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Brown County Democrats Host Public Forum Thursday, November 5, in Aberdeen

Look, Mom! I’m in the paper:

Aberdeen American News, 2015.11.02, p.1.
Aberdeen American News, 2015.11.02, p.1.

Boy, forget pot policy, Lynn! Hanging out with a political blogger like me ought to ensure defeat for the party, right?

Actually, Thursday night’s “Front Porch Conversations” here in Aberdeen should be good fun for area Democrats and everyone else who’s like to spend a pleasant evening with neighbors talking politics. The Brown County Democrats have assembled the following panel:

  • Senate Minority Leader Billie Sutton (D-21/Burke)
  • South Dakota Democratic Party Chair Ann Tornberg from Beresford
  • Former District 1 Rep. Susan Wismer from Britton
  • Former District 4 Rep. Kathy Tyler from Big Stone City
  • Dakota Free Press blogger Cory Allen Heidelberger

The forum starts this Thursday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the AmericInn, just east of the mall. The Brown County Democrats are also hosting a pre-event fundraising social hour at 6:30 p.m. with hors d’œuvres and a cash bar for $25. Come on out Thursday, talk teacher pay, Medicaid expansion, EB-5, Election 2016, and whatever else is on your mind!

77 Comments

  1. grudznick 2015-11-02 20:28

    My money’s on you to place, Mr. H. You can out-debate every one of those people with the possible exception of Mr. Sutton. Put it all on Mr. H to place, folks.

  2. Roger Cornelius 2015-11-02 21:11

    grudz,

    The post is conversation, not debate, there is a difference you know.

  3. grudznick 2015-11-02 21:31

    I feel somewhat disappointed as I feel Mr. H would have acquitted himself well in a debate. But I’m sure he will converse well, too. It just won’t be as exciting.

  4. Jana 2015-11-03 00:05

    PP, the person of interest in the SoS scandals is ranting over this meeting, so it must be a good one.

    Over at the press release-corruption forgiving GOP blog, the should be indicted host is calling out gun control, gays and abortion are the focus of the conference of the conference.

    Just seems funny that the guy who bends over and genuflects to the NRA fails to note that the 2nd Amendment freedom fighters he panders to seem to have willfully blocked that the Republican National Convention and the NRA National Convention both ban guns…I know…hypocrisy anyone?

    Lee and Troy, do you think the whole corruption thing is hurting the GOP brand so much that your buddy would pander like this to inflame the mouth breathing base? Or is he just this shallow all the time?

  5. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 05:36

    Every word of PP’s rant is offensive spinsterism, but the most offensive passage is this bit of exclusionism:

    Looking at the composition of the group, it’s not looking like most of them are mainstream democrats. Or mainstream South Dakotans for that matter [Pat Powers, “Should it be called a Godless – Abortion – Gunless Democrat meeting…. GAG for short?Dakota War College, 2015.11.02].

    Pat Powers has no authority, moral, legal, or otherwise, to determine who is a South Dakotan. This is his most common bully tactic: paint his opponents as people on the margin who should be ignored.

    But you know, Pat’s probably just envious. My party has invited me to step on a stage and say whatever I want. His party doesn’t turn to him for intelligent public comment; they only send him press releases that they pay him to sycophantically repeat.

  6. Rorschach 2015-11-03 07:25

    I hope they remind the locals of all the local crooked shenanigans the SD Republican Party has brought them. Anderson Seed, EB-5, NBP.

  7. Dave 2015-11-03 07:34

    Powers’ lack of critical thinking skills and his pandering to the similar non-thinking base of his party has him also calling Bob Mercer biased because Mercer described the three missing iPads from Powers’ buddy Gant’s tenure in Pierre as laptops. I guess Powers believes Mercer is prejudiced against Apple. No word on whether Powers believes the missing laptops, er iPads, the missing money, or the missing and now found historic flag from the SoS office is anything to be worried about.

  8. Dave 2015-11-03 07:52

    I just gave up three minutes of life that I’ll never get back to read Powers’ drivel about this. One of his main complaints seems to be that the Aberdeen newspaper gave front page play to the story about the Front Porch forum. All while he is giving prominent attention to the forum in his poor excuse for a blog. It’s a classic PP post — negative, and derogatory — the only type of original content he is capable of producing, because hurling baseless insults like a chimp hurls poo is easy; thinking and doing research and being accurate — that’s just too hard for poor PP.

  9. Dave 2015-11-03 08:33

    Suppose Pat will hire former workmate Garrett Devries to videotape the forum?

  10. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 08:41

    Powers is almost able to delete comments fast enough but some are still getting through.

