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Verchio: Fireworks, Pardon, Permits More Urgent Than Economic Planning

House State Affairs gave short shrift to Rep. Steve Hickey's (R-9/Sioux Falls) House Bill 1086 Wednesday. Rep. Hickey wants the Legislature to spend the summer studying what it would do in case of a national economic collapse that would leave South Dakota without the federal aid on which it depends for nearly 40% of its budget. The committee listened for a few minutes, then killed the bill, 12–1. (Rep. Hickey's only ally: Rep. Scott Munsterman, R-7/Brookings, who may also believe a Long Economic Winter, if not The End, is nigh.)

Rep. Mike Verchio (R-30/Hill City) voted to kill HB 1086. In a Facebook conversation, Rep. Verchio tells the good Hickey that the Legislature has "much bigger issues to cover"...

...issues like those covered by the five bills Rep. Verchio is prime-sponsoring:

  1. HB 1112 to nudge up county power to restrict fireworks (how very Republican).
  2. HJR 1002 asking President Obama to pardon Peter L. Larson, dinosaur hunter.
  3. SB 79 to exempt all trailers from the county wheel tax... at a time when counties desperately need revenue to fix their roads.
  4. SB 107 to fiddle with the statutory language on drivers' learners permits. increase the period an instructor permit is valid and to revise the requirements to upgrade to an operator's licence or a restricted minor's permit.
  5. SB 152 in pork for his home district to fight an arguably unwinnable battle against pine beetles, who are simply nature's response to our mixed-up forest priorities.

Much bigger issues? Maybe. I'm curious, though: how does one determine what constitutes a greater priority for the Legislature? Are there principles one can apply... or do we just trot out that line about "much bigger issues" to dismiss conversations we find too complicated or unpleasant to have?

20 Comments

  1. MC 2015.01.30

    So when the economy collapses and we don't have a plan, is Rep. Hickey going to say 'I told you so.'

  2. larry kurtz 2015.01.30

    lol.

  3. larry kurtz 2015.01.30

    It is encouraging to see earth haters like MC stampeding from DWC as Cory guts the SDGOP.

  4. Disgusted Dakotan 2015.01.30

    Let's not forget Verchio's other bigger issue of carrying the bucket for proposed tax increases.

    Verchio has really turned into a "team player" for the establishment moderates.

  5. larry kurtz 2015.01.30

    HJR 22 should be amended to include a pardon for Bob Newland.

  6. Steve Hickey 2015.01.30

    What bigger thing is there to talk about than the economy and how it effects the little guy in SD?

    I'm not going to boast if my sense is found to be correct. I'll be giving away food and making sure the elderly have heat.

    I was hoping state government would take a more proactive approach and be honest with our citizens about the uncertain days we live in. A fiscal heads up doesn't mean we will drive over the fiscal cliff, it means let's put up a couple of warning signs. Last night I picked up a new 75 booklet from our Division of Consumer Protection. That's the only thing out there right now warning people. But, it only deals with the dangers on the lowest level.

    The message from the fate of my bill this week is this: South Dakota, your state and Federal government will not be there for you if hard times come.

  7. MC 2015.01.30

    Larry, you gave the chuckle I really needed today.

  8. mike from iowa 2015.01.30

    Rev Hickey,in the course of human events it has become overly apparent that one political party wants this nation to fail-economically,socially,etc. That one party has done everything possible to derail the recovery from the dumbass dubya years of fiscal insanity and foreign policy debacles. That party was more than willing to violate the constitution and let America fail in her debts to show their disapproval with the Black usurper in their White House.

    Now that same party has violated all convention by inviting a foreign leader to address congress to show their utter contempt for the twice elected,legally sworn in,real American Black guy in their White House. Why would any real,America loving,patriotic, normal human being ever take your party seriously? Why would any half way intelligent,human being belong to such a party? Why does Sinator John McShame get away with calling legal protesters scum who want Henry Kissinger to stand trial for war crimes?

  9. Roger Cornelius 2015.01.30

    HB 1086 is not needed, we don't need to study what will happen if there is a national economic collapse, we know what will happen.
    The politicians will be sticking taxpayer money in their pockets for their own survival and to help with their constituents.
    Poor people will remain poor and being accustomed to having nothing would likely survive better than the upper crust. Poor people don't have to worry about losing something they don't have.
    Our national economy has improved greatly since the Republicans raided taxpayer pockets the last time, Republicans plan to run on the economy in 2016, ignoring President Obama's achievements and spreading doom, gloom and economic fears as far and wide as possible to scare uneducated Republican voters.
    HB 1086 may have well come straight out of Republican and Koch brothers playbook.

  10. Bill Fleming 2015.01.30

    "Poor people will remain poor and being accustomed to having nothing would likely survive better than the upper crust. Poor people don't have to worry about losing something they don't have."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgHQalqG6E8

  11. Anne Beal 2015.01.30

    No, rural people will arm themselves and shoot all the marauding bands of urban people trying to find food, that's what will happen.

