Minnehaha County

UPDATE: Is Kasey Olivier going to be our next Minnehaha County States Attorney?

l3wis November 9, 2019 8Comments

At first glance, I would say, PLLLEEEESSSSE! You can’t go nowhere without people telling you how awesome she is. I’m on the middle-aged guy fence.

But the rumor mill is she is going to run for the job, and Aaron ‘Goo’ McGowan is not.

My sources are separate and not from the same ‘team’.

One tells me that Kasey will run. The other tells me that Aaron is out.

Honestly, not sure who would want the job, and even if I would run, I might get it.

Will be interesting to watch.

UPDATE: I have been hearing since this post that Olivier does want to run for public office again, and I encourage her to do so, she would be excellent at it. I’m just not sure what that will be at this point. I have also heard it is NOT the state legislature.

Minnehaha County Government should just say ‘Not open today-just because’

l3wis October 13, 2019 6Comments

Okay, with all the crap going on now with McGowan over at the county offices, this issue certainly isn’t scandalous, but funny.

The Minnehaha County website is calling Columbus Day a (regional holiday). The mistake is two-fold. I’m not even sure what a ‘regional’ holiday is, and according to Mike Rounds in his weekly column, we haven’t celebrated Columbus Day for a very long time in South Dakota;

For 29 years, South Dakotans have celebrated Native Americans’ Day instead of Columbus Day. The late Governor George Mickelson, along with the editor of the Native Sun News, Tim Giago, and tribal leaders, worked together to proclaim 1990 the Year of Reconciliation. The decision to change Columbus Day to Native Americans’ Day was made during the Year of Reconciliation by the state legislature as a way to honor the deep history of the tribal people who have long called this land their home.

Now I know why the county commission stopped asking for the monthly reports from the Treasurer’s office, their calendars were messed up.

Sometimes Rumors and Gossip turns out to be true

l3wis October 9, 2019 20Comments

Sometimes as a blogger, I walk a delicate tight rope. I have different standards when it comes to sources. I will use anonymous sources if I know they are reliable, sometimes that fails me.

I heard a lot of things surrounding what happened with State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan. I did a little digging around on my own to. Much of what I read in the AG’s report turned out to be what I heard, so I wasn’t surprised. Some of the gossip I heard was absolutely untrue. This is why I struggled with saying anything until there was more ‘public’ information. I have also known McGowan for almost 20 years. I wouldn’t consider him a ‘friend’ but he has always been cordial with me, so I didn’t feel a need to dig up a bunch of crap about him before a public investigation was released.

Alcohol abuse is NOT a laughing matter, and I hope he gets help, it’s just unfortunate it had to go this far.

I think when public officials are faced with personal difficulties in their lives, it’s best to be transparent and honest with constituents about it, ASAP. I guess it goes back to my feelings about open government. A lot of issues can be resolved much quicker if you just own up to them, apologize and move on.

Now if we can just pass that sentiment to our president.