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 08:56

    Bias for covering Democratic events? I assume that, under the same thinking, I’ll be able to lambaste the AAN next June when it gives front page coverage to the South Dakota Republican Convention at the Aberdeen Ramkota. (Get ready to accuse me of pro-republican bias as well, as I’ll be applying for press credentials.)

    I’ll watch for Garrett in the back of the room with his camera. He’ll be the guy in stripes, right?

  12. Donald 2015-11-03 09:07

    Congrats Cory! Will you be recording the event so that all of us out-of-towners can watch on youtube/vimeo afterwards?

    And why are they having it on the Front Porch? Was the Town Hall not available?

  13. Donald 2015-11-03 09:29

    Regarding the flag stealing idiot, have y’all read the Capital Journal article?
    It goes into much greater detail than the Sanford Falls “lame stream media”. Apparently this guy’s job was to stalk democrats and capture any “gotcha” moments on video so they could be humiliated. I wonder how he feels now that the shoe is on the other foot?
    Also, I wonder why Marty thinks the value of the recovered flag is less than $1000? I’m guessing it would go for much more than that if it were put up for auction.

  14. 96Tears 2015-11-03 09:54

    I hate to say this, but it looks like the best political investigative reporting these days is at the Pierre Capital Journal. Who woulda thought?

    Very scant and sanitized reporting in the Sanford Leader while all these scandals run rampant. That rag is a disgrace to all the excellent people who used to work there.

  15. Lynn 2015-11-03 10:22

    Is this the former SoS employee who stole the SD Flag stalking with a camera Rick Weiland in this campaign ad during his senate? runhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_m_FGfAmaU

  16. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 10:30

    Is Lynn the anonymous troll castigating Cory over at Pat’s Pissoir?

  17. 96Tears 2015-11-03 10:32

    Mercer asks the sixty-four dollar question on his blog: “Now comes the harder question. How did no one on Jason Gant’s staff not notice, for more than a full year, the flag was missing?”

    Looking at PP’s sad excuse for a political blog when this first came out, it looks like PP is helping with the alibi. I don’t expect Marty Jackley to play it straight on this investigation either, but the flag theft, PP’s moonlighting abuses and the runaway $680,000 iOASIS boondoggle (with the German junket bankrolled by our taxes) are red flags that a lot more lawlessness was a common occurrence in Jabba the Gant’s Secretary of State Office.

  18. Lynn 2015-11-03 10:52

    Larry Who Resides in New Mexico,

    Sorry been bust making calls and read the Cap Journal and remember this guy highlighted with the $$$ signs in a Rick Weiland Campaign Ad about big money on youtube in between calls but please carry on. It’s always entertaining.

  19. Lynn 2015-11-03 10:52

    Busy making calls*

  20. happy camper 2015-11-03 10:53

    Lynn knows how to spell Cory’s name. She just doesn’t like pot. She wrong about that particular issue, but what about you Larry? Are you nice? Do you try and consider other people’s opinions? They make a little bit of a point over there you know that if a commenter doesn’t agree with the going sentiment of other commenters they’re likely to get blasted. Cory’s take is if you have anonymity you should get a thick skin. And he’s right (mostly). We should get thicker skins to other people’s opinions but not try to block them out. More sensitive people have good ideas as well. They probably just don’t want to post.

  21. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 10:57

    I don’t take prisoners. Expect my op/ed to appear in the Argus, Aberdeen American News, the Rapid City Journal and the Mitchell Daily Republic coming soon.

  22. happy camper 2015-11-03 11:05

    Or maybe you’re just rude. There’s no excuse for the names you use on a continued basis. You sound like a pig.

  23. Nick Nemec 2015-11-03 11:11

    The original state flag, a one of a kind, irreplaceable artifact dating from the early days of statehood, is only valued at $600? This smells like an attempt to let a up and coming Republican wonderkid off lightly. That flag if auctioned would bring much more than $600. The Republican establishment is protecting its young, charge him with felony theft like he should be along with burglary and misprision of office.

  24. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 11:12

    I am a rude pig and your worst nightmare, South Dakota: expect me.

  25. Lynn 2015-11-03 11:12

    Happy,

    Thank you! They are oblivious to it. Oh well! Beautiful fall day today here in South Dakota. Drive on! :)

  26. Lynn 2015-11-03 11:14

    Nick I wish that flag was our design today. Miss the old “Sunshine State”. Wish it would be Sunshine in regards to open records too.

  27. Bill Fleming 2015-11-03 11:44

    We could find out what the flag is worth in the market (EB5 style?). Let Cory do a poll where folks can place anonymous bids on the flag, or a piece of it. Total funds raised could be offered to the SOS office for purchase of the flag. Funds go to some currently unfunded worthy cause or just into the general fund. Whatever.

