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MN Reformer: The Hagedorn rule: Watchdogs say congressional family deals need oversight

From the Minnesota Reformer, September 21

The Hagedorn rule: Government watchdogs say congressional family deals need oversight

By Daniel Newhauser

WASHINGTON — Even if U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn loses his first re-election race in November and leaves office after a single, little noted term in the House minority, he could still be leaving a lasting legacy: Call it the “Hagedorn Rule.”

Congressional ethics experts say Congress should clarify who can or can’t do business with congressional offices, following revelations that Hagedorn’s office quietly paid his chief of staff’s brother hundreds of thousands of dollars to send positive mailers to constituents.

Nepotism and conflicts of interest are explicitly banned in the ethics rules for members of Congress. For instance, a lawmaker can’t hire his wife’s firm. He also can’t hire a company owned by a member of his staff, and a member of the staff can’t contract his own company. (Hagedorn’s office appears to have violated the latter two rules, but we’ll get to that in a minute.)

Hiring a chief of staff’s brother, on the other hand? Well, the rules become murkier when you drop one rung down the chain of command and one branch over on the family tree.

Hagedorn alleged in an internal review of the matter that his then-chief of staff, Peter Su, hired Delaware-incorporated company Abernathy West to design and print postcards and fliers for the office. A lawyer hired by Hagedorn to investigate the issue found that the company is owned by Nien Su, Peter Su’s brother. A spokeswoman for Abernathy West later confirmed the ownership to the Minnesota Reformer.

Ethics experts were hard pressed to find a rule that explicitly bans a chief of staff from hiring a company controlled by his or her family member to perform services for the office. While that may seem like something that should be prohibited, there is no rule outright banning a staff member from contracting with a family member, so long as the staff member isn’t getting a kickback or doesn’t have part-ownership in the company, according to the ethics specialists.

An analogous regulation can be found in the Members’ Congressional Handbook, a guide the House Administration Committee puts out for legislators, governing their taxpayer-funded office budgets, also known as Members Representational Allowances, or MRAs.

“No Member, relative of the Member, or anyone with whom the Member has a professional or legal relationship may directly benefit from the expenditure of the MRA,” the rule states.

Hagedorn’s payments for similar work to Invocq Technologies, which is owned by his staffer John Sample, are a clear-cut violation of this provision, according to several ethics experts. But it doesn’t mention anything about the brother of a chief of staff. Bryson Morgan, a former investigator at the Office of Congressional Ethics, said maybe it should.

“The language of that rule in the Members’ Congressional Handbook is one paragraph and it’s exceedingly broad,” Morgan said. “It would be in the best interest of members for the Committee on House Administration to provide more detailed guidance on prohibited personal, legal and business relationships.”

Don’t hold your breath, said a spokesman for the House Administration Committee, the panel that regulates how members can spend their pot of taxpayer money.

“To my knowledge, there have been no discussions about amending the member handbook, which is clear,” said Peter Whippy, citing that passage.

Still, that doesn’t mean it won’t come up now that the questionable spending has been aired out. And the language could get a rewrite in another context: The House Ethics Committee is undertaking an overhaul of the ethics manual, and even got a budget increase last year to finance that task, the largest percentage increase of any single House committee.

On Monday, it became more likely that the Ethics Committee will be taking a look at Hagedorn’s office spending, after Minnesota attorney Sybil Dunlop filed a complaint against the congressman with the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body that investigates allegations of wrongdoing and refers them to the Ethics Committee.

But even Dunlop, who did a thorough analysis of House rules, said she couldn’t find a rule explicitly banning the relationship. Instead, she pointed to measures in the Code of Ethics for Government Service, which state that the members should find the most “efficient and economical” services, not “discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone” and engage in no business that is “inconsistent with the conscientious performance of his governmental duties.” She also pointed to an even more vague clause that states members and officers of the House must “adhere to the spirit and the letter” of the rules.

“A blanket rule certainly makes it easier to know what the right move is,” Dunlop said in an interview.

In fact, the larger issue could arise if it can be proven that Abernathy West was overcharging Hagedorn’s office, as alleged in the internal review of the mailings carried out by Hagedorn’s lawyer.

A spokeswoman for Abernathy West disputed that claim, however, justifying the price tag by saying the mailers were not “cookie cutter” and were produced under time constraints.

“Abernathy West stands behind the quality and value of its work,” the spokeswoman said.

Schuman, a government transparency advocate and policy director of the nonpartisan democracy reform group Demand Progress, said that despite the vagueness of the House’s internal rules, the Su brothers could run into legal problems if investigators start throwing out subpoenas or asking for documents.

Schuman said the fact that Abernathy West hid its ownership behind Delaware incorporation papers seems suspicious on its face, and that if investigators uncover any financial interest in the company by Peter Su or Hagedorn or documents outlining attempts to defraud the office of taxpayer money, the violations could change from technical to legal.

“It looks a little bit like a kickback scheme, doesn’t it?” Schuman said. “They didn’t disclose the relationship to the member. If they had they would have said so. So they were sending money to an affiliated company without disclosing to the member they did it at a rate that’s way above the appropriate rate. I mean, either it’s fraud or they’re massively incompetent.”

A spokeswoman for Abernathy West referred questions about whether Hagedorn knew the company was owned by his chief of staff’s brother to Hagedorn’s office and said Nien Su does not want to interpret whether his business relationship with the office was prohibited by House rules. The spokeswoman also said Nien Su is the only owner of the company and neither Peter Su, nor Hagedorn nor his family received any monetary compensation because of the deal.

She added that the Delaware incorporation was a run of the mill business registration.

“Mr. Su, like millions of others, chose to incorporate in Delaware to avail himself of the favorable business laws and tax treatment available in Delaware,” she said. “He was not trying to hide his ownership.”

Hagedorn said he did not know about the relationship, according to the internal review of the spending conducted by D.C.-based lawyer Elliot Berke.

The earliest evidence tying Hagedorn to knowledge of the company’s ownership came courtesy of Peter Su, who leaked to the Minneapolis Star Tribune a recording of a conversation he had with Hagedorn on August 7 — one day after the Minnesota Reformer first reached out to Hagedorn’s office seeking comment about the spending on Invocq Technologies and Abernathy West.

In that conversation, Hagedorn said, “I don’t believe there’s any problem.”

With the rules around the issue being so vague, who could blame him?

Also from the author at the Minnesota Reformer: Exclusive: Minneapolis lawyer files first known ethics complaint against Hagedorn.

Image: U.S. Rep. Hagedorn sent more mail to constituents — and spent more on it — than all other members of Congress. The printing contractors included a company owned by a member of his staff and another owned by the brother of the chief of staff, since fired. Source: the Minnesota Reformer.

If you enjoyed this article, consider making a donation to the Minnesota Reformer.

Related posts:

• This week in Jim Hagedorn: a MN01 news digest
• Jim Hagedorn news digest: Rochester Bulletin, Mankato Free Press, MN Reformer and more!
• More MN Reformer: Expect an ethics complaint against Jim Hagedorn, DFL Chair Martin says
• But his emails! Strib reports Hagedorn personally involved in decisions about publicly funded mail
• Hagedorn aide at center of sketchy spending posts conspiratorial, homophobic social media
• The plot thickens in the Fighting First: Jim Hagedorn hires legal help for spending scandal
• Minnesota Reformer: MN01's Hagedorn spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff
• MN01 data points: Does Hagedorn's internal polling conducted in March still matter?
• Hyperbole, much? Hagedorn's revelation about November 2020 is galloping nincompoopery
• Coals of criticism heaping on Jim Hagedorn; UnitedHealth Group says no more cash for you
• Rightwing values and performance art in MN-01: Mr. Quist and "Mr. Conservative" (2009)
• Republican Party of MN reports self-employed James, Hagedorn lives in St. Louis Park
• RPM, Friends of Hagedorn confuse state & federal campaign finance reports in answering PB question about Hagedorn's residence
• MN01: Meet a Hagedorn Washington legislative assistant working on agriculture issues
• MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings
• Nazi namecalling: two Southern MN Republicans lose their wits about Warren, insulin critics
• MN01: Hagedorn echoes colleague's remark about kids being free to leave detention centers
• Congressman Hagedorn's campaign emails share only the finest COVID-19 news sources

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Katie Hopkins pitches anti-Muslim, pro-pussy grabbing message to MAGASOTA crowd

Last week, we posted about the MAGASOTA's surprising speakers list for Northfield Trump Rally Minnesota 2020 Saturday.

At the event yesterday, the "Surprise Guest of International Fame" was revealed as British columnist, Katie Hopkins.

For those provincial souls who don't don't know who she is, a synopsis. Forbes' Alexandra Sternlicht reported in June's Far-Right U.K. Commentator Katie Hopkins Permanently Banned From Twitter For ‘Hateful Conduct’:

The controversial U.K. media pundit and reality TV star Katie Hopkins was permanently banned from Twitter on Friday for “abuse and hateful conduct.” . . .

