Governor Dennis Daugaard doesn’t know corruption from corn dogs. He also doesn’t know leadership from lederhosen.
Our Governor convenes a Blue Ribbon task force and says, “Let’s finally figure out how to fund education right!” The task force spends half the year gathering information. They come to a consensus on 29 policy recommendations.
If I’m Governor and I mean the things I say, if my task force was meant to really solve a problem and not just kick a can down the road for the eleventh time in seventeen years, I say, “Thank you, task force, for an excellent plan! Now we know what to do! Legislature, let’s do it!” I’m all the more emboldened to talk that if my party’s supermajorities in both houses of my Legislature tend, like it or not, to give me what I want.
But Dennis Daugaard’s leadership pants must still be in the dirty clothes basket:
“It’s a two-thirds vote and the margins for road funding was very thin so we’ll see if there’s a will on behalf of the legislature. And I also have to feel as if there’s true reform being accomplished,” Daugaard said.
The task force provided ways for schools to control expenses and be more efficient, while suggesting that a good source of revenue for raising salaries will be through a hike in the state sales tax.
“If everyone recognizes we are going to try and find a package that addresses, inequities and addresses inefficiencies and addresses teacher pay and incentivise schools to utiltize funding to address teacher pay, then hopefully we can get reforms that can work for South Dakota,” Daugaard said.
Angela Kennecke: And you’re open to one of those ways of raising the state’s sales tax?
Daugaard: It depends; it depends [Angela Kennecke, “Task Force Recommends Raising State Sales Tax for Teacher Salaries,” KELO-TV, 2015.11.11].
We’ll see? We’re going to try? Hopefully? It depends? Horsehockey! It depends on the boss saying, “We’re gonna do it!” and doing it.
An able observer of all things political says that had the Governor called her to serve on a task force, charged her to come up with a plan for real action, and then responded to her labors with Eeeh, we’ll see, she’d be mad.
Whatever grade you give the Blue Ribbon plan, the Blue Ribboneers did what they were told. They came up with a practical plan to lift South Dakota teacher pay off the floor, to 39th in the nation, commensurate with our rank for per-student K-12 expenditures, a number Governor Daugaard batted around prior to convening the task force. Governor Daugaard’s hesitance to take the baton from his own task force and carry it vigorously to the Legislative finish line makes him look like less of a leader and makes his task force look more like the dog-and-pony delay that many South Dakotans worried it would be.
Update 11:32 CST: The Governor uses his very important weekly column to promote an ACT® product, the National Career Readiness Certificate™, which consists of three tests: Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information. Governor Daugaard says he’s taken the test and is encouraging his cabinet and staff to do so. Maybe ACT® has a leadership test he could take… but we already know that score.
Dakota’s wingnuts don’t do reform-unless it might be reform school for the pathologically corrupt.
Maybe it should be renamed tisk farce.
Well written Cory. Your description is articulate, accurate, and astute. The real take away is that for the umpteenth time, nothing is going to even going to be proposed again, yet alone get done. South Dakota loses again and continues on in its race to the bottom.
Many of us knew that DD’s Blueribbon panel wouldn’t come up with any useful solutions for SD’s educational funding problems. Sad how much time and money was wasted on this charade.
Sales and property taxes aren’t sufficient. Time for an individual income tax? At least that would be based on what taxpayers make, not on what they own or spend.
In this red state, it won’t happen in my lifetime. Repulicans own political power.
This is of course a very silly post.
The Governor received the report at 11 am on Wednesday. He gave the interview you quoted less than two hours later. He had met with the co-chairs to be briefed on its contents, but hadn’t even had time to read it yet at that point.
I think we would all expect that the Governor would read the report, carefully. He will want to ask follow-up questions. He may want more data or more information. He will want to talk to educators, legislators, and other advisors.
The report leaves some points to be filled in with more specificity, and the Governor will need to work through that. It also raises questions about the overall state budget, so he will need to see how the rest of the budget comes together.
I would say to able observer – If I had been on the task force (and I was), I would be mad if the Governor received the report and instantly offered a complete response and a plan. It would make me think that he had already created his own plan, without taking time to actually read and consider the report. The report took time and effort to research and compile and I would want the Governor to take that same kind of time to consider it and offer a thoughtful response.
Expecting some kind of instant response incredibly naive. Either that, or it’s an attempt to take a partisan potshot rather than actually advance the debate on an important issue.
