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Marijuana Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls South Dakotans State Legislature

IM 27 opponents spread lies

l3wis 1Comments

The worst part about the campaign is it is being funded by the mayor of the largest city in South Dakota. The opponents know they need Sioux Falls to vote this down in order to win so they spread the lies.

Rick Steves was the guest on The Dakota Scout podcast this week. He did a marvelous job of explaining decriminalization further and how it will be up to our state legislature to fine tune the law if passed. He called it the ‘Reefer Madness’ propaganda.

Lalley brought up the sticky situation Mayor TenHaken has put himself in;

But Mayor TenHaken made an interesting point. He said that if IM27 does pass, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to buy weed in Sioux Falls, other than what’s currently allowed for medical marijuana use.

The mayor brought up Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the city doesn’t allow dispensaries even though it’s legal in that state. Ultimately, it would be up to the South Dakota Legislature to decide how marijuana is regulated, he said.

So I asked him what he would tell lawmakers should that come to pass.

“If I could tell them what to do, I would say we have what’s called home rule in Sioux Falls. I think that is a muscle that we would certainly flex on this. But I can say other vices that we limit. We limit the number of liquor licenses. We’ve limited medical (marijuana) dispensaries. It’s not going to be a cannabis free-fall in Sioux Falls if this would happen and we have to put this here. We need to be pragmatic about if it would pass.”

First off, even with Home Rule, the mayor doesn’t have the power to limit anything, that is up to the city council. I would also find the limitation of casinos, bars, liquor stores as NOT a fair comparison. You can gamble, drink or buy alcohol for home ingestion on any corner in this city. I guess I would ask what limitations he is talking about? By that comparison we could have a dispensary within a half mile of everyone’s house in Sioux Falls.

I don’t care if you are running for office or are advocating for or against a measure. Lying to constituents to get the intended result will always fail in the end. Liars will always be losers no matter what happens on election day.

Democrats Elections Media Republicans South Dakotans State Legislature

The Dakota Scout plays into the Republican Party rhetoric

l3wis 13Comments

Since the Dakota Scout has launched I have had a subscription. I have also read hundreds of stories over the years of both of the journalists running the media organization. They are good reporters.

But the the resounding criticism I hear from readers (especially ones that are independents and left leaning) is they tend to lean a little right. I would argue they are more Libertarian then outright Republican Right, and if you have a conversation about their political leanings they will admit it.

What I did not expect was for them to play into the Republican Party rhetoric. As I was reading this story on District 15 candidates I noticed they called the Republican Candidates as members of the ‘Republican’ party and Democrats the members of the ‘Democrat’ party. This is the same rhetoric the Republican party members have been pushing for decades;

However, some Republican leaders have made a habit of referring to their opposition incorrectly and discourteously as the “Democrat Party.” The reason isn’t entirely clear; it may be meant to imply that the party isn’t sufficiently “democratic” in the general sense, or may just be meant as a petty insult. 

That is all it is, a petty insult, and I expected more from the team at the Dakota Scout.

I get it, it is hard to start a media organization without catering to the Republican leaning business acumen in our state. Yes, there are many fine companies in SD that are run by moderate indies and Democrats but I’m not sure the capital is out there to support a more left leaning or even moderate news organization in South Dakota. I have caught the media time and time again in this city who just blatantly ignores the bad deeds of Republican lawmakers. Just look at the city election. Not one single news organization even bothered to check the voting records of those running. Why?

Donita Trump Noem Elections Jamie Smith Kristi Noem South Dakotans

Does Jamie Smith have a fighting chance?

l3wis 15Comments

Maybe.

If you would have asked me this question the day he announced, I would have fell over laughing.

Money is the name of the game, and we could easily talk the issues, etc., but that is what wins.

But we are in strange times;

• Roe vs. Wade was overturned.

• The red state of Kansas overturned it in their state . . .

• Amendment C failed in SoDak.

We could also talk about plane trips, cheating and nepotism, but we won’t go there.

Social media today was on fire that internal and external polling show Jamie Smith is closing the GAP and is within Billie Sutton territory.

My family homesteaded in SoDak on both sides of the tree, I grew up here and my families have deep roots. No one was specifically conservative or liberal in my family, just caring, patriotic and faithful. One thing South Dakotans don’t like is liars and cheaters. Ironically, Noem could lose this race, by simply being a loser (and a liar and cheater).

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