Bluestem Prairie

Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment

On Thursday, Bluestem Prairie posted Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again, a South Dakota Searchlight article about the governor's latest border excursion.

But there's more to the story: how South Dakota is paying for it.

The Searchlight's Seth Tupper reported Friday in  Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment:

Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality.

Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National Guard soldiers to help secure the nation’s southern border this summer. She and 12 fellow Republican governors are responding to a request for assistance from the governor of Texas, the news release said.

Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, did not provide a cost estimate for the deployment, but told South Dakota Searchlight via text message Thursday evening, “All costs will be paid out of the Emergency & Disaster Fund.”

Lee Schoenbeck, a Watertown Republican and president pro tempore of the state Senate, said securing the border is a federal responsibility. He said Noem is acting on a “political agenda unrelated to South Dakota issues” and violating the trust placed in the executive branch to spend the state’s money as intended.

“She cannot use those funds for that,” Schoenbeck said Thursday night. “She needs to follow the law.”

A fund for in-state expenses

A Searchlight review of budget documents, public testimony, legislation and state laws pertaining to the fund revealed a common thread: references to the fund being intended for expenses within the state’s borders.

According to the recommended budget Noem sent to legislators in December, the fund is for emergencies and disasters “in South Dakota.” Noem asked legislators to put $2,524,560 into the fund. 

The House Committee on Appropriations filed a bill to appropriate precisely that amount in January. Angela Lemieux, of the Department of Public Safety, testified during the bill’s first public hearing later that month. 

“The fund covers costs for emergencies and disasters that occur in the state,” Lemieux told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Appropriations.

She said the money is used to help communities recover from natural disasters, and for grants that help communities prepare for future disasters. 

After the Joint Appropriations Committee, the bill’s next stop was the House of Representatives, where Republican Lance Koth of Mitchell delivered the only comments.

“It’s a special appropriation for the Emergency and Disaster Fund to cover costs of emergencies and disasters that have already occurred in our state,” Koth said.

In the Senate, the only remarks came from Dean Wink, R-Howes, who offered a detailed example to illustrate the fund’s purpose.

“We’ve had a very dry two years out in the Black Hills, and so we’ve had some wildfires that the locals, it got too big for them,” Wink said. “We have a reciprocal agreement with neighboring states that if we need help, they send their crews and their equipment, and vice versa. And next year, they may need our help. So they send us a bill after going back home, the Department of Public Safety pays it, and now they request us to refill their fund to bring it back up to zero.”

The bill received unanimous support at each level of the Legislature, and Noem signed it into law on Feb. 9.

None of the testimony, nor any of the language in the bill, mentioned out-of-state National Guard deployments. 

The bill’s text said the money is for costs related to an “emergency or disaster” and pointed to a pre-existing state law that defines those terms. That law says emergencies and disasters include any natural, nuclear, man-made, war-related, or other catastrophe “in any part of the state.”

Legislators react

Thursday night, Schoenbeck declined to say what, if anything, the Legislature could do to stop Noem from spending the money as she plans. But he said budget requests from Noem and her staff could face opposition during the next legislative session.

“The appropriations process involves a lot of trust,” Schoenbeck said. “If they come back with less trust, that translates into what’s appropriated the next year.”

Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, the chair of the Joint Appropriations Committee, said Noem’s plan to use the Emergency and Disaster Fund for a troop deployment “looks like a new use of those dollars.”

Hunhoff wasn’t prepared to offer further comments, she said, because she hadn’t received any communication about the matter from the Governor’s Office.

“I wish we would’ve had notice or information, but apparently we all got the information the same time the news release went out,” Hunhoff said.

Noem has sent National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border before. In 2021, she ignited controversy with her acceptance of a $1 million donation from Tennessee billionaire Willis Johnson to pay most of the cost for deploying 48 troops. The deployment cost a total of $1.45 million, according to records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. 

Friday, Fury seemed to disregard the $1 million donation while tweeting that the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund “is how these type of activations are ALWAYS paid for. In fact, it’s precisely how the deployment to the border 2 years ago was paid for.” South Dakota Searchlight sent Fury a message asking for clarification on whether the fund covered the portion of the deployment not covered by the donation, or whether the donation was never paid. Fury has not yet responded.

Yes, the @SD_Guard deployment to the border is being paid for by Emergency & Disaster Funds. That is how these type of activations are ALWAYS paid for.

In fact, it's precisely how the deployment to the border 2 years ago was paid for.

The border is an EMERGENCY. It's a warzone.

— Ian Fury (@IanTFury) June 2, 2023

Also in 2021,

Noem approved the sending of additional National Guard soldiers to the border at the request of the federal government. She said those additional troops were on “federal pay status.” 

The new deployments announced by Noem and other Republican governors come during a period of heightened political rhetoric about the border, in connection with the end of a pandemic policy that temporarily turned away asylum seekers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The number of migrants crossing the border — predicted by some to surge after the policy ended — has plummeted recently.

Fury’s Friday tweet said, “The border is an EMERGENCY. It’s a warzone.”

— South Dakota Searchlight’s Joshua Haiar contributed to this report.

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

 

Related posts

• Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again
• Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard
• AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Photo:  Gov. Kristi Noem visits troops during the 2019 Golden Coyote Exercise at Rapid City in 2019. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. Jamaal Turner/ via South Dakota Searchlight).

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Minnesota Reformer: Cost of managing Minnesota’s whitetails: 33 million bucks

Data reporter dude or not-from-around-here-guy? At the Minnesota Reformer, North Star State transplant Christopher Ingraham doesn't quite seem convinced about spending money for wildlife management.

I've had to stifle my inner deep-rural, bumpkin heritage conservation and hunter soul to realize the questions are good ones, and Ingraham buries the lede in the last paragraph:

The DNR, however, estimates that deer hunting “generates nearly $500 million annually in total economic activity to the state.” If you buy that figure, $32.8 million seems like a reasonable investment.

The state herd is threatened by an always fatal prion disorder and habitat issues, so there's that, too.

From the Minnesota Reformer:

The cost of managing Minnesota’s deer: 33 million bucks
By Christopher Ingraham

There’s an awful lot of spending in the $72 billion two-year budget recently signed into law, much of it the subject of fierce, headline-grabbing partisan battles: public safety, education, the social safety net, and so on. 

But there are also plenty of line items that flew under the radar. Like deer, for instance: The environment and natural resources budget includes $32.8 million earmarked for the state’s whitetail deer population. 

There are roughly 1 million deer in Minnesota, so it’s kind of like if the state mailed a 33-dollar check to every buck, doe and fawn. 

How do those bucks get spent?

