UPDATE: Pat must be a little worried about the press, this is his website’s main page;

I also liked this little snarky graphic before you are sent to the above;

“Safe Elections? No problem. Would you like to buy a brochure? I know this great guy that can help you out with that, oh, ah, yeah, it’s me.”

I was pretty surprised to see that Pat is doing political consulting and marketing while working in the office that is in charge of fair and safe elections. I’m no constitutional lawyer, but if I am the only one that thinks this is a HUGE conflict of interest, there must be something wrong? Pat ran this business when he was still operating Dakota War College (which I still think he has a hand in) But I just assumed he gave it up when he ran off to Pierre with his Burger King buddy Gant.

But according to his website;

500 – Call for 2011-2012 pricing!
1,000 – Call for 2011-2012 pricing!
2,500 – Call for 2011-2012 pricing!
5,000 – Call for 2011-2012 pricing!
*Call for other sizes and quantities

And the address of the business has changed also;

Mailing Address:Pat Powers
DakotaCampaignStore.com
235 West Broadway, Pierre, SD 57501

Hey, I am all for someone making an extra buck, but you probably shouldn’t be profiting from candidate marketing when you work in the SOS’s office.

60 Thoughts on “UPDATED: Why is Pat Powers still operating a private political consulting business while working for the SOS?

  1. l3wis on May 6, 2012 at 6:14 pm said:

    The irony of all this, is that there is probably no laws against this activity in SD, obviously.

  2. grudznick on May 6, 2012 at 6:41 pm said:

    Secretary Gant is a straight shooter and he gets no cut from what PP sells. There is no requirement of any candidate to buy supplies from Gant’s employee. Everybody gets fair treatment. PP is completely transparent with his customer lists and sells to all parties and candidate ilk. Nobody should be worrying about this.

  3. grudznick at 6:41 pm says…..

    Nobody should be worrying about this.

    Just twenty-five minutes after this is posted, grudznick jumps in to defend Gant and Powers………

    Does anyone else find this just a little odd!!??

  4. Helga on May 6, 2012 at 9:12 pm said:

    It all has the odor of mendacity if you ask me.

  5. I wish I could be shocked, but in a single party state, this conflict of interest is business as usual.

    Perhaps Daugaard is trying to put all state employees on a half time schedule. The plan seems to work for the lt. governor.

  6. Let me see if I understand the problem here:

    1. Pat’s job is too ensure fair elections.
    2. He stands to make big money from some candidates in those elections.

    Yup. Got it. Thanks for posting on this topic! Let’s dig around in statute, see if we can find any way to make this issue stick!

  7. testor15 on May 6, 2012 at 10:57 pm said:

    caheidelberger, I notice grudznick comments on your site a lot. grudznick seems to be an apologist for right wing causes.
    Let’s look at what he brought up in his sentences:
    1. Secretary Gant is a straight shooter and he gets no cut from what PP sells. — At what point did l3wis question Gant’s involvement or complicity?
    2. There is no requirement of any candidate to buy supplies from Gant’s employee. — Who suggested this? It is just unseemly to have the person in charge of keeping elections fair and honest selling to potential winners / losers.
    3. Everybody gets fair treatment. — Unless the writer is PP or a customer base, who else is to prove this?
    4. PP is completely transparent with his customer lists and sells to all parties and candidate ilk. — I guess if PP is transparent, he needs to publish his list of all buyers so we can check this out.
    5. Nobody should be worrying about this. — Just this statement alone makes me worry about it.

    As Stalin is said to have pointed out to the world “It’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes’

  8. Cory – You should look into the statutes, like I said above, doubt it is illegal. It’s not like Pat is running a lawn mowing business on the side, he is doing marketing for candidates. I can’t believe he would think that at the least this is probably not a good idea. Maybe he is the one who put the Build It Now signs in Bob Litz’s yard 🙂

  9. Analog Kid on May 7, 2012 at 1:10 pm said:

    As long as we arent using paper ballots Tubby Gant isn’t doin his job. I have no trust in this system what so ever. Even conservative house members said he’s not up to par with Teresa Bray (Not a bad looking woman for her age BTW).
    I call him Tubby but I like your suggestion of Burger King Gant or howbout Mr. BK Broiler? Well he certainly hasn’t double sized his work output from Bray (who did all the work while Nelson was dickin around with his Monsanto GMO crops.)