This is far from the first backlash Hopkins has faced from her remarks. The police reportedly investigated her over tweets in 2017 that questioned whether a Labour politician was a pedophile after he posted a picture with the Pakistani flag, reports BBC. She was also made to pay nearly $160,000 after a court found her guilty of libeling non-binary food writer Jack Monroe for implying Monroe had vandalized war memorials. Hopkins was fired from her job at LBC, and reported to the police, after using Nazi rhetoric in calling for the “final solution” in a tweet after the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.  . . .

Our favorite Hopkins headline comes from Snopes in 2017: Did ‘Liberal Feminist’ Katie Hopkins Advocate ‘Euthanasia Vans’ for the Elderly? The answer:

Hopkins, a British commentator known for making outrageous and sometimes morally bankrupt statements, made the comments in 2015.

Claim: Liberal feminist Katie Hopkins advocated for driving euthanasia vans around to kill off the elderly.

Rating: Mostly true

What's True

Hopkins did make the comment in an interview in 2015.

What's False

The comments were not made in 2017, when the story was being shared on disreputable web sites; Hopkins is considered a right-wing commentator, not a "liberal feminist".

Here's Hopkins' Wikipedia entry for more dish and libel judgments levied against the British right-wing celebrity.

Given MAGASOTA's Michele Even's judgment in putting Hopkins on the speakers list, we've have yet another clue as to how the group got on the Republican Party of Minnesota, the Minnesota House Republican Caucus and the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus's Minnesota Scammers Exposed menu.

Nor does Hopkins' speech disappoint the low standards for discourse she's set in her career. Via anti-Muslim conservative activist Marni Hockenberg's YouTube channel, here's her performance:

Hopkins begins by asking the 1,300 people in attendance:

How you all doing, you beautiful people. This is where they put all the pretty people, is it? I've been staying in Downtown Minneapolis...is it ugly there.

So ugly. All this [unclear], this is what you get when you marry into you own family, right? You get some ugly looking people.

Like the first night at the DNC. . . .

My name is Katie Hopkins. Straight, white, Christian, conservative, nationalist, patriot . . . mother of three children and I'm proud of all those things.

I've been married twice before. I've been married almost as many times as Ilhan Omar except I've never married my own brother.

I have three children under the age of sixteen. All my Somali friends in the crack huts back in the center of town have sixteen children under the age of three. Don't tell me I don't have any Muslim friends. . . .

It continues along those lines--and so much more--until she says that the president can grab her pussy since that's better than having a pussy president.  Okay then.

Perhaps she's never heard of Minnesota Nice.

Speaking of which, the next video on Hockenberg's channel, #MagasotaTrumpRally2020take three With Michael Matt, features Matt, publisher of The Remnant, a Traditionalist Catholic newspaper, according to Wikpedia. Matt also runs RemnantTV.

As my late father would likely have observed, a pair to draw to.

The Southern Poverty Law Center included The Remnant among 2019 radical traditional Catholicism hate groups.

Photo: Katie Hopkins at the MAGASOTA Trump Rally at Castle Rock Bar and Grill in rural Dakota County on Saturday, September 19. Via GunderzThunder's tweet.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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South Dakota News Watch: Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation

Earlier this week, we posted UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident.

We made assemble another digest of news and commentary about the incident, but for now, we're running a 1,500 word abridgement of South Dakota News Watch's investigative article, Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation and raise concerns of distracted driving. For more copy and photos, please check out that article.

We use this shorter version with permission.

Bart Pfankuch
South Dakota News Watch

An experienced traffic-accident reconstruction expert is casting doubt on the claim made by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg that he thought he hit a deer with his car the night of Sept. 12 when in fact he had struck and killed a man.

Kurt Weiss is a mechanical engineer who has 34 years of experience in reconstructing hundreds of car accidents and is the owner of Case Study Collision Science, a California forensic research firm. Weiss is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction and has worked on cases for government agencies and clients in civil and criminal trials.

After viewing an image of the site where Ravnsborg hit and killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever, reading articles about the incident and viewing a photo of Ravsnborg’s vehicle taken after the crash, Weiss said it is highly improbable that Ravnsborg would not have known he’d hit a man unless he was distracted and not looking at the road at the time of the collision.

Ravnsborg struck and killed Boever at 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 on U.S. Highway 14 just west of Highmore, S.D. on his way back from a political event in Redfield.

“If he [Ravnsborg] is looking forward and had the headlights on, it would be easy to discern if it’s someone’s jeans and a flannel [shirt] versus a beige-colored deer,” Weiss told News Watch in an interview. “But if he’s looking down or to the left and he blasts something, you might not know what you hit. But how could he not; look at the hole in the windshield.”

Weiss said that even at a high speed and on a dark night, Ravnsborg likely would have known he did not hit a deer if he had been driving without distraction.

“It would be easy to tell the difference; even at 100 mph, you would be able to tell the difference between an erect human versus a deer, no question,” Weiss said, “and that would be part of the interrogation of Mr. Ravnsborg.”

Weiss and another accident-reconstruction expert interviewed by News Watch said it will be difficult but certainly possible for investigators to determine how and where on or off the roadway the collision between Ravnsborg’s car and Boever took place. Information from the road, debris at the site, overhead images taken by drone cameras, tire or skid marks on the roadway, and details from the car and its internal information systems can all be used to determine what happened that night, they said.

The second reconstruction expert interviewed by News Watch, John Desch of John Desch Associates of New Jersey, said that if the investigation reveals that Ravnsborg struck Boever on the road shoulder and not in the travel lane, then Ravnsborg would have more culpability in Boever’s death.

“That would be clear negligence on the part of the driver,” Desch said. “If a pedestrian is walking on the shoulder, there is some kind of reliance on their part that they’re in a safer area.”

Weiss further said that the broken windshield of Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus would likely have contained clothing fibers, human skin or hair that could have indicated to Ravnsborg or Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek that Ravnsborg had hit a person and not a deer. Likewise, a deer likely would have left hair, hide or bone fragments in the broken windshield or on the front of the car to indicate an animal was struck.

“A jagged glass edge is going to catch some fibers, and for me, as an experienced reconstructionist, if you look at the glass edge, you know the difference between a human and a deer,” Weiss said. “It would be very apparent.”

Weiss examined a photo of Ravnsborg’s crashed vehicle posted by KELO news; the red Ford Taurus with a smashed windshield was also seen at a highway maintenance facility in Highmore by Nick Nemec, a cousin of Boever, when he was at the accident scene in the days following the collision.

Investigators from the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the state of North Dakota are investigating the accident.

Ravnsborg, a 44-year-old Republican, released a statement two days after the accident saying that on the night of the collision he thought he had struck a deer, that he stopped his car and that he called Sheriff Volek and that the two looked but could not find evidence of what Ravnsborg had struck. Ravnsborg said that because his car was damaged, Volek loaned him his own car to drive back to Pierre, where Ravnsborg lives.

The next morning, returning in two vehicles to Highmore with his chief of staff, Tim Bormann, Ravnsborg said he and and Bormann stopped at the accident site to look around and discovered Boever’s body in the ditch. He said they then drove to Volek’s house and the formal investigation began.

Ravnsborg, who has several past speeding tickets, said he had not been drinking alcohol the night of the accident. The attorney general said he would not answer any further questions until the investigation is complete.

Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tony Mangan told News Watch that the state has hired John Daily of Jackson Hole Scientific Investigations, Inc., of Jackson Hole, Wyo., to reconstruct the accident. Daily has a mechanical engineering degree and spent 25 years as a law enforcement officer; his website said he has investigated more than 1,000 accidents.

Desch is also a veteran car-accident reconstruction expert. His firm has more than 30 years of experience in accident analysis and has a staff of 10 accredited reconstruction experts.

Desch said that if Boever was wearing dark clothing and walking in the traffic lane, it is possible that Ravnsborg could have struck him and not known that he hit a person.

A car traveling 65 mph is covering about 100 feet per second, so there isn’t much time for a driver to recognize an object that suddenly illuminates in the headlights, Desch said.

But if the evidence shows that Boever was on the highway shoulder or in the ditch when struck, then “that’s a whole different matter and then you begin to look at distractions,” Desch said.

Desch said the culpability of Ravnsborg increases if Boever was on the shoulder when struck, especially since Ravnsborg would have heard the loud sounds from the “rumble strips” cut into the pavement just off the travel lane likely would have looked up.

Weiss said a low-profile vehicle such as a Ford Taurus would tend to sweep a person or a deer onto the hood and into the windshield, which should have made it easier to identify what object was struck.

According to manufacturer information, the 2011 Ford Taurus is equipped an air-bag control module that can show both pre-crash and crash data, including speed, engine RPM, brake and throttle application levels, rate of deceleration, and when safety measures such as air bags and seat belt tensioners deployed.

A pair of black tire tracks are still clearly visible on the pavement in the westbound lane of U.S. 14 at the accident scene just outside of Highmore. The tire marks are heading off the roadway to the right; the right tire mark first appears on the paved shoulder of the road.