Governor Daugaard rarely misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It’s ironic that as the Republican Party has gotten stronger the abilities of its governors has consistently and dramatically gotten weaker. From Janklow to Rounds to Daugaard we’ve had a precipitous decline in aptitude in a very short time. Rounds was a caretaker governor of the kleptocracy, but Daugaard is something less than that.
Thank you, Chief of Staff Venhuizen, for joining the conversation. DFP readers, let’s be polite.
I know it’s hard to provide an instant response. It took me 36 whole hours to come up with a measly six blog posts on the Blue Ribboneers’ final report.
Now that the Governor has had four days to review the proposal, does the Governor have an initial assessment of the merits of the details the panel offered? Barring that, is the Governor’s office willing to commit to promoting the plan’s general goal of spending at least $75 million to raise teacher pay to $48,000, a goal that the panel announced at the end of its final meeting on October 29?
If Daugaard ran the Black Hills Children’s Homes as poorly as he runs the state, there should be a financial audit done of the millions of state and federal dollars that were, and currently are, being funneled into this organization. There should be a critical review of the money they receive for Native American children and the lack of Native American adults who are licensed to do foster care through their programming. Does he still get paid from this group?
Welcome Chief of Staff Venhuizen. I agree with you that the Governor hasn’t had enough time to read through the report and respond.
However that’s not the point. The Governor made education cuts after he became Governor. Education has just gotten back to the levels of when the cuts were made. No effort has been made to increase funding for education.
The problems that education has now, such as the teacher shortage, has been coming for a long time. The Governor isn’t the only one who has shown lack of leadership. You can go back to Rounds and Janklow as well.
We can disagree on policy but what I would hope no one has any argument on is how important education is to our state and so far the Governor’s administration has shown no leadership. Example and correct me if I’m wrong but the Governor didn’t mention education in his State-of-the-State address. He talked about highways and criminal justice reform-but nothing about the problems within education. That sir is lack of leadership.
Once again I’d like to welcome you here sir and I hope you keep coming back and we can have some good exchanges.
Partisan potshot? One wonders if anyone connected to South Dakota’s government has ever heard of oversight and/or accountability. Scandals here,scandals there and no one living person gets held accountable. Millions of dollars are missing. No one can account for them and it appears no one is looking very hard.
People are dying including precious children. Money goes missing. The state’s reputation is in the toilet. The Guv doesn’t see corruption or a problem with one party rule. Time to remove the blinders,Hoss.
Here’s what Tony V. is missing and the point Cory already made.
The state has no other course to eliminate this embarrassment without raising taxes, and the simplest way that would pass the SDGOP sniff test is the state sales tax. The smart thing would be to dedicate 100 percent of that fifth cent state sales tax to public school districts. This is something which should have happened 20 or 30 years ago. I haven’t read the reports, but I’ve read the news stories and this blog’s posts because the BR Panel’s discussions have not been conducted in a vacuum. There is no mystery.
Back to the leadership issue. Maybe the Governor needs a better speech writer or political adviser because the response to a question like “are you open to an idea like raising the state sales tax?” is NOT a hesitant, wishy-washy “it depends (cough, gasp) it depends.” The answer is “damn straight Angie baby, we’re giving it strong consideration! It’s an option!”
C’mon, Tony! “It depends. It depends.”????? Blech!
Best answer: “This is where the buck stops Angie. I’m proposing the penny tax to fund schools, lower pressure on property taxes and pulling South Dakota out of 51st place in teacher pay. If anybody can top that, they better stand up now!”
You learn that in political campaign school. They call it the ol’ Inchon Peninsula Trick. Rush in, make the stand and seal your opposition in a corner.
“It depends” is for wusses.
Tony, with all due respect, Cory’s reporting on the Blue Ribbon Panel may indeed by partisan, but it is not “silly”.
Obviously the post was important enough to solicit a response from the governor’s chief of staff.
Cory consistently provides his readers with the best researched posts on a daily basis, there is no other state blog that compares to him.
I find your reference to Cory’s work as “silly” an insult and unprofessional for a man in your position.
I don’t support raising the sales tax, and here’s why. First, it’s regressive. But more importantly for education – this would not become new money but rather replacement money. The legislature would simply replace some of the money education is now getting with the new sales tax. So we’d have a new regressive tax and the same old education funding problem.
If the legislature wants to get serious it will start taking significant amounts of money from the education enhancement fund as part of the solution to the problem. Invest it in SD instead of in Wall Street. Why does the state keep locking up hundreds of millions of dollars and declaring it off limits when all SD really needs is a single reserve fund. SD is like the old guy with tattered clothes who eats at the soup kitchen that has millions in the bank.