    The Flag would then be claimed by either the highest bidder (provided it is over $1,000) or by those who together are willing to just buy a piece of it. My hunch is, the state would refuse any and all offers, and that the total amount bid would be far in excess of $1,000.

  28. mike from iowa 2015-11-03 11:50

    Lynn needs to drop the silicone and mellow out on some pot.

  29. mike from iowa 2015-11-03 11:53

    Pigs don’t say names. They usually grunt or squeal. They do say “huh” if you kick them in the arse.

  30. happy camper 2015-11-03 12:37

    Many of you probably consider yourself fair while Larry repeatedly calls a person (a woman), a stupid cow. Deafening silence follows. Why? Cause he’s your on line buddy and a radical Native American activist? Give me a break. If somebody said that to your wife or daughter you’d knock their head off. But you can’t tell him to shut up cause he’s on your side. And even Cory who has no time for misogyny against women hasn’t just told Larry to shut his pie hole.

  31. Roger Cornelius 2015-11-03 12:47

    Whatdollar amount would the original U.S. Constitution sell for?

    I would consider things like an original state flag that the state still owns a priceless antiquity.

  32. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 12:49

    Donald Trump is the darling of the Republican Party, and…he uses his real name, too.

  33. mike from iowa 2015-11-03 12:55

    What would be the replacement value of Benda or the Westerhuis kids?

    HC-there comes a point when a female loses any special considerations because of her sex,such as calling all of us libs potheads. I haven’t touched pot in over thirty years. Lynn and Larry are both adults. Lynn can sure as hell dish it.

  34. happy camper 2015-11-03 13:39

    But what’s happened to the female posters and more moderate posters from the past? Cory can’t be a kindergarten teacher but this post from The War College I somewhat agree: Just look back at what has been posted and see the comments for those that question or challenge the narrative. The attacks are incredible and vile. There is no place for that in a political discussion. It’s no wonder the SDDP is losing registered voters every month and their going to get soundly defeated again in the next election. Too bad they just don’t get a clue.

    That was posted on the upcoming meeting. I don’t know. The topics and information are very good and this blog doesn’t claim to be their mouthpiece. I’ve pretty much given up on any Democrat being elected anyway. I’m not sure people care much about the comment section except the commenters. It’s not like the War College are all sensible postings (total understatement), but the very strange thing I have never voted Republican except on possibly a court house position but it’s expressed here repeatedly like I am a crazy right winger. You can marginalize and push people away easily enough, but why would posters want to do that if they care about progressive policy? When it comes across as radical probably it does push voters away, especially in a state like ours.

  35. jerry 2015-11-03 13:56

    Lets all gather around in a big ol Democratic circle for a group hug. Thanks happycamper for making us all feel so warm and cuddly now. Lets all sing the praises of the republican leadership and how they have just been misunderstood. So they stole a few hundred million from happy and the rest of us, forgetaboutit, lets just feel good like when you wet your pants before they start to cool down. It is all better now.

  36. happy camper 2015-11-03 14:08

    Jerry sums it up nicely: Nastiness is not what people want to read. The swing voters I know run in the other direction. But it makes you feel so good you can’t give it up I guess. Keep spewing the hate and losing more elections.

  37. Jenny 2015-11-03 14:13

    Congratulations, Cory!
    By the way, can you tell the boys to behave on here?

  38. mike from iowa 2015-11-03 14:17

    As corrupt as wingnuts are,Dems should be elected by default,just because they aren’t corrupt wingnuts.If Dakotans really hate corruption and incivility, Dems shouldn’t even have to run for offices. They should just be voted in by law abiding,civil voters.

  39. jerry 2015-11-03 14:18

    What is a swing voter these days? Can you define one of those folks in South Dakota?

  40. mike from iowa 2015-11-03 14:24

    PP,in his infinite antiquities dealer wisdom,thinks $400 would be a fair price for a two of a kind,original state flag. I like Bill Fleming’s idea and I do think the state would refuse all offers for the flag,as they should.

  41. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 14:25

    Ask Stan Adelstein, SHS and any other Democrat who has ever held elected or run for office in South Dakota about hate and DWC.

    Paybacks are bitch, init?

  42. happy camper 2015-11-03 14:40

    According to posters here Stephanie is a Republican anyway. She was hated on and anyone with any chance of winning called Republican Light, etc, etc. There’s a bell curve in this state farther to the right than most, but MOST people are still in the middle. They’ll swing.

  43. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 14:44

    How many more times do i have to say it: SDDP should eliminate primaries and nominate candidates at convention.