The tire tracks are dotted with evenly spaced splotches of green spray paint made by investigators. The tracks start a little more than half a mile from the U.S. 14 intersection with state Highway 47 and about 280 feet west of a 65 mph speed-limit sign that marks the end of a reduced-speed zone through Highmore.

The green paint near the tire tracks appeared on Sunday, Sept. 13, when crash investigators were swarming the highway, said Nick Nemec, a former state lawmaker. Nemec and his brother, Victor, have walked the scene of the collision that killed their cousin at least once a day since identifying his body because they want to understand what happened and are not getting information from state officials.

The Nemecs said they do have serious doubts about the story Ravnsborg has told the public and wonder whether an alert driver could mistake a man for a deer, even on an unlit stretch of highway.

Three key questions the reconstruction expert will try to answer are whether Ravnsborg was distracted while driving, if he was traveling above the speed limit when Boever was struck and where Boever was standing or walking when he was hit.

Desch said that since the collision occurred at 10:30 p.m., it is also possible that Ravnsborg fell asleep behind the wheel.

Weiss said it is difficult to anticipate how long a reconstruction may take, and the length can depend on the complexity of the case, Weiss said.

If you appreciate enterprise investigative journalism, consider making a donation to South Dakota News Watch here.

Photo: Nick Nemec, left, and his brother, Victor, have made several visits to the scene of the accident on U.S. Highway 14 west of Highmore, S.D., where their cousin Joseph Boever was killed after being struck by a car driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg on Sept. 12, 2020. Photo: Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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MAGASOTA's surprising speakers list for Northfield Trump Rally Minnesota 2020 Saturday

Readers may remember our post from last February, Who owns Trump brand in MN?: MN GOP, #mnleg caucuses' battle Dorr Bros, MAGASOTA "scams" on new website; MAGASOTA fights back .

That's where we explored the politics of the Minnesota Scammers Exposed website, sponsored by the Republican Party of Minnesota and both Republican legislative caucuses. One of the groups labelled "scammers" was MAGASOTA.

Readers may also remember Footnote: Liberate Minnesota leader Michele Even part of GOP's MN Scammers Exposed at the time of the protest in front of the Governor's mansion.

The page remains online, so the disavowal of the scammers is still a thing.

We asked when we saw the speakers list for MAGASOTA's Trump Rally Minnesota 2020 on the Facebook event page for Saturday's rally at Castle Rock Bar & Grill in Northfield MN:

MAGASOTA is hosting a Minnesota Trump rally in honor of our great President Donald J Trump.

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS EVENT!!!

Please get your tickets here. It will expedite your check in.

https://www.magasota.com/minnesota_trump_rally_2020
Print it and bring along.

MAGA hats to the first 200 people.
45 KAG Flags to be given away.
MAGASOTA gear to attendees.

 

Guest speakers:
Bill Jungbauer
State Rep Jeremy Munson
Republican candidate Erik Mortensen
Julie Quist
John Mitchell from The Rowdy Podcast
Don Huizenga
very special guest Michael Matt of The Remnant TV
Surprise Guest of International Fame

The registration page on the MAGASOTA site can be visited here. It shouldn't be confused with Friday's airport rally featuring the president himself.

So what's the rumpus? The Northfield seat, MN20B, is now held by a DFLer, Todd Lippert. The endorsed Republican candidate is Joe Moravchik of Lonsdale. The Republican senate incumbent, Madison Lake's Rich Draheim, also isn't on the guest list.

CORRECTION: The location of the event is in Castlerock Township, Dakota County, represented by Representative Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, and Matt Little, DFL-Lakeville. No Republican on the ticket in this district appears to have spoken at the event.

State Representative Jeremy Munson, the New Republican from Lake Crystal, represents House District 23B, which has been reliably Republican since 2002. Perhaps he can spend time away from his district.

But we're puzzled at "Republican candidate Erik Mortensen" spending time in Northfield, since Mortensen is the challenger in  House District 55A, a very competitive district now held by Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee.

Tabke beat Mortensen in 2018 by just over 600 votes; with the exception of the state auditor and attorney general's races, Democrats prevailed in all the partisan contests on the ballot. That was a significant change from the 2016 election, when Republicans swept all partisan offices in the district.

There are a few other fun wrinkles on this roster as well. Take former Second Congressional District Republican Chair Bill Jungbauer, for instance. In 2016, Cyndy Brucato reported at MinnPost in Minnesota’s GOP activists are still pretty bummed out about Donald Trump:

Talking to Republican activists about Donald Trump at last week’s 2nd Congressional District convention in Apple Valley was like listening to people suffering through the five stages of grief. From denial to anger to bargaining, it’s clear that these GOP voters have some distance to go before they reach acceptance.

“I’m not happy with any candidate on the ticket,” said delegate Bill Jungbauer, a former party chair in the second district. “I’m considering going with a third party. Why not vote with my heart instead of the lesser of two evils?

The news in September 2015's Brucato piece, Can Trump turn his fans in Minnesota into actual Republican voters?, mined a similar vein:

Donald Trump officially won the Minnesota Republican Party’s very unofficial corn poll of presidential candidates at the State Fair, where visitors filled growlers with corn to indicate their preference.  

And Trump won by a sizable margin – getting 25.5 percent of the votes in the field of seven. (Check out the full results here.)

Trump still hasn’t crashed and burned in the manner that many pundits predicted a few months ago, notes former 2nd Congressional District Chair Bill Jungbauer, but he thinks he will, eventually.

Jungbauer is a Libertarian. Trump, he says emphatically, is not. “He [Trump] does what he needs to do for him,” Jungbauer said. “I believe he’s another Jesse Ventura, only with thicker skin.”

Like Maginnis, Jungbauer said he has seen no grass-roots efforts on behalf of Trump, and says, in fact, the strongest support at the caucus level is for Libertarian favorite Sen. Rand Paul, whose father, Ron Paul, controlled Minnesota’s delegation to the national convention in 2012.

Still, “it’s possible Trump could pull something off,” Jungbauer said.

Jungbauer ran for Republican Party Chair in 2015, Brucato reported at the time. We looked at What's state Republican Party chair candidate Jungbauer scrubbing from his Facebook page? in April 2015. MPR's Catharine Richert reported in Race for MN GOP Party chair sparks a little drama. Jungbauer lost.

He maintained his contrarian politics in the 2016 Second District Congressional race, The Uptake's Mike McIntee reported in Former CD2 GOP Chair Backs Gerson For Congress Over “Summertime Patriot” Candidates. Former radio talk show host and summertime patriot Jason Lewis secured the Republican endorsement and the seat, only to lose to Angie Craig in 2018. Lewis is now the Republican U.S. Senate candidate seeking to grab the seat now held by DFLer Tina Smith.

Then there's Julie Quist, wife of former state representative Allen Quist, who ran unsuccessful campaigns for governor and First Congressional district. As a board member of the Child Protection League, Quist works for anti-LGBTQ policy. Her husband predicted some of the president's anti-Democratic rhetoric--back in 2010:

“Our country is being destroyed. Every generation has had to fight the fight for freedom… Terrorism? Yes. That’s not the big battle,” he said. “The big battle is in D.C. with the radicals. They aren’t liberals. They are radicals. Obama, Pelosi, Walz: They’re not liberals, they’re radicals. They are destroying our country.”

And then there's Don Huizenga, the Anoka Republican activist (also reportedly a Carver County property owner who appeared in an anti-equity that inflamed racial controversy in Eastern Carver County Schools). Huizenga was an organizer of the Liberate Minnesota protest.

Unlike Jungbauer, Huizenga was a Trump supporter in 2016. The Star Tribune's Allison Sherry reported:

Don Huizenga, a construction worker and Trump coordinator in Emmer’s district, counts himself among the “bar stool white Republicans” to whom the Republican candidate appeals.

“A lot of politicians have forgotten, and the media has forgotten, a large group of white working-class Americans that feel like they’ve been put to the side by both parties,” said Huizenga, who lives in Anoka. “We are always asked to come to the bar and pay the bill, but not participate.”

Earlier that year, Huizenga rejected gestures intended to bring anti-Trump Republicans back in the fold, the Pioneer Press reported in Minnesota GOP rejects anti-Donald Trump party member welcome:

A group of Minnesota Republicans opposed to Donald Trump had what they thought was a modest proposal: make it clear that one could still be a good Republican without supporting Trump as the Republican nominee. . . .

But a majority of members of the Republican Party of Minnesota’s statewide governing body had a very different take: the measure was “divisive,” bad for the party and bad for democracy.

“It doesn’t unite the party at all,” said Don Huizenga, an Anoka Republican. “It separates us into different factions.”

For a good overview of his beliefs, check of his Facebook page, Don Huizenga’s - Harsh Reality (The Mix clips here).

Heckova party for the president, even if the local candidates aren't getting a chance to campaign.