Rorschach – I’m no fan of the sales tax either for the same reason, but what happens when they run out of money from the reserve? The answer must be a sustainable funding source that provides a reasonably dependable amount each year. Cutting other programs and diverting the money to public school districts is also not a sustainable answer, and the amounts would be paltry. If you want this problem solved now and you don’t want it back in the next five or 10 years, you need a new sustainable revenue source.
The Republicans in Pierre have more than 2/3 majorities in the Senate and House plus every statewide office including the Governor. This is the time to lead, not shrink back if you’re an elected Republican in Pierre.
Yeah man hold your horses, he’s the decider. Put yourself in his shoes. Sure he’s gonna put faith in their due diligence, but we all have to process the information and decide for ourselves unless you want to embrace a demagoguery. Certainly none of my liberal friends would want that. Let the man contemplate.
Cory, This is apparently your only post that Tonnis Venhuisen considers silly.
Besides,with the make-up of the tisk farce,the outcome and suggestions were probably pretty well known in advance. Nothing new here. You’ve seen this movie nearly a dozen times.
Jaded much? They said raise salaries! Would he initiate something so visible and dare to sweep it under the rug?
HC the Governor can do it if he thinks the legislature won’t pass anything. He can come back and say he tried-when he really didn’t.
Let it play out before you condemn.
Why should we be polite — for nearly 40-years, one party-rule has promoted its own special interest agendas and pad the pockets of cronies and extended family members. How has being Democratic Party “polite” worked out over the past 4-decades? Heidelberger, you hit the nail square when you referenced “Failed Leadership”. Just another one-party rule fence straddling flapping jaw with dishonorable core values — lacking integrity, candor and courage!
Nice cast, Cory: you hooked the biggest carp in Pierre.
I don’t understand this “one party-rule” whining. Whose fault is that? I guess some of you fellows think that the party that can’t get people elected needs some sort of do-over or welfare.
How about this: get out and work harder, just like the good teachers do to earn more. Get off the welfare, people. Work harder, stop whining.
I say, let us give the election welfare to the Libertarian Party. The Democrat Party blew their chances all to hell with corruption, mismanagement and ineptness.
The best words for you Grud is “I don’t understand.”
Mr. owen, your party needs young men like you to step up and do something other than whine. You are the future of the Democrat Party, and you need to be a doer and not a whiner. Doers win. Whiners lose.
One Party Rule.
BuwahahahaHAHAHAHA!
Is Doyle Estes still alive, grud?
grud’s earth haters buying the Board of Regents sunk the SDDP: dig it or don’t.
El Gallo.
What the hell is grudz whining about now?
A Republican spaniel wouldn’t call anyone “silly” unless he was very concerned about that person’s influence.
Cory: your tip jar is a slush fund hiding your allegiances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA
Mr. C, as you are a swell fellow I hope they saved you one of those scarfs on the statues before the government came in and deemed that all illegal. I don’t think the city government is all wrapped up in One Party Rule, the result of Democrat Party Failure.
In fact, you could just replace “Democrat Party Failure” in every blog posting from here on out. I expect that will be part of the campaigns for the legislatures. Democrat Party Failure being whined about by democrats. Whined loudly. If the democrats whine too loud they might just shout down the teacher whining and garner more sympathy.
Cory is on the dole, people.
Kathryn is a righteous young woman, Lar.
grudz,
Are you suggesting that because I am a Native American living in Rapid City that I am homeless and deserving of one of the scarves meant for the homeless? If so, that is not only racist and only furthers my already low opinion of you.
No, Mr. C. I was simply hoping some of the scarfs went to good purpose. I knitted one.
I know you live a fine life, sir, and I am sorry you feel that way.
Boy howdy, pointing out that one party rule is the result of Democrat Party Systemic Failure really gets some people all edge and riled up. Join the Libertarians, I say. They are a mellower folk.
Tony Venhuizen = plausible deniability or he wouldn’t be here.
Cory have u shared w us the bluribbon mbrshp list?
Mr. Grutz, I appreciate your research on the redistricting which has helped me in spreading the message of how the republicans have been systematically moving the district lines in and out and in and out to choose their voters, via gerrymandering. As you well know, it has been going on in every state in the union for over a century. The democrats have been fighting to change this. (This is not to be confused with whining). We are now waiting for the SOS to confirm the number of signatures on the petitions. We will need everyone’s help in spreading the word to the public,on how to vote on this.