  44. happy camper 2015-11-03 14:46

    You don’t even live here Larry yet I wonder how many people you have singly driven away from the Democratic Party.

  45. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 14:57

    Honestly, i don’t give one whit about eastern South Dakota but i need West River while it can still be saved. You’re either with me or you’re in my way.

  46. happy camper 2015-11-03 15:11

    No Democrat in SD can swing out far enough from the bell curve to make people with Larry’s views happy. He (and those with him) want things completely off the page. Democrats will really have to get to know the demographics, present electable candidates, and ignore the noise of the extremists. It can be done, but the SDDP has to nearly completely ignore the comment section of this blog.

  47. Jim in DC 2015-11-03 15:25

    Heck, Larry’s the only reason I am here. He’s like a bug zapper but doesn’t quite have the full on power to zap you.

  48. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 15:29

    tell us more about dick creek, jim.

  49. Porter Lansing 2015-11-03 16:53

    Is a political blogger still a political blogger if they have aspirations to elected office? Or are their opinions filtered through a possible candidacy? No one says all they believe or the whole truth when applying for a job. Is there a,”Well, liberals believe this and I believe this but the majority of voters here don’t, so is it better not to mention it?” Inquiring minds want to know.

  50. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:24

    Porter, that’s a good question. I aspired to school board back in Madison. I served on the Lake Herman Sanitary District Board (technically an elected office, but no one ever challenged me in an election). I ran briefly for city council here before moving out of the district in which a seat was available. During those periods, I wrote about the issues relating to those offices.

    I have never blogged something that I don’t believe (with exceptions of guest columns that may contain views differing from mine and occasional satirical pieces in which I make counterfactual remarks for humorous effect).

    I make choices every day about what to write about and what not to bother with. I don’t think I’ve ever canned a post or a topic just because I think a majority of readers or neighbors may disagree with me. (Such widespread disagreement is as likely to provoke me to address the topic as it is to drive me away.) My filter operates loosely on these questions:

    1. Will this post help us understand what policies and candidates to support?
    2. Will this post speak truth to power?
    3. Will this post help catch bad guys?
    4. Will this post matter to South Dakotans?
    5. Will this post add value to public conversation—in other words, am I saying something that hasn’t already been said much if at all?
    6. Will this post make people laugh?

     

    As I said , these are loose criteria. I don’t apply every criterion to every post. Sometimes satisfying one criterion is enough to make the cut, but usually, there’s overlap.

    Perhaps I’ve never been in a close enough election to worry about how fine-tuning or filtering one blog post could make a difference in the outcome of the election. Perhaps I figure that I have already put so much on record that any attentive reader could recognize if I was disintegritously (what is the adjective form of integrity?) tuning my filter for electoral gain.

  51. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:31

    Donald, I was hoping Garrett Devries would come and video the event for us, but I get the feeling I’m going to have to do it myself. I’ll see if I can bring my little tripod to the event and capture questions and answers. Or maybe I can get Ken Santema to come shoot the show! Then I can concentrate on giving coherent answers.

  52. Porter Lansing 2015-11-03 17:33

    Are you kidding me? That’s the best answer to a human resources gotcha’ question I’ve seen. It’s an epistemological home run. You’d be a star in CO … and few of our voters or politicians were born here.

  53. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:38

    Lynn, let’s compare Garrett DeVries’s Twitter profile photo with Weiland’s video stalker:

    Garrett DeVries and Weiland video stalker side by side

    Garrett (left) looks thinner than the dude (right) recording Weiland, but I could be wrong.

    Now Lynn, while you’re calling, tell your marks to come to the forum Thursday and ask us all about marijuana policy.

  54. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 17:38

    @Garrett_DeVries has been deactivated.

  55. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:43

    Democrats are ready to adopt Lynn’s call to make South Dakota the Sunshine State again. We’ll talk about that Thursday night, for sure!

  56. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:48

    Interesting poll suggestion, Bill, to measure the market value of the flag. Is there a category of theft for “priceless” items, as Roger calls them? Statute seems only to recognize monetary value. Do we only capture historic or sentimental value in sentencing?

  57. grudznick 2015-11-03 17:53

    Every state has sunshine and many, like Florida, has a better claim to being sunny. I think the “Coyote State” is better but every state has coyotes too. We should be the Black Hills State, or the Best Dam State, or something like that where we are unique. Not the Sunshine State.

  58. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:56

    Happy, I do regret that Lynn’s reasonable question turns into another excuse for Larry to be a jerk. Lyn and I have a vehement disagreement, but I still invite her comments and appreciate her observations on other issues. I regret that I do not make more time to police the comment section and whack unfair comments… but then I’m inviting an adult conversation, not running a kindergarten classroom.