Photo: Huizenga and Munson at the Liberate Minnesota rally. Via Facebook.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

In SD, federal judge approves $440,000 settlement for plaintiffs forcibly catheterized

We're not far from Sisseton, South Dakota, where the city police department has agreed to pay people whose Fourth Amendment rights were violated in a most unreasonable manner.

In the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Danielle Ferguson reports in Federal judge awards thousands to those forcibly catheterized for urine samples:

A federal judge has approved a settlement to individuals who were unconstitutionally made to provide urine samples for suspected drug use through forced catheterizations. 

U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange approved the $440,000 settlement in a Fourth Amendment case brought on by the ACLU of South Dakota against three South Dakota cities and their law enforcement agencies, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol. Individual officers were also named.

The ACLU of South Dakota and attorney Jim Leach of Rapid City filed the Fourth Amendment case on behalf of individuals who were subjected to the practice. The settlement, reached in August, was announced by the ACLU of South Dakota on Wednesday.

Plaintiffs said they were held down and forced to be catheterized after police obtained search warrants for urine samples to test for drugs. 

Read the 2017 Argus Leader investigation:Hooded, handcuffed, and 'violated': South Dakota's use of forced catheterization

The suit was brought against the city of Wagner and the Wagner Police Department, the city of Pierre and the Pierre Police Department, the city of Sisseton and the Sisseton Police Department, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol. ...

The lawsuit followed a 2017 Argus Leader investigation into the practice, which found that even children had been subject to forced catheterization.

While some readers might reflexively cuss out "the media," work like the 2017 Argus Leader investigation can help defend people from abuse by the government that ought to protect us. In 2017, the Argus's Mark Walker reported in What it's like to have police take your urine against your will:

They found marijuana paraphernalia on the workbench, so I was arrested for that. And they said I was acting fidgety, so they suspected I had been using methamphetamine. They took me to jail and asked me for a urine analysis.

I refused.

I feel like that’s my bodily fluids, so I had the right not to give them a urine analysis. 

They came with a warrant, and said they had a warrant for my urine and that if didn’t produce it, they would take me to the hospital and catheterize me. I refused to produce the sample.

So they took me to the hospital. Four cops held me down and a female nurse inserted a catheter to get my urine. The interesting thing is the doctor who was in the emergency room that day on duty happens to bea Pierre part-time SWAT officer. [Argus Leader Media confirmed the doctor, Peter Maningas, is a reserve officer for the Pierre Police Department and a member of its SWAT team.]

I was angry. I felt like my civil rightswere being violated. I thought it was a threat. Even when we went to the hospital I thought it was a threat. I didn’t actually think they were going to go through with it. And then when a female did it, I thought, this is unreal.

First of all they put a spit mask over my head. Then I had one officer per limb — one officer for each arm, one officer for each leg — holding me down. There was one officer with a camera recording the whole thing and after that my head was back, I felt my pants being pulled down and the catheter was inserted.

There was extreme pain.

The worst pain was urinating afterwards for the next two days. I tried to hold it in. I believe I may have moaned in pain. There is no way to describe it. After was the worst part. It feels like you are urinating razor blades.

There was extreme pain every time I had to urinate. I remember afterwards, I believe it was nurse who asked doctor, ‘Do you want blood?’ (The doctor said) ‘No, that’s not necessary we got what we need.' I believe the warrant was for urine and blood.

I was really surprised they were doing all of that to get evidence for a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. I don’t know. I felt like there had to be a better way. Hair sample or something. Afterward they took me back to county jail and booked me for several charges, one of them a felony ingestion from methamphetamine when they didn’t even have the results back from the lab...

Earlier today, we received a copy of the court's order of judgement from the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota; Sparks is one of the plaintiffs.

Federal Judge Approves Settlement in ACLU’s Fourth Amendment Challenge to S.D. Law Enforcement Practice of... uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd

Here's the press release that accompanied the document:

U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange has approved a settlement in a case that says South Dakota law enforcement’s practice of using forced catheterizations to obtain urine samples from suspects is unconstitutional.

The ACLU of South Dakota and attorney Jim Leach of Rapid City filed the Fourth Amendment case on behalf of several individuals against the city of Wagner and the Wagner Police Department, the city of Pierre and the Pierre Police Department, the city of Sisseton and the Sisseton Police Department, and the South Dakota Highway Patrol along with individually named law enforcement officers.

In the case, the plaintiffs said they were held down and subjected to involuntary catheterization after police obtained search warrants for urine samples to detect the presence of drugs, a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches. None of the search warrants obtained by police specifically authorized forced catheterization as a means of obtaining evidence.

“The Fourth Amendment guarantees people the right to be free from unreasonable police searches,” Leach said. “There is nothing reasonable about forcibly catheterizing someone. The Constitution’s purpose is to protect people from police intrusions exactly like this. Now the practice of police using forced catheterization to gather evidence will stop.”

Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants – the cities of Pierre, Sisseton and Wagner and former South Dakota Highway Patrol Officer Adam Woxland – agreed to collectively pay a total of $440,000 in damages, legal costs and attorney’s fees.

In his April ruling, Lange said he found that the mere suspicion of low-level drug crimes did not justify this invasive and painful procedure.

“The plaintiffs were not smuggling drugs or weapons in their urethras and bladders, and the catheterizations would only provide evidence of drug ingestion rather than the more serious crime of drug trafficking. … Ingesting drugs is one of the least serious drug crimes a person can commit,” Lange wrote.

South Dakota is the only state that imposes a felony for ingestion of a controlled substance. These counterproductive drug policies have swept thousands of nonviolent drug offenders into the state’s criminal legal system and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. This settlement is another reminder of why criminal justice reform is needed.

“South Dakota’s tough-on-crime approach to drug users struggling with addiction, as evidenced with the use of forced catheterization to secure evidence, doesn’t work,” said Libby Skarin, ACLU of South Dakota campaigns director. “Though drug use is undoubtedly a serious issue, we can’t incarcerate our way out of addiction. Our lawmakers should see the outcome in this case and finally eliminate ingestion as a felony offense. It’s well past time for the state to prioritize people and not prisons and to help reform our state’s criminal legal system.”

We agree. Drug abuse is a serious problem, but as Skarin said, we incarcerate our way out of addiction.

Image: His and hers urinary catheterization.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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On Sensible Change MN Cannabis Policy Voter Guide, Ingebrigtsen clings to reefer madness

Earlier this month, in the post Dahms: Status quo in divided MN legislature will legalize pot within 1st six weeks of next session, we reported on anti-cannabis reform rhetoric clouding a room in New Ulm.

 A reader brought  Sensible Change Minnesota's Cannabis Policy Voter Guide for the state senate to our attention, thinking we'd find joy in former Douglas County sheriff and current state senator Bill Ingebrigsten's answers.

They did not disappoint, especially this Q & A:

Do you believe Minnesota should dedicate funding to law enforcement, specifically for designing objective impairment tests that are accurate and science-based?

No. Good grief!!! Will this be the new funding source for LE after the progressive democrats de-fund the police??

Alrightee, then. As MinnPost's Walker Orenstein reported back in July, Nobody at the Legislature has proposed defunding the police. So why is it such a big deal at the Capitol?

He answers the question in the article, so hop over to MinnPost to learn what Sheriff Bill is smoking.

Here's the page for Senate District 8 with Ingebrigsten's answers; his DFL opponent, Michele Anderson, did not answer the questionnaire as of the drafting of this post.

Candidate		Bill Ingebrigtsen (GOP)
Do you commit to prioritizing patient needs in reforms to Minnesota's medical cannabis program?		No
Do you support adding raw cannabis flower to Minnesota's medical cannabis program?		No
Do you support allowing delivery of medical cannabis from a registered manufacturer to patients?		No
Do you support removing unnecessary symptomatic requirements for patients with terminal illness and cancer to qualify for medical cannabis?		No
Do you support adding a medical necessity defense for registered medical cannabis patients who are charged with a crime for unauthorized possession of cannabis?		No
Do you support improving the patient protection provisions by allowing for attorneys' fees and punitive damages in patient discrimination cases?		No
Do you support reducing the lifetime prohibition on registration in the medical cannabis program to a one-year prohibition for patients who have violated program provisions?		No
Do you support working with stakeholders to develop workable policies that would allow school-age medical cannabis patients to have their medicine in school?		NO Absolutely NOT in school or near school
Do you support protecting medical cannabis patients' second amendment rights?		Yes if CBD without THC
Do you support protections for patients on conditional court release, probation, or parole that use medical cannabis?		No
How will you help to make Minnesota's medical cannabis program more accessible, affordable, and fair for patients?		This substance has become even more DANGEROUS than in the 60"s and the 70"s. I should remain on the Federal Drug Schedule as a very dangerous illegal substance.
Do you support the full legalization of cannabis for adults over the age of 21?		No
Do you support a social and racial equity cannabis business licensing program?		No. I don't even know what that means. Lisencing requirements for anything has no social or racial equality that I am familiar with.
Do you believe the tax revenue from the legal sale of adult-use cannabis should be dedicated to health and human services to address substance use disorders, youth education, and other funding areas related to substance use and abuse?		NO. However that is where it will be needed. So what is the point of legalization??
Do you believe Minnesota should engage in a comprehensive consumer and public education program on the safe consumption of cannabis?		No
Do you believe Minnesota should dedicate funding to law enforcement, specifically for designing objective impairment tests that are accurate and science-based?		No. Good grief!!! Will this be the new funding source for LE after the progressive democrats de-fund the police??
Do you support adult use cannabis legalization? Why or why not? What are your priorities in adult use legalization policy, whether or not you oppose legalization?		NO period. This is a very dangerous drug that will be very devastating to our youth and families and will result in huge costs to government, healthcare, and public safety.
Do you support rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to (at least) Schedule II?		No
Do you support the decriminalization of cannabis "mixtures" (which includes concentrates, tinctures, edibles, etc.)?		No