  12. jerry 2015.01.30

    Marauding bands??? Who in their right mind would go to a rural area for food? The rural folks stopped that crap 70 years ago. No one has food in storage that would last any longer than the fridge will allow. How are those rural folks gonna get the water if the juice is not going through the lines. It will not take long for the rural folks to go completely stir crazy by not watching netflix that they will head to town...Will they then be the marauders?

  13. larry kurtz 2015.01.30

    Remember to save the last bullet for yourself, Mrs. Beal.

  14. Roger Cornelius 2015.01.30

    Brother Bill,
    That was a great find, thanks.
    Remember that America's poor survived the Depression and the Dust Bowl because they knew how to survive, it was tough, but they did survive.
    Can the wealthy and the 1% survive with out money, particularly taxpayer money?
    It was the wealthy bankers and investors that were jumping out of Wall Street office windows, not the poor in the bread lines.

  15. Bill Dithmer 2015.01.30

    Bonamassa and me. Do any of you know how hard it is to move from the place you love, because of your principles, and not because you have to? Larry Kurtz knows, I know and I'm sure there are many more. South Dakota refuses to progress unless it helps monitarilly those that hold the power.

    We moved not because of the people, but because we are running out of time.

    I got tired of waiting for medical cannabis.

    I got tired of fighting for equal rights, no mater if it was sex, race, or a womans right to choose.

    I got tired of the same people trying to pass the same bills worded different every damn time we set a legislature.

    And I got tired of people with lower IQs then common sense making decisions that never had a direct effect on them. Please note Roger Hunts name in this spot.

    Medical marijuana isnt just a cause for me, it is what keeps me alive. How many other South Dakotans are breaking the law just for pain relief? How many people that are truly intelligent have fled the state because of the desolation that is SD politics? Just a note here, I am not them.

    We would have been happy building Carson House in SD, but it was not possible with the regressive mindset of the state. Can it be changed? Yes but not in time to help me. The candle of life continues to burn no mater what the state of SD does.

    The only thing that can save SD in the next ten years is a major earthquake on the west coast, or an open border with Mexico.

    For me, the brown haired woman that Joe is talking about is my home state. I'm feeling selfish today. The sadness I feel is for myself, not for those who are foreced to live there.

    Woke up dreaming I was gonna die
    Woke up dreaming I was gonna die
    'cause my baby said her
    Said her last goodbyes

    Reached out for her and she was not there
    Reached out for her and she was not there
    Lord, I miss her body
    And her long brown hair

    Hard rain falling, river flood
    Black cat bawling, moon dripping blood
    Woke up dreaming I was gonna die
    All my sins have found me
    It's my turn to cry

    Yeah

    Devil's rising, you don't have a chance
    Devil's rising, you don't have a chance
    Well there's fiddles playing
    Shake your bones and dance

    I just want to live another day
    I just want to live another day
    To see that brown-haired woman
    Coming back this way

    Oh yeah

    The Blindman

  16. Lynn 2015.01.30

    Bill D.

    I'll more than likely be next to leave. Life is too damn short and would be much easier with better opportunities elsewhere.

  17. mike from iowa 2015.01.30

    Jerry,I have a bushel of potatoes in my root cellar. They are eminently edible and I was saving them for seed potatoes. Every farm place had a root cellar to store home grown produce. Many rural folks still can their produce they grow themselves. Until recently I raised chickens and sold neighbors eggs @ 50 cents a dozen,just enough to cover costs and no more. Laying hens make great noodle soup chickens. Got a place to raise broilers again if back ever cooperates. I could conceivably grow a year's worth of veggies in my garden. Plus I can cut 15 or 20 pounds of asparagus at one time and I have apple trees (Im planted for my Granddaughters. If the landlord ain't around I could poach a steer or heifer andthere are deer and rabbits in my yard from spring to late fall.

  18. jerry 2015.01.30

    mike from iowa, I live in town and have the same capabilities with a greenhouse. Why would I want to go marauding anywhere? My uncle used to crack a couple of raw eggs first thing in the morning, put them and some prune juice along with a couple shots of whiskey in a mixing cup and then shoot it all down. He called it a cowboy breakfast. That is about the only thing I could see doing with the eggs you get from chickens. As far as cooking them or anything else for that matter, a little difficult without power when it is below zero outside.

    Poaching a steer or heifer will not get you in trouble with the marauding hordes, it will cause you problems with your neighbors though. You would not want them to turn their wrath on you and call you a marauding horde now would ya? You still have to cook those as raw is kind of yesterday. What are your plans for that?

  19. Deb Geelsdottir 2015.01.31

    Blindman said, "Do any of you know how hard it is to move from the place you love, because of your principles, and not because you have to?"

    I know, Blindman. I know. The song is true for me too. It's hard to love that long, quiet land but not be able to live there and feel whole.

    On some weekends I take a day driving out of the city in search of that long, quiet land. The entire state of MN is too crowded, except the far north.

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