Let them eat cake, eh tony? Naieve, silly? Any kids yet tony? Tuff job w/the governor’s office too, eh? Happen too see another opinion piece in sunday’s rcjournal? Sounds like 18000 dems and a bunch of repubs r restless in Rapid City
By God Cory…DD does stand up to the important issues, along with his mayoral sidekick they killed the bluegrass in Hilger’s Gulch didn’t they?
Grudz, did we blame the samizdat authors for Stalin’s corruption? Did we blame sakharov in the 1970s for Brezhnev’s corruption? The inability of the opposition to unseat the ruling regime is a disappointment but not cause for taking the focus of our moral outrage off the ruling party.
Grudz, the last time the South Dakota Libertarian Party showed up with candidates, they were led by the unqualified and corrupt Chad Haber. They have some work to do before they reach my shortlist of reliable corruption fighters in South Dakota.
Leslie, yup! Blue Ribbon members here: http://blueribbon.sd.gov/memberinfo.aspx
Hey, I thought replanting Hilger’s Gulch was a fine idea, and I was glad to see the Governor make some time for it.
I’m just saying that if I had declared a certain policy matter worth a Blue Ribbon task force and if my commissioning of that task force had helped put that policy issue on the front burner in the media, I’d have said to the panel, “Hey! Give me a heads up when your final report is ready. The press is going to call, and I want to be ready to speak to it before the bloggers go ape on it.” I’d have had my statement expressing full confidence in the panel ready to go. I’d have charged through the proposal, or at least the executive summary, and have been ready with a statement to the press saying, “You bet! The panel I commissioned did the excellent work I expected of them. These experts found consensus on 29 major recommendations, and I’m ready to back them up!”
Of course, if my right hand man was on the Blue Ribbon Panel I’d have been sure to tell him not to leak any news from the Panel prior to my actually seeing the final report. I’m sure Mr. V. was appointed to the panel due to his years of experience in education, not because he’s DD’s chief of staff.
Actually I’m with Roger, Venhuezien calls Corys article silly? What’s silly is the last 10 years at least of this educational downward spiral has continued on the “Governor’s” (aka my father-in-law) watch n now it’s time (again)to evaluate the blue ribbon recommendations?
Expecting an instant response incredibly niave?
N Cory you tell us to be polite?
South Dakota has been run by an assortment of money men. We could easily have the money needed to fund everything from professional pay to teachers help for infrastructure. All the money men have to do is tax the dynamic fund that we shelter here. As it is in tax shelters, we don’t know anything about it. Could it be terrorist money? Is it laundered?http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/highlight/move-over-luxembourg-us-now-a-top-global-tax-haven/56465dc699ec6ddb940004ff Who knows? What is known is there are vast fortunes that are sheltered here in South Dakota. What does the old banker governor get from them? Why are they here? http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-01-09/south-dakota-dynasty-trusts-tax-haven-for-rich-families
Yeah, Spike, I do, at least personally to the Chief of Staff. Rip the policy all you want. Rip the Governor’s lack of leadership. Rip the Chief of Staff’s reasoning.
Actually, quick check: I’ve exhorted politeness, but was my critique at the top sufficiently polite?
I’ll grant you this: Venhuizen calls my article silly. Note he does not call me silly. Venhuizen is wrong, but the distinction in target is important.
Porter, I’m not sure who would deserve to be called “silly” more: me if I believed I was influential, or Tony Venhuizen or anyone else in the Governor’s office who believed I was influential. If I were influential, they’d have me on their dole. (Larry appears to be buying into the Tara Volesky/Kathy Scott/Annette Bosworth fantasy that I’m really working for the GOP establishment. If I were, I’d be riding a much more expensive bicycle.)
Bob: ding ding ding!
There is one good point about the governor’s chief of staff posting here, and that is that we now we know somebody in the governor’s office reads Dakota Free Press
Jerry,
That little article from Bloombergs is the gem of the day. Every voter in SD should read it. Thanks
Despite Venhuizen n HC exhorting patience you serfs. I feel you correctly and thoroughly nailed it when you stated, get your act together and tell us something don’t just speak Gov.
Cory you would be a damn good SD attorney general, Govs press secretary or spy for Crazy Horse, Red Cloud and Sitting Bull.
Or maybe Secretary of Education someday.
If I was governor of this state I’d have been involved along the way with his panel. I put a panel together to step in and out with some idea of my future needs, not to read something after it’s to late to improve or approve.
