Governor Dennis Daugaard just finished perhaps the most boring budget address of his gubernatorial career. With revenues lagging, there’s not much room for bold new initiatives. The only bold portion of the Governor’s address was his raging defiance of the voters (Dana Ferguson called it a “rant“) as he vowed not to fund Initiated Measure 22, the Anti-Corruption Act that voters passed on November 9.
Governor Daugaard worked IM22 into his speech by pointing out that the allocation of $4.92 million for the program’s “Democracy Credit Fund” would eat up nearly a quarter of the $19.7 million in new revenue assumed by Daugaard’s budget. He said that allocation would reduce the meager 1.0% increases he’s offering for K-12 and vo-tech schools, medical providers, and state employees to 0.6%. Governor Daugaard said voters couldn’t have wanted to spend money on public campaign financing at the expense of teachers and doctors and state employees, so he advocates zero dollars in his budget for IM22, which he called the worst-drafted legislation he’s seen in his decades in Pierre.
Governor Daugaard ignored the fact that the Koch Brothers made exactly that argument about public campaign financing in their deceptive ads all summer and fall, and voters still passed IM 22. Governor Daugaard dismisses that vote, saying voters were “hoodwinked.”
Governor Daugaard ignores the fact that, even amidst a $26.1-million revenue shortfall, he’s still able to come up with $22.7 million in one-time money to shift around in this year’s budget, which he throws at eleven other budget priorities but not anything the voters voted for (and not at K-12 education).
Governor Daugaard ignores the fact that IM 22’s $4.92-million allocation also pays for the operations of the new state ethics commission.
But ethics-schmethics: Daugaard says IM22’s supporters need to apologize to South Dakota’s sterling elected officials for besmirching their reputations and to South Dakota’s voters for tricking them.
Governor Daugaard himself offered no apology for proposing additional FY2018 K-12 funding that, at best, may raise average teacher pay $700 and leave our statewide average teacher pay more than a thousand dollars behind this year’s target of $48,500, not to mention a few more thousand behind the regionally competitive wages that we said we were after when we held our noses and backed his half-penny sales tax hike last Session.
The Governor’s vision is apparently clouded by his rage at IM22. He offered no vision for building on this year’s teacher-pay progress, no mention of Medicaid expansion (consider that issue dead), not even, as Senator Bille Sutton (D-21/Burke) pointed out afterward on public radio, any plan for replenishing the Build South Dakota economic development fund, which Sutton says is running out of cash. We’re just going tread fiscal water, protect the status quo… and by gum not spend one penny respecting the will of the voters on IM22.
That will teach the voters to vote things into law. I’m not apologizing.
Ethics board….LOL. Appointees from the Governor, majority and minority leaders AND from the Presidents of USD and SDSU…..
You have got to be kidding me. Get real.
The ONLY reason someone like Cory wants this “ethics” board is so accusations can fly and they’ll hit the media because of the nature it is setup. The “story” will come out then, whether true or not, and the damage will be done. Yet another way for Democrats to grasp at something to help them break out of 1% representation because the State doesn’t want them. So when you can’t beat them accuse them of violations.
Oh but let’s pay $5 million for this BS democracy credits scheme right? That way we can p— off all SD voters because they get asked over and over for their “credit” right?
Oh yeah, and let’s forget our argument that teachers need to be paid more right? Let’s funnel 5 million for politicians.
:) Me neither.
And I think 4.92 Million is under-figuring. If each voter has $50 credit multiply that by all the registered voters. The law was ridiculous to read.
The governor never includes Future Fund revenue in his budget because the lap dog legislature always allows him to keep that as his own personal slush fund to use for corporate welfare with minimal if any legislative oversight. If the appropriators were to tell the governor that in a tight budget year we’re going to cut corporate welfare to fund the teacher salary plan already in existence because that kind of economic development is not crony-based, or move it into the Build South Dakota fund, that would make the Governor very sad. It would also take back some power for the legislative branch.
Truly, you couldn’t expect much more from a failed, corrupt leader.
Slick Rick really pulled one over on the ignorant voters with this one. It’s going to cost good teachers a lot of raises.
IM22 isn’t going to cost teachers anything. Voters aren’t ignorant. DOWN WITH DAUGAARD
Did he apologize for doing nothing on the Westerhaus deal did he apologise for e b 5 .Nothing got down there,And he hasnt fired anybody over that scandal.Talk about corrupt.
