign any bill repealing ObamaCare that crossed his desk....and he made good on his promise by making sure no such bill crossed his desk this session.  He had several chances to influence those bills by giving "talking points" to legislators to thwart the bills' passage in committee hearings.  Sen. Deb Peters was heard in the halls saying, "I have talking points from (Lt. Governor) Matt Michels to oppose this bill."

"This bill" just happened to be a Health Care Compact bill giving South Dakota the option to join in a compact with other states to opt out of ObamaCare.  Once a majority of states pass such laws, Congressional approval would be sought and granted because no Congressman would vote against the state they represent. 

Here are the bills that Governor Daugaard could have encouraged, but instead called on weak-minded legislators to help kill:

- HB 1191, a bill to join with other states in forming a HealthCare Compact, mentioned above.

- HB 1165 and HB1167 to repeal the latest components of ObamaCare that were signed into law last year.  They were obediently killed in the House State Affairs committee (known as 'the killing fields' for all but the members' own bills).

- An Amendment to HB1220.  HB 1220 is an ineffective suicide clause that was brought as a ruse.   It falsely claims that South Dakota's ObamaCare laws would be repealed in the event that the Federal Law was repealed.  The amendment was brought (and ceremoniously killed) that would have insured that would happen.  HB1220 was passed but its "suicide" clause is only effective if the ENTIRE Federal ObamaCare law (PPACA) is repealed...and we are not even suing for a complete repeal. The Obama administration has said that if the lawsuit in which our state is a plaintiff prevails, they will just change the wording from "individual mandate" to "individual health tax"....and Daugaard/RomneyCare remains codified in South Dakota law.   

- They even killed HB1190, a bill that put the legislature in control of making the ObamaCare Exchange operational in South Dakota.  All other states have this authority. An Exchange can either become operational through a legislative vote, by a Governors' Executive order, or by a Department proclamation.  The people deserve to know when it’s coming on board.  But this bill was killed by the same taking points parroted by all the Senators who opposed it in committee.  Funny, they all had the exact same comments which they read with beat red faces, stuttering words, sweat on their brows, and complete ignorance of what they were saying.  Hmmm…five Senators spontaneously spewing the same convoluted talking points that smelled like Matt Michels (a ' big hospital'  kind of guy, since he worked for them)!  Ironic that they ALL concluded simultaneously that having legislative control would be redundant because legislators already control initiation of an Exchange (the landing place for ObamaCare).....when we vote on the huge budget bill.  The Budget bill has thousands of items all rolled into a sausage-style bill that is voted on at the end of session. The appropriators can just stop the whole appropriation process if they happen to see a buzz word in the text that alerts them that an Exchange is being funded.  What are the chances that they know the buzz words...like connector, meaningful user (that is their word for your doctor), units (that is their word for patients), and many others?   And we have a double protection!  Any legislator can peruse the few hundred pages of numbers and note if they spot something that resembles ObamaCare verbiage.  Amazing...they all thought of this on their own!

At least 5 of the Senators stayed in Committee and voted....2 walked out because they knew this would be post card material. Only one didn't drink the Kool-Aid and voted for the people to have representation.

And can SDWC defend Val Rausch's 2010 $23,000 campaign contributions in which $5,700 came from the healthcare's corporate special interests?

The research emailed to me provides more insight into the Medical Corporate Establishment's desire for ObamaCare:

And what about those RomneyCare consultants, Ms. Gillespie and Ms. Handrich?  These two ladies who set up Socialized Health Care in Massachusetts were hired to attend our South Dakota task force for the same purpose.  Yes, they were at all the meetings and helped write ObamaCare for South Dakota.  At least Mitt Romney was open and honest when he set up RomneyCare for Liberal Massachusetts....but in conservative South Dakota our leaders pretended to be against ObamaCare while setting it deep into Codified law over the last few years.  Sanford CEO told about 400 people at their Research Conference in June that, "Whatever you think about PPACA, sometimes referred to as ObamaCare, we must not repeal it or we will have to go back to the drawing board..."  Well GOOD....repeal it like 80% of South Dakotans want!

After Daschle failed to get HillaryCare passed in the 1990's, he wrote in his book that it failed because they didn't get the hospitals and insurance stakeholders on board.  Voilà! 10 years and $54 Billion in hospital perks later...the hospitals are now on board!  And how convenient that hospitals and insurance companies are now rolled into one tax-exempt entity called "managed care".  If they get their way, as a government-subsidized monopoly, they will be "too big to fail" and receive bail outs that smaller private insurers cannot compete with. 

