The stress of this election wears on even the best among us. I thought Gary Hanson, as a Public Utilities Commissioner, was one of the more moderate, practical Republicans in the state, but evidently even he has had to snap into Trumpist mouth-foaming to stay friends with the GOP.
In a remarkably un-PUC-like victory speech on election night, Commissioner Hanson went off on rioting Democrats and socialists “in your house, breaking the furniture and trying to start your house on fire.” He said Democrats have taken the black vote for granted and “pooped in their pockets for decades.” And he said Democrats have no right to expect a peaceful transition of power if Joe Biden wins:
When Democrats lost the election four years ago, they chanted, “He’s not my president.” They rioted, looted, and destroyed property. Now Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have the gall to make an issue that the Republicans must provide peaceful transition. Hey, socialists, democrats, we were not the ones burning down cities because Trump was elected; you were [Public Utilities Commissioner Gary Hanson, election night victory speech, posted 2020.11.04, timestamp ~3:49].
Adding to the alarm we should feel at this speech is that Hanson doesn’t appear to be going on an extemporaneous jag; he appears to have prepared these dangerous remarks. Hanson confirms to Seth Tupper that he chose these words carefully to get attention:
Wednesday morning in a phone interview, Hanson explained his motivation for the speech, saying he chooses his words carefully.
“I felt news media would pick up on it, folks like you would be interested in hearing about that message, because I felt it was very, very important,” he said. “So I was compelled to chat with people on a basis of where I thought the country was going and where I was hoping that it would go” [Seth Tupper, “State Official Says Socialists Are ‘Trying to Start Your House on Fire’,” SDPB, 2020.11.04].
Yes, there were protests and riots following Donald Trump’s election in 2016. Protest is fine—protest all day and night if you like—but the protests that devolved into riots were immoral, unjustifiable, unacceptable, unpatriotic, and undemocratic. Those riots were also not the doing of Vice-President Joe Biden, Senator Kamala Harris, or the Democratic Party. TO suggest that Republicans would be justified in committing similar heinous acts in response to a Joe Biden victory in 2020, in an already tense political climate, is grossly irresponsible for anyone, especially a prominent Republican elected official who pretends his overwhelming popular mandate to regulate our wind turbines and phone service is a platform from which to foment civil unrest.
Shame on you, Commissioner Hanson. You should stand with all of us in calling for a peaceful, constitutional response to the election, no matter who reaches 270 Electoral College votes.
Not a single city has been burnt to the ground. Most fires were small and isolated, unlike the firestorm of covid 19 pandemic that wingnuts have basically ignored because they don’t care about constituents, unless they are billionaires.
Riot Boosting?
Once again, the problem isn’t Trump; it’s the whole Republican Party. I know some good, decent individual Republicans, but the elected officials are almost uniformly spineless, bad, corrupt, and/or unhinged. That problem isn’t going away after the Bad Orange Man leaves the White House, any more than it did after the corrupt and incompetent George W. Bush administration. Everyone just wanted to wish things back to “normal” and not deal with the sickness in the party.
I see Mr. Hanson has completely forgotten all the protests and outright calls for lynching that were held around the country after Obama’s election.
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/305749-republicans-employ-double-standard-to-discredit
Hanson cloaks his authoritarianism behind a gentlemanly demeanor. Chris S. is right. It’s not that Republicans are inherently evil. It’s that when you give one party power for so long it tends to corrupt them. Hanson has the added problem of having not climbed to the heights of political power that he thinks he deserved. He was once considered as a potential future governor. It ate away at his soul to such an extent that he has to show off by spewing nonsense. It’s a sad end to a once promising life.
Uh, who left the door open to the state hospital?
I wonder if Gary ‘The Crazy Uncle’ Hanson realizes the enormous subsidies the energy companies receive? Gary, that’s called ‘socialism’.
Chris S nails it. The trumpian republican party is a corrupt rotting carcass . Hanson proves beyond a doubt, his unfitness for the job he has. I wonder how much he has personally pocketed from the Keystone and other dirty projects.
For the record, Biden has actually gotten millions more votes than his boy trump. Hanson speaks tough, like Custer did… until that day. When Clinton became president, over and over “he is not my president” was heard. We then heard about the FEMA camps that were gonna be set up. When Obama became president, we saw what Hanson’s republican party did to destroy the economy to destroy his presidency. We will see that once again.