  10. Pat has a dog named BK. His kids named it after Burger King because there is some story about how he was going there, but he was actually picking up the puppy to surprise them.

    I had another person point out to me today that people who lived outside of SF were registering to vote before the EC election using a previous SF address. This isn’t the first time I have heard this, and it concerns me.

  11. Powers profiting privately off the same people he is dealing with officially would at a minimum be a conflict of interest and possibly abuse or fraud.
    The knowledge and/or exchange of information from or to a private business client via Powers from another client or the SOS could open the floodgates to a number of violations. For decades, the right wing SD leadership has avoided any ethics laws for fear of getting caught in them. But at some point the courts could take over that responsibility.

  12. testor15 on May 7, 2012 at 6:39 pm said:

    South Dakota is already on a list as one of the most corrupt states in America, PP and Gant are just making sure we keep the dishonor.

  13. grudznick on May 7, 2012 at 6:57 pm said:

    I am not apologizing for anybody, not even young Mr. Gant. Who I have never met. Please don’t call me apologizing for the GOP, as I can’t speak for the whole GOP and I am NOT apologizing for anything.

    I’m just sayin…

  14. testor15 on May 7, 2012 at 9:08 pm said:

    Than saying what?

  15. l3wis on May 8, 2012 at 12:57 am said:

    I would 2nd what testor just said. Why come on here and defend Powers then try to take that defense back?

    A few years back I got into a wrangling with some prominent state Republicans who were defending a ‘WEASEL’ who works for Thune, I won’t say his name, but they know who I am talking about. You and your ilk (and I am not talking about run-of-the-mill state Republicans) but the ‘Republican Elite’ in this state that run everything from what state legislation passes to when automatic toilets go off in rest stops, have controlled things for way to long. In SD it is the 99.9% vs. the .01%.

  16. Testor15 on May 8, 2012 at 9:36 am said:

    Cory is really have more fun with this.

    http://madvilletimes.com/2012/05/powers-offers-political-consulting-while-working-for-secretary-of-state/#comment-56301

    L3wis, you got something going here, congrats. It is always fun to see the b**tards squirm.

  17. l3wis on May 8, 2012 at 4:35 pm said:

    That is interesting. Cory is about a million times smarter then me, so the convo over there always gets interesting.

    Funny thing, still no word from Pitty Patt Powwers and still no word from the SD Democratic party whether they were raising money for the Quen Be. Funny how the weasels always remain out of sight.

  18. grudznick on May 8, 2012 at 6:01 pm said:

    I, for one, think it was all a lot of worry for nothing. The website you mention doesn’t even work. Much skidoo about nothing.

  19. Huh? What part doesn’t work? I can still view it.

  20. Testor15 on May 8, 2012 at 6:17 pm said:

    grudznick, your order process doesn’t work for placing orders or receiving?

    Any impropriety can be construed as grounds for dismissal and probable felony charges for PP and / or Gant for any activity with PP’s name listed on it.

    With the scams known as VoterID, RealID and other ALEC programs to keep people from voting more voters are feeling the pain. This pain can only be presented back to Gant in court or the next election if they haven’t found a way to “legally” keep everyone from voting.

  21. grudznick on May 8, 2012 at 6:35 pm said:

    I go to dakotacampaignstore.com (linked from the top of the dakotawarcollege.com page) and it flashes and then takes me to some postcardpro.com website.

    I wasn’t ordering postcards, I was ordering T shirts.

  22. Imagine what pat would say if a similar situation happened with liberal, socialist, anti-business Commie Democrats.

  23. grudznick on May 8, 2012 at 11:24 pm said:

    The website does not work. Or else would somebody help and old fellow like me get his T-shirts ordered. There’s certainly no deviousness going on here.

  24. If it doesn’t work, why not take it down already? Even if you can’t order online, there is contact information all over that bad boy, and this;

    http://www.linkedin.com/in/patpowers

    Pat isn’t fooling anyone.

  25. Helga on May 9, 2012 at 3:22 am said:

    The page has conflict of interest written all over it.

  26. grudznick on May 9, 2012 at 3:49 pm said:

    I’m all against conflicts of interest but I still haven’t heard of Mr. PP consulting with a single candidate or doing anything wrong. Innocent until proven differently, right?

  27. Testor15 on May 9, 2012 at 4:42 pm said:

    Then why is he still advertising?

