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Thoms Likely Won’t Seek Another Sheriff Term, Now Practicing Noemspeak

Not surprising is that Senator John Thune ginned up some drama to get a little more attention for his announcement of his reëlection campaign. Perhaps surprising is that another enemy of democracy, Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thoms, appears to be stepping away from running to keep his job.

Sheriff Thoms, who served as one of Governor Kristi Noem’s lackeys in her lucky lawsuit to overturn marijuana-legalizing Amendment A, insists that when he thwarted the voter’s will, he was upholding the voters’ will:

“I have been criticized for trying to override the will of the voters, when the opposite is true,” Thom said at the time. “I am upholding the will of the voters. In 2018, the voters passed Amendment Z, that said we wanted a single topic per amendment, and the lower court and Supreme Court both affirmed that” [Austin Goss, “Sources: Sheriff Kevin Thom Will Not Run for Re-Election in 2022,” KOTA, 2022.01.09].

Horsehockey. There was no grassroots campaign for the unnecessary and infinitely malleable single-subject rule in 2018. Amendment Z was a plot by Republican legislators to sneak a nice-sounding technicality into the Constitution to give Republican lawyers another legal foothold for quashing citizen initiatives. Sheriff Thom participated in that quashing by supporting Noem’s lawsuit.

Far more South Dakotans have pounded far more pavement for far more years to fight for cannabis liberalization than have ever campaigned for the arcane single-subject rule. Amendment A was a far more genuine expression of deeply held popular will than Amendment Z.

But by thwarting that popular will, he was upholding popular will—wowzers! With Newspeak like that, don’t be surprised if Sheriff Thom’s  announcement that he won’t seek reëlection as sheriff is quickly followed by an announcement that he is accepting a payoff nomination to serve in Noem’s Cabinet, where the ability to speak out of both sides of one’s mouth is a pre-requisite.

6 Comments

  1. larry kurtz 2022-01-10 07:40

    Still believe the Second Amendment is absolute?

    Think again.

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) will make sure you lose your Second Amendment rights if you admit to an addiction to cannabis, therapeutic or otherwise. “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, [cannabis] or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”

    When KELO teevee asked cannabis advocate Drey Samuelson about it in 2020 he said, “Amendment A and Measure 26 make no changes to gun laws in South Dakota. This is a federal issue that affects all states. As is the case in all 34 states that have legalized [therapeutic cannabis] and in the 11 states that have legalized [cannabis] for adults, state policies do not change the fact that [cannabis] remains illegal under federal law.”

    So, buy your guns before you apply for a green card.

  2. Nix 2022-01-10 08:48

    Thoms and Miller are just two of the
    Dope Queen of Delusion’s Circus Fleas.
    Simple as that.

  3. jerry 2022-01-10 09:10

    Man, I see it coming. The ol’ Bren payola scheme shuffle. Ms. Bren got paid $200,000.00 bucks to move on and keep still. Thoms is gonna milk that teat for more. What a retirement scheme. The boy just got raises for the Sheriff’s department of Pennington County so ya know that is gonna make his retirement pay that much higher. Now to step into a position with one of the biggest crime syndicates the state has ever seen, is damn good for his bottom line. Why bother with elections when you could be on the gravy train with endless republican graft possibilities,

  4. 96Tears 2022-01-10 09:43

    A willing sucker is useful at times. Jerry’s comparison of the Bren affair and the Thoms payoff put The Snow Queen’s lack of scruples on full display.

  5. John 2022-01-10 12:47

    Writer Fintan O’Toole uses his experience of living and watching the Irish troubles (civil war of the 1970s) to show how Sheriff Thoms double-speak of “defending democracy” is the code word for justifying actions the anti-democrats forces and receiving impunity for their acts. ‘We have to move first to defend democracy . . .’ We’re the defenders of democracy’ — That is WHY they de-legitimize elections. Thom, Noem, and 4 of 5 justices de-legitimize the effect of democracy.

    https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/01/04/amanpour-america-civil-war-risk-barbara-walter-fintan-otoole.cnn

  6. O 2022-01-10 15:06

    Would he make the short list of people Trump will funnel (other peoples’) money into a Thune primary challenge?

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