Speaking of coming back from the dead….
Heads up, Democrats: your chances of unseating Governor Kristi Noem in 2022 just decreased by 30%.
Recognizing that her Beltway brain trust and nepotism corps have failed her, the Snow Queen has decided (has been driven by desperation? has been compelled by nervous party leaders?) to drag perhaps the smartest member of the SDGOP establishment back to Pierre to manage her administration:
Governor Kristi Noem announced today that she will name Tony Venhuizen as her new chief of staff. Venhuizen, who has been working with the Governor’s Office on a temporary basis since January, will be leaving his private law practice to rejoin state government.
“Given his tenure and wealth of historical knowledge, Tony brings a unique set of skills to my team,” Noem said. “Time after time, he has answered the call to public service in the name of the great people of South Dakota. I’m excited to have him leading my office as we head into the second year of my term.”
Hiring Tony Venhuizen—now that’s vision! If anybody can stop Noem from frittering away her slim 2018 election margin and surrendering the big Second Floor office to sensible Democrats (or a practical Libertarian, if that’s not an oxymoron), it’s Venhuizen.
Venhuizen chiefed his father-in-law Dennis Daugaard’s staff for over a full term before moving to Sioux Falls with his family to make big money as a private lawyer. That Venhuizen would give up the good life in the Queen City of the East to go back to his old office across the hall from the Governor’s suggests either that Venhuizen finds practicing law far less rewarding than making it in Pierre, that he is one of those rare and prized birds who finds more satisfaction in public service than in private lawyering, or that, for this young family man, who has never lived under a Democratic governor, the only worse than having to move his family back to Pierre or split time between the Big Mo and the Big Sioux is the inconceivable prospect of living in a South Dakota ruled by the Democrats who would landslide an unaided and rudderless Noem in 2022.
(But hey, Tony, don’t worry: as your next Governor, I might hire you as chief of staff, too!)
Sometimes, you just can’t save stupid.
Oh, if anyone can save stupid, it’s Tony Venhuizen. The question is whether and how long Noem will listen.
I imagined him much older.
Having worked with Tony in the last administration, he is very capable. I don’t think he will put up with all the crazy that goes on in this administration.
I imagined a goon with slavering fangs and blood dripping off his chin. I see I was close to being correct.
🤣🤣🤣
Mr. Mike, you may be the first fellow from Iowa I have found cause to agree with. I, also, imagined a goon, a heaving lurching goon, with slavering fangs and blood dripping off his chin, but with horns.
Way off topic, but with some relevance, Noem’s Great Wall selfie buddy Aaron Schock, comes out of the closet….
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/disgraced-ex-gop-lawmaker-aaron-schock-comes-out-as-gay/
I will say his sexual orientation makes no difference to me. It is his business.
With that news mfi, GNOem has called an emergency meeting with legislators to demand the funding necessary to give the old capital building the once over to look like the mansion in Downton Abbey, birds of a feather don’t ya know.
Venhuizen will have to change his moniker to Carson.
MFI, let me chase that squirrel with you, the article you link speaks to how Schock acknowledges he was against LGTBQ rights — but now would be fore them. Isn’t that the hallmark of selfishness: advocating for YOUR rights (as how you define yourself changes)? I always thought how you look out for the “other guys” (especially those more venerable) was the measure of a person.
O, I’m not sure I consider wingnuts people. In my mind, they defy every classification I can think of. But, then, I am not a deep thinker. Selfish is exactly right.
Last off topic post here…… https://www.vox.com/2020/3/5/21166116/lgbtq-voter-turnout-super-tuesday-record
drumpf is ticking mucho voters off and they are voting to spite him.
That’s right Mike. I think we are going to see massive numbers in November. Slimy GOP will do everything possible to stop voters because they know their prison terms hang in the balance. Moscow Mitch is panicking, as he should.
Americans are determined to save our beautiful country!!!
Here’s the saving Venhuizen needs to do. It’s South Dakotans themselves. They’re suffering “deaths of despair.” those include suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, obesity.”
“’Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism,’ and the economists view working class life as being harder in the U.S. than it is in any other developed country.”
Details of this solely US tragedy are here:
is.gd/2XPsdZ
These are the constituents of the legislators. These are the people who actually need attention. However, the SDGOP only recognizes one constituent, ALEC. SD citizens will just have to keep dying.
I have found fat drunk people to often be happy and jovial, far from despair. Like Santa.