This Guy ought to talk how about all the corruption in EB5,Westerius , then you bring up IM22 retire and let Michaels finish out the term.
Mr. Lansing, this IM22 thing isn’t going to cost the voters in Colorado anything. It will cost the voters, here, in South Dakota, where the out-of-state carpetbaggers got Slick Rick to help them foist this piece of poorly written and unconstitutional dung on the poor, ignorant voters of South Dakota, five million dollars. It will cost the teachers, good and bad, five million dollars or at least their fair share of it.
Shame on Rick. Shame on the out-of-state carpetbaggers. And shame on the ignorant voters who are probably all on video lottery and go to pay day lenders. Or rather now they go to Guido and Larry’s out in the alley behind the Brass Rail.
Mr. Grudznick, far from me to disagree with you, but, in this case, you are mistaken. The IM22 will actually save taxpayers a bundle here. Let us not forget the EB5 and the rest of the shenanigans promoted by his party in power. Daugaard is just miffed that voters finally caught on to the schemes he and his Guido’s have pulled. Speaking of Guido, I wonder if Joop got his Christmas goose from his old gang. Governor Daugaard, will find a way around this temporary set back. No problem, it is much easier to find a scam than to bring legitimate money into the state. Here is a suggestion for his anger management, Medicaid Expansion!
Mr. G. You’re slightly mistaken.
Did he really just call Solberg and Frankenfeld “scam artists?” Agree or disagree with either one of them is fine, but these gentlemen are as genuine as you will find.
But wait, have we heard him call the people involved in the fraud and waste with EB-5 and Gear Up by that same term…not so much…oh that’s right, it included many of his friends and happened under his watch.
Having an ethics commission, accountability and transparency seems to really scare the hell of the Daugaard administration. So much so that he is willing to hold medicare and education as hostages.
Another thought is that the Governor just can’t accept any responsibility for the state of South Dakota’s economy…he always has an excuse and a scapegoat.
As an aside, did his tax payer mooching son-in-law’s lips move while the governor was speaking?
Did he tell us why the chief budget officer was fired in the dark of the night with no explanation?
Do we know how much money was spent by the beneficiaries of his one time expenditures spent in lobbying him and his son-in-law? Will he disclose the emails that are associated with these expenditures?
The GOP saint Ronald Reagan said “Trust but Verify” apparently Daugaard just wants us to “Trust Me”…scam artists say that all the time.
IM22 is the first time anything has been done to try and end the corruption.
What have you done or what legislation have you put forth Gov. Daugaard to end corruption in South Dakota? Or do you even care?
Gov. Daugaard you owe the people of South Dakota an apology due to your utter inaction
It’s OK, people. I am told the pie day is coming soon and the libbies will flock to the legislatures for free pie. The IM22 bill be damned. Free pie!
A lump of coal in every piece.
Tony V or Daugaard also allocated $3,300,000 to the state fire suppression fund all the while denying climate change, global warming or just piss poor environmental stewardship under his watch.
Oh, and that $1 million to the state’s extraordinary litigation fund, here’s a quick fix. Stop being stupid ideologues and wasting our money!
Not to mention, now that Obama is out of office and the GOP runs everything, what lawsuits are you saving money for? Please tell me that Daugaard isn’t hiding another scandal that is going to cost the state big time.
I think it is entirely appropriate failed, corrupt leaders would not want to fund a process that begins the process of cleaning up their messes. They prove the depths of their corruptness and failure by their failure to fund the people’s solution. Of course they can’t fund it because, while they’ve wrecked the economy for middle class families, they’ve found a way to enrich themselves.
It should surprise no one that Daugaard makes these petty mini-screeds in the middle of what is usually supposed to be a sober speech about the budget. Most Governors use these speeches to pat themselves on the back for bringing jobs and more economic activity. Daugaard can’t really do that, can he? So has to stand up there like all those kleptocratic strongmen in in the “-stan” countries with pretend, strutting “strong men,” and try to denigrate the heroic people who took on his corrupt regime.
It, truly, is time for him to go.
I watched IM22 from afar and find no surprises, except that it passed. I was surprised the voters supported the $50 per candidate proposal. I don’t see where any “hoodwinking” went on. The only hoodwinking was by those now complaining who didn’t read IM22.
Here are the things that Governor Daugaard (or his son-in-law) is choosing to fund beyond the people’s mandate for IM22 or his hostages of education and medicaid.
