Mr. Ehrisman provoked the bear, just a little. South Dacola pointed out last week that blogger-turned-patronage beneficiary Pat Powers was advertising his services as a private campaign consultant while working for the state's chief election officer, Secretary of State Jason Gant. My commenters and I said a thing or two on Powers' apparent conflict of interest as well.
Mr. Ehrisman has since updated his post to show Mr. Powers's response. Powers has not quite shut down his DakotaCampaignStore.com website, but he has deleted most of the pages on the site. He has also redirected hits to the homepage to drag viewers through three different sham sites before finally dropping them on the infamous "Rick-Rolling" video (go ahead, click: you could use Rick Astley pop-rocking you through your day).
One of the sham sites is "DakotaOtaku.com." Otaku is a Japanese term for someone obsessed with technology or some other pursuit to the detriment of social skills. Powers is thus suggesting that bloggers should get a life rather than spending their time looking into the business activities of government employees charged with maintaining fair and free elections. Oh, how quickly some people change....
Powers hasn't changed in his snarkiness. Instead of a mature admission of unprofessional conduct, Powers doubles down with a standard Republican tactic familiar from his blogging days: when you do or say something wrong, you (a) try to make a big joke out of it and (b) take poke at the people who pointed out that you were wrong. Add that to the evidence of arrogance run rampant in the Secretary of State's office.
subterfuge: sub·ter·fuge / ˈsəbtərˌfyo͞oj /
Noun: Deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.
A statement or action resorted to in order to deceive.
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Synonyms: evasion - ruse - trick - dodge - artifice
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Just thought Pat and Jason should know we are watching the game they are playing. In a couple of weeks the people of SD are going to see the fruits of their Election Fraud work to keep the 'wrong' people from voting. Everything about the ALEC voter suppression , voter ID restrictions, centralized voting and flawed ES&S vote counting equipment are designed to ensure a permanent oligopoly in control of society.
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Pat and Jason, we know you are lurking . Enjoy your fun now but just like the SOS of Indiana, a chink in the armor will be found. So keep playing your games but remember, subterfuge only lasts until you make the perfect mistake.
Here is my question. Why didn't the Argus write a story about this? or MDR? or RCJ?
Those are the papers that cover politics best in SD and none of them brought this attention to the public. I don't have a problem with Powers working in the SOS office but I do have a problem that he was running a campaign store and also the elections for SD.
This is a big BIG screw up as far as I'm concerned and the mainstream papers should ask Gant and Powers for a statement in print.
After busting Noem on her attendance record it's hard for me to be upset with Nesselhuf but this was equally as big of a story if not more damaging.
"Here is my question. Why didn’t the Argus write a story about this? or MDR? or RCJ?"
Because their advertising revenues (which is exempt from South Dakota sales taxes) depend on sucking up to the corporatists (Chamber of Commerce and their associated economic develpment corps) and their government cohorts.
Pat Powers is a TOOL!
You are asking corporate America and the entrenched political hierarchy to mess up the sheets. The SOS office knows many legal secrets and controls who wins the elections. The Gant / PP team is in place to capture as much of this knowledge as possible for their own and their party's long-term use.
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Gannet and the rest of the media won't touch this because most of the reporters and editors don't understand the process. Their combined Constitutional and legal knowledge is so limited they do not understand how something so massive is perpetrated. This is not a one report story. It is not a six inch story. ALEC has made this so deep and broad it will take resources to expose.
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Post Watergate reporting was thought to be glamorous or exciting so children went to college to be a journalist. Learn how to write cute story, look good on the air and you to can be a journalist. The Watergate team of W&B and the reporters of the day, dogged the stories because their media was not owned by oligarchs but by individuals willing to risk it all for the story.
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All we have now are owners encouraging mediocrity to collect subscriptions and advertisers. Don't make waves or Sanford / Billion / Avera / ETC, won't buy advertising. Don't investigate the story without the right kind of sources because we might stick our necks out, we need a scapegoat if we mess up.
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Nesselhuf could really do a lot more but he won't. He does not have the intestinal fortitude to buck the power. I wish he did.