  28. That’s silly. It’s alright for him to attempt to establish conflicts of interest?

  29. Helga on May 9, 2012 at 5:39 pm said:

    You think he is going to announce to the world that he is consulting with anyone?

  30. grudznick on May 9, 2012 at 5:55 pm said:

    Mr. Gant is the arbiter of legal election actions, and if this wasn’t on the up-and-up then he’d be the first one to stop it. “Stop it PP” he’d say in a stern voice, “or else do it full time and not from the office.” And he’d glare menacingly.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if those conversations haven’t already happened, because it would be insane to the Sibby degree for Mr. Gant to risk his political future if anything goofy was going on.

    So there’s got to be nothing goofy going on. Let’s just leave it alone.

  31. testor15 on May 9, 2012 at 6:34 pm said:

    So we are to let illegal action continue just because…. why? People are having their RIGHT to vote taken away by zealots who believe they are above the law. This smells of something rotten.

  32. Don’t need an actual client. PP’s intention with his after hours business of candidate marketing is to gain candidates who must legally deal with his office during the day. Saw he is moving his real estate license to Pierre also.Then there is the issue of conducting his after hour businesses on government time during the day. The alleged ethics violations are loud and clear. Just need a judge and jury.

  33. grudznick on May 9, 2012 at 9:33 pm said:

    Stop making stuff up. PP and Mr. Gant have taken nobody’s rights to vote away. That’s insanity.

  34. l3wis on May 9, 2012 at 11:47 pm said:

    I see Pat ‘tried’ to take down the site, but when you click on the link if skips to the above graphic.

  35. testor15 on May 10, 2012 at 12:21 am said:

    I don’t know why PP just doesn’t cut his loses and get rid of the site all together unless he is using background code for other purposes. I have been on the site now and have captured his code. dakotacampaignstore.com loads completely then he quickly redirects you to the site listed by l3wis. Only if PP is such a master programmer, why does he leave his background code and images still out there.

    Without boring everyone with too much detail, here is sum of it:
    1.
    2.
    3.
    4. dakotacampaignstore.com – your one stop shop for campaign materials in the upper plains.
    5.

    What all this means is he is still ‘flash’ advertising before line five says “refresh” or redirect. He can still have logins to other pages on the site if he wants, what this code says is, if you land here I will send you to a fake page. So you must know the secret ‘handshake’ to go further in our site. This is used a lot in sites not wanting the public to have easy access. Dumb way to program but for a dummie, just fine.

  36. l3wis on May 10, 2012 at 12:23 am said:

    I need a Whopper.

  37. testor15 on May 10, 2012 at 12:30 am said:

    He has killed the advertised page links from homepage but who know why he would maintain the homepage for flash advertising.

  38. Helga on May 10, 2012 at 2:13 am said:

    “Mr. Gant is the arbiter of legal election actions, and if this wasn’t on the up-and-up then he’d be the first one to stop it. “Stop it PP” he’d say in a stern voice, “or else do it full time and not from the office.” And he’d glare menacingly.”
    LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

  39. Anooner on May 10, 2012 at 8:13 am said:

    If Pepe is a deputy, he has to take the same oath as Gant, which requires him to faithfully and impartially carry out the duties of office. (Believe this can be found at 3-2-3 and 3-1-5). Not sure how he can do so impartially if he is moonlighting as a hired gun. Lewis, you should call and tell him you’d like to hire him for strategy info on how to defeat Munsterman.

  40. l3wis on May 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm said:

    There is something else I have been thinking about in reference to the SOS’s office. Gant was in SF for the last municipal election scavenger hunt for extra ballots (In which there has not even been an informal investigation by the office as to why it was bungled). In the meantime, Whopper Jr. is selling houses and postcards back at the main office in Pierre. Anybody know why there was no investigation into the last city election? Probably for the same reason no one investigated Pitty Patt’s moonlighting.

  41. grudznick on May 10, 2012 at 9:54 pm said:

    The investigators, if there were any, would not find any wrong doing. Many state employees work at Walmart and it is not a conflict of interest. Some state employees probably mow lawns or sell real estate on the side. Teachers too. I ride around in Walmart and I see lots of teachers moonlighting. Stop trying to blame PP for something that is totally proper and that Mr. Gant has already deemed legitimate.

  42. testor15 on May 10, 2012 at 10:11 pm said:

    Grudznick, you are amazing. You are giving the reasons we have state and federal ethics laws. For this we thank you.

