Statehouse Alert, Feb 26

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[PenDems (136)] Pen Dems Reminder

Dear Democrats:

A quick reminder about the Pendem monthly meeting this Thursday, Feb 26th at the Rapid City public library, 6 p.m. (upstairs meeting room).

In addition to reviewing the procedures for the upcoming County Party elections in April,  local journalist Sam Hurst has been invited to lead a discussion about the political future of South Dakota. Sam  has recently launched a new online newspaper called Dakota Day, and has written some provocative articles about the political leadership within our Party.  Please join us for what is expected to be a lively discussion.

Our annual event, Champagne & Chocolates, is set for March 27, and Senate Democratic Leader Scott Heidepriem is our confirmed speaker.  Mark your calendars for this fun evening and watch for more details.

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Statehouse Alert, Feb 24

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Statehouse Alert, Feb 13

E-newsletter of the South Dakota Democratic Party sent to you ... because it's time to bring change to Pierre.

Help us fight for open government and South Dakota's future. Make a one-time or recurring online contribution today.

TOP NEWS STORIES

DO I HEAR SEVEN? SEVEN STATE AIRPLANES? NINE AIRPLANES? HOW ABOUT 13?

How many airplanes are now known to be owned by state government? Last week, the number grew to nine. The number grew to 13 today when it was revealed before the Senate Appropriations Committee by legislators who want to sell off some of the air fleet to fund essential services. How many state airplanes does it take to haul one Governor? If you're Mike Rounds, the answer is three King Airs and another passenger plane.

Senator Scott Heidepriem disclosed the number of state planes during his attempt to pass Senate Bill 137, which would sell state airplanes to help cover the financial shortfall which Rounds claims has forced him to kill the S.D. State Fair, the S.D. School for the Deaf, the S.D. Arts Council and essential health services like the Birth to 3 Program. Jason Dilges, who heads the Bureau of Finance & Management, led the testimony against the budget austerity measure by calling the bill, offered by Heidepriem and Republican Sen. Gene Abdallah, R-Sioux Falls, as "politics." Heidepriem questioned Dilges' claim, saying the legislature is expected by the Governor to make "hard choices" when it comes to approving Rounds' slashing Birth to 3, the Arts Council, the School for the Deaf and other essential needs to citizens, but the Governor's office considers it "politics" when legislators seek funding remedies by reducing the state air fleet. Heidepreim responded:

Here we have three pressurized twin-engine King Airs, all valued at more than one million dollars. Do we need all three of them, or do we need the Birth to 3 Program? Compared to what? That's the question the appropriations process is all about and that's why we entrust you to make those decisions.

The measure lost 4-3 on a party line vote. Voting to kill the bill by deferring it to the 41st legislative day were Sen. Al Novstrup of Aberdeen, Sen. Jean Hunhoff of Yankton, Sen. Jeff Haverly of Rapid City and Sen. Corey Brown of Gettysburg.

GOP SENATORS EMBRACE CORRUPT NO-BID CONTRACTING IN PARTY-LINE VOTE

Republican State Senators Bob Gray of Pierre, Russ Olson of Madison, Larry Rhoden of Union Center and Gene Abdallah, Dave Knudson and Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls this week endorsed the politically corrupt "pay to play" tactics of the Gov. Mike Rounds administration which gives lucrative no-bid contracts to political pals who hand out big contributions. They voted as a bloc this week in Senate State Affairs against Senate Bill 168 to reform contract awards in state government.

The bill would have forbidden no-bid contracts for state projects in excess of $25,000, and would have required those contracts to be awarded through a public bidding process.

The most notorious no-bid contract arrangement in the Rounds/Daugaard administration is with Lawrence & Schiller which has benefited from a cozy arrangement which gave $23 million for contracts that were not put up for bidding. Daugaard, whose daughter works for Lawrence & Schiller, hired the firm to provide media campaign services to his governor campaign.

The bill, offered by Democratic leaders Sen. Scott Heidepriem and Rep. Bernie Hunhoff, sought to outlaw large contract payoffs to contributors. For details, look up Senate Bill 168 on the Legislative Research Council website. There'a an AP story from the Yankton paper about this, too.

HEINEMAN VOTE DELAYED TO NEXT WEEK. WHY? NOT ENOUGH VOTES? HMMMMMM.

Republican legislators who care about a high quality education program in South Dakota are as upset as Democratic legislators about Gov. Mike Rounds' decision to appoint former House member Phyllis Heineman to the state education board. But will they sprout a spine to vote against Heineman's nomination to the board or wimp out? That's the buzz in the Capitol today.

The Heineman nomination might have been in trouble if it had gone forward with the expected vote in the State Senate today. However, the vote was pulled off the calendar for Tuesday when the legislature reconvenes after the holiday. Heineman was no friend to education when she served four terms in the House. She lost in an expensive and hotly contended race last fall against Sen. Scott Heidepriem, mainly because of her unsavory positions on supporting a quality education system in the state. Why the vote was delayed was not explained, except that observers noted that many legislators went home early today and she may not have had enough votes in the Senate. Her nomination survived a one-vote margin earlier this week in the Senate Education Committee.

