Councilor Starr is responding in a press release below about the rabid right’s attempt to smear him for calling voters in a public service announcement about absentee voting during the middle of a pandemic emergency in our state, county and city. FCC law allows public officials to call citizens in emergencies and what Pat did was far from being against the law.

In fact this smear job isn’t about the law to the SD GOP it is about blatant voter suppression, something they strive at every day.

I have listened to the call several times, and Pat never mentions once that he is running for Minnehaha Treasurer, he also paid for the call himself and not a campaign expense.

In the call Pat asks voters to vote ASAP to protect themselves from a deadly virus that both Mayor TenHaken and Governor Noem have warned us about in Emergency Declarations.

In fact since the call has gone out Pat has received mostly praise from people for alerting them on how to vote safely. Some didn’t even know he was running for treasurer. I have heard some of the voicemails he received and they are absolutely glowing. Of course the right wing dingbats and their minions think that telling people how to vote safely is some violation of a law that is meant to protect consumers from SALESMEN, ironically one of the biggest complainers was using his position as a state official to SELL more from his private business, but AG Jackboots let him off because he didn’t ‘STEAL’ anything. LOL.

As for some of the calls going to voters out of Minnehaha County, as Pat explained it is because voter lists are not current and up to date. But does it really matter? Especially since the message is important to ALL voters across the state.

Once again, the SD GOP ran by an Iowa Bail Bondsmen cries wolf because they really don’t want you to vote. I’m sure the Whaaaaabulance will be showing up shortly in Dakota Dunes.

PRESS RELEASE from Councilor Pat Starr (605) 321-9680

LEGAL USE OF AUTOMATED CALLING

“I am not going to apologize for doing the right thing” Pat Starr said today, “Making it easier and safer for people to vote, is my number one priority.”

“In the face of a declared emergency, a public official is duty bound to use all means to give proper instructions to the public for their safety.” Starr added saying “I saw the public’s confusion being created by misstatements in the media by many officials.”

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has issued regulations governing the use by duly elected and appointed officials to issue statements in the public good.

Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz informed the county commission and public recently when saying the anticipated problems with mail deliveries and duplicate ballot issues, “If you are within ten days of the election, and you have something you’ve got to get to us, you better use the Pony Express, or come on down here, or do something besides the mail.”

Many elected officials including Governor Noem, Minnehaha County Commissioners and Mayor Paul TenHaken have been declaring various “States of Emergency” this year causing great confusion and health fears. The issued Executive Orders are in effect until at least December 31st, 2020 or until rescinded.

Gov. Kristi Noem didn’t take any chances and declared on April 11th and then again on May 26th, 2020 when she extended South Dakota’s “State of Emergency” declaration regarding COVID-19 through Dec. 30, 2020.

“I do hereby declare that a state of emergency continues to exist in all counties in the state of South Dakota, and I direct the plans and procedures of the State of Emergency Operations Plan continue to be implemented,”

References:

Federal Communication Commission Regulation:

“Prerecorded Voice Messages and Autodialed Calls to Cell Phones and Other Mobile Services. Prerecorded voice messages and autodialed calls (including autodialed live calls, prerecorded or artificial voice messages, and text messages) to cell phones and other mobile services such as paging systems are prohibited, subject to only two exceptions: 1) calls made for emergency purposes, and 2) calls made with the prior express consent of the called party.”

Governor Kristi Noem Emergency Declaration: https://www.capjournal.com/news/coronavirus/state-of-emergency-noem-declares-south-dakota-will-maintain-designation-for-rest-of-year/article_bcb2166a-9f98-11ea-bf41-1feea4e7c37f.html

Sioux Falls Executive Order 218: Subject: Declaration of Emergency to Address the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Given that time is of the essence, pursuant to Section 33.025 of the Code of Ordinances of Sioux Falls, SD, I hereby declare there exists a threat to the public’s health, safety and welfare necessitating immediate measures to prevent the spread and potential effects of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Upon the declaration of an emergency, the Mayor shall have all powers as set forth in Sections 33.026-33.028 of the Code of Ordinances of Sioux Falls, SD.

For full disclosure, I don’t live in Healy’s District, but do live right next to it in D13. I haven’t always agreed with some of the things she has done in the legislature either, but the RADICAL RIGHT has been destroying our state for decades and they won’t be happy until they turn the working class in this state into poverty stricken SLAVES with the only ones surviving are the rich and elite with their corporate welfare handouts.

That’s what is so ironic about this postcard and what Healy said ‘owners of slaves’. I guess I would take it as the radical right in South Dakota wants to praise slave ownership by putting them on the capital building. I mean really that is essentially what Noem is saying, ‘Praise the slave owners.’

I also think Erin’s comment was also really about the push to put more statues of dead slave owners on display in South Dakota. Really?! During the middle of a pandemic and an agricultural and economic crisis the governor of our state is worried about more statues?

Do I think Jefferson and Washington were great leaders? Sure, but as Healy said, they were not perfect. While I think tearing down monuments of them or defacing them is wrong, and I am sure Healy would agree, I don’t think we need to put up more. I think we need to learn from the mistakes of the past so we don’t continue to repeat them. I hope we learn hard lessons from the past 4 years.

As I said at a council meeting a few months ago, Sioux Falls and cities across the country should be building parks dedicated to peace and memorials about those who promote peace, instead of war.

Of course, I expected this kind of garbage from the Rushmore PAC. They have a track record of spewing hate and division across the state, and it’s NO mystery that the SD GOP Chair is behind the PAC since it’s official address is his home address in Dakota Dunes. Why didn’t the SD GOP just pay for the postcard? Because the radical right has to hide behind PACs so the public doesn’t know where the money is coming from. Make NO mistake folks, THE RADICAL RIGHT in South Dakota only wants to divide and conquer and they won’t be happy until 90% of us become their low wage slaves. No wonder they want to build more monuments to slave owners, they aspire to this greatness themselves.

Over the past week there has been some criticism towards TenHaken on how he has been handling the Covid ordinances and restrictions in Sioux Falls and most of it is coming from the movers and shakers in the SD Republican Party.

A certain blogger who takes his marching orders directly from the state’s party leadership has been very critical of TenHaken’s leadership.

It baffled me at first that the same guy who benefitted from Paul helping him hide his private business on musical servers would suddenly turn his back on his BFF.

He certainly wasn’t doing it on his own, he has never done anything on his own.

The rumor going around was that there was a dustup between TenHaken, the party leadership and one of Paul’s staffers (you can take a good guess who that is). I don’t have anymore details than that, but we do know there has been a fractured SD Republican party ever since Noem and Jackley duked it out and there now are several factions in the party going many different directions.

I’ve also noticed that when Paul talks on the radio or on FB he says he belongs to the party of Sioux Falls and isn’t a Republican or Democratic mayor. Yes, Paul, it is a non-partisan position, but you are registered Republican.

Will this dustup lead Paul to do what Bucktooth & Bowlcut did towards the end of his 2nd term and register as a Indy? Doubtful. But one wonders who got to him. Some have suggested it was Noem herself while others said it was the Iowa business owner who runs the party. It may have been both.

I have heard from legislators who serve on committees in Pierre that when you go into a meeting with the governor, she runs the room and won’t take any guff from anybody. She also likes to make veiled threats if you don’t do what she says.

Something has changed in Paul over the past week, and I don’t think those changes in his attitude came from inside him – I think someone gave him an attitude adjustment.

As I posted about on January 2, there is a little trouble in the SD GOP;

A group of Fall River Republicans are demanding that Dan Lederman resign as chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party due to his lobbying work for Saudi Arabia.

The Fall River County Republicans’ Central Committee unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday night alleging that Lederman has a conflict of interest between his role leading the state Republican Party and his work lobbying “against American citizens on behalf of a foreign government.”

The resolution has been sent to the party’s State Central Committee for consideration.

I heard about this on January 2, when I posted about it. But as I understand it, Fall River is NOT the only county organization drafting letters. I have heard about at least 3 counties if not more. This will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Isn’t it sad? Riot boosting, petitioning, etc. Why does our state legislature continue to pass laws that are violations of our 1st Amendment rights? I will tell you why, because we are allowing a super majority to legislate us.

I have often been baffled by how South Dakotans vote for initiatives that overturn the foolishness and inaction in Pierre yet continue to send these same fools to Pierre.

Want to have fewer initiatives on the ballot? Start electing legislators that pass laws that benefit you and that can hold up to a constitutional smell test.

I told Cory when he first announced he was suing the state over this issue he would win, I considered it a ‘slam dunk’ and if you read the opinion of the judge, it is very apparent. Cory pointed out to me that this paragraph says it all in the ruling;

And that’s all our legislature really does, put’s regulations on our rights to petition the government. And instead of apologizing and vowing to stop passing these restrictions they argue they are right;

Rep. Jon Hansen, a Republican from Dell Rapids, sponsored the bill to regulate petitioners last year. He disagreed with the ruling and said the law was intended to prevent out-of-state petitioners from influencing South Dakota laws.

If Hansen and his fellow lawmakers were so concerned about out of state influence, maybe they should stop taking marching orders from ALEC and the NRA. The party and it’s members also receive millions in donations from out of state entities. I would go so far to say that Noem could not have been elected if it weren’t for out of state contributions. It’s the norm with the SD GOP, it’s okay for them to not follow the rules, but the rest of us minions have to. This time they got their butts handed to them, and rightfully so.