But alas, fighting fires can consume so much time.
cory, thank u kind sir!
that fuk*ing baster dave davis-30 years ago asked me to carry his copier up the stairs. for free. christmas eve-haven’t been able to sit, stand or sleep since. “5%” injury and he doesn’t even know it-at least he has never said a word. so much for leadership. so much for fu*kin insurance companies. basters. :)
i thot i saw scully scowling on the teevee!
cory has definitely got big things in his future! good man
daugaard is from the great school of “rounds the EB5 delegator”-you know, joop needs banking commission “waiver” (sound familiar melody?) so rounds pops in for a quick meet and greet, and hot damn, the commission unanimously declares sveen and joop are “not a bank” or some damn thing!! laughable – ha! daugaard “keep it quiet” fil “big daddy”!!
hey! silly naive [corrected just 4 u now i am at a laptop] toni:
1. nep·o·tism/ˈnepəˌtizəm/
noun
the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
[oh i kno u r super qualified, i just worry about the other super qualified unrelated candidate that REALLY NEEDED THE JOB FOR BENEFITS, FAMILY HEALTH CARE, BIG SALARY] with EXPERIENCE of loyalty, too. did you really “earn it?” what is your opinion of diversity and affirmative action–Lakota assistant chief of staff?? marriage for green card???
2. rec·on·cil·i·a·tion/ˌrekənˌsilēˈāSH(ə)n/
noun
the restoration of friendly relations.
the action of making one view or belief compatible with another.
conclusion: “the appearance of impropriety”
duffy woulda taken sanford as a client in a NY minute. no offense pat and family. lotsa caffeine tonite.
cory, talk to katrina sometime about her bike, if u haven’t already. cool girl (woman of course!)
well cory, jerry’s bloomberg post contains your answer for the $75 million starting point! dynasty trust income taxation-haha
denny was finally BRIEFED by the task force leadership and i am certain tony’s assistant kept the gov papered in after every meeting, and he was surely briefed by staff every monday morning staff meeting or cabinet meeting or whenever, of every action and alternative with terse summary’s all the way through. u are so naeivet’e american cory!! (oops, sorry porter)
tony must have a christmas calendar for 2015 with “naieve” as the 319th “word of the day!” let the silly pawns eat cake he says…. envision burning embers and pitchforks :) oops, sorry lynn for the metaphor.
oops, sorry Roger for the consecutiveness. :) nobody else is up.
That Mr V is responding and calling this post silly? Yep, you hit a nerve, Cory. Excellent.
Gov Daugaard, er, I mean, Tony V………. Thou doth protest too much
Why the focus on sales tax? Other than it is an easy out. What are the 29 recommendations?
This requires a package of actions to solve it, and we need to know the options.
Thank you jerry for the post on dynasty trust abuse in South Dakota. Three states lower their panties to receive money from the fattest cats in the world, and what makes South Dakota such a wonder is we don’t ask for anything back. That doesn’t make us banking whores, just cheap sluts.
With all those billions being tucked securely forever in their South Dakota vaults (who are you kidding … the vaults are outsourced like everything else), where is the evidence of table scraps falling to our floor?
Cory, dynasty trust abuse would make a fascinating thread(s) to find out who benefits (and how much) and who are the big losers. It seems to fit in nicely with having the lowest paychecks in the nation and incompetent workers comp protections, a tax system that crushes the middle class and allows the Thurston Howell III set off the hook, and a legal system that is muzzled from pursuing white collar, politically-protected criminals.
AND Regent’s and NSU’s treasured status as NATIONAL FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY CENTER…of the world or some such moniker. the citibank entry into SD has brought us Kochs, joop and other undesireable immigrants….greedy basters
I wonder if we could get Deb Soholts opinion here.
Cory, I’ve thought more on Tony V’s decision to inject his opinions in this conversation. He could well have jumped in after a couple of beers and watching NFL on the tube. His judgment may have been impaired, because, after all, he is the Chief of Staff to a Governor, not one of us.
“This is of course a very silly post” is a heck of a way to start a very public conversation for a CofS. But it reminds me of conversations over the years I’ve had with the ruling class in Pierre: You’re a Democrat, therefore you have ability to know what I know and you have no voice in the matter, so buzz off!
Such arrogance isn’t based on anything Dale Carnegie would recommend. It’s more like “if I want your opinion, I’ll beat it outta ya!”