Here's an Associated Press quote about Heineman's controversial nomination from GOP Senate Leader Dave Knudson, who serves in neighboring District 14:

"I've seldom agreed with Rep. Heineman on educational issues, as we've had for four years sharp differences on the Senate views on education and the House's views."

With ringing endorsements like that, it'll be interesting to see the count when the Senate votes next week.

AROUND THE STATE
By Amanda Mattingly, SDDP Field Organizer

Now is the best time to make the biggest difference to winning back the Statehouse in the 2010 election. That's because county party elections are required to be held in April throughout South Dakota. The only people who can vote in county party elections, according to our SDDP Constitution, are the county party officers, Democratic office holders and precinct committee women and men.

This makes a wonderful incentive to recruit a full slate of precinct committee women and men in each county. Why?

• They get to vote in the April elections. Those elected as Chair, Vice Chair, and State Central Committee Men and Women get to vote for regional representatives to the SDDP Executive Board at McGovern Day's State Central Committee meeting on April 25 in Aberdeen.
  
• They will be useful to electing new Chairs and Vice Chairs in each of the 35 State Legislative Districts throughout South Dakota during May, as required by the SDDP Constitution.
  
• They become automatic delegates to the 2010 SDDP State Convention.
  
• They will perform a vital role in recruiting and organizing new volunteers to help our candidates, to hold events, and get out our Democratic message during 2009 and 2010.

In Minnehaha County alone, county party leaders and key volunteers from the Obama for America campaign are working together to fill each precinct position during February and March. They will conduct training sessions at the State Party office in Sioux Falls for people who are being recruited to become precinct leaders. The first training session will be Saturday, Feb. 21, for Legislative District 13's precinct leaders, and more training sessions will be held for each district in Minnehaha County before the April 7 county party meeting. Volunteers in Pennington County this past week heard a presentation by SDDP Executive Director Rick Hauffe about precinct organizing and are expected to launch a similar drive to recruit and train precinct leaders.

If you have questions on how to become a precinct leader or you would like help to organize and train precinct leaders in your county, please contact me by email, amandam2282--at--gmail.com

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The South Dakota Democratic Party provides professional staff and some of the best consultant support to our Democratic legislators. This newsletter is being sent to you to keep you informed of key issues and major developments in Pierre until April 1, 2009.

By making a difference for the Democratic Party, you will help us and our legislators make a difference for South Dakota. Please make a contribution online, or mail your check to SDDP, P.O. Box 1485, Sioux Falls, SD 57101.

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Paid for by South Dakota Democratic Party, P.O. Box 1485, Sioux Falls, SD 57101; Bill Nibbelink, Treasurer. Political contributions are not tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for Federal income tax purposes.

[PenDems (135)] Fwd: Lawrence County Dems February Meeting Feb 12

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bob Wilson <frogworks --at-- rushmore.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Subject: February Meeting


The Lawrence County Democrats will meet tomorrow night at the Cedar House restaurant in Spearfish.  A no host dinner will begin at 6pm with the business meeting commencing at 7.  The main order of business will be identifying possible precinct committeemen and women, as well as discussion of the dinner tentatively planned for April 11, the St. Patrick's day parade, the upcoming election of county officers, and other business items. 
 
I hope to see you there.
 
Bob Wilson

Statehouse Alert, Feb 6

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An e-newsletter of the South Dakota Democratic Party sent to you... because it's time to bring change to Pierre.

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Help us fight for open government and South Dakota's future. Contribute today online with ActBlue.

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STATEHOUSE ALERT'S TOP NEWS STORIES

Republicans still ripping Rounds over budget dilemma and tax hikes

The Republican effort to force a 25 to 50 percent in state sales taxes is going over like a lead balloon in the State Capitol and on Main Street South Dakota. Democratic House members are hearing grumbling from GOP colleagues who are disillusioned with House Leader Bob Faehn of Watertown for knuckling under so soon for a sales tax increase. Here's a bit from a blog entry today on South Dakota War College, written by Republican blogger Pat Powers of Brookings:

I was talking to a fellow politico last night who brought up a pretty powerful point. His thought? How are these guys who are proposing tax increases going to explain why we need them to some guy who just lost his job? I mean really - for the group of Republicans proposing a temporary sales tax increase - those who we might term the "tax-and-spend gang of nine" - what are they going to say to that jobless guy who is now combing the classifieds and stopping twice a week down at job service? That they need to increase his taxes "to maintain and ensure the current level of operations for state government?" Guys, I don't think that one is going to sit too well. When Governor Janklow came back to office in 1994, one of the first things he did was to enact a sweeping across the board cut to state government. I was in state government at the time, and I remember at the time that it truly was "across the board." This is what people out in the trenches are looking for. Not tax increases - temporary or not - to maintain a standard of offices that are beyond some South Dakotan's personal means. Across the board cuts resonate with the populace. Tax increases don't, and in fact make people mad. Don't want to take my advice? Fine. At the end of the day it isn't up to me. But if a few of you find yourselves turned out of office in 2010 - don't say I didn't warn you.