An Aside

There's a headnote about the pro-cannabis party candidates on the Sensible Change Minnesota's Cannabis Policy Voter Guide worth checking out:

Note: Our Voters’ Guide includes all candidates we were able to reach, regardless of party affiliation. However, we must be responsible and advise that not all candidates with the Legal Marijuana Now and Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis parties are truthful in their intentions running for office in certain districts. *We will include an asterisk on those candidates identified by outside sources as “spoiler” candidates and urge you be cautious in your support.* 

Please see the following sources for more information about the spoiler candidates:

• Some legalize cannabis candidates are giving off very MAGA vibes, J. Patrick Coolican, June 15, 2020

• How marijuana legalization party candidates could decide control of the Minnesota Senate, Peter Callaghan, August 21, 2020
• Is Legal Marijuana Now Being used to Spoil Elections in Minnesota? Oliver Steinberg, August 21, 2020

Related Posts:

• Sheriff Bill and Bub Nornes go full blown grumpy cats on medical cannabis bills
• Raw marijuana menace: Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen speaks out against legalizing killer weed
• Ingebrigtsen & Rosen warn colleagues about "dangerously addictive" pot that rips apart families
• Have a hemp heart: Sheriff Bill gets a free bag
• Grumpy cat Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen still grumpy about industrial hemp's infernal roots in Hell
• Ingebrigtsen update: grumpy cat is still grumpy about medical cannabis & intractable pain
• Ingebrigtsen update, part 2: Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas, your kids think pot is a-okay
• MN Senator Gary Dahms shares scary vision of pot-loving DFL majority with Brown Co faithful
• Hagedorn: Senator Gary Dahms stands between you and socialist legal recreational marijuana:

Photo: A screengrab of Senator Ingebrigtsen during one of the floor debates on medical cannabis, doing his best imitation of the late, great Grumpy Cat.

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Gene Pelowski, fined $1,000 by Campaign Finance Board, is running unopposed again

Now in his 17th term, DFL state representative Gene Pelowski has been fined $1000 by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board for using political donor dollars to pay for $3,976.27 in rent, furniture and utilities at his St. Paul apartment.

Pelowski must pay the money back to his campaign committee, Torey Van Oot reports in Minnesota lawmaker ordered to repay campaign for nearly $4,000 in living costs at the Star Tribune:

A longtime DFL state legislator from Winona has been fined and must repay his campaign nearly $4,000 after using political donor dollars to pay for rent, furniture and utilities at his St. Paul apartment.

A review by the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board found that Rep. Gene Pelowski used his campaign fund, The Pelowski Volunteer Committee, to cover $3,976.27 in living costs between 2017 and 2019.

Expenditures included a $802 payment to Quality Furniture Rental, $631 for security deposits and parking fees and hundreds of dollars more in utility bills. According to annual campaign finance filings, Pelowski also used the contributor funds to pay for his December 2018 rent at The Penfield, a luxury building just blocks from the State Capitol in downtown St. Paul.

Those items caught the attention of staff at the campaign watchdog agency, which launched a review of the spending in April. State statute prohibits use of political fund money for personal purposes. . .

Pelowski's campaign finance reports can be accessed here.

An aside about Pelowski's district

Will Pelowski feel any electoral heat following the fine and punishment? Unlikely.

He's running without opposition in House District 28A in the November 3 General Election. He ran without opposition in 2018 as well.

In 2017, David Montgomery calculated how liberal or conservative each MN representative voted this year for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, discovering in the case of Pelowski:

As partisan as the Minnesota House is — and a Pioneer Press analysis found it is very partisan — a number of Republicans and Democrats broke through the voting ranks and landed in the middle this year.

Moderate Republican Reps. Dario Anselmo of Edina and Keith Franke of St. Paul Park crossed party lines enough that they had more in common with moderate DFLers like Winona’s Rep. Gene Pelowski and Dilworth’s Rep. Paul Marquart than with conservative stalwarts like Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa.

Montgomery also looked at 2016 presidential votes in state house districts. Pelowski's district went for Hillary Clinton

In 2018, the DFL swept all state and federal offices on the ballot in the Winona district. The Minnesota Senate seat, held by Republican Jeremy Miller, was not on the ballot.

Regardless of that tilt, Pelowski was one of two DFL House members to vote to end Walz's emergency powers in the June special session.

He did the same in the July special session, in the August special session, and in the latest special last Friday.

So it goes.

Photo: Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.

 

 

UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident

See updates at the bottom of the post

A fatal vehicle-pedestrian accident is dominating South Dakota news this morning, shifting focus away from South Dakota as hot spot for COVID-19 cases.

It's not a first first accidents and COVID-19 have captured the state's news cycle.

Just a month ago, Morgan Matzen reported in the Rapid City Journal article, Gov. Noem urges state residents to 'put our positive pants on' during pandemic:

Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release Friday that more South Dakotans have died from accidents than from COVID-19 in the past five months, while asking people to “put our positive pants on” and have an “optimistic outlook” during the pandemic that has killed 148 state residents.

“There is a risk associated with everything that we do in life,” Noem said. “We mitigate risks by taking proper precautions when we get in our cars, when we operate farm equipment, and when we make choices about what we eat and how much we exercise. The same should be true about life as we get back to normal.”

On Saturday night, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hit and killed a pedestrian on Highway 14 near Highmore, after attending a Republican Party fundraiser in Spink County. The evolving story is inconclusive at this point, as many details remain unaccounted for, as Forum News Service reporter Jeremy Fugleberg tweeted within the hour of my starting to write this post:

Lots of big questions unanswered here:
- Was alcohol a factor?
- Was speed a factor?
- When did Ravnsborg first talk to law enforcement and report it as a deer hit?
(And also who doesn't stop after hitting a deer and check out the damage, etc?)

— jayfug (@jayfug) September 14, 2020

Fugleberg earlier reported in the Mitchell Republic story, SD Attorney General Ravnsborg thought he hit deer when he struck, killed Highmore man:

Joe Boever was the victim of a fatal crash with Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, cousin Nick Nemec confirmed, a fact later confirmed by law enforcement. Nemec helped identify Boever's body the day after the crash on U.S. Highway 14 just west of Highmore. Ravnsborg told law enforcement he thought he hit a deer.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed Highmore, S.D., resident Joe Boever, 55, while driving on U.S. Highway 14 near Highmore the evening of Sept. 12, a family member and authorities have confirmed.

Ravnsborg, 44, was driving a 2011 Ford Taurus when he struck Boever at about 10:30 p.m. The attorney general, who wasn't injured in the collision, told the Hyde County Sheriff's Office he had hit a deer, according to a news release from the state Department of Public Safety on Monday.

Boever's body wasn't discovered until Sunday morning, Sept. 13, DPS said.

The Rapid City Journal reported Sunday that Ravnsborg was on his way back to Pierre from a GOP Lincoln Day dinner at a bar and grill in Redfield, S.D. [Spink County]. Highmore is about 70 miles from Redfield, and about half way to Pierre.

In a hastily called news conference in Sioux Falls on Sunday at about 5:30 p.m., Gov. Kristi Noem announced Ravnsborg was involved in a fatal crash, but wouldn't release any additional information about what happened or who else was involved.

Nick Nemec, Boever's cousin and a former Democratic state legislator, said he went with his brother Victor to identify the body at 8 p.m. Sunday, nearly 20 hours after the collision.

Nemec said he's not sure why it took authorities so long to get family members in to identify Boever's body. Victor Nemec notified authorities late Sunday morning that Boever was missing and his pickup truck was the one in the ditch, amid the ongoing crash investigation on Highway 14.

"We've got questions why it took so long to contact us," Nemec said. "Was our cousin laying dead on the highway for nearly a day while they were investigating? I don't know."

Ravnsborg issued a statement shortly after Noem's announcement, stating he was "shocked and filled with sorrow" following the crash and was fully cooperating with the investigation. He also offered his "deepest sympathy and condolences to the family."

