Marty Jackley is trying to whack Kristi Noem from arguably opposite ideological perspectives.
On Friday our Republican Attorney General razzed our lone Congresswoman (and his most immediate obstacle to becoming Governor) for failing to pass legislation that would help states collect more sales tax:
On Friday, Jackley’s campaign issued a news release calling attention to a Forbes.com opinion article by Howard Gleckman. The article said that Noem, who is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, tried to include her Remote Transactions Parity Act in the spending bill that was passed this week by Congress.
“But she reportedly failed to persuade the House GOP leadership to greenlight her effort,” Gleckman wrote. “With no other must-pass legislation on the docket this year, Noem’s bill, which would authorize states to require sellers to collect taxes if states simplify their sales tax systems, died.”
…“Washington’s omnibus budget deal supported by Congress contained 2,232 pages and $1.3 trillion in spending but no solution for the problem that states have been facing for 26 years,” Jackley said in a written statement. “That’s why here in South Dakota, we’re taking the matter into our own hands and leading where Washington will not” [Seth Tupper, “Jackley: Noem, Congress Fail to Fix Online Sales-Tax Problem,” Rapid City Journal, 2018.03.24].
Noem wails via spokesman, “Washington is absolutely broken!” which wimpily fails to acknowledge that Noem is Washington and that Noem’s party controls Congress and the White House. But note that Jackley here is criticizing Noem for failing to tack onto the budget bill a plan that raises taxes. D.C. conservatives killed that plan. Not that this helps Noem, since it’s her plan, but an effective third candidate in the SDGOP gubernatorial primary could say Jackley sounds like the big liberal on this issue.
But Jackley isn’t purveying ideology; he’s just trying to win the primary. Thus, when Noem tried to salvage her sales tax failure by voting against the budget bill and tried to paint Jackley as a Pelosi-lover (no, really!), Jackley could with perfect Machiavellian consistency respond that Noem isn’t conservative enough:
Twenty-five House conservatives united to vote against the omnibus in a vote held Thursday morning, but Noem was not one of them.
The House Freedom Caucus officially opposed the rule vote that Noem voted in favor of, leaving conservatives three votes short of stopping a bill that raises the deficit, funds Planned Parenthood, funds sanctuary cities, refuses funding for a concrete border wall and fails South Dakota on the question of internet sales tax.
“It’s unfortunate that Congresswoman Noem is touting her opposition to a bill when her vote sent it to the House floor,” said Jackley for Governor campaign manager Jason Glodt. “South Dakota has a simple question for their lone representative in Congress: Why didn’t you join with 25 other conservatives to do the right thing when you had the chance?” [Jackley for Governor, campaign press release, Dakota War College, 2018.03.25]
We are entitled to a good laugh over the ideological incoherence of Jackley’s multidirectional assault on Noem. But we should all heed the last two sentences of Jackley’s Sunday sally, which could be the deadliest line Jackley can use against Noem:
The total public debt the day Noem took office was $13.9 trillion. It now stands at more than $21 trillion [Jackley, 2018.03.25].
I like that. Tim Bjorkman should use that line in his House campaign and append two more sentences: “Republicans have controlled the House that entire time. It’s time to try something else.”
I think I would go this way, NOem passed the Obama budget request! This is more or less, the same budget request that President Obama had requested in his last year in office. NOem passed it with much more enthusiasm! Jackley would have even passed it with even more as he notes. So there is only one clear choice, Tim Bjorkman, only he would bring sensible budget fiscal responsibility to Washington, it is indeed time for something else.
Jackley should at least be on the job he is being paid for right now. There has been reports of russian meddling in South Dakota politics through Facebook and other social media. In fact, Cambridge Analytica, the russian/republican social network vote rigging operation now is proven to have used foreign staff, in addition to russia, to undermine our elections. There operations were a 50 state reach.
“Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group were overwhelmingly staffed by non-U.S. citizens — mainly Canadians, Britons and other Europeans — at least 20 of whom fanned out across the United States in 2014 to work on congressional and legislative campaigns, the three former Cambridge workers said.”
And more:
“Former Cambridge Analytica workers said there were few U.S. citizens among their ranks. Yet they routinely worked on U.S. campaigns, developing messages, creating campaign materials such as ads and videos, and helping the campaigns decide whom to target with those messages.”
Washington Post
Jackley is too busy fighting windmills and spending taxpayer money on loosing operations. Maybe he should stick around to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors perpetuated against South Dakota citizens through fraudulent election schemes by foreign nationalists.
Stop it, Jerry. Too much humor on a Monday is not good. When I think of Jackley investigations I immediately get a picture of a cross between Inspector Clouseau and Sergeant Schultz of Stalig Hogan’s Heroes.
One can’t readily identify clews and the other sees and knows nothing.
Cory writes:
According to Jackley, Terry LaFleur could be our next governor:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgwUH4hg_gD/
Thank Dems for this, farmers of America- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-agriculture/u-s-lawmakers-find-fix-on-grain-cooperative-tax-break-idUSKCN1GP34A