The bulk of the appropriation — $17 million — comes from the DNR’s “deer management account.” By law, money in that fund can only be spent on deer management and habitat improvement. That includes things like prescribed burns, forest and grassland development, and efforts to improve winter food supplies for deer, according to a 2022 DNR report.

Those deer management funds come primarily from hunter license fees.

The second-largest item in Minnesota’s deer budget is $8.4 million for inspections, investigations and enforcement actions taken against deer farms, and for managing chronic wasting disease (CWD) more broadly. CWD is a communicable, neurological disorder — think Mad Cow Disease but for deer — with a similar concern that the condition could jump to humans.

In addition to placing a moratorium on new operations, the legislation tightens regulations on fencing, testing and dealing with positive CWD cases at deer farms. That new regulation will require stepped-up enforcement, which is where the $8.4 million comes into play.

A separate $5.4 million sum is earmarked for additional CWD actions statewide. Those include testing thousands of deer shot by hunters each year, researching CWD hotspots, tracking outbreaks, disposing of infected deer and issuing reports on the disease.

The budget directs an additional $1.6 million to the University of Minnesota to develop CWD contingency plans.

Finally, Bemidji State University gets $393,000 for an analysis of urban deer behavior in the city of Bemidji. The goal is to improve special archery hunts put on by some cities in the hopes of reducing car collisions, mitigating deer damage to plants and limiting the spread of CWD.

One important caveat to these numbers: there are many other line items in the natural resources budget, like land acquisitions and preservation efforts, that benefit the state’s deer even if they’re not done with deer exclusively in mind. Conversely, much of the habitat improvement earmarked for deer also benefit other species that share the same environment.

In the end, $32.8 million may not seem like a huge sum in a budget measured by the billion. But it’s nonetheless notable that the state devotes more money to deer management than to many human endeavors — $25 million for film production tax credits, for instance, or $17.7 million for electric vehicle rebates, or the entire $15 million annual operating budget of the state auditor’s office.

The DNR, however, estimates that deer hunting “generates nearly $500 million annually in total economic activity to the state.” If you buy that figure, $32.8 million seems like a reasonable investment.

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

Related posts

• Session Daily: Bill targets deadly deer disease with tighter proposed restrictions on farms
• Omnibus environment bill aims to ‘correct past wrongs, prepare for future,’ committee chair says 
• VIDEO: MN House environment committee passes most sweeping anti-CWD measure to date
• DNR: Chronic wasting disease suspected in a wild deer in Bemidji area for the first time
• MN Chronic Wasting Disease dilemma: should new deer farms be blocked? The old bought out?
• Chronic Wasting Disease: St. Louis County permanently bans new or expanded cervid farms .
• Todd Miller's deer farm was depopulated Tuesday,
•  On Facebook, operator of CWD doomed Winona County deer farm wears Miller Scrap hat 
• MN Board of Animal Health: CWD confirmed in quarantined Winona County captive deer herd
• Update: More on Miller family deer farm interests
•  Senate DFL Leader Franzen raises conflict-of-interest concerns in Republican leader's role overturning bipartisan vote to protect wild deer 

Photo: A white-tailed buck.

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Third time: Scott Jensen to rejoin usual bunch of quacks at Global Health Freedom Summit

A recent appearance at a town hall in Rochester by unsuccessful 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen--read about it here at KTTC's Former Minnesota governor candidate Scott Jensen speaks at town hall in Rochester--made me wonder whether he'd again be joining the speakers at the annual anti-vaxxer fest in Alexandria MN, the Global Health Freedom Summit.

Yes indeedie, as the screenshot above from the website's Event Speakers page shows.

The purpose of the event? From the Global Health Freedom Summit's tickets page:

Our goal is to give uncensored updates from names you trust while discovering new and important front-line voices. We strive to offer only the best in the movement that will stand and deliver truth! This year you will learn to legally protect yourself from forced vaccinations, mask mandates, and other forms of medical tyranny. You will become an advocate for you, your family and our communities!

And a slightly different message on the main page:

Our goal is to give uncensored updates from names you trust while discovering new and important front-line voices. We strive to offer only the best in the movement that will stand and deliver truth! At this event you will gain more knowledge surrounding our current world issues and become an advocate for you, your family and our communities!

It's not the first time for Jensen. As the bio notes, "This will be his 3rd year speaking at our event." 

Originally, Jensen's third year of speaking at the event was to be last October, while he was campaigning for governor.

As Bluestem first reported on August 20, 2022 in Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit:

Back in January 2019, we posted  Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers, before the COVID pandemic, before COVID vaccines, and before Jensen announced his intention to run for Minnesota governor.

We followed up that with mentions of Jensen's presence as a speaker at one of Minnesota's premiere "vaccine awareness" annual event. There are his speaking engagements at the 2020 Vaccine Awareness Event - Minnesota and its successor.

And now he's speaking again at an anti-vaccine/"vaccine awareness" forum in Alexandria that's getting to be an annual event under one name or the other.

And then there's that 2021 fundraiser hosted by Wellness My Way yearly event organizer. My, my.

By September 3rd, I posted MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bail[ed] on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event. noting that Bring Me The News' Adam Uren had reported in a story about the upcoming appearance:

Scott Jensen's campaign spokesman says that Jensen will not be speaking at the Oct. 1 event, despite being listed as a guest speaker, as he has a family wedding to attend that day. This story has been update to reflect this. Bring Me The News has reached out for further details.

At the Minnesota Reformer--a bit late to news of the cancellation and silent about the earlier appearances, Deena Winter focused on the usual bunch of quacks and anti-vaxxers at the Summit in Jensen to appear with all-star lineup of anti-vaxxers at Alexandria event.

Many of the same speakers will appear with Jensen on September 30, though Oath Keepers pal gal KrisAnne Hall doesn't seem to be on the roster this autumn. New from last year?  Leila Centner, a private school founder who's the object of Vanity Fair's Florida School Run by Idiots Says Vaccinated Students Must Stay Home for 30 Days After Each Shot and the Daily Kos' item Private school owner likens public schools to indoctrination camps, says they are pushing sexuality.

There's Carrie Madej, whom Reuter fact checked in Fact Check-Unidentified particles in vaccine samples under the microscope are likely contamination:

A self-described osteopathic physician who claims she saw a self-aware organism point at her from a sterile COVID-19 vaccine sample has likely misjudged her findings of common contamination debris, experts have told Reuters. ...

Also on the list? Scott Atlas, who briefly served on President Donald Trump's  White House Coronavirus Task Force, from August 2020 through November 30, 2020, after disagreeing with policies related to masking, social distance, herd immunity and such.

