Remember how disappointed some legislators were that the South Dakota Constitution prevents them from voting to give themselves a cut of the coronavirus relief funds we got from Uncle Sam? Well, thank goodness for in-laws!
According to the lengthy list of Small Business Grant Payments given out so far from the Coronavirus Relief Funds by the State of South Dakota, Thunder Road of Watertown received $16,527 to help tide that family fun center over through the pandemic. Thunder Road of Watertown is part of Senator Al Novstrup’s (R-3/Aberdeen/Sioux Falls) mini-empire of go-kart palaces. That outpost of entertainment is run by his brother-in-law John Sperry.
Sperry’s subsidy constitutes 0.0058% of the $286 million in CARES Act dollars handed out to suffering small businesses by the State of South Dakota. With that cash, maybe John got to host Thanksgiving for his mask-resistant brother-in-law during the coronavirus spike.
The state does not list any payouts to the recreational facilities Al owns in Aberdeen or Sioux Falls.
Wasn’t that money allegedly to be used to keep employers from laying off employees?
How that largely ignorant, sanctimonious, hot-headed buffoon gets re-elected is beyond comprehension. It’s useless to label him as a hypocrite. Not one of Brown County’s best by a long shot.
Hey former employee of the Watertown Thunder Road here,
I believe John owns that Thunder Road entirely and Al has no stake in it. Obviously they benefit off of each other in name, but no doubt the place was struggling with the pandemic. I don’t think this is much of a story.
Why would anyone run for office if there are no benefits?
I’m reading an article in the British pa per The Guardian about how Janklow brought in the credit card industry in 1981.”The great American tax haven. Why the super-rich love South Dakota”.
The hall mark of a Republican Governor like Janklow or Noem is their easy ability to distort reality.
“We were in the poor house when Citibank called us…”. Janklow.
“The economy was, at that time, dead. “. Janklow.
“I was desperately looking for an opportunity for jobs for South Dakotans. “. Janklow
The reality was that South Dakota had an unemployment rate of 6.5% in 1981.
Fred.stlouisfed.org
Ironically, it reached almost 7% in 1983 when Janklow was still making SD the credit card. Spiral of the nation. Uh, Governor thinks wrong, he does wrong. In 2020, Noem was there when the unemployment rate shout up to 11%. Since 1981 the Republicans have Owned the 2 highest unemployment rates!
Guardian tried to interview Noem about the trust industry. She declined.
Long story short, Noem thinks voters in Georgia are ‘communists’ because they voted for Warnock and Ossoff, and Janklow thought South Dakota was in the poor house in 1981. And these are leadership?
Distort reality, the Republican gift to public discourse.
I would believe 1 million per cent more in guys and gals who buy dollar notebooks and pens made in India to REALLY understand reality, and Far Better be able to comically engineer higher wages and full health care benefits for everyone. They could sit in any diner and Do much better than Republican Governors.
The peak of unemployment from 1975 to 1980 under Kneip-Wollman was maximum 4.5%. That’s all. Jimmy carter was in the White House, the last full year he was in was 1980. 1980, unemployment was edging up to 5% in South Dakota.
So we have this mythology of Carter wrecking the economy. Unemployment went up in SD in 1981 to 1983 under Janklow! It is a myth that Rs somehow are economic wizards, they aren’t.
We can have a State Bank like North Dakota, postal banks hopefully at the Post Office, and a government that works for the people, not the banks.
Typo. Economically engineer
Auto spell check sucks!
Notice how Janklow described South Dakota (or himself?) Poor house. Economy dead. Desperately looking.
What a bad thought process. And voters gave him 16 years?
We should never think that way.