"Nesselhuf could really do a lot more but he won’t. He does not have the intestinal fortitude to buck the power. I wish he did."
I don't thinks this job should rest solely on the Dems. There are a few of us conservative Republicans who understand the problems. And we should not forget about the disenfranchised Indys.
First off, I would be here defending anyone's freedom of speech rights: http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2011/Bill.aspx?File=HB1183P.htm
The state does not own Mr. Powers and he should be free to do whatever anyone of us does in our off times.
Like a Montana federal judge did by forwarding an email laced with racist, misogynistic diatribes launched against the President's mother, Stace?
Recall that Powers led an epic anti-semitic crusade against Sen. Adelstein.
...not to mention imagined voter fraud and repeated attacks against tribal members.
Steve Sibson you are right on this, everyone who does not share the corporatist - oligarchic goals will not be allowed into the game. Jason and Powers are in there to make sure the 'game' is only for them to play.
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Don't let them finish the takeover of the system. As a majority we can change the system and dump the trash either through the elective process or criminal charges.
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I am a very liberal American not so much by choice but by fairness. I want everyone to vote and have it counted. All voices must be heard. I have spent a lot time in my life in Jim Crow south, I see it here in South Dakota. Do you want to have your rights taken away because you are something the wannabes and 1% don't like today?
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The Tea Partiers have been used by the Rove type machines the same way the liberal Dems have been used by the Clinton - Obama owners to solidify power. The 1992 Perot giant sucking sound we now hear is our Constitutional rights leaving us.
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The Occupy Movement, like the original Tea Party Movement, are frustration movements subverted by monied interests. We cannot fight these monied interests individually by ourselves. Do not join a half baked new political 'party' but learn how to takeover the current ones and rebuild them. We all can do it. Quit thinking of this as a game of winners and losers, it is our Constitution. Fight for the Constitution from all directions. I want and enjoy a real two party system, a proper sharing of ideas to make a better USA. One party rule is not governing, it is dictatorship. Two or more equal parties at the table is governing.
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My advice, kick the bas*ards out of their power bases and get them arrested for their crimes while we still can.
Stace, his off hours are owned by the state when it compromises the ethics of the office and the powers he is sworn to uphold.
I'm kind of surprised Stace would support that kind of behavior.
Next thing you know he will be saying a part time legislator has the right to talk to the LRC in their spare time off the clock to watch other legislators bills.
The Argus, RCJ and MDR should cover this topic.
It's ten times more damaging than Noem not showing up for work.
I would say the media ignoring this topic when the site has obviously vanished doing business only shows it is wrong and the people in the SOS office realize that it is wrong.
Testor15 & Mike, Nonsense! There is no indication that Mr. Powers has done anything wrong on or off duty. Listen to the debate on the linked bill above and hear the wolves so happy to think they have the right to squash people's right's. I don't care what side of the politicial spectrum someone falls, one of their most protected of rights should be their freedom of speech via the electoral process.
Just because Mr. Powers works in Pierre does not mean he should have no rights to engage in private business afterhours.
What should we support next? A school district squashing one of my favorite French teacher's little blog because of some perceived affront?
There IS that.
Is Cory in a position to disenfranchise voters whose qualifications were previously called into questioned? Not likely.
Rephrase: Cory isn't in a position to disqualify voters after serially creating an illusion of fraud among said voters where it did not exist then expunge his written record from public view.
I think Pat's little game with the redirects and the Rick-Roll at the end are intended as a middle finger salute to Cory and those that see a conflict of interest. Well played Pat, juvenile and sophomoric...but well played.
The facts don't change though…and you don’t flip off citizens. Your mother raised you better than that.
There is a strong argument to be made that the Secretary of State's office was for sale with the full approval of the administration, Secretary Gant and Republican office holders.
I'm sure, given their lack of objection or concern for a government official making money on the side, that they would approve of the Secretary of Labor's #2 person opening up an online employment agency, the #3 at the Department of Health having an online health care consultancy or even AG Marty's 2nd in command offering legal defense for pay online. Or how about the leaders of the GF&P providing high priced consulting for hunting related firms? The Dept of Corrections actively seeking paid consulting gigs with for-profit prison firms?
