Clik here to view.
Hartford City Council Lets Presiding Officer Vote Twice, Rejects Mayoral...
One citizen, one vote… unless you’re the president of the Hartford City Council protecting your mayor from a recall vote. In a well-attended and heated meeting last night, six members of the Hartford...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rounds and Farm Bureau: Insuring People Bad! Insuring Crops Good!
Senator Mike Rounds and the South Dakota Farm Bureau don’t think government should help Americans get health insurance: South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal, in an interview with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Facebook Pages Tussle over Accountability in Brown County Government
On September 11, Aberdeen businessman Matt Dielke started “Promoting Honesty and Transparency in County Government,” a Facebook page to document his efforts to get some accountability for what he...
View ArticlePublic-Sector Layoffs Hit Minorities Hardest
Declines in public-sector employment and wages have dragged down the recovery from the 2008 recession. Those declines have also disproportionately hurt minority workers: Part of the reason...
View ArticleSixer Surtax Could Fund Blue Ribbon K-12 Pay Raise Plan
My post this morning on Dr. Chicoine’s impending reliance on Monsanto for the bulk of his income got one eager reader reviewing the complete list of state employees making over $100,000 (see pp. 26–35...
View ArticleFort Pierre Funds Museum with Federal Transportation Dollars
Ken Santema picks up South Dakota’s lone entry in the 2015 Wastebook, the project Arizona Senator Jeff Flake inherited from retired Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn to spotlight projects that misuse...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hartford Edges Toward Anarchy! City Council Lacks Quorum
At least the buses run on time—Hartford city website this morning, slightly annotated, advertising for a part-time bus driver but not for citizens to fill three vacant city council seats (click to...
View ArticleTwo Bills Aimed at Hartford: SB 64 Clarifies One Councilor One Vote; SB 65...
No sooner do I mention the council chaos in Hartford than two bills pop into the Legislative hopper hoping to clarify how city governments are supposed to run. Senate Bill 64 is o.k.; Senate Bill 65 is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Top Ten South Dakota Employers: Avera Beats Sanford, Government Beats All...
Sanford Health exerts a lot of political pull in South Dakota (pull which will be tested by its current effort to undo the will of the voters by rolling back Initiated Measure 17, our Any Willing...
View ArticleReducing Public Notice Takes Away Sioux Falls Residents’ Opportunity to Speak Up
Last Sunday, Bruce Danielson alerted his Sioux Falls neighbors to two items on their city council’s agenda: a new three-dollar rental car tax and a proposal to let the city post its agendas later. Had...
View ArticleEagle Butte City Council Not Publishing Reliable Minutes
West River Eagle editor Ross DuBray blows the whistle on the Eagle Butte City Council’s failure to publish reliable minutes: This has been an ongoing issue with the city for some time, with things...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guest Column: Government Needs More Open Meetings
Last year, Yankton County Observer contributing editor Brian Hunhoff received national attention for his Sunshine Week column challenging government secrecy. This year, Hunhoff marks Sunshine Week...
View ArticleClik here to view.
South Dakota Holds $3.9 Billion in Capital Assets
As I page through the new statewide Single Audit Report for FY 2015 (yes, we’ll get to the Department of Education this morning), I notice the list of primary government capital assets. If South Dakota...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Feds Supported South Dakota with $2.33 Billion in FY2015
South Dakota’s Fiscal Year 2015 Single Audit Report includes this breakdown of $2.33 billion federal dollars spent in the last budget year to promote the general welfare in our fair state: South Dakota...
View ArticleNelson Following Lead of Kloucek, Volesky, Koositra, Bolin, and Heidepriem on...
We’ve been having a pleasant conversation with Republican District 19 Senate candidate Stace Nelson from Fulton about putting Cabinet secretaries up for election and consolidating some state offices....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jackley Endorses Democratic Critique That Pierre Lacks Integrity
In his Aberdeen press conference following EB-5 czar Joop Bollen’s initial court appearance, Attorney General Marty Jackley fielded a question about holding people accountable following “several...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hartford Edges Toward Anarchy! City Council Lacks Quorum
At least the buses run on time—Hartford city website this morning, slightly annotated, advertising for a part-time bus driver but not for citizens to fill three vacant city council seats (click to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Best Way to Protect Our Sacred Land from Borehole Nuclear Waste? Democracy.
The most challenging part of this is the social aspect…. —Andy Griffith, U.S. Department of Energy, on the Deep Borehole Field Test, 2016.04.28. We may not have had the Governor in Redfield for last...
View ArticleTidbit: Obama Brings Seven Years of Smaller Government
The U.S. economy added only 160,000 new jobs last month. But the labor stats on public employment remind us of an important political note: Federal government employees in April 2016: 2,757,000....
View ArticlePros of TIF Districts Really That Pro?
I remain uneasy with the proliferation of tax increment financing, especially for projects like Madison’s new commercial/residential TIF district across from the new hospital that look like they could...
View Article
