Open Letter to the Mayor from Prominent Democrats in the State

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Don’t ask me how I get these things sent to me, but there is a lot of ‘leakers’ in the state party that have big mouths, how else do you think I got the name of the new ED of the party a day before her ‘big announcement’?

The rumor swirling for several weeks is that the state Dems are fed up with the mayor calling himself a Democrat, when he truly isn’t one. Here are some excerpts from the letter (yet to be sent to Hizzoner);

“Trust us, this isn’t easy to tell you this, but when you recruit Republicans to run for city council and convince the former ED to raise money for them, when you garner most of your campaign donations from Republicans, when you ignore the rising crime rates, when you turn your back on the poor and the handicapped, and when you blatantly ignore the social ills going on in your city and state, you sir, are not a Democrat. Heck, I don’t think you are even a Republican, more of a corporatist that is more concerned about the decisions you make hurting or helping the wallets of your (Republican) friends and your own investments.

Either start acting like a Democrat (in actions, not just in words) or get the Hell out of our state party.”

The letter continues from there basically stating that South DaCola made this whole thing up, but hey, is it that far-fetched? I told several prominent state Dems already they need to apply the Lora Hubbel rule to Hizzoner and give him the boot. While I’m sure there has been some serious consideration, like most things the Dems do in this state (besides initiatives) they have a little trouble pulling the trigger. Maybe if we gave them a 5 foot branch in a grove of trees they could pull it off?

UPDATE: SD Democratic Party’s NEW Executive Director – Suzie Jones Pranger

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Suzie and her husband Joel

Not sure when the Dems were going to formally announce their new director, but here she is. She has a law degree from USD.

UPDATE

As Chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party I am pleased to announce that Suzanne Jones Pranger will start as the new Executive Director on Monday, Aug. 3.

Suzie is an attorney with experience in Democratic political campaigns and issues. A proud fifth generation South Dakotan, she will bring political experience, an exceptional work ethic, professionalism and passion for the values of our Party to the ED position.

Suzie graduated with high honors from USD School of Law in May of 2014 where she was the Founding Organizer of USD Law School Democrats. She also holds a Masters of Political Science with American Politics and Public Policy Emphasis (Perfect 4.0 GPA, I might add).  BA (and another 4.0) was also from USD in May of 2011 with Political Science Major and Minor in Business Administration. She was the USD College Democrats President from 2010-2011.

In the summer of 2009, Suzie was a Congressional Intern in Washington DC working for both Sen. Tim Johnson and Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

During the 2010 election cycle, she worked as a campaign headquarters intern for Stephanie Herseth Sandlin where she assisted senior campaign staff with fundraising, media interview prep, volunteer outreach, scheduling, and event planning.

During the 2010 SD Legislative Session, she was a Senate Democrat Intern where she was aid to Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem and Caucus Chair Ben Nesselhuf.  In the 2011 Legislative Session, she returned to Pierre to serve as the Senate Democratic Caucus Secretary.

Suzie volunteered to help with the original YELL (Young Elected Legislative Leader) programs and drafted all the bills and amendments for our high school student program.  She also has experience with the Native Vote Protection program where she oversaw election officials on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in 2012.

In 2014, she was selection as a DNC Hope Institute Fellow. Suzie was one of a total of 40 fellows selected from a nationwide application pool of several hundred to attend the DNC’s comprehensive campaign training program. This intense training emphasized managing national and statewide campaigns, running for office and fundraising.

She has spent the year since graduating from law school clerking for a judge in Sioux Falls.  Her contract expired yesterday, July 31. Because that employment precluded her involvement in politics, we have waited until now to announce our selection. Thanks for your patience and understanding as we awaited this announcement. If you’ve read through all of her qualifications, I hope that you agree with me that she was worth the wait.

I believe that Suzie will be with us for many years to come and that she will serve the Democratic Party as an exceptional Executive Director.

Ann

Ann Tornberg, 

Chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party

What’s next for Lucy Cooper?

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lucy-cooper

I ran into Lucy last night at the Frislie/Zandbroz First Friday Alley Show. As you may or may not know, Lucy ran Rick Weiland’s campaign, worked for the Democratic Party in the State Legislature this past session and now is assisting in the petition drives for keeping the minimum wage as is for peeps under 18.

So I asked her after June, when the petition drive is done, what’s next? Any big news? She actually told me that she does have BIG July plans, but I’m sworn to secrecy 🙂

Will Brendan Johnson run for office?

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This face is ‘too nice’ to be a politician

As a long time Democrat active in the party told me yesterday, “Highly unlikely.”

Their reasons were straight forward, he will make a lot of cashola with his new job and will probably never look back.

I tend to agree with them that he will probably not run either in 2016. After watching so many Democrats over the past 8 years fall on the sword for the party, I just don’t think Brendan has the stomach to lose against Ironic Johnny or Noemless.

And who would want to be a Democratic governor in a state ran by Republicans?

Also, I don’t think Brendan has the makings of a politician, he’s just too ‘nice’. If we are going to beat the Republicans in 2016 and beyond, we need a real Democratic Ass(hole) to finally expose and tell the truth about how GOP has been damaging our state for years. We need to start punching them in the face and kicking them in the ass.

 

Senator-Elect Rounds starts off his partisan tenure w/a classic FOX News swipe at Democratic Senators

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mikerounds

Got to hand it to Rounds, he doesn’t waste anytime showing his partisanship;

“I have had the opportunity to talk to a number of Democrat Senators who are welcoming the change back to what Leader (Mitch) McConnell is saying will be the new norm, which will be making through a regular order of business where committees actually function once again and are expected to get their work out on a timely basis,” Rounds said.

And when you talked to those senators Marion, did they tell you they prefer the non-Rush Limbaugh title of ‘Democratic’. No surprise coming from our new Repug Senator.