The timing and contents of Ravnsborg's statement "irritated the hell" out of Nemec, he sai

"He offered his condolences to the family of the victim before they even knew who the victim was," he said. "I saw that statement sometime Sunday afternoon, at kind of the same time we were coming to the realization that the victim was our cousin, and he already offered a statement of condolences to the family, and he didn't even know who the family was, because we hadn't identified the body yet."

Nemec said Boever had damaged the front of his white Ford pickup when he struck a hay bale along Highway 14 earlier on Saturday. Boever was probably walking back to the pickup from his home in Highmore when he was struck by Ravnsborg on Saturday night, Nemec said.

"All I can think of, was Joe decided to walk back out to his pickup and straighten the bumper himself," he said.

Nemec's confirmation was first reported by South Dakota political news site South Dakota Standard, via its Twitter page.

Several new stories in Monday's Falls Argus Leader. There's Joe Sneve's Family speaks out after man killed in crash involving Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg:

Victor Nemec knew something was wrong when he went to pick up his cousin Joe Boever Sunday morning at his home in Highmore. 

The two had planned to go fix Boever's truck, which had been damaged when Boever hit a hay bale in the ditch the night prior. Victor said his cousin had told him he went off the road while reaching for his tobacco. But when Nemec arrived, Boever's house was unlocked with all the lights on. 

His cousin was nowhere to be found. Concerned, Nemec called the Hyde County Sheriff. 

Twelve hours later, he and his brother Nick Nemec were in a Highmore funeral home identifying Boever's body. 

Boever, 55, was killed in an accident late Saturday involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. 

More:Noem: Attorney General involved in fatal crash Saturday night

Few details of the crash have been released, but Gov. Kristi Noem Sunday evening said during a news conference in Sioux Falls that Ravnsborg had been involved in a fatal wreck. It's unclear if charges against the attorney general are coming or if anyone else was involved in the incident. The investigation is ongoing and being led by the Highway Patrol.

But in Victor Nemec's eyes, it's a simpler story. 

“The attorney general hit my cousin as he was walking down the side of the road and killed him,” he said.

Victor said he and his cousin planned to fix Boever’s white Ford pickup Sunday morning, but at some point in the evening, Boever decided not to wait and began walking to his truck.

That’s when he was killed while walking along Highway 14 west of Highmore. Nick Nemec, Victor's brother, is a former Democratic state legislator and party delegate who ran unsuccessfully for the Public Utilities Commission in 2012.

Tony Mangan, spokesperson for the Highway Patrol, said at the direction of the governor, the Highway Patrol is leading the investigation. The attorney general’s office said investigators from North Dakota are also in South Dakota and assisting in the crash investigation due to the conflict created by Ravnsborg’s role overseeing the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation . . .

There's also  Highway Patrol: Ravnsborg told authorities he thought he hit a deer:

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg told authorities he thought he hit a deer on Saturday night when he struck and killed a pedestrian.

Joseph Boever, 55, of Highmore, was killed after being struck by Ravnsborg's Ford Taurus, the South Dakota Highway Patrol said. The incident happened on U.S. Highway 14 west of Highmore at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. 

Boever's body was discovered Sunday morning, according to the South Dakota Highway Patrol release. 

The news release doesn't say how long it took Ravnsborg to report the crash. . . .

Documents:South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has history of speeding

Tim Bormann, chief of staff in the attorney general’s office, told the Argus Leader via email Monday that Ravnsborg was traveling alone at the time of the crash. He was uninjured.

Ravnsborg “placed the call to 911 right after the accident, my understanding is that he called from the location of his vehicle,” Bormann wrote. . . .

That article South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has history of speeding, tells readers:

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who was involved in a fatal crash this weekend, has a history of speeding and other traffic violations, according to a background check. 

Ravnsborg, 44, was involved in a fatal crash in Hyde County on Saturday, Gov. Kristi Noem announced Sunday evening. 

The South Dakota Highway Patrol announced Monday morning that Ravnsborg told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had been involved in a car-deer crash.

The crash occurred around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the highway patrol's news release. The victim, Joe Boever, was found Sunday morning. It was not made clear when Ravnsborg called authorities.

The release did not say whether speed was a factor or if charges are pending.

Dakota News Now, an ABC/NBC affiliate, reports in  Authorities ID victim in fatal crash involving South Dakota Attorney General:

State officials have identified the man killed in an accident involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.

Fifty-five-year-old Joseph Boever of Highmore died in Saturday night’s crash, according to Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tony Mangan.

Mangan said Ravnsborg was driving a 2011 Ford Taurus westbound on U.S. Highway 14 around 10:30 p.m. when he struck Boever. Ravnsborg called the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office and said he believed he had been involved in a car-deer crash.

Boever’s body was not found until Sunday morning.

In an interview with Dakota News Now, Boever’s cousin, Nick Nemec, provided other details about the crash. Nemec said Boever had crashed his pickup into a hay bale prior to Saturday night’s accident. After the crash, Nemec gave Boever a ride back to his home in Highmore, about a mile-and-a-half away. Nemec said he and Boever made plans to fix the pickup on Sunday morning. But Saturday night, Boever decided to go back to the truck. Nemec did not know why Boever returned to the vehicle Saturday night. . . .

Photos from the scene are included in the coverage, including the shot of Boever's pickup at the top of this post.

Keloland's Angela Kennecke reports in Family identifies victim in fatal crash involving S.D. AG, questions why it took so long to identify body :

KELOLAND News has confirmed the name of the victim in the fatal car -pedestrian crash involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg on Saturday night.

S.D. Attorney General involved in deadly crash

His family says 56-year-old Joe Boever of Highmore was killed in the crash.

Former South Dakota legislator Nick Nemec and his brother, Victor, were asked to identify the body of their cousin 22 hours after the crash.

Nick Nemec tells KELOLAND News that Boever ran his pickup into the ditch one mile west of Junction 14 and 47 at Highmore, hitting a bale of hay early Saturday evening. Boever called Victor, who gave Boever a ride back to the victim’s home at about 8:30 p.m., telling Boever they would go to try to straighten out the bumper and get the pickup out Sunday morning.

The next morning, Victor drove by where the Ravnsborg crash happened, which was about a fourth of a mile west of where Boever’s pickup was in the ditch.

Victor alerted the Hyde County Sheriff that his cousin was missing. Finally 22 hours after the crash involving Ravnsborg occurred, Victor and Nick were asked to identify Boever’s body.

The Nemecs don’t know why Boever had apparently tried to return to his pickup Saturday night.

Victor tells KELOLAND News that he questions whether or not a 911 call was made because no sirens of emergency vehicles were heard leaving Highmore Saturday night.

The Nemecs say the scene was teaming with law enforcement and emergency vehicles for hours on Sunday.

“My worst fear is that they’re trying to get ducks in a row to absolve the attorney general of any wrongdoing,” Nick Nemec said.

Governor Kristi Noem announced Ravnsborg, 44, involvment in a deadly crash during a Sunday evening news conference.

Read the rest at the link.

UPDATE #1 9/14 near 10:00 p.m.

Keloland's Dan Santella reports in Family members respond to Boever’s death:

. . .Joe Boever’s cousin Victor Nemec says Boever drove into a ditch on that same stretch of road and hit a bale of hay early Saturday night. Boever called Victor, who gave him a ride back home.

“The next morning, I called him a couple of times, didn’t get any answer on his cell phone, so I decided to drive into town and stop at his house,” Victor Nemec said.

He couldn’t find Boever, and reported him as missing. He eventually received a call to identify a body.

“There was still highway patrolmen parked by my cousin’s pickup, and we asked them if we could come and get the pickup the following day, and they said no, it was going to be taken into Pierre for the investigation, and we informed the Highway Patrol then that the pickup really didn’t have anything to do with the accident, and they just acted kind of dead faced and said they had to take it into Pierre,” Victor Nemec said.

Boever’s cousin Nick Nemec also identified the body.

“By the time we identified the body it was 22 hours after the accident, 10 hours after my brother had first given them heads up that the pickup a half mile past the accident site was my cousin’s and that we can’t find him anyplace, and it just seems like the whole process was just put on the back burner, and they could have got Victor up there a heck of a lot sooner to take a statement or identify a body or something,” Nick Nemec said.

Boever’s wife also has concerns.

“How can you not see someone walking down the road, and for no sirens to go off around here is highly unusual, because anytime there’s an accident or anything (there are sirens),” Joe Boever’s wife Jennifer Boever said.

“Why did my husband lie in a ditch for 22 hours. why were no alarms sounded off over here when the accident happened. I mean we have no answers yet. And right now I’m just raw and numb, I just lost the man of my life,” Jennifer Boever said.

Keloland also reports Ravnsborg: 6 speeding tickets in South Dakota, 2 in Iowa.

At the Rapid City Journal, Arielle Zionts reports in DPS not sharing key info about Attorney General crash, investigation:

The Department of Public Safety is not disclosing some key details about the investigation into the attorney general who fatally hit a man while driving after attending a Republican Party event at a restaurant in eastern South Dakota.