WOW, I thought he won PUC seat?
Looks like a tRump speech!@
Hanson should be asked the playbook on how utility company’s always get the rate increase they want for their stockholders, so how much stock does Hanson own? The power company’s always come in with double what they need. Hanson and crew then act like they are actually doing something by giving them half, which is exactly what they wanted in the first place.
Eve is right to point to how the GOP and [then] Mr. Tump went as far to question the very legitimacy of President Obama through questioning his citizenship. Their push was that President Obama wasn’t ANYBODY’s President.
I envy how easy it is to make and win an argument when one’s account of history only beckons back to the “other guy’s” error — never quite back to when you did that EXACT thing or WORSE.
South DaCola’s comment reminds me that Hanson led PUC into.support for nuclear energy, the most highly socialized of all energy sources. His proselytizing, luckily, hit the reality of the free market. Indeed, the regulated utilities wanted nothing to do with expanded nuclear power.
Corey your summation is spot on. The state of our state is embarrassing.
Hanson is just another racist republicant.
Trump has brought the worst out in people. I was wondering how the Trumpians in SD were going to handle Trump losing.
Progressives ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY. I am a proud progressive and I support the 2nd Amendment so quit spewing the lie! Many many liberals are PRO SECOND AMENDMENT. Corporations and wealthy farmers get FAR MORE GOVT WELFARE than poor people. Medicare is socialism so you are going to knock a popular program that senior citizens love!
Ugghhh I could never live in such a backwards state.
Republicans will continue grabbing their socialized Medicare and social security checks and their Farm welfare checks and pretend they are against socialist programs. The biggest hypocrites around are republicans that think they are totally self-made individuals that did it all on their own.
Someone please quit turning these rocks over that these Republicans keep crawling out from under. Chris S is right; the Conservative private citizens I know talk tough, but would jump in an icy river to save anyone (maybe not Pelosi, haha), but the Republican politicians? Solid dirtbags,top to bottom. Even Dusty, who some think of as decent, had to yammer on and on in his acceptance blurb about “Conservatives, conservatives, conservatives.” No, Dusty, it’s Progressives who are trying to change this world for the better. The only thing conservatives are trying to do is feed at the government trough and make the rich and powerful richer and more powerful.
These comments are golden. Seems like Gary is getting the exact response he knew he would get. Playing you fools like a fiddle. I am as proud to vote for Gary as I was to vote for Trump!
Whenever i see a guy Hanson’s age trying to go full Janklow like this, I figure it’s because he’s abusing his Rx for low testosterone. Most of the furniture in this state has been burnt already. It happens every time the power goes off in the winter.
This rant shows Hanson unfit for the office he holds in my opinion. He should resign.
A true leader doesn’t alienate the people . You know if Trump hadn’t been such a bullying loud mouth since he won in 2016, he just might have intead been congratulating himself for winning a second term right now, James.
Never cool to divide and alienate people, life is hard enough without hate and division.
Little Trumpsters hailing to their Chief and wanting to be just like him .
The optimism of Trumpist Republicans like James is a sight to behold. He tells us that criticism of Hanson’s comments is “the exact response” Hanson apparently desired, thereby playing readers “like a fiddle.” I wonder if James would have lamented had these same critics cheered Hanson’s comments rather than articulate “the exact response” Hanson expected? Lamentation seems doubtful, since in the Trump world up is down and down is up whenever needed to satiate the Trumpian narcissistic personality disorder. Past Trumpist characteristics suggest James simply would have redefined “the exact response” in whatever manner needed to support a claim of victory.
bcb- you might get a kick out of screwdy rudy’s legal? filing in Michigan to stop the vote count on drumpf’s behalf. James, probably not.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/trumps-legal-filings-are-trash-and-read-like-an-elementary-school-student-wrote-it-msnbcs-legal-experts/
Gosh Gary, I’m now a Florida boy but I do stand my ground. Maybe when I comeback to Sodak next summer we can talk this over?
PUC Hanson, 22 more trump virus dead in South Dakota, and you’re blathering support for this killer. You should be ashamed, but of course, your head is to far up your pipeline, so that is that.
Ha! James, my comments made you comment the way I wanted: thus, playing you like a fiddle!
Is Hanson wearing a Captain Kirk costume?
BCB, Republicans know what bathroom to use and are far superior when it comes to common sense. When you make statements like “up is down and down is up” I can’t help but laugh.. #trump2020 Drain the democrats out of SD politics!
Rounds-common sense-for billionaires. Take that hook outta yer lip James. Hahahaha
what a load of crap. I haven’t heard one Democrat say they are for open boarders. I’ve heard no Democrat say that they’re coming for anybody’s guns or getting rid of the second amendment.
Mr. Hanson you actually read what a Democratic Socialists is. It’s not the same as Socialists in other countries.
Better yet Gary why don’t you sit down with a Democratic Socialists, like myself, and we’ll explain it to you.
I really didn’t think Hanson was this bad. I guess he is.
How does it feel to be free of covid and livin in the great new merika!? Big chief tiny fingers assured us that, this is where we would be, on November 4th,
How do like it so-far james? maybe Joe will help you find the physiotherapist that can help you to begin to deal with thumb-sucking and sleeping in the fetal position. Oh Well I am sure that your picture on facebook and tweeter were fake news your not nearly that good lookin .
James, the only reason republicans think they can find their arse’s from a hole in the ground is because Rush Limbaugh told them the secret way to look. Youse are a bunch of lemmings and talk radio is the reason for the swamp. Rush didn’t drain it, he added to it.
James, take another headache pill-then search for some “anti-Trump” pills, too! Or, something to clear the head?
PUC Hanson likes to be ordered around by GNOem in true fascist ways. Authoritarian ways are the ways of the republican lockstep. GNOem gives them all their marching orders on what to say and what to do. Fascism be thy name, get your brown shirt on PUC Hanson and work on that stiff arm salute.
Owen, I am a liberal independent for this cycle anyhow. I don’t think that being branded a socialist is all that terrible If the second amendment was treated with an originalist view as the republicants seem to think is appropriate, than where is the problem? Everyone can have a musket, as long as they belong to a legally founded militia. This time is unique because Half of the population appears to be in lockstep with a Fascist . if that does not rise to a response well then Sobeit.
In some states this would be regarded as an act of misfeasance in office for which he could be summoned before a hearing board to present the evidence for his accusations.
And this guy was mayor of Sioux Falls?
Hanson is the poster child for the perfect South Dakota republican bigot. Looks and usually sounds nice on the outside, rotten bigotry to the core.
One should also reflect: if the vote against trump is fraudulent, then is the vote retaining the republican senate majority and the republicans gaining house seats also fraudulent – and if so, how does that occur ON THE SAME BALLOT, and across hundreds, if not thousands of county election officials and their staffs?!
What did the republicans like Hanson say in 2016 . . . “sore loser”.
Recall the republicans LOST the popular vote in 7 of the past 8 presidential elections. Republicans are not popular. Republican policies and republican behavior are not popular. Again, reflect on the tantrum from poster child Hanson.
If you bother to read or listen to Gary Hanson’s socialist arsonist speech from Tuesday night, I hope you see the “God is on Our Side” underlayment.
Where is he in this video? Is he using any government equipment or subscriptions?
@John We know how to win races across SD with the popular vote. You might want to rethink your statement. Republicans in SD and the Midwest carry the votes.
We thank you for the pot vote James, keep it up and put Medicaid Expansion in.
68 million people voted to continue the immoral chaos and lies. Amazing.
https://i.imgur.com/tC6eQ5U.gifv
On the other hand, Andrew Yang continues correctly identifying that trumpism is with us because the urban, coastal democrats ignore improving the lives of the working class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyG7WoAFiWw
Thank goodness the corporate democrats lost House seats. Maybe the corporate democrats will now pay attention and change. Nah.
trumpism is with us because of low IQ lazy racists who listen to talk radio and think Rush is speaking directly to them. When you’re stuck out on the tractor all day driving in circles, your mind falters. Add in some chemicals that you’re breathing and then listen to Rush’s voice to satisfy your inner demons. 68 million zombies, who knew that AM radio was such a bummer.
@Jerry anytime you want to stop consuming what we Republicans produce please do so. You’ll be gone in under a month. Your elevator doesn’t quite go all the way to the top.
Elevator goes up just fine, ask the bride. I consume just fine also, mostly my own. I even get trump BRIBE MONEY, just like you. So don’t get all sanctimonious about being a producer when you don’t care about your consumers. Part of being a producer is knowing and believing that what you produce is going to be used to nurture children, as an example and bring people together, not like your lot, who thrive on tunnel vision. Keep tuning into Rush so he can tell you his future as yours is meaningless.