If that does not disturb you, then what about this:

We've all been told the Executive branch against Socialized Health Care.   Did you know that in 2007 Gov. Rounds' administration formed a bill to force all South Dakotans to buy health insurance or face a fine?  With Lieutenant Governor Daugaard as the co-chair of the task force, they even talked about putting you in jail if you didn't buy the amount of healthcare they deemed necessary from you. Granted, they would need to know ALL your financial assets and information so they could determine how much you would "owe" as your debt to healthcare.  Yes, this is the same individual mandate our Attorney General is fighting on the National stage. Can you say 'schizophrenic'?

How telling that former Governor Rounds is now a co-chair with Socialized-Medicine-Man himself…Tom Daschle, at the Bipartisan Policy Center in DC…where they advise Obama on healthcare!

Perhaps the legislators of the SDGOP leadership will start scoring higher on the SDGOP Republican Platform Scorecard if they would add to their platform this summer...corporate socialism, fascism, and cronyism. Instead they will be more likely asking conservatives for contributions in order to defeat Obama in November.

Romney likes Obama's merit pay for teachers

More on how Americans have no real choice come November:

But we at Politics K-12 are perplexed by Romney's comments on education policy, an area on which he says he has some common ground with President Barack Obama.

Here's the relevant exchange:

PEOPLE: In the holiday spirit of comity, can you say one thing President Obama has done right?

Romney: "He's a good example of a husband and father. Some of his education initiatives—merit pay for the best teachers and school choice—have been positive. The surge in Afghanistan was the right choice. But the pluses are far exceeded by the places where I'd give him a minus."

The merit pay for teacher thing we get. Obama has pushed for an expansion of the Teacher Incentive Fund, which doles out grants to districts to create pay-for-performance programs. And he made performance pay a component of both Race to the Top and the School Improvement Grant programs.

But school choice? Okay, Obama has pushed for an expansion of charter schools, again under Race to the Top and SIG. But he also scrapped the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (though the money was ultimately put back at the behest of Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the speaker of the House.) And his waiver package doesn't require districts to offer mandatory school choice or tutoring services.

So we're wondering what exactly Romney was talking about here.

Daugaard pushing Obama's education plan that includes merit pay for teachers

Check this out:

Merit pay for teachers, an idea kicked around for decades, is suddenly gaining traction. The concept is picking up steam from a growing cadre of politicians who think one way to improve the country’s troubled schools is to give fat bonuses to good teachers.

The Obama administration has encouraged states to embrace merit pay, highlighting it as one step states could take to compete for more than $4 billion in federal funds through the Race to the Top program.

Leo Sibson RIP

Here is my father's obituary that was published in today's Mitchell Daily Republic:

Leo F. Sibson, age 83, of Mitchell, died Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Prairie View Care Center in Woonsocket. Funeral services will be 10:30 AM Friday, February 17, at Holy Family Catholic Church with burial at Servicemen’s Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 PM Thursday, at Will Funeral Chapel with a prayer service beginning at 7:00 PM.

Leo Francis Sibson was born on April 8, 1928 in Mitchell, SD to Limbert and Johanna (Rankin) Sibson. He grew up in Artesian and attended Artesian country school. He later moved with his family to a farm in Mitchell in the spring of 1942. Due to his father’s ill health, he quit attending school to help on the family farm until 1950. In 1950 he entered the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 1954.

On May 2, 1951 he married Dolores Gau at Holy Family Catholic Church in Mitchell. They celebrated 60 years of marriage in 2011. Starting in 1955 the couple lived on a farm near Mitchell where they raised 3 children. In 1958 he was honored to be the Outstanding Young Farmer from Mitchell Junior Chamber of Commerce. After 35 years of farming and back grounding calves they retired in 1990. Leo was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church, the Elks, Farmers Union, and Davison County Taxpayer charter member for Dakota Proposition.

He is survived by his wife Dolores, three children: Steven (Kathy) Sibson of Mitchell, Michael (Sue) Sibson of Howard, and Lynette (Gary) Nutter of Howard. Six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; two sisters, Jean Danielson of Rapid City and Margaret (Bill) Pierson of Mitchell; two brothers, Herb (Georgie) Sibson of Ft. Pierre and David (Joyce) Sibson of Mitchell.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister Elsie Hemmer, an infant sister Marie, brother in laws Leo Hemmer, Duane Danielson, and sister in law Lavalle Weber.

