UPDATE: Thought I would revisit this post today;
So chew on this ‘nothing burger’. Do you remember Pat Powers and why he left his blog, Dakotawarcollege.com, back in 2010 only to return to it in 2012? Let’s rev up the wayback machine and look.
We at SouthDacola were a bit busy back then, helping a disgraced Secretary of State to NOT run for reelection, his aide to run back to Brookings with his tail between his legs and attempt to break a curious conspiracy to conceal unethical behavior.
On July 22, 2012 Powers made an announcement he was back at the blog…
We at SouthDacola will fill you in.
It is election season 2018 in Sioux Falls and South Dakota with some names and events hauntingly familiar from those halcyon days. Why? Keep in mind names like Pat Powers, Dakota War College (DWC), Jason Gant, Bill Clay, Rick Astley, Marty Jackley, Sen. Stan Adelstein, DCI, Click Rain, Paul TenHanken and more to mull over.
SOS Jason Gant hired his friend and confidant, DWC Pat Powers, to be a high-level employee in charge of the sensitive data systems in the SOS office as Deputy. You know the kind of data a government office can hold in a “trust� As in, you trust no one will do anything wrong with it? An unknown by the mystery name, Bill Clay, became the voice of DWC. To this day no one knows who this Bill Clay was (we assumed is was a fake screen name).
Back to our story, while doing a bit of research using the SD Secretary of State’s corporate database, a curious thing happened. A website previously unknown to the researcher called Dakota Campaign Store appeared when clicking a link trying to sell political postcards.
Why would the SOS office be selling campaign supplies? We started to look into the IP addresses of the SOS databases, the campaign store and DWC to see how they could be linked. Funny thing is, they appeared to be connected. As we exposed the links, these website IP addresses seem to move around the country together which I coined the case of the ‘musical servers’, how could this be? We started asking questions. Powers began to move websites around and created fake links.
The more we researched, followed the IP addresses as they traveled the nation, our questions were answered by Rick Astley. What became apparent was some shady type things were going on. Sen Stan Adelstein from Rapid City also started asking questions. He asked Attorney General Marty Jackley (2018 GOP candidate for Governor) and the Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to look into the issues being brought up.
Instead of finding potential issues with the loss of the state’s confidential corporate database during the documented 4 moves, employee conflict of interest in running a political campaign consulting / sales business while managing the voter database and more, the Attorney General only said, no money was stolen so no harm done. In other words, go away and leave us alone while we bury this mess (Entire DOC: Jackley-Gant ).
When Powers announced his return to the blog Dakota War College writing “for the new owners†who were the new owners? It was announced at the time, the final resting spot was in an up and coming web services company, Clickrain owned by Paul TeHaken.
Well, Clickrain in Sioux Falls became a proud owner but at some time since we last reported, TenHaken must have turned DWC back to Powers:
Click to enlarge graphic
Remember Rushmore PAC owned by the SD Republican Party Chairman and former SD State Senator from Dakota Dunes who was (might still be) a longtime person registered in two states at the same time (Iowa and South Dakota) while being a SD State Senator? This is another story with interesting answers.
Who will ask these people what these people were doing hiding government information on web servers around the country and why? When will these people come clean with where the data is? With all the expense of rebuilding the lost SOS databases due to the apparent cross country moving, why didn’t the Attorney General prosecute or at least slap the Whopper Juniors out of the offender’s hands?
Maybe TenHaken should be included in this 2014 graphic;Â 2014 Scandal Republican-graphic
Still confused? It’s simple, basically we suspected under Gant & Powers watch at the SOS’s office they were using private servers owned by Clickrain who was owned by TenHaken to not only hide Powers involvement with his blog and campaign store, which was a clear conflict of interest as a state employee (we suspect why he was pressured to quit) but possibly hiding/holding government data. Which isn’t technically illegal if you have a state contract to do so. We have no clue if TenHaken had such a contract. We will never know because Jackley decided to bury that part of the investigation and basically tell us that Gant & Powers weren’t stealing money from the petty cash box.
Paul TenHaken has NEVER publicly talked about the Powers dismissal from state government. Gee, I wonder why?
if the republican party in SD wasn’t in bed with each other, this should not only be an issue with the mayor’s race, but also in the governor’s and house races.
Republicans miraculously turned the EB5 scandal into a mere $ 2000 felony, so they will probably turn this scandal into what, a 2 penny misdemeanor?
Very suspicious. What disturbs me is the maze of coverups. You’ve done your homework. If TenHaken can be associated with the corrupt arm of the Republican Party, he should not be mayor.
for what it’s worth, Bill Clay was the fake name Hans the terrrorist/thief (alan rickman)gave to John McClane (bruce willis) when confronted in the movie “die hard.”
Why would someone running for city government need to comment on Pat Powers activities in the secretary of state’s office? It’s not like anyone is suggesting Pat Powers will have a role in city government.
I guess wouldn’t comment either if I was involved with this – LOL.