Jason Ravnsborg, 44, reported hitting a deer Saturday night near Highmore but actually struck a pedestrian whose body wasn’t discovered until the next morning, DPS said in a Monday morning news release. 

The pedestrian was later identified as Joe Boever, a 55-year-old man from Highmore.

The Highway Patrol, which is part of DPS, is leading the investigation but receiving assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The DPS spokesman, however, is not disclosing which agency is handling what parts of the investigation, including whether the state's top law enforcement official will be interviewed by fellow South Dakota public safety officials or ones from North Dakota. 

"How duties are shared are internal decisions," Tony Mangan said.

Mangan also said he couldn't share the following information because it's part of an ongoing investigation:

• When and how Ravnsborg contacted the Hyde County Sheriff's Office to report hitting the deer;
• Whether Ravnsborg got out of the car after the crash to look for the deer and any damage to his car; 
• If local law enforcement arrived to look for the deer on Saturday night;
• Whether Ravnsborg was driving a personal or state-owned vehicle; 
• If Ravnsborg made it home to Pierre on Saturday night or had to leave his car somewhere and get a ride;
• Where and when on Sunday morning the victim was found, and by whom; 
• Whether law enforcement found any parts of Ravnsborg's car on the road;
• If Ravnsborg has already been tested for drugs and alcohol, and if so when.

Mangan said he wouldn't be able to disclose this type of information at this stage of any investigation concerning a fatal crash.

Ravnsborg was driving westbound on the highway in a 2011 Ford Taurus, according to the DPS news release on Monday. He called the Hyde County Sheriff's Office to say he hit a deer but law enforcement realized he hit a person when Boever's body was discovered the next morning.

“Most people when they hit a deer they stop and they call law enforcement,” Mangan said. “The majority of people” get out of their car if they suspect their car was damaged, he added.

Mangan said all aspects of the crash are under investigation, including whether it could be a criminal hit-and-run if Ravnsborg actually knew he hit a person. . . .

Nick and Victor Nemec, who are brothers, said their cousin Boever was hit while walking to his disabled vehicle, which he'd crashed into a ditch and hay bale Saturday morning. 

"My cousin got run over by the attorney general,” said Nick, a former state lawmaker.

“A deer doesn’t look like a human,” Victor added. 

Nick, 62, and Victor, 58, said they were called to identify Boever’s body around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The brothers, farmers who live near Holabird, say they’re upset about how long it took for officials to ask them to identify the body.

Victor is afraid officials won’t share the truth about the crash.

“I believe the state is going to try to cover this up as much as they can. I don’t trust this state government,” he said. “This state is known for covering up wrongdoing of elected officials all the time.”

Read the entire article at the Rapid City Journal.

At the Associated Press, Stephen Groves reports in South Dakota agency: AG reported hitting deer, but hit man:

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported hitting a deer with his car on Saturday night but actually killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until the next day, state investigators said Monday. . . .

Victor Nemec, the last known person to see Boever, said that besides answering a few brief questions when he identified the body, investigators have not questioned him about what happened.

“A human doesn’t look like a deer,” he said. “The whole thing stinks to me.”

When Boever’s cousins on Sunday could not find him at his home and saw an accident being investigated near where Boever had left his truck, they grew fearful that he was involved. Victor Nemec said he contacted the sheriff around 10 a.m. and was told to wait. As the hours ticked on, they grew more suspicious and called 911 and the Highway Patrol after 5 p.m. They were allowed to identify his body after 8 p.m. on Sunday.

“I don’t know if cousin Joe was laying on the highway for 22 hours or if they had bagged him up before that,” Nick Nemec said.

Ravnsborg had been at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Spink County Republicans at Rooster’s Bar & Grill. The attorney general is known to be a frequent attendee of the fundraisers known as Lincoln Day Dinners, held by county GOP groups across the state. . . .

The accident prompted some to recall a 2003 incident in which Bill Janklow, a former four-term governor who was a congressman at the time, ran a stop sign at a rural intersection and killed a motorcyclist. Janklow was convicted of manslaughter, prompting his resignation. . . .

[END UPDATE #1]

UPDATE #2, 9/14, 10:23  p.m.

The New York Times' Marie Fazio reports in South Dakota Investigates Fatal Crash Involving Attorney General:

South Dakota’s attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg, was driving home alone from a Republican Party dinner on Saturday night when his car hit something, possibly a deer, he told the authorities. By the next day, the news had taken a grim turn: A man had been found dead near the highway. And the state’s top law enforcement officer was under investigation.

The dead man was officially identified Monday as Joe Boever, 55, of Highmore, S.D. He had apparently been walking along the highway to his disabled truck. . . .

The department said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Ravnsborg, who lives in Pierre, told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had “been involved in a car-deer crash” in his 2011 Ford Taurus. The statement did not say if Mr. Ravnsborg had pulled over to look for the deer or to check his vehicle for damage. That is still under investigation, said Tony Mangan, a department spokesman. .  .  .

The dead man’s cousin, Nick Nemec, said in an interview with The New York Times on Monday that his brother, Victor, had planned to meet Mr. Boever on Sunday morning to help him tow his pickup truck out of a ditch on Highway 14, a two-lane highway with wide shoulders. The day before, Mr. Boever’s truck had run into the ditch, hit a pile of hay, badly bending its bumper, he said, elaborating on an account given to The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D.

On the way to pick up his cousin on Sunday morning, Victor Nemec passed blood on the highway, a police investigation and Mr. Boever’s pickup, which was still in position about half a mile down the road. When there was no answer at Mr. Boever’s home, they feared the worst, Nick Nemec said.

Mr. Boever worked stints as a nurse’s aide and at a grocery store, his cousin said, but was most recently employed helping Victor Nemec haul hay on his cattle farm. The brothers identified their cousin’s body on Sunday, but were not sure why he was out on the road. Mr. Nemec speculated that he may have decided to return to the pickup to get something or to try to fix the bent bumper himself.

He also said that deer accidents were common in the area. “I’ve hit a number of deers in my vehicle, it’s just something that happens around here,” he said. “You always know the second before you hit a deer you’re going to hit a deer. And even if you do hit one, you pull over, stop and check for damages and report it.” . . .

[END UPDATE #2]

UPDATE #3 9/15 9:08 a.m.

In 'I didn't see what I hit': Attorney General releases statement regarding his role in fatal crash, Makenzie Huber reports in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg in a statement released late Monday night said he thought he hit a deer when he struck and killed a man on Saturday night and that he discovered the body when he returned to the scene the next day. 

Ravnsborg struck and killed Joe Boever, 55, on the side of Highway 14 around 10:30 p.m. Saturday west of Highmore.

Ravnsborg said he released the two-page statement to dispel the "many rumors and stories being told which do not represent a full and factual account of what happened."

Ravnsborg said that he drove home from the Spink County Lincoln Day Dinner in Redfield around 9:15 p.m. Saturday. He did not drink any alcohol before, during or after the event, and that on his way back to Pierre he hit what he believed to be a deer.

"I didn't see what I hit and stopped my vehicle immediately to investigate," the release states. Ravnsborg was driving alone and was uninjured.

After [Ravnsborg called 911]. the Hyde County Sheriff arrived on scene to assess the damage to Ravnsborg's vehicle and look for the suspected deer in the area. Neither the sheriff nor Ravnsborg saw Boever's body in the ditch, even though Ravnsborg said he used his cell phone flashlight to search the area, Ravnsborg said.

"At no time did either of us suspect that I had been involved in an accident with a person," he said.

Ravnsborg borrowed the sheriff's personal vehicle to drive back to Pierre, he said. He then returned to the scene of the crash the following morning on his way to return the sheriff's vehicle. He and his chief of staff stopped to look for the injured animal again, finding Boever's body in the grass. . . .

At this point, we're finding it difficult to suspend disbelief. Why would the Sheriff leave shining light on the ditches to Ravnsborg's cell phone flashlight? Doesn't sound like any law enforcement officer we know.

[END UPDATE #3]

We're very curious about the gaps in these stories and because of them, we can understand the family's concern. We'll add stories as more is revealed, but close for now with this tweet from Jeremy Fugleberg:

Yeah, you can't cover South Dakota news and hear of this Ravnsborg crash without flashing back to Janklow in 2003. He was later sentenced to 100 days in jail for manslaughter, and settled with Randy Scott family for $1 million in wrongful death suit. https://t.co/a65ztSlb05

— jayfug (@jayfug) September 14, 2020

Photo: Joseph Boever's pickup in the ditch outside of Highmore. Boever's family says he had crashed it earlier Saturday, and was apparently walking back to the vehicle when he was struck.(Dakota News Now). According to Fugelberg, the truck has been impounded as part of the investigation.

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Dahms: Status quo in divided MN legislature will legalize pot within 1st six weeks of next session

Sure, friends in Minnesota are tweeting about scary postcards they're getting from the Republican Party of Minnesota about radical mind control and Joe Biden. An example from Twitter graces the top of this post.

