South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

November 2020

Donita Trump Noem Kristi Noem

UPDATE: Governor Kristi Noem part of a record breaking week

l3wis 23Comments

UPDATE: Looks like the Rodeo Queen was deflecting questions about Covid by continuing to spread the B.S. that somehow votes for Trump were not counted (George asked her to present evidence, several times).

I think the only reason the security fence around the Governor’s mansion was NOT built out of mud because Kristi didn’t want to be fenced in by something smarter than her. Stop wasting your time with a Class A loser and start leading our state out of this pandemic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEL0X1Tj4g

You would think after this past week, most governors would be reveling in all the records that were broke;

• We broke records in daily positive cases of Covid, Covid deaths and hospitalizations!

• South Dakota becomes the first state to legalize both Rec and Medical Mary on the same ballot!

• Joe Biden receives a record number of votes in a presidential election and is poised to take the White House with around 290 electoral votes!

Come on Noem! I would think the Fireworks would be going off at Rushmore by now.

Pray all you want Kristi – Karma NOT God ruled this week.

1st Amendment Media Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

In Theresa Stehly’s fight to keep Public Input ‘as is’ the Argus Falsely claims her residency

l3wis 8Comments

Former Sioux Falls City Councilor Stehly sent out a postcard last week asking residents to speak up this coming Tuesday about keeping Public Input where it currently is, at the beginning of the meeting. She wrote a similar Letter to the Editor of the Argus;

Don’t let the business elite push out the average citizens. We need to protect and continue this opportunity to accommodate the citizen’s input at the beginning of the meeting, which is a user friendly time.

It is an important communication tool for the taxpayers and promotes accountability and transparency.

The Vote will be on Tuesday, November 10th during the 7 p.m.meeting. Please contact the mayor and the council members and tell them to leave public input where it is.

Tell them not to bow to the “Business Elite” who think they can pay their way to the front of the line. Contact all the Sioux Falls City Council and let them know you do not want your voice to be shut down:

Theresa Stehly, Mobridge

While I have seen the Argus editorial staff ‘edit’ my letters in the past, I have NEVER seen them blatantly change someone’s residency. When Stehly sent the letter over to the Argus, she put Sioux Falls as her residency. Why? Because that is what it is. Stehly has lived here I believe for over 20 years, she owns a home in Sioux Falls, pays taxes here and votes here. She did take a temporary job over the last couple of months in the Mobridge area, but that doesn’t make her a residency Mobridge, her home is Sioux Falls. It would be like saying a traveling construction worker who owns a home in Sioux Falls is suddenly a resident of Texas because he spent a couple months down there in the winter fixing roofs. It’s ludicrous. In fact there are several wealthy business families in Sioux Falls who donate to community projects and try to influence local government that winter in places like Arizona and California. So are they suddenly ‘residents’ of these states because they spend a couple of months away from Sioux Falls? I am guessing they would disagree.

The only reason I can think of why the Argus did this is to delegitimize Stehly’s voice who has been a strong advocate of open government in Sioux Falls and has fought for many things in this community on and off the council, and she continues to do so.

I think not only the Argus but other media in Sioux Falls have been strong supporters (behind the scenes) of moving public input to the end, so they can get their quick clips at council meetings and run off and write their half-baked stories. It’s their tradition of laziness and ignorance that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

As for Public Input, and decisions made on Tuesday night at the 2nd reading, including moving the meeting time to 6 PM, may be null and void. Bruce Danielson has done this;

Today, Friday, November 6th, 2020I had served on the city of Sioux Falls and the City Council a SDCL 3-21 Notice of Claim concerning the city violating SDCL 1-27-1.16. Material relating to open meeting agenda item to be available–Exceptions–Violation as misdemeanor.

The SDCL 3-21 notice is necessary to inform the city of harm they have caused. in this case, the harm to me as a citizen who wanted the information displayed and the law requires them to follow. I will be preparing a complaint for the South Dakota Open Meetings Committee for the flagrant violations the City has continued.