Earlier Jensen Summit appearances

In Bluestem summarized Jensen's earlier appearances at the yearly event in Alexandria:

The 2020 Vaccine Awareness Event - Minnesota in Alexandria . . . some of the stars of the anti-vaxxer world, described on the gathering's Eventbrite page:

This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers speak on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms!

 

About this Event

Join us for our Fall 2020 event on Saturday October 24th 9am-5pm as we welcome Del Bigtree, Dr. Bob Zajac, Shelia Ealey, Leah Wilson, Dr. Joel Bohemier, Senator Scott Jensen and Andrew Wakefield! This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers present on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms! We anticipate this event will sell out so grab your tickets now!

And Jensen was on the bill for 2121, we noted in Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally:

BigTree will in the Loon State that weekend for the Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit in Alexandria, Minnesota, where he'll share the stage with other leading figures in the anti-vax movement, as well as Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen. Jensen began establishing his anti-vaxx ties while serving in the state senate. though Salon reported in July that he denies he's an anti-vaxxer — he's just anti-vax-curious.

The State DFL Party reacted to the event with a press release Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Summit This Weekend.

 

Curiously, the  Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit link  in our post and the DFL statement is now directed to the Global Health Freedom Summit, Saturday, October 1st, 2022. Jensen is there again--along with a rogue's gallery of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics: Peter McCullough, Sherri Tenpenny, Del Bigtree, Joel Bohémier, Dr. Robert (Bob) Zajac and Dr. Larry Palevsky.   Jensen'sbio:

Dr. Scott Jensen has practiced family medicine in Carver County, Minnesota for more than 30 years, and this is where he and his wife, Mary, a small animal veterinarian, raised their three children – Cristy, an anesthesiologist, Matt, an estate attorney, and Jackie, a family doctor.

Dr. Jensen served in the Senate from 2017-2021 and was vice-chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. He has served many organizations as a board member or chair including Waconia school board, Rotary and Lions clubs, several Chambers of Commerce, bank boards and audit committees.

Dr. Jensen is an avid pilot and writer, publishing his first book in 2015, “Relationship Matters” and another book due to be published in the late summer of 2021. In 2001 he founded Catalyst Medical Clinic which now has offices located in Watertown and Chaska. In 2016 Dr. Jensen received the prestigious award, Minnesota Family Physician of the Year,

from the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians and was elected to the Minnesota State Senate. Dr. Jensen understands that we need to move forward from covid and address rehabilitation of our economy, businesses, schools, and communities.

Jeepers: who knew that Dr. Jensen was running for governor. There's certainly nothing in that biography which mentions it, nor a word about vaccines of any sort.

Not that Alexandria "vaccine awareness" event sponsor Wellness My Way didn't host a 2021 Lunch with Dr. Scott Jensen. As the Eventbrite invite to the fundraiser states:

About this event

In recognition of the people, businesses and leaders of Minnesota, we are pleased to announce a fundraiser for Dr. Scott Jensen, and we would like to warmly invite you to join us for this extra-special event. Please join us on Friday, September 24th at the Legacy of the Lakes Museum in Alexandria, MN.

The event will be held in the boathouse attached to the museum from Noon - 1:30p.m. You will enjoy lunch and a discussion with Dr. Jensen. Dr. Scott and his team are ready to answer the call and your questions. It is sure to be a meaningful and enjoyable noon hour!

Cost is open and all donations excepted with a suggested donation of $150.

Thanks in advance for your support, and we look forward to seeing you on September 24th at noon!.

Please register today as seats are limited (100). This event is first come first serve and you must have a ticket to enter. Thank you once again for attending our event!

In gratitude,

Dr. Jerod Ochsendorf . . .

It's not just about COVID vaccines at the Global Health Freedom Summit.

What was up at the Rochester town hall?

In a preview of the May 23 town hall, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported in Scott Jensen will speak at a rally in Rochester on May 23:

 Dr. Scott Jensen will speak at a town hall rally in Rochester on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

The event will include discussion on how Jensen is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for alleged violations of his First Amendment and civil rights. The program starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Empire Event Center, 1517 16th St. SW.

Jensen, a former Minnesota senator, gubernatorial candidate and practicing physician, has been investigated by the medical practice board six times. The allegations have been dismissed. . . .

After the event, KTTC reported in Former Minnesota governor candidate Scott Jensen speaks at town hall in Rochester:

. . .According to the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, Jensen has not served a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the board.

As Dr. Jensen has stated publicly, he was the subject of complaints filed with the Board of Medical Practice. By state law, the Board of Medical Practice is required to receive and resolve complaints about its licensees. The Board of Medical Practice is one of the clients of the Attorney General’s Office, along with many other state agencies, boards, and commissions. Scott Jensen has not served a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the Board of Medical Practice. . . .

A few days earlier, Jensen shared press release with Willmar Radio about the case, which would be filed in federal court in Scott Jensen suing Ellison over medical license investigations:

Former Gubernatorial Candidate and Minnesota Family Doctor Scott Jensen has announced that he's filing a lawsuit in Federal Court against Attorney General Keith Ellison and members of the Board of Medical Practice for violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The following is a news release from Jensen...

Government regulatory agencies are not weapons to be used against political opponents. Dr. Jensen is preparing a lawsuit to vindicate the rights of physicians and other health care professionals, cosmetologists, and anyone else who recognizes this grave threat to free speech and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

The purpose of the suit will be twofold: First, to aid the courts in further drawing the line between protected speech and professional conduct subject to regulation. Second, we will hold accountable those responsible for the outrageous weaponization of government against Dr. Jensen and countless other professionals who displayed the courage to speak out against censors and regulators run amok.

After being an outspoken voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jensen had his medical license threatened 5 times by political activists who leveraged Minnesota's Board of Medical Practice against him. These attacks on speech continued throughout his campaign for Governor of the State of Minnesota.

Said Jensen of the lawsuit, "For three years, while I was a sitting State Senator and while I was running for governor, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice hovered over me as a weaponized agency. Attorney General Keith Ellison joined that harassment as a political actor. My rights were violated, as were the rights of so many to speak freely during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards. We are going to take this lawsuit as far as we need to in order to protect the rights of physicians and all other professionals who have dissenting voices. The silencing and intimidation of political adversaries cannot become the norm in America."

I'll have to see if I can get a PACER account to work for me to see if that filing's been accomplished. I've contacted the Attorney General's office to see if the lawsuit has been filed, and will post the response here should Bluestem get a reply.

UPDATE: In an email response from the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Deputy Chief of Staff John Stiles writes, "No, Dr. Jensen has not filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General or the Board of Medical Practice." [end update]

Jensen is soliciting contributions to help with his legal costs here.

Related posts:

• Jensen ad touts MAFP's 2016 award, but where does he stand on med group's policy positions?
• MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bail[ed] on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event
• Scott Jensen to speak--again--at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit
• Minnesota anti-mandate effort promotes national anti-vaxxer at September 26 state capitol rally
• The headlines keep coming for MN vaccine skeptic gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen
• Small town MN freedom fighting restaurateur's anti-vaxx pals make us pause about her savvy
• Minnesota, kiss your herd immunity good-bye: Senator Scott Jensen cuddles up to anti-vaxxers

Screengrab: Minnesota docter Scott Jensen's billing for the September 2023 Global Health Summit.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

The State DFL Party reacted to the event with a press release Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Summit This Weekend.

 

Curiously, the  Saturday, September 25 Global Health Freedom Summit link  in our post and the DFL statement is now directed to the Global Health Freedom Summit, Saturday, October 1st, 2022. Jensen is there again--along with a rogue's gallery of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics: Peter McCullough, Sherri Tenpenny, Del Bigtree, Joel Bohémier, Dr. Robert (Bob) Zajac and Dr. Larry Palevsky.   Jensen'sbio:

Governor Kristi Noem orders South Dakota National Guard troops to Mexican border again

Earlier in this decade, Bluestem reported  Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard and AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Now South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is at it again.

Joshua Haiar reports for the South Dakota Searchlight in Noem orders National Guard troops to Mexican border again:

Gov. Kristi Noem announced plans Thursday to deploy more South Dakota National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border this summer.

Noem has sent South Dakota soldiers to the border previously. She said the new deployment comes in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for assistance. Noem is joining 12 other Republican governors who have pledged their support.

“Across the country, crime rates, drug overdoses, and human trafficking have all increased due to the ongoing challenges at the border,” Noem said in a press release. 

The move follows President Joe Biden’s decision to end Title 42 in early May. The COVID-era policy prevented migrants seeking asylum from entering the country because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

In April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the monthly number of migrants taken into custody or immediately sent back dropped to 16,182, which was the second-lowest total in more than 20 years. But encounters with migrants have soared since then, reaching 206,239 in November.

Earlier deployment

In 2021, a billionaire Republican donor from Tennessee, Willis Johnson, reached out to Noem and offered $1 million to help fund a South Dakota National Guard deployment to the southern border. She accepted the call and deployed 48 Guard members soon after. 

The deployment cost $1.45 million, according to records obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. 

At the time, Noem said the troops would stop drug smugglers and human traffickers. However, the records obtained by CREW and reported on by The Associated Press showed that in the first two months of deployment, the troops didn’t seize any drugs, and mission logs did not contain any confirmed encounters with “transnational criminals.” Some days, the records showed, the troops had little if anything to do.

Noem’s spokesperson, Ian Fury, did not reply to a request for comment Thursday. Noem’s news release about the new deployment did not say how much it will cost or how it will be funded.

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• Our own Ludlow? Noem partying like 1914 with use of private money to deploy National Guard
• AP: ‘Slow day:’ South Dakota National Guard emails don’t match Noem border ‘war’ talk.

Photo: An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images/ via South Dakota Searchlight).

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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Update: Amos LaFramboise to be returned to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Lake Traverse Reservation from Carlisle Indian School

In February 2022, my beau (a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate elder) and I attended a "signing ceremony," one of the steps necessary for the return of the remains of SWO children who had died at the notorious Carlisle Indian School.

Now Keloland reports that Amos LaFramboise will be coming home in September. Rae Yost reports in Tribal student’s remains to be returned to South Dakota:

 The remains of a South Dakota student who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania will be returned to the state later this year, according to the U.S. Office of Army Cemeteries (OAC).

Amos LaFramboise of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation was one of several students who died between 1880 and 1910 at the school. An estimated 200 students died while the school operated from 1879 and to 1918.

The Army intends to begin disinterment activities on Sept. 11. It will be conducted under the authority of Army Regulation 290–5, in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation.

LaFramboise is one of five individuals whose remains will be returned to their relatives and home states.

A KELOLAND News story from Oct. 6, 2021, said Tamara St. John, a tribal historian for Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and the tribe were working to bring the remains of students who died at Carlisle home. The remains of two of six children who were at Carlisle were still at the school’s burial site in 2021.

LaFramboise died 20 days after arriving at Carlisle. He was the first to die at the school. . . .

St. John had been frustrated with the snail's pace of the process but her persistence has prevailed and the boy finally is coming home.

The boys' relatives gathered to sign affidavits yesterday that will allow the tribes to begin the repatriation process.

"We are committed to them and to bringing them home like the chiefs that they are," said Sisseton Wahpeton tribal historian Tamara St. John. pic.twitter.com/rWxS0Cs4kl

— Jeremy Turley (@jeremyjturley) February 20, 2022

Related posts

•  SWO archivist: "We are committed to them . . . to bringing them home like the chiefs that they are" 
• SWO moves closer to bringing ancestors home from Carlisle Indian School with affidavit signing ceremony
• Video: Return of Our Sisseton-Wahpeton Children

Screengrab: The gravestones of Amos LaFromboise and Edward Upright contain spelling errors in a cemetery near the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Photos provided by the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center via the Grand Forks Herald.

There's more about Amos LaFramboise and Edward Upright at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, maintained by Dickinson College.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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Iowa DNR proposes new rural water system limits to prevent Ocheyedan River from drying up

I was happy to see rain fall in Summit overnight through our region. Water is life and it was getting mighty dry--and a new story from Iowa illustrates that truism.

Last December, Bluestem republished Iowa Capital Dispatch's Part of Ocheyedan River, a southwestern MN/northwest IA watershed, has been pumped dry.Jared Strong reported then:

A significant stretch of a northwest Iowa river has run dry several times in the past seven years as a rural water utility has pumped more water from the ground — at least a quarter of which is sold out-of-state — with the approval of state regulators.

A two-mile segment of the Ocheyedan River dried up this year in September amid drought conditions and increased pumping by Osceola County and the Osceola County Rural Water System, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

That led to the deaths of an undetermined, large number of fish and other aquatic life, diminished wildlife in the area and less available water for local livestock.

The Ocheyedan River runs for about 60 miles from Ocheda Lake in far southern Minnesota to Spencer in Iowa, where it joins the Little Sioux River. A segment of the river about four miles south of Ocheyedan has run dry at least four times since 2015.

“It’s surreal,” said Ed Jones, who owns 90 acres of pasture land that abuts the river. “There’s no water. There’s no mud. There’s no nothing. It’s just gravel.”

Jones said the DNR — which oversees the state’s water-use permits — has been slow to remedy the ongoing problem. State law says a permit for the large-scale withdrawal of water from the ground shall be denied or discontinued “if it will impair the navigability of any navigable watercourse” or “if it will unreasonably impair the long-term availability of water.”

Jones, an Osceola County supervisor, said the situation is especially egregious because so much of the water pumped from the ground by the rural water utility is sold for use in Minnesota.

A northeast Iowa company abandoned its proposal last year to withdraw billions of gallons of water annually from the Jordan Aquifer — which lies beneath nearly all of Iowa — and ship it by rail to western states. The idea drew widespread criticism and was rejected by the DNR because it didn’t meet a “beneficial use” requirement under state law. . . .

Now Strong reports in DNR proposes new restrictions to prevent river from drying up:

A rural water system in northwest Iowa would be required to idle its wells near the Ocheyedan River when its flow is too low, according to a Department of Natural Resources plan to keep the river from running dry.

The Osceola County Rural Water System had sought the opposite and suggested removing its requirement to photograph the status of the river in low-flow conditions. The utility alleges that its role in the river’s status is relatively inconsequential. But the state seeks to impose more stringent restrictions on the water utility, according to a DNR letter.

A two-mile section of the river ran dry last year near May City, mostly because the county pumped water from a nearby quarry that reduced the water table surrounding it, the DNR said. The utility also has wells in the area that contributed to the problem.

In 2015, when an smaller section of the river was dry, the utility was the primary culprit, the DNR determined. That led to increased monitoring requirements for the utility.

After the river was dry again in September, the DNR asked the utility and the county for proposals to prevent it from happening again. The county said it would limit its dewatering of the quarry to earlier months of the year to reduce the strain on the river. The utility — claiming it was being “bullied” — sought to reduce its monitoring requirements.

That idea was rejected by the DNR in a recent letter that proposes idling the utility’s wells near the river when the Ocheyedan’s surface level drops to certain points. It also seeks to prohibit the county from pumping water from the gravel pit from July to September.

It’s unclear how the water utility will proceed. Doug Westerman, general manager of the Osceola County Rural Water System, did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

The DNR asked the county and water utility to reply to its proposals by June 22.

Photo: A roughly two-mile stretch of the Ocheyedan River ran dry last fall in northwest Iowa. (Photo courtesy of Iowa DNR).

This article from the Iowa Capital Dispatch is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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South Dakota Searchlight: Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on ethanol CO2 pipelines

A few days old, but this South Dakota Searchlight article should interest Bluestem's readers.

Meanwhile, Summit Carbon Solutions' new talking point is that climate change deniers--like environmental groups one is left to suppose--are part a "hurdle" to its success as the West Central Tribune reported in Climate change denial among hurdles for carbon capture pipeline project in southwestern Minnesota.That's enought to make barn cats laugh.

Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines
By Jared Strong

President Joe Biden should prevent the construction of new carbon dioxide pipelines until changes to federal rules are adopted to increase their safety, opponents of the projects said Thursday.

The call for an executive order to stall the projects comes as federal regulators consider changes to pipeline requirements and are set to hold a two-day meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, next week to discuss their safety and gain public feedback.

Biden has little say over whether Iowa regulators issue hazardous liquid pipeline permits to the three companies who currently seek them. Approval from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates the pipelines from a safety perspective, is not required by Iowa Utilities Board’s permit process, said Don Tormey, an IUB spokesperson.

However, pipeline opponents said Biden could potentially block their construction on federal lands and across certain waterways.

“President Biden has the power to put a halt to the carbon capture scam by issuing an executive order and directing federal agencies to restrict permits for projects until regulatory safeguards are in place,” said Jim Walsh, policy director for Food & Water Watch.

That group and others have for months sought to halt the state permitting processes while PHMSA considers changes to its safety requirements in light of a carbon dioxide pipeline rupture in Mississippi that sickened 45 people in 2020.

“We are talking about a hazardous material that can cause rapid health effects over a very short period of time,” said Ted Schettler, science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network, who warned that there aren’t adequate regulations of the pipelines.

A confluence of factors

The pipeline rupture in Satartia, Mississippi, has been a rallying cry for those who oppose carbon dioxide pipelines. They object to the projects because of the generous federal tax incentives for capturing the greenhouse gas from ethanol plants and other emitters, the potential for the pipelines to prolong the use of fossil fuels for energy, and for what they see as the erosion of property rights for landowners who lie in the pipeline paths.

There’s also the issue of public safety. A PHMSA review of the Satartia incident found that operator Denbury Gulf Coast Pipelines failed to anticipate threats to the integrity of its pipeline, underestimated the areas that could be affected by a breach, and failed to notify local officials of a safety hazard.

Jesse Harris, director of public affairs for Summit Carbon Solutions, which seeks to build one of the pipelines in Iowa, said the company learned from Denbury’s mistakes and incorporated that into its design and operations plans. He noted that the company was found by federal regulators to be in “non-compliance with multiple existing regulations.”

A PHMSA report also noted: “The weather conditions and unique topography of the accident site prevented the CO2 vapor from rapidly dispersing and allowing a plume to form that migrated toward Satartia.”

That is not typical, a PHMSA administrator told state lawmakers this year. The administrator noted about 100 unintentional carbon dioxide releases from pipelines in the past two decades — all of them smaller than the Mississippi release — and one resulting injury.

“What the normal situation is: you have a release of carbon dioxide, you’ve got warm air and it goes up in the air,” said Linda Daugherty, the administrator. “There’s already CO2 in the atmosphere. It just goes up. There’s wind, and it’ll mix it up and disperse it.”

Greater precautions

But the potential for another confluence of factors that mimic the Mississippi situation means that the pipelines need more robust safety requirements, pipeline opponents argue.

“There’s no requirement to add an odorant into the pipeline so that the public could know that there is a dangerous level of CO2 that could be asphyxiating them,” said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. “We need better regulations to identify the communities that could be impacted in the case of a pipeline failure. Notably, Satartia was not identified by the operator Denbury as being potentially impacted by the failure.”

The Satartia rupture was preceded by heavy rains that caused a landslide around a section of pipe, but Caram said more should be done to reduce subtle, longer-term threats to the integrity of the pipelines.

One of those threats is corrosion that is caused by contaminants. Navigator CO2 Ventures, one of the three companies that proposes a pipeline in Iowa, has said ethanol plants are an ideal source of carbon dioxide because their emissions have reduced contaminants.

“But when we start looking at capturing CO2 from power plants and things like that, there will be more water and other impurities that pose both public health risks and pipeline integrity risks to these pipelines,” Caram said.

A PHMSA draft of the new proposed rules is expected early next year.

The agency’s “CO2 Public Meeting 2023” is set to be held May 31 and June 1 in Des Moines.

This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch, which like South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom. It's republished here  under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Landowner battles against ethanol CO2 pipelines vary by state
• Ethanol CO2 pipeline news digest: PUC hearings in Minnesota; South Dakota lawsuits; IA setbacks
• CURE files appeal with MN PUC on Summit Carbon pipeline environmental review
• News digest: South Dakota and Minnesota PUCs deal with Summit carbon pipeline issues
•  In Iowa, ethanol carbon pipeline opponents want pause until new safety regulations are ready
•  Summit Carbon Solutions files permit for risky CO2 pipeline in Otter Tail and Wilkin Counties 
•  Will ethanol carbon capture pipelines fracture brittle unity of South Dakota Republicans? 
• South Dakotans & others get fantods over Summit Carbon Solutions' sketchy 10% owner
• Matt Birk loves the ethanol carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions
• Ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: from the Guardian to the Aberdeen American News 
• Navigator CO2, POET sign letter of intent for carbon capture, utilization, and storage service
• Carbon capture pipeline blues: SD landowners call for dismissal of pipeline permit application 
• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Group seeks end of ethanol carbon pipeline ‘harassment’
• Ethanol carbon capture pipeline digest: farmers, students, greenwashing, safety, law enforcement
• Storm Lake Time Pilot's Art Cullen: Ripping up CRP is a terrible signal for the planet
• Minnesota Public Utility Commission claims regulatory authority for carbon pipelines
• CO2 pipelines could affect the land, lives and livelihoods of South Dakota property owners
• SD News Watch: Proposed CO2 pipelines thrust SD into billion-dollar climate change debate
• About that permanent carbon storage by the Summit ethanol pipeline & Project Tundra
• Ethanol carbon capture pipeline news digest: political power and big money edition
• Ethanol carbon pipeline digest: trust & protest
• South Dakotans, Iowans don't hug CO2 pipeline
• Keloland: mostly negative public comments to SD Public Utilities Commission on CO2 pipeline
• Strib: Ethanol's per-gallon carbon output shrinks, but greenhouse gas from plants remains high
• We agree: It's time to move on from ethanol
• Another IA newspaper editorial board questions ethanol industry, carbon capture pipelines
• Ethanol CCS pipeline update: Reuters & Agweek
• Not a lot of easements for Midwest carbon pipeline, but plenty of political connections
• 2 ethanol CO2 headlines that make us go hmmm
• CO2 pipelines: who wins & who loses?
• Coming soon from a cornfield near you: mammoth carbon capture pipeline system
• Mother Jones: USDA Secretary Vilsack’s son works for a controversial ethanol pipeline project
• Iowa county boards scorn construction of CO2 pipelines, use of eminent domain to build them
• Digest of news about carbon dioxide pipeline

Photo: A carbon dioxide pipeline break in 2020 in Mississippi sickened dozens. (Photo courtesy of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration).

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[VIDEO] In 2012 congressional race, SDGOP shared campaign ad claiming new MN DEED commissioner Matt Varilek was no Kristi Noem

On Thursday, the Star Tribune's Burl Gilyard reported in Former SBA administrator will be Minnesota's next DEED commissioner:

Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday tapped Matt Varilek as the next commissioner of the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

Varilek is president of the Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation, which provides business loans, nonprofit grants and leadership training to 14 central Minnesota counties, plus the Leech Lake and Mille Lacs bands of Ojibwe. He has led the foundation since January 2017.

Varilek starts on June 20.

"Having grown up in a lower-income household, I'm passionate about helping more people enjoy greater economic prosperity," Varilek said in a statement.

Varilek previously served as chief operating officer for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and regional administrator for SBA Region 8, which includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.

"From strengthening the economy and communities of greater Minnesota to advocating for small businesses on the federal level, Matt Varilek brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his new role driving our state's economy forward," Walz said in a statement.

The Pioneer Press noted his education:

Varilek earned his bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Northfield, his master of philosophy in economic development from the University of Glasgow, and his master of philosophy in environment and development from the University of Cambridge.

But there's more.

Twin Cities Business's Dan Niepow reported in Matt Varilek to Lead Minnesota’s Economic Development Agency:

. . . He was also a one-time congressional candidate for South Dakota.

In a news release, Walz praised Varilek for “strengthening the economy and communities of Greater Minnesota.”

Varilek, who’s slated to start the new gig June 20, will replace temporary commissioner Kevin McKinnon, who’s been serving on an ad-hoc basis since March.

The appointment appears to represent a change in direction for the Walz administration’s DEED. Prior commissioner Steve Grove was a former Google executive who spent years in the private industry and later went on to become publisher of the Star Tribune. Varilek, on the other hand, has spent much of his career in politics. Before his time at the SBA, Varilek was a legislative assistant for Democratic U.S. Sens Tom Dashle and Tim Johnson, who both represented South Dakota.

Varilek did also spend five years as director of policy and research for Natsource LLC, an advisory firm working in the energy industry.

A friend sent us a 2012 campaign ad about the matchup produced by the South Republican party (mislabeled here as a 2010 race):

The ad went viral. Gawker's Caity Weaver reported in This Baffling Ad for a South Dakota Congresswoman is an Excellent Ad for Her Democratic Opponent:

Republican Kristi Noem and Democrat Matt Varilek are in the midst of battling one other for control of South Dakota's lone seat in the House of Representatives, currently occupied by Noem.

The above campaign video, released earlier this week, shows Varilek earning multiple degrees in environmental studies, speaking at UN global warming summits, even hosting some fun National Corn Dog Day parties.

In 2003, the voiceover explains, "Kristi Noem receives the South Dakota Young Leader Award from the South Dakota Soybean Association." This is her most boasted-about achievement.

The video is not an ad for Varilek. It is an ad for Noem.

While the greatest moment of the commercial probably comes at the 1:40 mark, when Noem's campaign hammers Varilek for hosting "a raucous National Corn Dog Day party in his swanky D.C. neighborhood," at which "more than one thousand corn dogs [emphasis in original]" were served, it's the following juxtaposition that best embodies the ad's fervent anti-relevant qualifications stance:

"2001.

Varilek attends Cambridge university in England for additional environmental study. Varilek goes to Marrakech, Morocco, promoting a global cap-and-trade plan at a United Nations global warming summit.

Back in South Dakota Kristi is living Castlewood, farming, raising a family, helping to balance the books and manage a family restaurant. . . .

According to Ballotpedia, Noem won the election with 57.4 percent of the vote to Varilek's 42.6 percent.

Be that as it may be, the credentials scorned in the ad by the South Dakota Republican Party, along with Varilek's years at the Small Business Administration, and the years at the Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation, should make for a mighty fine Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) commissioner.

And who doesn't like corn dogs?

Photo: Matt Varilek has been named the new commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Courtesy photo, State of Minnesota.

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Good news for prairie potholes: Feds propose drainage rules to protect SD & nearby wetlands

Some good news from the South Dakota Searchlight for those of us who appreciate wetland conservation.

Feds propose drainage rules to protect wetlands in SD and nearby states
By Joshua Haiar

A government agency wants to keep water-draining equipment used by farmers away from federally protected wetlands in several states.

Drain tiles are underground perforated pipes buried in farmers’ fields. They are used to drain unwanted water – including some wetlands – allowing for more room to plant crops.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a process to determine how close drain tile can be installed to wetlands that are under the agency’s protection.

The regulations would apply to easements the agency has on privately owned wetlands, called Waterfowl Production Areas, and only in the Prairie Pothole region of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. 

Waterfowl Production Areas are leased by the Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. The areas are managed for the production of waterfowl. There are about 1,000 such areas in South Dakota, totaling nearly 150,000 acres. 

Public hunting is one of the benefits these areas provide. The Wildlife Service uses funds from the sale of Federal Duck Stamps – something hunters purchase with their duck license – to conserve the wetlands.

As part of the proposed new regulations, the Wildlife Service will provide individual setback distances to landowners based on site conditions, including soil characteristics, drain tile diameter, drain tile depth, and topography.

Landowners In the Prairie Pothole Region who follow these setback distances would not be held responsible for draining a protected wetland area.

Prairie potholes are freshwater depressions and marshes, often less than 2 feet deep and 1 acre in size. The region is known as a “duck factory” because more than 50% of North America’s ducks hatch there.

The Wildlife Service said the proposed regulation would help ensure no drainage of the wetlands occurs, and would give farmers more clarity regarding where they can and cannot install drain tile. 

Waterfowl Production Areas date to 1958, when Congress created the Small Wetlands Acquisition Program to conserve and protect small wetlands and pothole areas in the Prairie Pothole Region. 

When landowners grant a wetland easement for a Waterfowl Production Area, they give up certain rights to use or develop the wetland on their land in order to protect the habitat for waterfowl. 

A public comment period is open until June 27 on the proposed drain tile regulations. To make a comment, search the docket number “2023-08998” at regulations.gov.

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online  under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

 

Photo: Prairie potholes in the Upper Midwest. (Courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).

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Rick Weible includes SD Secretary of State Monae Johnson as swamp dweller.

On November 23, 2022, South Dakota Searchlight published Incoming Secretary of State looks to hand-count ballots, audit each election, an article which appeared on November 29 in States Newsroom sibling Minnesota EReformer as South Dakota’s new secretary of state has ties to vocal Minnesota election denier.

Rick Weible, that vocal Minnesota election denier, is once again speaking about election integrity in Minnesota, in events sponsored by Republican BPOUs. On May 15, his Central Minnesota Election Summit in Milaca was sponsored by Kanabec County Republicans. On May 20, it was a Master Class in Election Integrity, sponsored by the Senate District 34 Republicans.

On June 21, he'll be speaking at the St. Augusta American Legion, the featured guest of Minnesota Republican Senate Districts 13 and 14.

But don't expect him to praise South Dakota's Secretary of State, his connections with her, or election integrity (as he sees it) in South Dakota.

Here's the section of the "master class" when Weible speaks about his creation of Monae Johnson's SD Republican convention endorsement victory over incumbent Steve Barnett and her severing ties with him and his wife--who was campaign manager. Weible says that SOS-elect Monae Johnson sent the Weibles packing on November 23, 2022:

Weible was on the Lindell Report on May 23, 2023 (Georgia, Minnesota, South Dakota and California Election Crime Bureau Update 48:43--58:00) and May 24, 2023 (Mike Lindell Warned Us: Microsoft Now Warn Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers Have Compromised “Critical” Cyber Infrastructure).

His Midwest Swamp Watch website now includes posts about "South Dakota Evidence."

He concludes in a PDF that South Dakota is a banana republic.

Who is Rick Weible?

While Weible has graced the pages of Bluestem Prairie in the past, we recommend Deena Winter's profile in The big lie goes on tour in Minnesota:

Small town mayor becomes an elections expert

. . . leaves the “figuring out” to people like Rick Weible, who took the Monticello stage after Keshel, quickly noting that he wears glasses.

“Yeah, I’m that guy,” he said. “I’m a geek. I’m a nerd.”

The former mayor of St. Bonifacius, Minn., Weible has been posting YouTube videos for about a year — he calls it Midwest SwampWatch — laying out election fraud claims in Minnesota.

Weible claims 39% of ballots cast in Minnesota in 2020 can’t be “connected” to registered voters — including 700,000 absentee ballots. In Dakota County, for example, 666 ballots aren’t “connected” to voters, he said.

He’s trying to track the total number of voters with a list of registered voters and their voting histories — which campaigns and political groups use to target voters. 

[Max]Hailperin said Weible is simply unaware of how the voter file works. 

The list of registered voters doesn’t include people who ask to be omitted, or people who have died or moved since the election. It’s not possible for private citizens to match ballots with voters, Hailperin said, especially when counties have six weeks after the election to update the voter histories, and they can get extensions.

Hailperin allowed that it’s reasonable for Weible to ask why some counties were so slow to post voter histories, perhaps because they didn’t have the staff or resources. He added, however, that the voter history file has never been a complete list, nor does it instantly come into existence the day the election is over.

Weible disagreed, saying the two databases should match up.

Hailpersin also said he reached out to Weible and has spoken to him at length, telling him he misunderstands the system. Weible is still doing presentations on what Hailperin calls the “dog and pony show circuit.”

“Weible knows a fair bit, but he also is missing lots of pieces and he is more than happy to blow through what might be stop signs,” Hailperin said. “I think the real thing is just that he’s a very committed believer that our government ought to be in different hands.”

Pushing elected officials, including sheriffs, for action

Weible said he’s done more than 20 such presentations since January 2021. He said they’ve gone from being “data-driven” to “action-oriented,” because the Republican Party’s official apparatus won’t take action.

An estimated 400 people attended the Brainerd event, and surely contributed to a groundswell of conservatives who urged Crow Wing County officials for months to look into unspecified fraud. The county board voted Jan. 4 to call for a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election — even though Trump won the county by 30 points. 

The secretary of state denied their request. As required by law, county administrators conducted post-election reviews and found no significant irregularities.