Doesn't pass the smell test does it? Has this even been brought to the attention of the AG's office? Is that the right place to look?
That Pat and Jason treat this obvious conflict of interest in such a frivolous manner speaks volumes as to their respect for the electoral process in relation to their partisan passion. That the administration and the AG look the other way speaks volumes as to their regard for their ethics. That the media ignores this story speaks volumes to their commitment to informing the public...or they are all on unpaid furloughs...or that they don't have/can't afford a full time bureau in Pierre anymore...or there's a cat in a tree somewhere.
The fact that Pat pulled the site down won't keep loyal Republican candidates from calling to curry and secure his services, favor and insider information...and that's the problem with having such an incestuous ruling party.
Pat might say that he would give no preferential treatment to those that paid him for his services, but I'll trust that as much as I would an NFL official who does ethics consulting for the New Orleans Saints on the side.
You don't suppose that Pat would put this to rest by publishing his client list along with his personal and professional emails/conversations with these clients related to his little for-profit public sector job?
Nah…didn't think so.
Could they be subpoenaed?
I remember back when Stace was the champion for the transparency of public officials. Guess that ship sailed.
So Stace, how much have you paid into Pat's little enterprise?
Cory's speech is likely protected under state whistleblower statutes. Did find this report card on their effectiveness, however.
A legislator issuing a thinly-veiled threat might be construed as a chilling effect on public speech by some.
@Jana,
As indicated by the link above, I championed the rights of public employees in this state WITHOUT regard to their politicial affiliations. An intelligent mind could deduce that the bill would actually have covered those in the minority party more than the majority party.
What Mr. Powers does in his off time, in the privacy of his own residence, is not any of our business. There are no actual complaints of misconduct, just sour grapes. It is my understanding that Mr. Powers had this little part time enterprise before he was hired.
I have received more than my fair share of sliming at the hands of those that he allows author rights on Dakota War College.
I personally like Pat, and his family members I have had the pleasure of meeting.
I am all for whacking a problem in our state government. There are a plenty there to begin with without having to gin something up.
@Larry I would be the first one pounding the table and demanding answers if such an asinine edict was ever attempted. Read the link and listen to the testimony before you type such rubbish. Mr. "H," knows full well that I have immense respect for him even though we often disagree on issues. Additionally, there is nothing thinly veiled about me.
child porn, cannabis use, orgies: all off limits, Rep. Nelson?
You know who we haven't heard from since PP took his site down, grudznick. Makes you wonder why grudznick is quiet.
Stace...even you should be able to figure out that an insider in the SOS office selling political campaign consulting is a conflict of interest.
So how much did you pay to Pat, either before or after he landed in his highly paid public sector job?
Grudz and PP...I've always wondered why I've never seen them photographed together.
Stace, I have appreciated much of what you went through in the privacy fight you had.
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Please take a minute to understand how a sworn employee or elected officeholder must not perform ethically challenged work off or on the clock. The legally sworn in person swears they will not divulge information, corrupt information, or use the confidential information gained by employment for personal gain. There should never be any appearance of impropriety, it is simple ethics.
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If PP wants to continue to play partisan politics he needs to resign his position. As a legislator who complained his rights were trampled on by officeholders, I thought you would be especially sensitive to this issue.
Stace, an intelligent mind would know that we aren't talking Pat having tupperware parties.
But let's look at this through a different lens. How about if you started a company called "Big Loud Voice" that sold information on how to get "Big Loud Voices" heard in Pierre. Would that be ethical you to sell your position as a big loud legislator to people looking to be heard? I think they call that a bribe...but hey, if that's what you're about, more power to you.
Or considering you are a big guy...maybe you can earn some extra income by putting decals and logos on your suits that you wear around the capital...kind of a cross between a NASCAR car and PGA professional.
Think of the possibilities...
Of course, Gordie Howie's media empire would barely fit on your backside. That's going to really cost him!
Stace, maybe you can help. What's the statute that describes the penalty for using an office for personal gain?