The actions taken last Tuesday are illegal because they violated SDCL 1-27-1.16. If the City Council continues with the 2nd reading this coming Tuesday and casts any votes on the illegally passed items, the votes cast will likely be null and void.

The body cannot pass into law an item brought before the body illegally.

In fact a past City Attorney Diane Best said this in her recommendations about this section of the law (page 17);

MEETING MATERIALS
• Printed materials relating to agenda item and is given
to public body, generally must be available to general
public.
• Posted on website
• Available at business office
• Available in meeting room
• Excludes confidential materials
• Source: SDCL 1‐27‐1.16

As I look at it, you can’t just do one or two of these things and call it good, you have to do it all.

It will be interesting to see how this goes Tuesday night. You know how I feel about this. I agree with Stehly, this is an effort to put the banksters and welfare developer queens at the beginning of the line, and it is disgusting and pathetic.

BTW, whether you support or oppose, make your voice heard ahead of time. As of right now, councilors Brekke, Starr and Soehl are opposed to the move;

Janet Brekke <jbrekke@siouxfalls.org>,

Christine Erickson <cerickson@siouxfalls.org>,

Alex Jensen <ajensen@siouxfalls.org>,

Rick Kiley <rkiley@siouxfalls.org>, 

Greg Neitzert <gneitzert@siouxfalls.org>,

Marshall Selberg <mselberg@siouxfalls.org>,

Curt Soehl <csoehl@siouxfalls.org>,

Pat Starr <pstarr@siouxfalls.org>,

Mayor TenHaken <PTenHaken@siouxfalls.org>

1st Amendment Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council & Mayor TenHaken willing to possibly violate law with their war on transparency

l3wis 11Comments

Last night at the city council meeting there were three important first readings of ordinances. Mask mandate, meeting time change and moving public input dead last. While the proposed ordinances did appear on SIRE online with linked documents, there were NO hard copies available at the meeting (these usually appear in a white binder on a desk by the chamber’s front door). This is a clear violation of open meeting laws and the city council, city attorney, mayor and council staff ignored it.

What made it even worse was, out of courtesy, Cameraman Bruce let them know that they really needed to recess the meeting until copies of the ordinance could be handed out to the public in attendance. Nobody lifted a finger. The chair of the meeting, Paul TenHaken didn’t attempt a recess, the city attorney did not recommend one, the city clerk and city operations officer said and did nothing. Even after being told to correct this obvious violation, they all continued the meeting.

What does this mean? First off, an open meetings violation will probably be filed (more to come on that). If found in violation they could all receive fines and even jail time, it has already happened to a county official in the state for doing something similar. So who would be ultimately responsible for this fiasco and dereliction of duty? The chair, Mayor TenHaken could be but also the city clerk.

Even after warned to correct the issue, Paul just kept going. Why? Because of his deep, deep, deep hatred of open meetings and transparency. He will stop at NOTHING to make sure the public is NOT informed about what changes he is attempting to make at these meetings. He apparently will go as far as possibly violating open meetings laws to achieve his decimation of open government in Sioux Falls. Not sure what point he was trying to make?

I was actually astonished that they didn’t recess for 10-15 minutes to print out a few copies. It was baffling. What it showed me, besides the apparent disregard for the law, was extreme childishness, ignorance and stupidity of possibly openly violating the law when a constituent pointed it out. It’s like Paul was thinking, “If I just ignore Bruce, and pretend we are not doing anything wrong, we will be fine.”

I have seen city government officials do some pretty moronic things, but this one takes the cake. It’s almost like Paul tries to one up himself of doing idiotic things. Which used to be monthly, but now is coming a weekly endeavor.

When you have 9 elected officials and about 4 appointed officials essentially ignore a possible violation (and not even raise their hands and ask the city attorney) you wonder who is running this rudderless ship called the city of Sioux Falls?