Each one of these deserves to be examined for their importance as well as the outside influence who formed these one time expenditures.
$2.4 million to replenish the state’s reserves to 10 percent
$5 million for the South Dakota Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory
$3.3 million to the state fire suppression fund
$2.5 million to Spearfish Canyon
$1.8 million to correctional healthcare shortfall
$1.2 million to the University of South Dakota Law School
$1 million to the state’s extraordinary litigation fund
$907,641 to the Department of Corrections for security and operations
$843,081 for rural recruitment assistance
$830,466 for the state veteran’s home
$2.9 million for other miscellaneous expenses
The $2.9 million “slush fund” for miscellaneous expense definitely needs some sunlight.
It is not surprising that Mr. Pay would want to push some unconstitutional and mathematically unsound piece of law. But I do find myself agreeing with Ms. Jana about the “Miscellany” which I think needs deep, deep digging into. That is exactly where they would hide nefarious things if there are nefarious things to be hidden. I can’t crank out any French Math at this point to prove that number is wrong, but as time goes by I think my friend Mr. Sibby will provide analysis and Mr. H will crank out his own math and we shall see.
Now that you have seen what he thinks is more important than education or healthcare with his dandy little list of one time expenditures. How do you square his quote
“It’s $5 million for education, healthcare and state employee funding, or a taxpayer-funded campaign finance system, Gov. Dennis Daugaard told lawmakers Tuesday.”
Uhm, Governor and your ventriliquist Tony, I see $22.7 million in expenditures that you chose to make without regard for education, healthcare and state employee funding.
I feel “hoodwinked” by this scam artist of a governor!
I’m surprised that Troy hasn’t taken the Governor to the woodshed for his false choice fallacy argument. I would recommend not holding your breath.
The governor only made this false dilema, bifurcation, dichotomy or whatever you want to call it so he could “hoodwink” and “scam” the citizens of South Dakota, the legislature and the incurious and the go-along-to-get-along members of the South Dakota press corps.
Jana, you nailed it. It is a scam for the Governor to claim $5 million might have to come out of education’s hide to pay for IM22. Total BS!
Remember when the naysayer’s to the half penny sales tax increase for teacher pay said we could find the $68 million for teacher pay in the existing budget? So, we could find $68 million, but we can’t find $5 million? We have a $157 million in reserves, but we can’t take $5 million to fund IM22?
Does this kind of voter disrespect happen often? Because, don’t for a minute think it happens in other states. Refusing to fund an ethics law voted in by a majority of your own party’s constituents? A perfect example of why this bipartisan demand was needed.
OMG, I just watched Daugaard’s diatribe against IM22. That guy is in the midst of full on denial. Demanding an apology, telling us that voters couldn’t possibly understand what they voted in favor of, he was ranting and raving and blaming. Keep telling people that politicians deserve an apology for legislation that would make them accountable for conflicts of interest, influence peddling, and other corruption. We were 47th in corruption, can we go for 50th?
Daugaard will be remembered for the closing and loss of South Dakota’s rural hospitals (CAHs) by not expanding Medicaid (could have staved that off by at least a couple of years by taking the federal funding). All his future fears will not be realized because he now has his wish of a Republican President who vows to to repeal the ACA – rural South Dakotans, rich and poor, be damned!
Daugaard also doesn’t mention that if he had expanded Medicaid our SD economy would have grown by an additional billion dollars per year and the state budget shortfall would be eliminated. Nah, let’s pick on education.
As an aside, Daugaard said there are 1400 less students in SD schools then was projected. Did these students go to other states where education is fully funded or to where their parents could get better paying jobs?
I see $2.5 million that won’t get used that could pay for part of IM22. Daugaard put $2.5 million in one time funding to buy land to swindle, err trade the feds for Spearfish Canyon. I don’t see the feds trading away Spearfish Canyon for a song. Since Thune is persona non grata with Trump, I don’t see any favors coming Thune’s way.
He was such a quiet Governor! That is what they always say about the serial killers, “quiet”, isn’t it?
My friend’s grandfather was a multi-millionaire. Worth between $6 – 9 million. Grew up during the depression and lived very frugally. He was honest about it though. He knew and would freely admit that he could buy whatever he wanted. He just didn’t want to.
Governor Daugaard. Grandpa Cheap. The guy overseeing billion dollar budgets and billion dollar trust funds. South Dakota could afford to pay teachers. He just doesn’t want to. Let’s be honest about it.