My suspicion is Tony’s very busy counting noses and wondering who’ll vote for what, now that he’s got more than 2/3 of each Chamber in the GOP caucus. He’s probably also wondering how many of the right wing blowhards will demagogue against spending money on teacher salaries and who’ll join the rebellion against higher taxes. After all, as the old saying goes, “nobody ever lost an election voting against higher taxes.”
Tony’s probably wondering how many Democrats can have their arms twisted to vote for the education package and how many will punch back and tell Tony that he’s dug his own grave? He’ll have to walk across Capital Avenue and make nice with S.D. Education Association to lobby the few moderates and liberals left in the legislature. Then he’ll have to walk down Capital Avenue and make nice with the S.D. Retailers Association and find out how to buy their silence while the legislature votes to increase sales taxes 25 percent. So many people to see and take temperatures!
Tony’s got a big job keeping 105 legislators, roomfuls of lobbyists and all those advocate organizations happy while he works the magic. And he’s got to keep his father-in-law focused on the task of raising taxes to keep the roof from collapsing on the state’s public education system. Yet, here’s this blog digging into details, educating readers and allowing input from the unwashed masses. So distracting after all those BR committee meetings listening to more from the unwashed masses!
No wonder Tony spent a few minutes during the lunch hour on Sunday to swat at a silly blog run by a Democrat. You don’t know what I know. You have no voice.
So, what does Dennis Daugaard know? And does he know how to use his voice?
good eye, 96.
little bit of misogyny here boys, and references to angela as a baby. porter, whaddayah think?:)
yes, good eye 96.
Venhuizen, married to Gov D’s daughter Sara, will “supervise the Department of Education”. Might be a good time to remind folks of this RCJ article in 2010.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/daugaard-s-son-son-in-law-land-jobs-on-state/article_2a135514-f6cc-11df-b3a2-001cc4c03286.html
Great catch, Dana P! I didn’t have that one in my collection, but it’s a keeper! The Daugaard family is teeming with talented rulers.
Chris Daugaard, fresh from SDSU and the 2010 Daugaard campaign job (wonder how he got that?) is the obvious choice for a job with the Public Utilities Commission where Dusty Johnson resigned to take the job with Daugaard’s administration and Chris Nelson, humble SDGOP servant, shuffled his desk from the Secretary of State’s office to replace Dusty on the PUC.
And then there’s Tony V. Daugaard’s son-in-law got the top cabinet job after managing Pa’s governor campaign (wonder how he got that?) and after he worked for the S.D. Board of Regents while Mike Rounds, Richard Benda, Joop Bollen, Jeff Sveen and Harvey Jewett were running their gambit fleecing the EB-5 program and sending money God knows where.
Must be sooooo hard to find good talent.
Will the Governor’s test score be made public?
Can you imagine being DD and only having a voice through your son in law with so many leaks in the dam?
The lawless young bucks running this have a narcissistic disorder that will take them down. For Dusty to understand this and jump ship in the timely manner he did assures me he knew of ops that might stain his political future.
Spike, thanks! If I were a lawyer, I might enjoy being AG. I would hate being press secretary. I would hate being Secretary of Education even more. My Lakota is pretty weak, and I don’t ride horse well enough to have worked for Red Cloud et al. :-)
Gracie! Click the link below to read my summary of the 29 consensus recommendations:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2015/11/13/blue-ribboneers-call-plan-package-not-menu/
There is no reason other than “easy out”—political pragmatism, the assumption that any other tax proposal is dead in the water—for the focus on sales tax.
Dynasty trust abuse? Another complicated financial topic? Anyone care to write the guest post on that? ;-)
http://interested-party.blogspot.com/2013/03/rounds-brother-brother-in-law.html
Thanks Larry for the post. It’s another indication why someone needs to invest a lot of time to develop an online database on the protected class in state government and its myriad of lucrative state contracts, state jobs and special interest legislation. It’s a very large web.
Members of the Rounds family at the hog trough comprise a small portion of the sloppin’. They’re the nouveau riche hogs who moved up from middle class hangers on. The Daugaard clan is another group of nouveau riche. Larger, old money hogs have been sloppin’ at the trough a lot longer and get quite indignant when you interrupt their feasting.
like wipin’ your ass with a hula hoop, 96: it’s endless.
Next report: South Dakota earns “F” grade for nepotism.
Followup- Rounds, Rounds, Rounds, Rounds, Rounds, Daugaard, Daugaard, and Venhuizen deny allegations
grudz-if you are gonna start the bwauuuugh thing here the gloves come off.