I guess I could go on and on about Trump. But I won’t. Let’s focus on Sioux Falls and South Dakota.
Aaron McGowan takes the prize locally. The fiasco he has left Minnehaha County is embarrassing. What is even more embarrassing is the lack of intervention by the commission until it was too late. I’m not sure if I am so disappointed in him as I am with the commission and lack of general oversight.
In second is Paula Hawks who fought tooth and nail to become the chair of the SD Democratic Party only to resign a few months later because she didn’t cash a couple of checks laying in some desk drawers. I have a feeling we will be hearing from Paula in 2020. Pray for her, but more importantly, pray for the Democratic Party.
The number one prize goes to Kristi Noem, who has embarrassed female politicians across the state as the first female governor. She has confused industrial ag products with drugs. She has made a mockery of drug policy in the state. She has zero comprehension of the 1st amendment and 2nd amendment. She has taken nepotism to a new level. She has taken a dump on public education. And she has done it all with a wink and a smile. She is truly disgusting on soooooo many levels. She has shown to be one of the hugest failures in local government in 2019, and the Snow Queen rodeo star’s reign is not over. Screw impeaching Trump, we should be impeaching our governor.Â
And you thought Janklow sucked!
Honorable Mentions;
• Minnehaha County Commission (Beating up on the treasurer over monthly reports while the State’s Attorney was absent).
• Paul TenHaken. For a guy who used to run a communications company, he struggles with communicating.
• Dan Lederman, the GOP Party chair. Besides the fact that he does his business in Iowa, he is paid to be a lobbyist for the Islamic Saudi government. He also had very little to do with Representative Saba (a Democrat) bringing in a trade deal with the Egyptians, and had zero to say about it.
• Greg Neitzert. His rage and anger for Stehly is overwhelming. He makes Rick Kiley look like a pussy cat and Curt Soehl look like Rhodes Scholar. I don’t think dunking him in a 55 gallon drum of hand sanitizer could help.
Let’s not forget about the cowardice of Thune, Rounds, and Dusty this past year, too, when it comes to Trump. Every time they have tried to publicly distance themselves, or differ with Trump, they come running back like a Sergeant Schultz as soon as they hear the hammer coming down.
You speak of Janklow, and that is what the Trump presidency is, it’s the Janklow presidency which some of us once hoped would never come into being someday; and Republican leaders like Thune, Rounds, and Dusty personify a once fear of Janklow by some, but at a national level along with other fellow national Republican leaders, too, when dealing with Trump; a fear which has not been seen here in South Dakota since the days of the Janklow reign.
Sadly, we do not live in an age of ‘Profiles in Courage,’ but rather in a time of discouraging profiles. History will not be good to the Thunes, Rounds, and Dustys of our time, for they are not good for us now in these times, when somehow Republicans no longer worry about facts, deficits, the rule of law, decency, or even a respect and need for our allies.
We can survive all of the aforementioned personalities in the above post, which I comment in response too, but whether we can survive a Trump presidency is questionable, and those left with a pen after it is all over with will definitely take note of these cowardice Republicans of our time, to which even a Republican Reagan would not recognize, if he was still alive today.
How the year turns….At the beginning of the year I thought our Attorney General would be on there after all the claims of inexperience….from my own observations and the comments of many others, he seems to be quite the leader. He sure handled the McGowan investigation well, seems methodically trying to fight meth (while not embarrassing the state) and seems to be as hard of a worker in the job as he was a hard campaigner. He seems like the surprise of the year in a positive way.
VSG: T R U T H !
John, yeah, being one of only three states to prevent the ERA to go thru really is quite an achievement. LOL.
“Say, is our AG still doing ‘Five at Five on Fridays’ to impress us with his weekly work?”…..”If so, I can imagine me watching that in the near future, and then going out to eat a ‘Dauminator’ at Applebee’s”…..
Noem has been uneventful. I expected more performance from the first female governor. When it comes time to vote against her, ‘We’re On Itâ€.
Locally, by far, the Charter Revision Commission has been a huge disappointment. What did they accomplish? They’re best known for closed door unposted meetings. It’s amazing how they hide and prevent what they were set up for. Namely, transparency and constitutional rights absent from the city charter.
The biggest political fail for the state was marijuana. It’s an Ag crop this state needs. Tax revenue would be substantial. It costs more for enforcement than treatment. Legal pot would not be popular. Users would be the same or less. It’s habitual. So are tobacco and alcohol. How about if SD becomes the only state to allow supervised cannabis edibles but not unhealthy smoking. Supervised restaurants but not dispensaries. Trained chefs without back alley drug deals.