    1. The investigators, if there were any, would not find any wrong doing. — for one we need to investigate the ethics and conflicts of interest at the very least on the parts of SOS Gant and his chief deputy PP.

    2. Many state employees work at Walmart and it is not a conflict of interest. — Because non of the WalMart clerks are likely to be in positions of responsibility in the state government of SD.

    3. Some state employees probably mow lawns or sell real estate on the side. — if these employees are selling real estate or mow lawns, they are not likely to be in position to steal the right to vote away from your parents or mine.

    4. Teachers too. — I know many teachers who have summer jobs just to make ends meet because their pay is so pathetic.

    5. I ride around in Walmart and I see lots of teachers moonlighting. — Glad to know you are supporting the Chinese military and communists as you ride around WalMart.

    6. Stop trying to blame PP for something that is totally proper and that Mr. Gant has already deemed legitimate. — Where is SOS Gant’s public statement and Attorney General’s ruling on this legality?

  43. Grudznik has to be a joke account. No way can he repeat that silliness over and over and be real.

  44. testor15 on May 10, 2012 at 11:12 pm said:

    The problem is, grudznik’s ability to spout this stuff so easily makes me think the writer might actually believe these responses might help their cause. Their cause being the total partisanship of the SOS office.

    We recently had the election here in SF. What part did PP and Gant have to do with our new voter reduction system they were trying to make work for our council / school board election.

  45. Johnny Roastbeef on May 11, 2012 at 9:37 am said:

    Now http://dakotawarcollege.com/campaignshop, forwards to http://dakotacampaignstore.com/, which forwards to http://dakotaotaku.com/DKOT.html, which forwards to http://dakotafoodie.com/steakoffer1.html.

    Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.

    Why? What’s the significance?

    I DON’T KNOW!

  46. l3wis on May 11, 2012 at 3:42 pm said:

    I think what Whopper Jr. is doing is making money from click referrals. Whatever. I think it is kinda funny, but it still doesn’t let him off the hook.

  47. l3wis on May 11, 2012 at 3:44 pm said:

    “Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests.”

    Of course, Pat is trying to say that we are ‘obsessing’ over this. Sorry, but safe, legal and fair elections are important to me, apparently to him, it is a joke. One more reason the BK twins shouldn’t be running the SOS’s office.

  48. testor15 on May 11, 2012 at 4:21 pm said:

    If PP personally has the 4 below listed domains currently registered, how many more does he have and what is he doing with them?

    PP reminds me of the Ohio webmaster, Mitch Connell, Republican IT Guru who died In private plane crash after his interviews with federal investigators. Connell spent his lucrative career creating voter reduction / election fraud scams for Rove and other scheming political operatives. As the story goes, Connell did so much dirty work in throwing the 2004 ballot counting to Bush, the feds were after him. His private plane mysteriously crashed on the return flight approach to his Ohio home.

    It appears we may have found a chink in a SD election fraud scheme and the possible schemer. If PP is supposed to be divested of Dakota War College, than why is his name still listed as legal owner? In 2010 appointment, it was understood he was completely divest or legally hand off his political work, as Wooster wrote.

    Post #47 written by Johnny Roastbeef on 05.11.12 at 9:37 am put the following post in place: “http://dakotawarcollege.com/campaignshop, forwards to http://dakotacampaignstore.com/, which forwards to http://dakotaotaku.com/DKOT.html, which forwards to http://dakotafoodie.com/steakoffer1.html” . You will find PP owns all four sites as noted by http://www.whois.com. How many more does he own and control?

    This asks the question, why are the SD Democrats so afraid of questioning the possible partisanship of the SOS office? Our system, like the rest of the United States, is now centrally controlled from the offices of the voting machine companies and the SOS office. We have centrally controlled vote tabulators which are known to ‘miscount’ ballots, to be verified / certified by the ‘impartial’ SOS office. Now we have a known partisan in control of the state’s elections and results publicly thumbing his nose to ethics and the rule of law.

    http://www.midphase.com in Utah hosts all the sites he is playing with.
    Tracing route to http://www.dakotacampaignstore.com [98.158.186.115] over a maximum of 30 hops:

    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6 37 ms 35 ms 36 ms tengigabitethernet7-1.ar7.chi1.gblx.net [64.211.195.121]
    7 32 ms 33 ms 31 ms 69.31.105.21
    8 37 ms 40 ms 38 ms as32780.xe-1-0-5-1621.ar2.ord1.us.nlayer.net [69.31.110.86]
    9 32 ms 36 ms 30 ms 90.158.186.115.static.midphase.com [98.158.186.115]

    DAKOTAWARCOLLEGE.COM

    Domain Name: DAKOTAWARCOLLEGE.COM
    Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
    Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
    Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: DNS1.VPS.NET Name Server: DNS2.VPS.NET
    Status: clientDeleteProhibited
    Status: clientRenewProhibited
    Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Status: clientUpdateProhibited
    Updated Date: 17-aug-2010
    Creation Date: 27-jun-2006
    Expiration Date: 27-jun-2012

    Registrant:
    Pat Powers
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: DAKOTAWARCOLLEGE.COM
    Created on: 27-Jun-06
    Expires on: 27-Jun-12
    Last Updated on: 17-Aug-10

    Administrative Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/7c9a2a07e66078166f537bdcf7e1cfbc64a9579c.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Technical Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/7c9a2a07e66078166f537bdcf7e1cfbc64a9579c.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS1.VPS.NET
    DNS2.VPS.NET

    DAKOTACAMPAIGNSTORE.COM

    Domain Name: DAKOTACAMPAIGNSTORE.COM
    Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
    Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
    Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: DNS1.VPS.NET Name Server: DNS2.VPS.NET
    Status: clientDeleteProhibited
    Status: clientRenewProhibited
    Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Status: clientUpdateProhibited
    Updated Date: 06-jun-2011
    Creation Date: 09-jun-2010
    Expiration Date: 09-jun-2013

    Registrant:
    Pat Powers
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: DAKOTACAMPAIGNSTORE.COM
    Created on: 09-Jun-10
    Expires on: 09-Jun-13
    Last Updated on: 06-Jun-11

    Administrative Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/2ef28042c767c5e69cf7cc040713c6f7ad7c8ff6.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Technical Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/2ef28042c767c5e69cf7cc040713c6f7ad7c8ff6.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS1.VPS.NET
    DNS2.VPS.NET

    DAKOTAOTAKU.COM

    Domain Name: DAKOTAOTAKU.COM
    Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
    Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
    Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: DNS1.VPS.NET Name Server: DNS2.VPS.NET
    Status: clientDeleteProhibited
    Status: clientRenewProhibited
    Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Status: clientUpdateProhibited
    Updated Date: 29-jan-2012
    Creation Date: 29-jan-2012
    Expiration Date: 29-jan-2013

    Registrant:
    Pat Powers
    235 West Broadway
    Pierre, South Dakota 57501
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: DAKOTAOTAKU.COM
    Created on: 29-Jan-12
    Expires on: 29-Jan-13
    Last Updated on: 29-Jan-12

    Administrative Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/2ab9d318faf7a515cd732ea37ff5b402fcc4a261.png@yahoo.com
    235 West Broadway
    Pierre, South Dakota 57501
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Technical Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/2ab9d318faf7a515cd732ea37ff5b402fcc4a261.png@yahoo.com
    235 West Broadway
    Pierre, South Dakota 57501
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS1.VPS.NET
    DNS2.VPS.NET

    DAKOTAFOODIE.COM

    Domain Name: DAKOTAFOODIE.COM
    Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
    Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
    Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com Name Server: DNS1.VPS.NET Name Server: DNS2.VPS.NET
    Status: clientDeleteProhibited
    Status: clientRenewProhibited
    Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Status: clientUpdateProhibited
    Updated Date: 17-aug-2010
    Creation Date: 04-jul-2010
    Expiration Date: 04-jul-2012

    Registrant:
    Pat Powers
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: DAKOTAFOODIE.COM
    Created on: 04-Jul-10
    Expires on: 04-Jul-12
    Last Updated on: 17-Aug-10

    Administrative Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/12ed54a9f5224fbf0ae48362202ca5cb50ac72c5.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Technical Contact:
    Powers, Pat Description: http://www.whois.com/eimg/12ed54a9f5224fbf0ae48362202ca5cb50ac72c5.png@yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS1.VPS.NET
    DNS2.VPS.NET

  49. testor15 on May 12, 2012 at 9:25 am said:

    I left out one more, just for the record:
    Registrant:

    thepostcardpro.com
    Pat Powers
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
    Domain Name: THEPOSTCARDPRO.COM
    Created on: 17-Sep-10
    Expires on: 17-Sep-12
    Last Updated on: 23-Sep-11

    Administrative Contact:
    Powers, Pat @yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Technical Contact:
    Powers, Pat @yahoo.com
    1610 17th Avenue South
    Brookings, South Dakota 57006
    United States
    +1.6056906853

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS1.VPS.NET
    DNS2.VPS.NET

  50. testor15 on May 12, 2012 at 10:54 am said:

    The latest twist in your War College scheme is fun PP. Nice job. You are having fun aren’t you.