I really don't care if Pat volunteers for every Republican campaign around the state and goes door to door for everyone of them.
Selling intellectual property directly linked to his office does concern me...and should concern you as well.
"The state does not own Mr. Powers and he should be free to do whatever anyone of us does in our off times."
Stace, I lose my First Amendment rights by working for a corporation, including my off hours.
I confess to some psychotic glee that his once influential albeit impure blog has been reduced to a moldering mass burial site.
I would think that Rep Nelson has a better grasp on this situation than most realize. Being retired military police and investigator I am confident that he fully understands conflict of interest, off duty conduct and ethical behaviour. In the same regard he understands that state government salaried employees are not bound by same regulations as DoD employees. I am of the opinion that Pat Powers could have made some different choices regarding personal and professional pursuits, but hindsight being 20/20 it will be interesting to see what his next choices are. His situation will not disappear and close scrutiny will continue along with criticism too the expected outcome of either resignation or company fail. He has to be feeling like a bug under a magnifying glass now and a little ticked about his lack of foresight in how much fire he would draw.
CYA is universal. Apologies imply liability. Altruism is motive-driven. All Republicans are earth haters.
Oremus.
A Prayer before logging onto the internet (here's a Latin translation:
Amighty and eternal God,
who created us in Thy image
and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful
especially in the divine person of Thy Only-begotten Son, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech Thee,
that through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor,
during our journeys through the internet
we will direct our hands and eyes only
to that which is pleasing to Thee
and treat with charity and patience all
those souls whom we encounter
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Grudznick is PP PP is Grudznick. I'm quite sure he could make someone old and talk about taters and gravy all the time.
Just the fact that PP took down the site shows he got an earful from Gant.
Grudz = PP? I don't get that feeling from my internal text analysis brainware. More evidence, anyone?
not impossible as it has rumbled through these bowels as well: the grand daughter metaphor is troublesome.
I wonder. Cory, do you know if PP runs the web server for his sites, or is it an external server? Any idea?
Ah, nope. Never mind. That's out.
Actually, yeah. Look up Grudz' IP, Cory! Does your blog software let you do that?
All I want is the SD Newspaper tv crew to look into this story a little.
Yes... but I'm not seeing any there there.
Look over on southdacola.com, I posted an extensive list of websites, servers, ownership and other info. Pat is still registered owner of SEC and much more.
Grud and Pat have used Pierre Midco IP addresses in a small amount of research done online public sources.
State employees may engage in business, non-profit and political activity outside of their job duties. Generally, though, the activity a state employee may engage in should not create a conflict of interest with your state employment. Powers has skated over that line by a great distance.
When I was a state employee, I was also involved in a non-profit that did public interest research and community organizing around highly charged environmental issues. I worked for what was then the Livestock Sanitary Board, and nearly all of my outside work was outside the scope of that agency. Only once did my supervisor ask me to reconsider my participation in one issue, the huge corporate hog farm proposed, but never built, near the Oahe Reservoir. We had a good discussion, in which we decided to agree to disagree about whether my work on the issue amounted to a conflict of interest. What it boiled down to was he was getting heat from above to make me shut up. I felt it came with a implied threat of losing my job, so I backed away from an obvious public role in the local organizing in order to make it easier for him and me. I continued to provide advise and research, attend public meetings, etc., and speak as a private citizen. That was ok.
It sounds to me, Donald, as if the conflict was less with the legal purview of the state agency for which you worked and more with the political agenda of the Executive Branch. You are right: Powers was crossing a very different line, one that should make voters and the mainstream media much more interested and suspicious.
That was my view at the time, Cory. But, to be fair, we did tests on hogs as well as cattle, and, of course, confined feeding operations have higher incidences of disease unless they load up the animals with antibiotics.
That's a perfectly reasonable position, Donald. I assume that those tests, if jiggered, could have produced results that could have hurt the corporate farms opposed by the non-profit with whom you associated? But that still seems a quantum step or two below Powers's conflict, where he's making money from people trying to win the elections that his office supervises and certifies. To make your conflict comparable, you'd have to have been on the payroll of the corporate farm as a consultant helping it navigate whatever regulations your agency could impose on that farm.