“It’s not like anyone is suggesting Pat Powers will have a role in city government.”
THANK GOD!!!!
DWC sure has been quite about this whole affair, however….. It’s kind of like when Mueller came out with his first indictments and FOX News decided to not cover them, rather they obsessed about a new cheeseburger emoji which mistakenly places the cheese at the bottom of the pictured burger…. (Hey, that’s further proof that a “nothing burger” can actually have beef…..(?))
Obsessing much? Why the hard on for Ten Haken?
Uh-oh, Pat Powers is not going to like this story. What is he going to do when he realizes he can’t take it down?! People’s comments that question the corrupt arm of the Republican Party are always taken down and it’s done quickly. Would “Very Stable Genius” be willing to go to DWC and ask PP about this story? I’d lay money down ze’s comment would be “off topic” and not allowed.
I think Matthew is on to something, PP should be publicly talking about what you’re suggesting. Why do we need PT to discuss a business decision? Was it illegal, should someone be charged with fraudulent activity? I do think there’s a group of Republicans that’s keeping the respectable people from being involved in state government, but Paul has not been accepted into their group as he still has morals and values.
Do you hope “Bill Clay” is Paul? There’s no proof of that and if it is him, does that make him evil? Maybe this theory is over my head, as I do not get insider information from friends they way you do. As hard as you are tying to make PT the boogie man, your homework did not really do that. Next time seek help from the Russian bots, they did so well outing Trump.
We have proof that the website was moving around with the help of Clickrain. While NOT illegal, it certainly shows that PTH was willing to help out his pal Powers cover up unethical behavior. We have had enough of secrecy and unethical behavior over the past 8 years. Time to clean up city hall not make it worse.
Actually, I did make one snarky comment about this controversy over at the DWC, and last I checked, he hasn’t taken it down…. (I’ll give Pat some credit…. 😉 )
http://dakotawarcollege.com/tapio-files-2500-signatures-in-congressional-race/
Just how was super sleuth millennial boy going to link the pesty blogger’s IP to a name without a warrant? Maybe this is a Argus follow up question for the Rounds campaign.
The more I read about Pauly makes me think he’s little on the knowledge and full of hype.
Unless legalizing pot or overturning net neutrality makes it to our ballots, I doubt we have to worry about Pauly being mayor. Old folks don’t see website building or PR as governing skills and can smell bullshit at the ballot box.
Why the hard on for tenhaken?
I have noticed a change here in the last week. Seems an awful out of evangelical fundamentalists have sprung up here in defense of their chosen one. I listened to pth for a while. Why? I listen to them all. D’s and R’s mean nothing to me in local politics. I like Theresa. I like Kermit. They are politically right of what makes me comfortable on a state and national level. Yet I would vote for them without hesitation on a local level. I trust them. pth? Not so much. ANYONE who can give trump a B in anything loses me right out of the gate. Trade wars are brewing. Mueller is closing in. Stormy is counter punching. The deficit is exploding. Unemployment for fox TV personalities is dropping as Trump hires new ones almost daily. Teenagers are rising up all over the country in opposition because they like living more than dying. You have a president who gets his daily briefings from fox and friends. You have a president who lays out policy on Twitter. You support a loser? You are a loser.
This Trump experience is just starting. Evangel fundies from Orange City, to Worthington, to SF, love him more than ever. Tell me. WHY? I guess there truly are two Americas, and I know which one I live in, and am damn proud of it.
PS. To you DSU sleuths out there. Who is the pth apologist that goes by the handle Mark Schlaung? Stay classy.
LJL – We finally agree.
I am starting to like LJL. It’s kind like my car bumper sticker that reads, “Okay, I do miss “W” now!” 😉
l3wis – Might it be time to have another after hours gathering of the South Dacola aliases? Maybe immediately after the swearing in on May 15. I’ll need a new handle by then, too. I’m thinking of going with “David Dennison.”
I have TenHaken fatigue. The tireless self-promotion of the Goodwill fashion shoot. The naked opportunism of the “hubby†beauty pageant. The churchy enthusiasm. Exhausting.
“I have Jolene fatigue. The tireless self-promotion of the victim-hood fashion shoot. The naked opportunism of the “feminist” beauty pageant. The ‘My Truth’ enthusiasm. Disappointing.” – Another Reliable Voter
It is easy to change words so to fit a narrative someone wants to advance. What’s not easy to do, is be a positive person, a risk taker, an entrepreneur, a dedicated family and community man and… God forbid a person of faith. Does that sound exhausting to you?
I don’t know Paul like Matthew does, but what I’ve read, watched and yapped about, Paul is a leading candidate and I bet there’s a high chance a run-off will not be necessary.
I would agree, ironically I have heard the same about Greg.
Michelle. Betting on high chance of no run off? I am generally not much of a gambler, but how do I get a piece of that action?
“NixonHaKen is the One!”
“I obviously have these sorts of tools in my toolbox.”