    It is good to see you enjoy l3wis’ site so much you have decided to join the out-dated joke and RickRoll us as the last step.

    This attempt at humor is not fooling anyone and it is nice to see we are keeping you otherwise occupied.

    Are you doing these little treats for us while you and Gant are having your daily BK break? Other than finding ways to subvert the ethics of the office, keep people from voting with new SOS rules or glitches in new equipment able to adjust votes, what are you and Jason doing these days?

  51. l3wis on May 12, 2012 at 5:56 pm said:

    Eating?

  52. mike on May 17, 2012 at 9:47 am said:

    Most troubling is that the media hasn’t shown any interest in this story.

    Do people not have a right to know what is going on in the elections capitol of our state?

  53. mike on May 17, 2012 at 9:48 am said:

    Anyone else think grudznick is PP???

  54. l3wis on May 17, 2012 at 4:07 pm said:

    Mike, don’t be so sure the media isn’t looking into ‘elections’ in general. There has been a lot of pressure from me and the Big ‘T’ towards our local media to dig more, and I do know of at least one reporter that is looking into it.

  55. Stan Adelstein on June 18, 2012 at 3:59 pm said:

    Thanks everyone on this blog site. I agree, and as to Testor 15, I have asked the Attorney General to give us all those “invesigators” that you asked for. That is the advantage of being elected by people – who even when the disagree with me – think I care about the system that I love and gave me everything that I cherish. (despite Power’s comments about my social position, supposed wealth, more than one home — and unlike rest of SD, my religious faith)

    And Testor 15 — finally getting the media attention — due to this letter to our Straight Arrow Attorney General:

    Dear Attorney General Jackley

    I request that you investigate the office of South Dakota Secretary of State. I am concerned about allegations of impropriety, conflict of interest, and possible illegal activity.

    A political commercial enterprise “Dakota Campaign Store” solicits political consulting, and sale of campaign material. It appears that it may actually be operating out of the Secretary’s office – by Mr Pat Powers, who is an apparent full time employee of that office, and has primary responsibility, in that office, for some of the same IT services that he is advertising.

    Does “DakotaCampaignStore.com,” use political filings from candidates to solicit business? It is obvious that Mr. Powers is the first to see any such filing – and with the new “assistance” program offered by his office has access to private information, not available to his competition.

    I am concerned about the endorsement in a primary election, of the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives. Does that endorsement arise out of any financial arrangements with this “consulting”service? Were any of the campaign material used in that primary race purchased through or by that enterprise?

    Does the Secretary himself directly or indirectly participate in earnings of this political operation? By indirectly, I mean discounts for material, utilization of services pro bono, etc.

    Has the Secretary purchased, even at market value, campaign material from that enterprise for his re-election campaign, or made use of mailing lists, etc?

    Has any of the business of this commercial service utilized State computers, office space, lists, office supplies, etc. in the conduct of it’s affairs.

    Time may be of the essence! I went online at 12:40 mountain time, June 15 and perused in detail Mr Powers advertising on DakotaCampaignStore.com. Shortly thereafter I expressed my concern to most of my Senate Colleagues. Since my posting to them, that website has been taken down! Mr Powers, among other things, is well known as a computer Guru – and I fear that evidence of wrongdoing could be erased, revised or otherwise distorted.

    If you establish apparent impropriety or misbehavior, I am also asking for your advice with regards two sections of Article XVI of the SD Constitution. Is it possible that Section 3 – “impeachment” – is something I should be seeking as a Senator or possible (and to my Engineers mind) more likely Section 4, “Removal from Office.” My education and background makes the distinction between the offences listed in each somewhat unclear.

    Stanford M Adelstein State Senator, District 32

  56. Pingback: Stan Adelstein asks the AG to remove Pat Powers from his state employment — South DaCola

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