Note my father's work on Dakota Proposition that laid the ground work to the state aid formula for education which shifted costs away from property owners and to the general fund. Certainly my father would not be in peace if he was here to read the reports in today's Mitchell paper where the governor has signed legislation that will dramatically raise valuations on Ag properties and legislation that will increase property levies for the state aid formula, all so that huge sums of money can be spent on other things. (Here is a second link reporting huge spending increases.)

As today's South Dakota property owners are being saddled with higher taxes so that foreign dairies and foreign cheese makers can make more profits while putting out of business small family farms , may my dad rest in peace.

HB1169: Smokeout attempt in process to remove Real ID

Here is the problem:

Strict federal rules aimed at keeping terrorists off planes are blocking some Americans from renewing their driver's licenses or getting other state-issued IDs.

The consequences can be staggering. Without an ID, people cannot change jobs, drive legally, collect Social Security or Medicare, get through airport security or open a bank account.It's "a persistent problem across the country," says Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. The problems stem from the Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2006 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when terrorists used easily obtained driver's licenses to carry out their plans.The law says that by 2013, only IDs from states that require applicants to present proof of citizenship or legal residency will be accepted to board an airplane or enter a federal building. In most states that have begun to comply, that proof means a birth certificate or immigration papers.The ACLU and others predicted that the law's documentation requirements would be a burden to many Americans, and the issue becomes more pressing as the deadline nears.Sometimes birth certificates are incomplete, inaccurate, missing or were never recorded.When corrections officer Charles Lust, 46, of West Palm Beach, Fla., tried to renew his driver's license in February 2010, he was shocked to discover his birth certificate said his name was Bell. A court, establishing paternity when he was 14, changed his name from Lust, his mother's name, to Bell, his father's name.After his driver's license expired, he couldn't open a bank account, cash a check or change jobs. He had to make special arrangements to pick up his kids from school because the school requires ID."It kind of put my life on hold," Lust says. He finally got his license in September after the Florida governor's office granted an exception.

HB 1169 is the solution and was moved to the 41st day by the House State Affairs committee. Rep. Lance Russell successfully smoked it out of committee yesterday and has an up hill battle to get it passed on the House floor today. which is crossover day. Here are the smokeout votes from yesterday:

Yeas 25, Nays 43, Excused 2, Absent 0

    Yeas:
Dennert; Elliott; Feickert; Greenfield; Hickey; Hubbel; Iron Cloud III; Jensen; Jones; Killer; Kirschman; Kloucek; Kopp; Liss; Lucas; Olson (Betty); Russell; Schaefer; Schrempp; Sigdestad; Steele; Stricherz; Tornow; Venner; Verchio

    Nays:
Abdallah; Blake; Bolin; Boomgarden; Brunner; Carson; Conzet; Cronin; Deelstra; Dryden; Fargen; Feinstein; Gibson; Gosch; Haggar; Hansen (Jon); Hawley; Hoffman; Hunhoff (Bernie); Hunt; Kirkeby; Lust; Miller; Moser; Munsterman; Novstrup (David); Perry; Romkema; Rozum; Scott; Sly; Solum; Street; Tulson; Turbiville; Van Gerpen; Vanneman; White; Wick; Willadsen; Wink; Wismer; Speaker Rausch

    Excused:
Magstadt; Nelson (Stace)

Stace Nelson defends constituent who was attacked by legislative abuse of power

From a comment left by Rep. Stace Nelson:

They forced Rob Bender to sit on his hands on the sidelines witnessing my removal from the Ag Committee and hearing about the dog & pony investigation that they conducted with their friends to give the appearance that they were "cleared" of all wrong doing all the while they refused to hear his testimony about what he knew. All the while having the knowledge of what happened on July 13th and what was reported by the LRC staff member. I can asssure you, he did not lie as insultingly alleged by Rep. Lust. Rob is well known in Hanson County as being one of the finest people to ever be born in South Dakota. He is an honest, kind man with a generous heart. He is as good a farmer, neighbor, and South Dakotan as Rep. Lust is a lawyer.

It is my understanding that Lust & Rausch were so angry about my editorials in the Aberdeen, Mitchell, & Pierre papers, that they have again mischaracterized the above incident (exactly how they did with lies that I threatened Rep Moser) to the Republican Caucus in an effort to try and get someone to try and move for a written motion on the House floor to form a discipline committee to expel me from the legislature. I guess the public won't stand for them usurping the power of the legislature again in "punishing me" so they are attempting to misinform Republicans to the point they can.