Daugaard is so cleaver. He just completely disregarded the people of South Dakota’s statistically proven, voter approved, desire for a cleaner government and electoral process. In many ways, that vote was a statewide recognition that Pierre is corrupt – but in fixable ways.
Man, what a cleaver guy though – how he did that and all. Boy, I wish I were as smart as he is – subversive, stern and all. Saying so little but communicating a lot. You know. Gosh, he must be a genius.
A group is forming to give voice to the will of the people, Represent South Dakota. You’ll find us on Facebook. Join us if you believe its time to clean up state politics.
Steve, no, $4.92 million is spot on. Section 68 of IM22 says quite clearly, “There is hereby appropriated from the general fund, on July 1, 2017, and every July first of each year thereafter, the sum of nine dollars, to be adjusted every year for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for the Midwest Region, All Items, as determined by the United States Department of Labor, per South Dakota registered voter as most recently determined by the Secretary of State, to the democracy credit fund for the identified purposes of that fund.” $9 times 546,615 registered voters (as of Dec 1) would be $4,919,535.
IM22 is long, but it is not “ridiculous” to read or unclear.
Darin-my eldest Grandgirlie graduated from RC Central a year ahead of schedule and moved back to iowa.
Mike–good for her and you. SD’s loss is Iowa’s gain. I wish we could focus SD government on providing the opportunities and culture to keep our kids in SD.
LUMP OF COAL … Governor Daugaard is saying, “Voters. The state doesn’t want you.”
~ Send this man an e-mail or tweet that simply says “lump of coal”. He’ll get the message that education funding can’t be compared and conflated to a citizens demand for an ethics package and ethics commission.
E-MAIL: http://sd.gov/governor/contact/contact.aspx
TWITTER: @SDGovDaugaard
This is something that really needs to be hammered by the Democratic and Independent Parties. The governor has basically called the voters stupid and since he is an elitist, he will fix things by not following the law.
This is the same man (Daugaard) that stood before the public during his first run for Governor in 2010 and said, “S.D. doesn’t have a financial problem, things are fine.” And when elected he pushed through a 10% across the board cut in State Government spending. One party State Government is his license to mislead people and assume a dictatorship that serves his agenda well. He learned that you can’t govern until elected and that you can tell people anything to get elected. I continue to wonder what has been swept under the run in regards to EB5; Gear Up; Benda & Platte family suicides; pay to play; no bid state contracts; and of course the voter suppression they have attempted during his term?
The Governor’s Future Fund has come up as a possible source of funding for education and healthcare and leaving the Ethics Commission alone. Sounds like a good place to start.
Speaking of crony contracts. The Governor gave his buddies at Lawrence & Schiller $4,000,000 last year (2015) for marketing out of the Future Fund. Hmmmm…how’s that working out. I think his daughter works there.
1547 Lawrence & Schiller (Business Development Marketing) statewide $ 1,000,000.00 January
1548 Lawrence & Schiller (Workforce Marketing) statewide $ 3,000,000.00 January
Was that $4M for the Mars campaign?
There is hardly any accessible information available on what this slush fund has paid out this year. Guessing that whole transparency thing is just too much.
All those voters who voted for Do-Nothing Daugaard and the GOP legislators are now called incompetent ignorant fools because they supported an ethics law. Daugaard insulted over half the people in South Dakota. There is no polite label for the despicable jerk.
Mike from Iowa — I only wish that the Gov would follow your Granddaughter.
Madman– As a registered Rep, I would hope that members in the Democratic and Independent parties would have the fortitude to use some organizational skills to actually “hammer” the Gov and his staff for this action. This is not the time to sit back and merely watch what happens.
Will members of the majority party in the Legislature have the guts to follow the will of the people or, like those with the pied piper, fall in line with the Gov?
Hear, hear Paladn. I sent Gov. D-double-A an e-mail this morning warning of his political peril if he farts in the face of the Republicans who passed this law. Who knows? Maybe Ms. Kelsey Pritchard won’t keep it from him.
Paladn- you are in luck. iowa’s Guv Terry Eugene Braindead was named dambassador to China and iowa will soon be looking for a replacement LT Guv. Present LT and soon to be promoted to GUV Reynolds was a congressvarmint whose place was taken by Ivana Kuturnutzov Ernst who is currently iowa’s junior US sinator with a scalpel in each hand. Once Ernst castrates Daugaard and shortens his name to something easily pronounced he will be a shoe-in.