Speaking of public input. Councilor Brekke did a fantastic job of explaining to the rest of the council that they are essentially ‘guests’ at a meeting that is for the ‘public’ and this is why it should remain at the beginning. Councilor Starr reminded them of all the citizens that have come in the past to bring important issues to the council. It looks like right now the only ones opposed to the move are Starr, Brekke and Soehl.

Marijuana South Dakotans State Funding State Legislature

South Dakotans knew exactly what they were voting for in Amendment ‘A’

l3wis 6Comments

I only got one prediction correct this election season, that Amendment ‘A’ for Recreational Mary would pass with 52-54% of the vote. Before Tuesday many asked me what I based that number on. It was simple. Amendment A has been polling since July at around 51%. I figured since that polling number stayed consistent over that many months it would pass. I added the extra percentage points because some people tend to lie about voting for making drugs legal. I know, weird!

What I want to remind legislators, unlike their argument for repealing IM22, South Dakotans knew what they were voting for with Rec Mary. It is a drug that used to be legal in this country about 80 years ago Federally. It is also a plant that has been used for thousands of years throughout the world. Trust me, when South Dakotans said they want this, they want it, it should not be misconstrued. Every state so far that has moved towards legalization has NOT overturned their position, there is a reason for that.

I have no doubt the Fascist Republican Party that now has an overwhelming majority in the State Legislature will regulate the piss out of it virtually making it unavailable in a dispensary, but the good news is you will still be able to possess it, use it and grow it. I expect the only retail to cash in on legalization will be hardware stores, since many people will be gardening from home.

I think it is foolish for the state or local entities to deny dispensaries because they will be missing out on the sales tax revenue. I also think this will just drive people to buy from the black market (these folks don’t pay taxes).

It is hard to understand how South Dakotans can do something so smart as legalize a pretty harmless drug, but continue to vote for legislators who want to take away our other rights. But if our lawmakers try to F’ck with Amendment ‘A’ like they did with IM22, there will be Hell to pay.

Humor Jason Ravnsborg Satan Satire

AG Ravnsborg was reaching for the Holy Grail when he hit and killed pedestrian

l3wis 14Comments

After we found out yesterday that Jason was actually driving in the shoulder of the road (almost in the ditch) when he hit Mr. Boever, we were quickly told he was distracted by something, but no one can say what. Speculation is he may have fallen asleep, could have been speeding and lost control, or even worse texting and driving. Some have argued that NOT all distracted driving is the fault of the driver and could be considered an unfortunate accident. The right wing spin machine (which has been famous at protecting Republican office holders who don’t seem to have regard for traffic laws) have been arguing that maybe Jason’s distraction wasn’t his fault.

Highway Patrol Officer, Donald Killsadeer said there are some distinct possibilities, “Once we had a Republican legislator from out in the NW part of the state that had to swerve off the road due to a group of leprechauns crossing the road. We never found them, but he’s a Republican legislator, so we took his word for it.”

Those that are close to Ravnsborg are telling us that after he left the Lincoln Day Dinner that night that before he got to Highmore he saw a bright light in the road and stopped. Right there in the center of the road was an angel holding the Holy Grail. The angel told Jason to take it to Pierre and give it to Noem.

Close friend, Clyde Smorgesborg told us, “Jason didn’t want to leave it out of his site, so he placed it on the dashboard. While he was rounding the turn in Highmore the Grail fell to the floor, as Jason was reaching to grab it he went off the road and hit Boever.”

Hmm, seems plausible, but we were suspicious of one thing about Jason’s alibi. Why was he bringing the Holy Grail to Noem?

Smorgesborg explains, “Oh, that’s easy, Jesus Christ sent it down from Heaven to give to Noem to protect her on the campaign trail for Donald Trump. There’s a lot of crazies out there, and they all seem to gather at Trump rallies.”

So it looks like Jason (like most Republicans in our state) has Jesus on his side.

Case closed.

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