**Of Note- When confronted by Republican legislators, Rep. Nick Moser confirmed to his whip group members that I never threatened him nor did he ever feel threatened during our mutual disagreement. Lust & Rausch LIED to the press & to the Republican Caucus and used that claim to "punish" me and to edict me thrown out of a democratic caucus.

Something is truly ROTTEN in the state of South Dakota, and that smell is not coming from me.

The so-called citizen legislature of South Dakota goes after a citizen

Several years ago I witnessed the House State Affairs committee go after the citizens who represented the South Dakota Gun Owners. Yesterday the same committee went after Rob Bender. Here is the account from the Rapid City Journal:

Harsh words and accusations of lying preceded a committee walkout Friday morning when a Republican lawmaker again clashed with Rep. David Lust.

Rep. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, left the House State Affairs Committee after exchanging words with Lust, R-Rapid City, during a testy hearing. Nelson repeated accusations from last year that Lust and other Republican leaders had behaved unethically before he and Lust accused each other of lying.

The occasion was a hearing on House Bill 1142, sponsored by Nelson. It would have required confidentiality by Legislative Research Council staff - a reaction to accusations by Nelson that Lust and other leaders violated this confidentiality.

During his testimony, Nelson and Robert Bender of Hanson County rehashed many accusations against Lust, Agriculture Secretary Walt Bones and others.

Lust allowed the testimony to proceed when Rep. Gene Abdallah, R-Sioux Falls, asked him to cut it off.

But matters came to a head when Lust offered his own comments on the testimony.

"What I find unconscionable is when someone comes and throws around lies about legislators," Lust said. "I find it more hurtful and problematic when they do it about someone who's not an elected official and who really cannot defend themselves in public, being the LRC."

At that time, Bender appeared to shout something at Lust from the committee room audience and walk out of the room.

Lust replied that Bender's rudeness to lawmakers had cost him respect and that he was "glad" Bender was leaving.

Nelson then stood up to leave too and joined in the crosstalk.

"I'm glad you're leaving too," Lust said.

"I understand that sir," Nelson replied. "Please pass more lies to the press about me."

"You've done plenty of that on your own, Rep. Nelson," Lust shot back.

After the two left, the House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to kill HB1142.

Smokeout on HB1015 concealed carry this afternoon? Val Rausch making up rules?

From an email from the National Association for Gun Rights sent yesterday afternoon, as Rep. Betty Olson got her HB1248 passed out of House Judiciary:

It appears that anti-gun RINO (Republican In Name Only) Speaker Val Rausch has hit a new low.

As I’ve reported, the National Association for Gun Rights has been working with South Dakota Gun Owners to pass Constitutional Carry in South Dakota (HB 1015).

But Republican leadership, specifically Speaker Pro Tem Brian Gosch, quickly stonewalled the bill in committee.

As Speaker Pro Tem (Assistant Speaker of the House), Gosch works closely with RINO Speaker Val Rausch, and is apparently picking up his anti-gun tendencies.

After the bill was blocked in committee, I worked closely with pro-gun legislators and South Dakota Gun Owners to bring the bill to a vote in the House with a maneuver called a “smokeout.” Led by pro-gun champions Rep. Don Kopp and Rep. Phil Jensen, the bill was brought to the floor yesterday.

But when Rep. Jensen made the appropriate “roll call” motion to bring Constitutional Carry to the House floor for a vote, Speaker Rausch summarily ruled him out of order!

The state Constitution requires in Article III, Section 13, that the Speaker conduct a standard roll-call vote “on any question,” as long as twelve legislators will stand with the sponsor. Even the Speaker must agree that Constitutional Carry had support from twelve pro-gun Representatives.

But the last thing anti-gun RINOs like Rausch want to do is go on record killing a pro-gun bill. They prefer stonewalling them in committee. That way it’s more difficult for gun owners like you to hold the RINOs accountable on Election Day.

I need your help to turn up the heat on Speaker Raush and his anti-gun pals, right now.

Please contact Speaker Rausch and demand that he stop breaking the rules! Demand that he respect the rules and allow a Constitutional Carry “roll call” vote on the House floor!

Tell him you want a fair floor vote on HB 1015 -- your Constitutional Carry bill.

You can leave a message for him at the Capitol tomorrow (605) 773-3851 or feel free to call him at home over the weekend at (605) 862-8635.

You can also email Speaker Rausch: [email protected]