A Keloland story interviewing folks on the street gets a similar reaction in this excerpt about Republican Sen. Gordon Howie's bill to increase sales taxes to lower property taxes:

"Anytime I hear that we are going to raise sales tax, I think, as a business owner, that that makes less money out there for people to spend. Right now is not the time. If anything we need to be lowering them so people can get out and stimulate the economy," business owner Jeff From said. From owns three salons in Sioux Falls and says an increase to the sales tax will hurt businesses, leaving more people laid off and fewer people with money to put back into the economy.

The criticism leads to Gov. Mike Rounds whose second budget proposal yanked funding for S.D. Arts Council, the School for the Deaf, the State Fair, young children health programs and adult dental coverage, among other essential needs of the state. The Republicans are angry that they're being coerced by Rounds to support a 25 percent or 50 percent increase in state sales taxes to repair the damage to the budget created by Rounds.

Rounds still refuses to consider a plan offered by Democrats at the beginning of this year's legislative session which identified across-the-board cuts and funding resources for the state's essential needs without increasing taxes. Rounds and the Republican leadership have criticized some of the Democrats' funding resources, saying it would be wrong to use one-time funding sources. However, when they say that, they ignore the fact that Rounds drained a one-time funding resource to balance his last few budgets when the economy was in much better shape. In another story today on the federal stimulus money, Rounds said the source was one-time money that he would spend to provide relief for the state.

"It means we wouldn't take money out of our savings accounts to pay that bill," Rounds said in a Pierre Capital Journal story. "But it would be one-time in nature and only give us some breathing room."

So much for the one-time money source excuse not to use available money to fund budget needs .

You can read more about the hardships Rounds has created for families whose children require the School for the Deaf at Keloland's website. Also, the Capital Journal is reporting on what Rounds is saying about using (or not using) likely Federal stimulus money. Change You Can't Depend on."

South Dakota still leads nation in moonlighting to survive

South Dakota's wages are so low compared to the rest of the nation that the state still maintains its distinction as the state with the highest percentage of moonlighting workers who hold multiple jobs to survive. The Argus Leader reported today that the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that South Dakota rates first and Nebraska rates second in workers who moonlight. It shows that 10.2 percent of South Dakotans had more than one job in 2007. The state's rate has increased each year since 2003, when 8.6 percent of the state's workers had two or more jobs.

AROUND THE STATE - By Rick Hauffe, SDDP Executive Director

Democrats made history in 1992 when they won a majority in the South Dakota Senate without a seated Democratic Governor. This victory was the result of four years of spirited teamwork between the S.D. Democratic Party and the Democratic legislators to win elections and run smart strategies during legislative sessions. But the key to that victory was Democrats holding the line in the 1991 session against some very punishing pressure by Republican legislative leaders to increase the state sales tax 12.5 percent and 25 percent.

By holding the line on taxes, Democrats were able to campaign in 1992 on a "no more taxes" battle cry and expose the Republicans as being phonies on their self-description as fiscal conservatives. We see the same stars lining up again in Pierre with Gov. Mike Rounds fumbling with two different budget proposals and calling his GOP legislative majorities "lacking guts" to raise taxes and fix his budget dilemma.

The mid-point of the 40-session-day 2009 Legislature is Wednesday, yet for some GOP legislators, the strain already feels like the session must be much further along. No doubt, they'd like to hang together behind their Governor and behind their House Leader Bob Faehn and Senate Leader Dave Knudson, but their gut instincts are telling them they are headed for political disaster back home in their districts.

As GOP blogmeister Pat Powers said earlier in this newsletter, "for the group of Republicans proposing a temporary sales tax increase - those who we might term the 'tax-and-spend gang of nine' - what are they going to say to that jobless guy who is now combing the classifieds and stopping twice a week down at job service?"

As we near Day 20, we have to keep in mind that there is still plenty of time left. Much can happen and fortunes can spin around.

At the beginning of this session, Senator Scott Heidepriem and Rep. Bernie Hunhoff introduced a common sense plan that solved the problems for the Fiscal Year 2010 budget without imposing tax hikes on people who are seriously strapped by the economy. To get out of the trap Rounds created for them with the false premise that either essential programs get eliminated or taxes must increase, Republican legislators have a third alternative. They could embrace the Democrats' plan to balance FY-2010's budget and move along.

For a happy result for both parties, two things must be off the table: Tax hikes and debilitating budget cuts on critically important programs. The money to balance the budget is available now. More money is coming from Congress. Republican legislators might want to tell Rounds the sky is not falling. Their Democratic colleagues really know what they're doing.

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The South Dakota Democratic Party provides professional staff and some of the best consultant support to our Democratic legislators. This newsletter is being sent to you to keep you informed of key issues and major developments in Pierre until April 1, 2009.

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By making a difference for the Democratic Party, you will help us and our legislators make a difference for South Dakota. Please make your contribution online with ActBlue, or mail your check to SDDP, P.O. Box 1485, Sioux Falls, SD 57101.

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Paid for by South Dakota Democratic Party, P.O. Box 1485, Sioux Falls, SD 57101; Bill Nibbelink, Treasurer. Political contributions are not tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for Federal income tax purposes.