    Ad hominem advances arguments no further here than it does on Dakota War College. Those who choose to wallow in insults do degrade the value of the comment section by driving away other voices.

    I hope Thursday’s Dems event (oh yeah, that’s where we started) can epitomize more open, neighborly conversation. Having an all-Dem panel may tempt us to try scoring partisan points, but I would love for our Republican and Independent neighbors to join us and pose some tough questions so we can see where we can find common ground and where we will continue to disagree and just duke it out at the polls.

    I think on EB-5, GEAR UP, and Gant, we can find all sorts of common ground.

  59. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 17:59

    Happy also duly reminds us that when we call people names, we sink to the same marginalization that makes DWC a hole. Saying that we must be better than Pat is a low bar, so our failure to clear that bar should shame us all the more.

    Larry, I’m not sure there are any prisoners to take or execute here. There are arguments to defeat, fallacies to expose, errors to correct.

  60. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 18:00

    Jenny, there, I’ve told the boys to behave. Whether they behave is beyond my control.

  61. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 18:01

    Cory, how does your photographic evidence debunking Garrett DeVries’ being Rick Weiland’s stalker make Lynn’s question reasonable?

  62. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 18:03

    But really: how closely do any South Dakotans identify either Larry or me with the Democratic Party? As I said in the AAN article, my appearing on stage with the SDDP chair and three legislators (past and current) is “weird.” I’m not on the payroll; I don’t go to central committee meetings; I don’t receive marching orders. To what extent does what I say (let alone what the commenters I host say) affect the ability of Democrats to register new voters?

  63. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 18:05

    You keep pitching, Porter; I’m happy to take my swings.

    You know, Porter, I suspect my base is people who appreciate epistemological home runs.

  64. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-11-03 18:11

    Lynn’s question was perfectly reasonable. Gant-gate was mentioned earlier in the comment thread, so her question was even less than tangential (and I grant greater leeway here, since I haven’t bothered to dignify Garrett DeVries with a separate post on his purloinery). It was a reasonable question, because DeVries has worked for America Rising, the outfit that stalked Weiland. I was wondering the same thing myself.

  65. grudznick 2015-11-03 18:12

    My good friend Lar takes a lot of guff about being something less than a swell fellow at times, but the best thing about him besides his entertainment value is that he alienates people from the SD Democrat Party since they all view him as being a big part of it. Even though he’s really a Libertarian at heart.

  66. grudznick 2015-11-03 18:14

    This young flag thief is washed up in South Dakota forever. He was unlikely to be anything beyond a Gant-level hack anyway but now he’s marching the walk of shame and reading your bloggings with tears in his eyes.

  67. Lynn 2015-11-03 18:26

    Cory,

    “Democrats are ready to adopt Lynn’s call to make South Dakota the Sunshine State again. We’ll talk about that Thursday night, for sure!”

    Unfortunately I highly doubt the Democrats will be in a position to do much for quite some time. Many divisive issues have appeared that will further divide an effort and the party has and will lose credibility they way things are going. Change will likely occur but it will be slow and from within the Republican Party here in the state.

    But really: how closely do any South Dakotans identify either Larry or me with the Democratic Party?

    One does not have to be on the payroll or take marching orders from the SDDP to represent it. It is about exposure and how they represent themselves. People come to conclusions. I could list numerous examples but I shouldn’t have to. It’s not that hard to figure out.

    Will those that I’ve called go to this meeting? Doubt they would waste their time.

  68. Lynn 2015-11-03 18:28

    Grudz as our good friend Lar likes to say He loves to plow the road! He definitely is!

  69. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 18:30

    Lynn is a Democrat like grud is a cook in an old folk’s home.

  70. Lynn 2015-11-03 18:37

    Larry Who Resides in New Mexico,

    I’ll take that as a compliment if we are going by your definition of just who and who is not a Democrat and you have determined that I am not.

  71. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 18:51

    rewrite: old folks’ home: syntax is very important. sin tax is what pierre decides.

  72. Roger Cornelius 2015-11-03 19:10

    Can someone please tell who that Anonymous guy is that dominates the Pat Powers Dump Site blog?

  73. grudznick 2015-11-03 19:11

    I am more of an eater than I am a cooker.

  74. larry kurtz 2015-11-03 19:19

    that contradicts previous testimony, grud: are you recanting or just a brazen liar?

  75. grudznick 2015-11-03 19:57

    I will not recant!

  76. grudznick 2015-11-03 20:00

    I am not a witch!

Comments are closed.