But Assistant Senate Majority Leader Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, a former county commissioner and retired insurance agent, shared an even more dire vision of the future, according to a report in the September 11 New Ulm Journal, Carnahan meets with Republicans in New Ulm.

Clay Schuldt reports:

. . .Congressman Jim Hagedorn and State Sen. Gary Dahms both spoke on the importance of this election. Both compared voting for Biden to voting for socialism.

“(Biden) likes equalization of wealth and that is the direction they are going to want to go,” he said.

Dahms warned that without a GOP majority in the state Senate and state House Minnesota will have state-run healthcare, recreational marijuana and changes in abortion laws within the first six weeks of the new session. . . .

Given that none of these things were accomplished in the last two-year session, during which the Republicans controlled the Senate, while Democrats held the majority in the House, we're wondering how any of those changes will be accomplished if the DFL doesn't flip the Senate.

Perhaps even more interesting, Dahms doesn't face a DFL opponent in the general election. Rather, he's facing off Steve "Stoney" Preslicka, of the Legal Marijuana Now Party and Joshua Prine of the Independence-Alliance Party.

According to the registry of cases searchable online via the Minnesota Trial Court Public Access (MPA) Remote View, two misdemeanor convictions for disorderly conduct (case numbers 65-CR-19-412 and 65-CR-20-67) Preslicka received for charges filed in December 2019 and March 2020 are still under court supervision. He was earlier convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault in 2013; the case (65-CR-13-52) is closed.

We doubt Preslicka is much of a threat as a candidate to Dahms anti-weed hegemony.

Nor do we suspect that Dahms loses sleep over Prine, as upright as he appears.

This isn't the first time Dahms and Hagedorn have fretted about socialist recreational pot.

Our 2015 post, MN Senator Gary Dahms shares scary vision of pot-loving DFL majority with Brown Co faithful noted:

Never mind Governor Mark Dayton's stiff and well-documented resistance to legalizing medical marijuana--much less recreational pot use--during the 2014 session.

Or the resulting law that has produced policy that's so restrictive the families of those few who are able to get into the program--like little Amelia Weaver--are pleading to expand those covered so that costs (not covered by insurance) come down.

Or that the manufacturers are having a hard time making money under the law, with one firm delaying opening two dispensaries in Greater Minnesota.

If you were among the Brown County Republican faithful gathered at FUNRaiser at the Brown County REA Auditorium, you would have heard a very different story from state senator Gary Dahms. R-Redwood Falls. Fritz Busch reports in Daudt: No gas tax hike:

District 16 Sen. Gary Dahms said if the Republicans didn't control the House, the Legislature would be talking about passing recreational marijuana.

"We need the Speaker Daudt and the House to deal with a wild, liberal government, and I'm sugar-coating it by calling it that," Dahms said. "We're dealing with people who have over-stepped their bounds and it's not just Gov. Dayton."

Unlike Dayton, Walz does favor legalization of recreational cannabis, but with the divided legislature, the discussion went nowhere, even though retiring Republican Senate COVID minimizer hero Scott Jensen favored that conversation.

In 2019, we posted in Hagedorn: Senator Gary Dahms stands between you and socialist legal recreational marijuana:

In Sunday's New Ulm Journal, Fritz Busch reports in Hagedorn, Torkelson address county Republicans:

 . . .Hagedorn said. “You have great leaders here in Southern Minnesota with Rep. Paul Torkelson and Sen. Gary Dahms. Paul worked hard on Highway 14 and everything else. Gary stands between you and a more socialist Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz wants a gas tax, legal recreational marijuana, single-payer healthcare and 50 percent renewable energy, which isn’t feasible because we don’t have the technology.”

Read the rest in the post.

Are the fear tactics of the Republican Party of Minnesota working? The New York Times reported this weekend Minnesota Seemed Ripe for a Trump Breakout. It Has Not Arrived. The short skinny:

At this moment, however, most evidence indicates that the president is in a worse position in 2020 than where he finished in 2016. New polling from The New York Times and Siena College shows that Joseph R. Biden Jr. leads Mr. Trump by nine percentage points in the state, more than five times the small margin Hillary Clinton won the state by four years ago. And while Mr. Trump does enjoy the firm backing of conservatives in rural areas who support his law-and-order message, the same theme has not resonated with the larger coalition he would need to overtake the Democrats.

Polls are only snapshots of the moment, of course, but the New York Times/Siena College poll does not appear to be an outlier.

In the meantime, we're wondering what Dahms is smoking. Or he simply recycling talking points, pandemic or none?

Photo: A MNGOP fearmongering postcard.

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Session Daily: In 4th special session, MNHouse again backs governor's emergency powers

We're going to take another day off from posting original content--a member of our romantic partner's family is afflicted by COVID-19, while others are contending with wildfires in Oregon--but will return on Sunday, September 13 with our own take on politics in rural Minnesota and South Dakota.

Here's a story by Mike Cook at Session Daily, House again backs governor's emergency powers in special session:

On a historic day, the latest special session saw the House do what it did three times this summer.

Friday marked the first time there have been four special sessions in a calendar year, each prompted when the governor extended the state’s peacetime emergency by 30 days in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Just like the June, July and August gatherings, the House voted against bringing up a concurrent resolution that would end Gov. Tim Walz’s peacetime emergency powers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This time the vote was 67-64 after a sometimes heated, sometimes emotional, and at times highly partisan debate about suspending House rules that often strayed into other issues, including President Trump’s reaction to the pandemic and police funding.

The Senate voted 36-31 on Friday for a similar concurrent resolution.

“We need to stop the rhetoric and work together,” said Rep. John Huot (DFL-Rosemount).

Rep. Jim Nash (R-Waconia) said all 134 members have election certificates, yet Walz is making all the coronavirus calls in a system where the executive, legislative and judicial branches are all part of government.

“You have been given the ability to be the voice of the people in the state of Minnesota,” Nash said. “I encourage you to exercise that voice. I encourage you to take up the mantle of responsibility and be the people’s voice. … That third leg of the stool has been removed. Please, for the love of lutefisk, put it back.”

Added Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe): “It’s causing a huge amount of frustration to see the governor making these types of executive orders that affect businesses and people’s lives where their elected officials have no voice in it. … Let’s work together with the governor on a bipartisan basis.”

DFLers again argued the governor’s emergency power is needed to allow state officials to quickly respond to pandemic needs, such as temporarily limiting restaurant capacity or procuring personal protective equipment. They note the federal government has declared a national emergency and some form of a peacetime emergency exists in 48 other states — no matter the governor’s political party.

Rep. Hunter Cantrell (DFL-Savage) said he feels the “discomfort and anguish” many Minnesotans have felt, but the state needs to follow the science and not lose progress that has been made against the coronavirus.

“If we choose to end the peacetime emergency today, it doesn’t mean that the pandemic is over or that we will be able to return to life as we knew it before the pandemic, although I know we all want to,” he said. “To end the peacetime emergency today would eliminate a constitutionally sound tool to organize and coordinate our ongoing pandemic response.”

Here's the debate:

The article continues:

At a morning meeting, the state’s Executive Council voted to extend the peacetime emergency through Oct. 12, 2020, or until the executive order is rescinded by proper authority or a majority vote of the House and Senate.

“We at the Department of Health recently reported the largest one-day increase in positive cases since this pandemic began,” Assistant Commissioner Daniel Huff told the council. “Over the past week, Minnesota has averaged 751 positive cases reported per day. This is an increase of 13% from the average of two weeks earlier.”

Nearly 1,900 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19.

“My top priority remains the health and safety of Minnesotans,” Walz said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and the next stages of this virus continue to threaten our state. Today we extend our peacetime emergency, giving Minnesota the tools to quickly respond to this rapidly-evolving virus as we approach the fall and winter.”

Back for bonding in 10 days?

At a pre-session news conference, House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said work continues on a capital investment package with hopes of a positive vote later this month.

Following a mid-August bond sale, Minnesota is in a so-called “financial quiet period” until Sept. 20. Hortman has suggested to House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) that a negotiation schedule be established so the Legislature can return Sept. 21 to act on a bill.

“I’m hopeful,” Hortman said. “These long overdue and necessary investments should be made this year and will be part of our recovery.”

The House failed to pass a $2 billion package in May and a $1.8 billion one in July. In each case, six Republican votes were not procured to get the statutorily required three-fifths majority (81 votes) to pass.

Addressing budget deficit can wait

In addition to a current biennial deficit of $2.4 billion, Minnesota faces a projected $4.7 billion deficit in the 2022-23 biennium. But there seems to be little urgency.  

“We really need to get the full November forecast before we start doing the budget work and we need to have the election,” Hortman said. “We are a part-time citizen Legislature and the pandemic and these emergency special sessions have really taxed the capabilities of this institution, which is not designed to be a full-time legislative body. We’ll be back to business in January after the election with a very tall order of items to accomplish.” 

Photo: The Minnesota state capitol dome.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, 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. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the  paypal subscription button.

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