They’re targeting other counties, too. Weible said they’re bringing their fraud claims to sheriffs in Wright, Sherburne, Anoka, Dakota and Crow Wing counties. Keshel lists Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Saint Louis and Wright counties among the “top 100 worst counties” for “abnormal trends” in the 2020 election. . . 

As for Weible's standing among South Dakota Republicans, there's not a lot of chatter about him, though he does seem to show up. At liberal blog South Dakota News Watch, Cory Allen Heidelberger reported in SB 40 Gets Bigger, Puts More Statewide Offices on Primary Ballot, Over Misdirected Anti-Democratic Whackdoodle Opposition:

Republican whackadoodles showed up in Pierre yesterday to oppose Senate Bill 40, the party elites’ plan to remove lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state from the convention nomination process. The party elites responded by amending SB 40 to remove all statewide elected officials from the convention nomination process.

Senate Bill 40 is one of those curious bills in which Republicans are proposing a good democratic reform. Right now, South Dakota’s parties nominate their candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of school and public lands, and the three public utilities commissioner seats at their midterm-election year conventions. That means candidates for these statewide offices are chosen by a group of hyperpartisan delegates smaller than the number of people who have to sign nominating petitions to place candidates for governor or Congress on the ballot. It should be easier for party elites to control its convention than a primary election, but Republicans have found the fringe radicals whom it invites into its tent to bring otherwise disengaged Trumpists to the polls don’t listen very well and upset the nomination process by picking unqualified radical candidates instead of the elites’ favorites. . . .

But radical Minnesota immigrant and election conspiracy theorist Rick Weible (who helped make radical election denier Monae Johnson Secretary of State) and radical racist West River preacher Matthew Monfore don’t like elections or democracy, so they called in to Senate State Affairs yesterday morning to testify against SB 40. Weible said SB 40 doesn’t help the grassroots because the candidates for lower statewide offices can’t raise as much money as the top-tier candidates. Weible then got sidetracked revisiting the campaign tactics Weible used to help Johnson beat incumbent Steve Barnett at last summer’s convention, and the committee redirected him to address SB 40 itself. Reminding the Republicans of all the slime he threw at their favorite son Steve Barnett probably wasn’t the wisest tactic, but when given the opportunity to talk more about SB 40 itself, Weible first elbows his mute button, then upon figuring out his error, simply closed his testimony. . . .

Later the same day, Heidelberger posted in Legislative Term Limits Die on First Contact with Committee:

In more feckless whackdoodlery, Senator Brent Hoffman (R-9/Sioux Falls) and election conspiracy theorist Rick Weible tried to persuade Senate State Affairs to put stricter Legislative term limits to a vote. Senate State Affairs declined . .  

Election denier Weible called in from Elkton to ditto Hoffman and say term limits represent the “populist” approach. I’m still trying to figure out how passing arbitrary laws to tell people for whom they can vote represents a “populist” approach.

At the Republican blog, South War College, there's this in the April 23, 2023 post, A few notes from the Brookings/Moody County Lincoln Day Dinner. The niceties, and what was that?:

I did notice an ad in the program for a new group that drew my attention....

It was an ad for the “Save Brookings” political action committee, with the ad letting everyone know that they are going to be endorsing candidates that support the Republican platform. At least the platform according to them.

I hadn’t heard of this group before, so who is behind it?

According to the Secretary of State, apparently this group was set up by Rick Weible of Elkton earlier this month to “support conservative issues and candidates in Brookings South Dakota.”  We’ll see how long this lasts. Maybe someone can explain why we need a recent Minnesota transplant to Elkton to save Brookings?  Or, why would I send money to Elkton to save Brookings?

Have you been to Elkton? I’ve been to Elkton. I think Elkton could use a little saving before the home of the State’s largest university does.  But that’s just me. . . .

Before that, there was Senate defeats ‘election integrity’ and Pillow Guy symposium measures designed to disenfranchise voters. – South Dakota War College:

. . .Schoenbeck, the Senate President Pro Tempore, aimed his comments at Rick Weible, Jessica Pollema and others who call themselves the South Dakota Canvassing Group. The group played a role in Tripp County decision to hand count ballots for the 2022 election. . . .

Jeepers. Concurrent scorn across South Dakota's spectrum.

The conservative blog's first mention? January 11, 2022's Fringe group hosting event claiming widespread voter fraud in South Dakota. Despite no indication of fraud:

Saw this event pop up on Facebook today.. Which is kind of a “wtf” thing, because no one has ever heard of this group, and no one has heard of widespread voter fraud in the state:

Midwest Swamp Watch is a website being run by Rick Weible of Elkton, SD, a former Minnesota Mayor, and apparently has been on the internet making claims about widespread voter fraud in Minnesota.  And now, he’s trying to sell the same sort of snake oil in South Dakota claiming that apparently there are “statewide anomalies and fraud,” similar to what the pillow guy was trying to sell in Sioux Falls this summer.

The event is being hosted by “Brookings Area Patriot Ripple Effect,” which may be an offshoot of Dave Roetman’s group in Sioux Falls.

Clearly, they’re new, and goofy election conspiracies are on their menu.

The problem is..no one has ever heard of these election conspiracies before. And it makes it even more challenging that South Dakota uses physical paper ballots, as well as canvassing the election results after the election day vote as a “double check.”    Has anyone ever heard of this evidence ever being presented to a county auditor? Or the Secretary of State? As in the people in charge of the elections?  How about county State’s Attorneys or the Attorney General?

Of course not. Because these kind of conspiracy theories reside on the internet. Not in places where fraud is actually investigated. Because the claims just don’t seem to hang around all that long when closely examined.

I’m not sure what you do with that.

It appears that South Dakota Republicans have done something different than Minnesota Republicans when it comes to Weible. Draw your own conclusions.

Related posts

• Election deniers appointed to Minnesota House Elections Finance & Policy committee
• SD Searchlight: Incoming Secretary of State looks to hand-count ballots, audit each election 
• Crockett and crew share curious definition of "common sense" at Pine Island rally
• Ben Davis, Master of Ceremonies for Dec 2021 'Searching For Truth' event, GOP endorsed in 6A
• Westrom wouldn't talk to local reporter about why he attended sketchy election fraud event

Photo: Rick Weible addressed the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners in Elk River on July 12,2022. He said the group he founded, “Midwest Swamp Watch,” has talked with 25 Minnesota counties and claimed their voting equipment is either insecure or improperly upgraded. Creator: Elizabeth Flores | Credit: Star Tribune. From ‘FEELS LIKE IT’S A WHACK-A-MOLE’ Minnesota election officials on misinformation front lines.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6