Mr. Hanson asked: “Where is MLK, or President Lincoln?” Mr. Hanson then claimed that Republicans welcome minorities. But then it gets better, when Mr. Hanson said: “That Hispanics should be Republicans”.
Well, those are all some rather interesting comments and a question, when you come to realize that this is the same Mr. Hanson, as an once mayor of Sioux Falls, who once wrote a letter to the then Catholic Bishop in Sioux Falls, while he was mayor, pleading that the local Catholic Diocese please not open a Spanish speaking Catholic church in Sioux Falls in the mid 1990s.
So, I guess Mr. Hanson has answered his question about Lincoln and the GOP himself, hasn’t he? Because there will be no return to the politics of Lincoln in the GOP until politicians like Hanson are no longer in office with their contradictory positions on race.
mfi, maybe that “elementary school approach” is one of the reasons why that particular lawsuit was almost immediately tossed out by the Michigan court.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/05/trump-michigan-lawsuit-ballot-counting-case-dismissed/6173871002/
JKC, Sr: thanks for sharing Hanson’s mayoral note discouraging the formation of a Spanish Speaking church to the bishop. Bigots like Hanson ignore the fact that barely 120 years ago over 20 newspapers in South Dakota published in languages other than English. Dozens of churches worshiped in languages other than English. Store merchants went out of their way to hiring bilingual clerks for it was good for business. Bigots like Hanson apparently think their modern bigoted culture just sprang up from the soil, having no generational time to acclimate and assimilate; and that rights and fair treatment similarly were grants of grace verses rights earned through sometimes violent struggles with status-quo bound majorities.
John is right. My grandparents immigrated from Germany. They still retained the low Duetch of their German childhood though WWI-era prejudices meant they learned English quickly. After several stops elsewhere, they settled in Sibley, Iowa. There were several other of the Helmers clan farming in the area.
Chain migration is not confined to one ethnic group. I remember when I was a child attending a German church service. First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls still holds an annual German service.
And of course we all know that in the Republican ranks there are no gays, lesbians, trans and not many number of thoughtful and somewhat educated voters.
Was so perturbed by this and the outright lies by the POTUS that i took the time to send this message to Sen. Thune and Rounds and Rep. Johnson. Yes they will listen if enough people with a valid South Dakota address flag them! Please compose your own unique message and use the following contacts to send a clear message!
https://www.rounds.senate.gov/contact/email-mike
https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
We respect the voting process and the Constitutional counting process and are deeply troubled by the deception and indeed lies by the POTUS and his crony family and followers calling for upheaval and violence. We need all US Senators and Representatives to take a stand against this threat to our democracy.
German was the main language spoken in the little town of Tea, SD when I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s. My dad’s and my uncle’s first language, as 3rd generation Americans, was German.
The First English Lutheran Church (the first in which English was used in the services and hymns) in Lennox, SD was founded in 1912. That’s a mere 70 years before Hanson’s anti-Spanish statements.
Wow, as a mayor of Sioux Falls, Hanson was against building a hispanic Catholic church? I never heard this in the news back then. If that isn’t bigotry, then I don’t know what is.
Hispanics play a huge part in the Catholic Church and if Hanson was mayor today and was vocal against building a spanish speaking church it would be scandalous.
Oh James, how does it feel to be a loser from a small state?
https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/remi-bald-eagle-responds-to-state-puc-commissioners-diatribe-attacking-democrats-trying-to-set-your-house-on-fire
Excellent and needed response by Mr Bald Eagle. Thx to SDDP and Tsitrian’s publishing.
Don Pay’s comment concerning Wayne Frederick, Rosebud 2018 run for PUC was quite good. If i could find it. https://dakotafreepress.com/2018/09/10/exclusive-dfp-interview-2-wayne-frederick-for-puc/#comments
dakotafreepress.com/2018/09/10/video-alexandra-and-wayne-frederick-campaign-as-couple/
PUC would have a 2/3 board favoring republicans but Wayne would raise the issues that need to be front and center, as Don P. often points out. In a few years we can turn the board around to serve other than Koch and other big business interests who republicans give (for favors!) whatever permits they want/need. PUC could have stopped Keystone.