The structure of the SD law, common law, federal law and common decent behavior says do no harm to your fellow citizens. We have an office requiring a very high degree of integrity to the point of purity. There can be no tolerance of election rigging as proven in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and more. Election rigging is election fraud. The people counting the votes, tabulating the votes, approving who can sign petitions, who can file petitions, certify results of elections and petitions should not have anything to do with helping people get or stay in a political office. There should be no room for an ethical possibility of a misdeed, intended or not.
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Our Constitution is not Pat's, Jason's, yours or mine alone, it belongs to all of us. We trust people to hold the keys to the office to make sure all have access when we need it. Any elective office is not a political playground to take advantage of, it is a position of trust.
By the way, looking higher up in the thread, I'm not worried about Rep. Nelson coming after my government job... though if he doesn't change some Republicans' minds on funding for education, my job and hundreds of others will go poof.
Say, Jay BK Slater, do you have a campaign website up yet?
Cory, I do not have a website...yet. I do have a Facebook site "Jay BK Slater for District 22 Representative". You might be surprised on my platform regarding education. My two primary opponents are retired banker and Beadle County commissioner Dick Werner and Huron Mayor David McGirr. Democrat primary has incumbent Peggy Gibson and former legislators Doug Kazmerzak and Dale Hargens. Gibson is already under fire from Governor and rumour mill has Governor backing my 2 opponents as I am not a yes man on HB1234 and find it ironic that SD AG supports state's rights in SCOTUS but HB1234 debilitates "school district rights", a locally elected government body. It will sure be interesting who comes out of Rep and Dem primaries here.
*yawn*
Larry Kurtz -lack of oxygen or up all night?
you make my ass tired, slater: short guy, my bet.
Hey! It's a beautiful morning. Let's not get off to a cranky start. Jay, thanks for the link! [And now that I'm wholly off-topic, Jay, have you signed an HB 1234 referral petition yet?]
Cory - I hope to be signing one this morning that is over in Iroquois.
Larry Kurtz - depends on how you define short :)
Don't be a bitter buttercup and have a wonderful day.
The Huron legislative race is definitely one to watch both in the primary and the general election. Mayor McGirr fired the police chief & we'll see how that plays. Dick Werner is reputed to have done more than bank business in his bank office & we'll see how that plays. Mr. Slater may have a shot in the primary.
1 current and 2 former legislators on the Democratic side. Peggy Gibson is a real thorn in the side of establishment Republicans. She takes no crap from anyone and isn't afraid to tell you what she thinks - about anything. You gotta love that. Dale Hargens is solid. Former Democratic house leader. Kazmerzak has a pretty good base in the new district, but I'd say he has an uphill battle in the primary.
No idea how this will shake out in November, or even how the primaries will go.
There is one question that is relevant: Did Pat accept money to advise a candidate under the purview of the SOS? If not, this is just innuendo to commit calumny.
does grudz=woster?
Troy, accepting money has nothing to do with the issue or issues. It is a position of public trust PP and Gant have put on the line by allowing this action to continue.
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Our system is based on the public trusting the system to be fair to all how live in the United States. We the people hired Gant to this elective office and he in turn hired Pat Powers, a known partisan to operate the office in his name.
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It is their duty to NOT do harm to the system while they are custodians of the office.
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Even if there are no dollars bills moving between the immediate parties today, there is an appearance. Hence an appearance can jeopardize the trust we the people have placed in the office.
At best, Powers js a petulant and malicious ass. As for calumny, he accrued quite a record of it on his blog, many instances of which before he changed them or took them down are on file throughout the state. He received the doubts about his integrity and his perfidious intentions the old-fashioned way; he earned them through a consistent record of his work.
Troy, aren't all candidates under the purview of the SOS?
All elections are under purview of SOS with more central control since it is going the flawed electronic method.
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Under this reasoning, all candidates must do what SOS 'orders'.
Our Paunchy Pal is cyber stalking KW why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnViskuZrJk