My wife and I sigh in disgust every time we see Sanford Health spending more of their patients' money on giant sports complexes and self-promotion instead of health care.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson doesn't sound too pleased, either. She grilled Sanford execs yesterday about their plans to take over Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

Like Fairview, Sanford is a nonprofit health care company, and Swanson questioned why a tax-exempt organization like Sanford Health is spending millions of dollars on naming rights and other support for a civic center in Sioux Falls and university sports programs in North and South Dakota.

Link and Nelson said the sports-related gifts were in conjunction with Sanford’s mission to support sports medicine and fitness.

But after listening to Link describe various spending by Sanford Health to boost ­university athletic programs and local athletic facilities, Swanson asked him: “Can you see how the focus here [in Minnesota] should be on patients, not sports and athletics?” [Tony Kennedy, "Swanson Grills Sanford Executives on Proposed Fairview Merger," Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2013.04.07]

But Sanford Health wants the University to think very much about athletics and the money Sanford Health could offer them for it, if they'll just play ball on the hospital merger:

E-mails obtained by the Star Tribune show that [University of Minnesota president Eric] Kaler was also scheduled to initiate preliminary talks this past week in Sioux Falls with Krabbenhoft. Kaler canceled the meeting in part because of Swanson’s sudden inquiry, but he intends to reschedule even though he has proposed the university’s own takeover of Fairview — a move that would exclude Sanford.

In a March 25 e-mail to Kaler, Krabbenhoft didn’t mince words about his own enthusiasm for U of M athletics and possible funding. The e-mail provided a “discussion agenda” for the scheduled April 1 meeting at Sanford headquarters, including an item called “Denny Sanford and the U of M.” Another item of discussion was: “President Kaler-Sanford Health Trustee (post-Merger).”

Krabbenhoft offered to fly Kaler to and from Sioux Falls in a private plane for the meeting, and he summed up his e-mail with accolades for the U’s decision to fire basketball coach Tubby Smith. In the email, Krabbenhoft called himself a “Gopher forever” and said he also intended to write to “Norwood” about the basketball situation.

The CEO closed the e-mail with this personal “hope”: “that Sanford and Fairview come to a reality and I can get as deeply invested and supportive as I/we should be in the Athletic future of the University of Minnesota” [Tony Kennedy, "It's a Delicate Dance as Kaler Courts Wealthy Alum Sanford," Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2013.04.08]

According to testimony at yesterday's hearing, President Kaler "has promised not to ­consider any charitable gift from Sanford while Fairview remained in merger talks with the South Dakota firm." And no one will think about that elephant in the room.

Sanford Health claims they can save the Fairview system $40 million to $60 million with a merger. But more than a few people in the room don't see a need to give up their health care system to outside ownership:

“This is very, very, very serious business for all of Minnesota,” said David Finewachs, a former Minnesota Hospital Association lawyer, who was called by Swanson to testify that Fairview is stable, successful and not facing a financial crisis that would call for a merger.

The crowd applauded when he said any merger that would give Sanford Health control of the U of M Medical Center and Fairview would be like “selling the public library to Wal-Mart.”

He added: “We don’t need to export our most precious resources” [Kennedy, 2013.04.07].

Denny Sanford mostly gets a free pass from his beholden South Dakota beneficiaries. It's nice to see Minnesotans willing to tell South Dakota's big money man no.

It's crazy enough to make me think I was being spoofed... but a reader's tip proves to be true. Apparently Easter festivities at the Brookings Swiftel Center include an Easter Egg hunt Saturday morning, followed by cage fighting in the evening:

Easter Eve cage fight, March 30, 2013, Swiftel Center, Brookings, SD

Yes, do, please "Bring the whole family to witness" twelve "kid friendly" matches, one for each disciple. Crack your eggs for lunch, then come watch these gladiators crack skulls, just like back in Roman times.

And for extra special family time together, you and your kids can all cheer for your favorite Fury Fights heroes (because Easter is all about fury) and get into the Easter spirit by shouting "Crucify him!"

Brookings city councilman John Kubal saw an ad like this in the Brookings Register (for which he works) and said No way! He got his fellow councilors to vote 6-to-1 to put discussion of banning cage fighting at all public facilities, including the Swiftel Center, on a future council agenda. Only councilwoman Jael Thorpe voted no, saying the issue has been discussed enough.

Every school and media outlet in South Dakota devotes too much time and resources to basketball. But a Watertown neighbor takes particular umbrage to find Pine Ridge spending money to send its girls to the state basketball tournament in comfort:

Hmm. Pine Ridge is the "poorest reservation in the country" (fact) " but yet it's girl's basketball team has a CHARTER BUS? Hmm.........I think their money could be going elsewhere [Hannah Schuster, Facebook post, March 2013].

A neighbor from Pine Ridge offers this photo of Pine Ridge's pretty nice bus:

...then challenges the racist post with a discussion of white privilege. Schuster responds with a statement that yes, some of her best friends are Indians, plus the remarkable historical claim that we Americans did not put the Indians in their bad socioeconomic situation; it was the French.

"Heidi" responds with another effort to try to get folks to put on their neighbor's sneakers:

Hannah, all I'm saying is, just consider how your post was hurtful.  Imagine your own child on that bus, excitement and dreams in the air . . and here, thoughtless people try to take it away from them.  Just have heart.  And be grateful your children will most likely not have learned very hard and painful truths about life at only 15 years old that a lot of these kids have learned.  And don't be that hard and painful truth to someone else's kid.  That's all.

As I said  . . white people, CHILL OUT ["An Open Letter to Hannah," Heidiroo, 2013.03.11].

(Full disclosure: my wife and I bought our daughter a fancy Razor scooter instead putting that money into her college fund.)

Heidi's racism critique is wholly appropriate. The only way we might defend a critique of Pine Ridge's chosen mode of transportation is if we discuss funding priorities. But if we go there, we have to go there on every school district. As long as any child is failing algebra or coming to school hungry, should any school be spending money on traveling around the state to play games? Is that the discussion South Dakotans want to have with their school board members (after they get done filling out their NCAA brackets)?

Related: The Madison Central School District is talking about spending $29,000 to replace the transmission and work on the diesel engine of the fancy activity bus it acquired four years ago so Madison's basketball players could have a "really nice ride."

I got this article from a creative young South Dakotan who has moved to the Twin Cities to capitalize on her creative skills. An economic analysis of "creative vitality" finds that Minneapolis ranks sixth nationwide for the amount of economic activity generated by the creative arts industry. According to the report commissioned by Minneapolis city government, artists and their ilk generate over $700 million in economic activity for Minneapolis, including $430 million in retail sales. That $430 million is 70% of what sports generates for Minneapolis.

The Colorado outfit that produces the Creative Vitality Index™ doesn't have comparable data for South Dakota. But who needs the arts when now we can have nicely state-regulated cage fighting at Sturgis?

Hmm... when my expatriate friend in Minneapolis said she is proud to be part of her new community, she wasn't talking about blood sports at the Target Center.

Rep. Rev. Steve Hickey (R-9/Sioux Falls) is picking a fight. Actually, he's picking some kinds of fighting over others and seeking a ban on cage fighting.

Last month the Senate passed Senate Bill 84, a measure to create a commission to regulate boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts events in South Dakota. SB 84 would put the state's seal of approval on the violent entertainment that communities like Madison have already embraced as moneymakers.

Rep. Hickey says he can live with boxing, wrestling, and even "legitimate" martial arts contests. But, choosing some fighting words, he calls mixed martial arts "cage fighting' and says these "blood-soaked slugfests" are the "child porn of sports":

The psychological community will tell you that desensitization to violence works exactly like desensitization to porn. You know how porn progresses… a peek at topless isn’t enough, it all has to come off, then a pic is not enough… it goes to video then to virtual and then to the devaluation and mistreatment of women, human trafficking and sex crimes against women. Violence works the same way. Boxing wasn’t enough so they took the gloves off, then they allowed kicking, kneeing people in the head, then elbows to the face, then they put a cage around it. The point is to knock the other guy unconscious while pay per view crowds cheer it on. Why not nunchucks? In Rome they’d gather in colosseums and bring out prisoners and entertain themselves by making them fight to the death. That wasn’t enough so they brought out helpless and hated and brought in the hungry lions. Crowds cheered [Rep. Rev. Steve Hickey, "Ban MMA in South Dakota...," Gate Post, 2013.02.23].

Rep. Hickey hears the "economic development" and "everyone else is doing it so why can't we?" justifications and pops both bubbles:

If that’s all we can come up with for economic development we are in trouble. And our decisions on our tolerance for things violent shouldn’t be about money. If we want to attract dirty and bloody money why not legalize prostitution or bring back the gladiators?...

...Proponents say it’s going on here already so we need to regulate it to make it safe. Meth use is going on here too, should we regulate Meth labs?  South Dakota has no business spending any time or money legitimizing cage fighting.  I don’t care that “other states are doing it.” I’d like to think we are better. Other states run billion dollar deficits and we balance our budget. Maybe with our fiscal sense, we could also be known for our common sense and decency [Hickey, 2013.02.23].

Rep. Hickey does us the favor of showing us the full hoghouse amendment to SB 84 that he plans to offer Monday. (Wow: all legislators should be so courteous to the public!) Along with banning mixed martial arts statewide, Rep. Hickey's amendment restores the Governor's full authority over the boxing commission that the Legislature is trying to take away. Rep. Hickey is playing to Governor Daugaard because our exec seems to share the Rev's attitude toward mixed martial arts:

Daugaard opposes such a fight commission, believing it “legitimizes a violent and dangerous activity. He, following the decision of his predecessor Gov. Mike Rounds, declined to appoint members of a previous commission created in 2009. Daugaard cited concerns about legitimating the activity and about cost.

...“I’m offended that the state would legitimize cage-fighting and the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create,” he said. “I think it’s interesting that we declare that it is a crime for one human being to strike another, and yet the state now proceeds to legitimize, and label a sport, cage-fighting” [David Montgomery, "Daugaard, 'Angry' Legislators Clash over Fight Commission," Political Smokeout, 2013.01.25].

The Hickey amendment to SB 84 makes clear that municipal governments retain the right to impose further restrictions, like banning boxing. But it asserts the state's right to trump local control in the interest of protecting the public from dangerous activities that offend moral sensibilities... which sounds an awful lot like the argument I've given Rep. Hickey for rejecting local control as a justification for guns in schools.

I appreciate Rep. Rev. Hickey's willingness to stake out a position against the "economic development über alles" mindset that seems to excuse too much bad policy in Pierre. I even more deeply appreciate that Hickey makes his argument in completely secular terms. He leaves off the Rev and makes his argument entirely as the Rep, in a way that any citizen, Christian or otherwise, can access.

Rep. Hickey and colleagues enter the cage of House Commerce and Energy Monday morning, Feb. 25, at 10:00 a.m. CST. Catch your lawmakers at the crackerbarrels this weekend, and see what they think of a statewide ban on mixed martial arts.

Update 13:30 MST: That Sioux Falls paper gets video of Rep. Rev. Hickey making his case against mixed martial arts at this morning's Sioux Falls crackerbarrel:

Senate Bill 119 is an example of a bill we shouldn't need. Various schools around the state have attempted to claim their sports events as some sort of private property to which they can sell exclusive broadcast rights to favored media outlets. The First Amendment, backed with civic pride and horse sense, should tell us that our students' performances in our public spaces are matters of public interest which any journalist ought to be able to record and broadcast for the benefit of the public.

Some jurisprudence curtails media rights at high school sports events, and the South Dakota High School Activities Association follows that jurisprudence closely to protect the revenue-generating power of its State Tournaments.

Nonetheless, Senator Marc Johnston (R-12/Sioux Falls) and Rep. Bernie Hunhoff (D-18/Yankton) feel local school districts need a firm reminder of their obligation to the First Amendment. Their Senate Bill 119 makes clear that no school district or school board may "interfere with the right of news media to attend and engage in journalism concerning any interscholastic high school activity or event." Whether that means school boards could no longer empower their state activities association to restrict journalists at State Tournaments is an open and interesting question. Sen. Johnston got his Commerce and Energy committee colleagues to vote for this bill 7–0; it now awaits Senate action.

I note with mischievous glee that SB 119 includes the following definitions of "journalism" and "news media":

In other sports news, Myron Moen wants to run Madison. Chuck Clement reports that Moen took out a petition to run for mayor last week.

Moen is the moving force behind the South Dakota High School Basket Ball Hall of Fame ("SDHSBBHOF!!!" Moen exclaims), which he founded to encase his memories of his high school glory days. He rounded up Madison donors to help grab a chunk of the public Community Center and turn it from a space where kids and families could actually do a variety of activities to a museum for artifacts from people who used to play one favored sport. Moen said Madison was ideal for the SDHSBBHOF.

And then T. Denny Sanford's people called last spring and said, "Want to move to Sioux Falls?" And in an instant, Moen made the deal. This coming September, Moen will move his sweatsock museum to the new Sanford Pentagon. Moen has maintained the line that Madison is "ideal" for the SDHSBBHOF banquet and induction ceremony... because there's nothing more ideal than having your organization's biggest money- and publicity-generating event 50 miles away from the facility your want your donors to see and support.

The move may be happening in part because there aren't enough people in Madison who will pay $35 a ticket for anything... and there aren't enough people in Sioux Falls who will pay $35 a ticket to have to drive all the way up to Madison for dinner in a drafty, poorly lit Playhouse.

One can see Moen's rational business case for moving his memorial to scowling behemoths from Madison to Sioux Falls. But now Moen is applying for the job of Madison's chief booster. So imagine this scenario: Mayor Moen is at a top-secret LAIC business recruitment meeting. Julie Gross has a big fish on the hook, looking to move a big project to Madison to dodge taxes and unions and all the other ungodliness of socialist America. Mayor Moen says, "Yes, move to Madison! You can do great things here!" And the big fish, having done his homework, looks at Moen and says, "Why don't I just move my project to Sioux Falls? You did."

Moen for Mayor? That's going to take some explaining. Myron might do better to focus on decorating his bus... and keeping it tuned up for all those trips to Sanford Falls.

Update 20:03 MST: Competing with Moen for signatures and maybe votes is Paul Michael Weist, DSU freshman and son of school board member Paul Weist.

So much for certain Rapid City school board members' plan to focus on making elite athletes more elite. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just told the Rapid City Area Schools and every other school in the country to stick with the "everybody plays" philosophy. And when Secretary Duncan says everybody, he means everybody:

Students with disabilities must be given a fair shot to play on a traditional sports team or have their own leagues, the Education Department says.

Disabled students who want to play for their school could join traditional teams if officials can make “reasonable modifications” to accommodate them. If those adjustments would fundamentally alter a sport or give the student an advantage, the department is directing the school to create parallel athletic programs that have comparable standing to traditional programs.

“Sports can provide invaluable lessons in discipline, selflessness, passion and courage, and this guidance will help schools ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to benefit from the life lessons they can learn on the playing field or on the court,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement announcing the new guidance Friday ["Education Department Tells Schools to Find Ways for Disabled Students to Play Sports," AP via Washington Post, 2013.01.24].

Secretary Duncan still spends too much time talking basketball and not enough touting high school debate. But he firmly believes that giving every student a chance to play sports is a civil rights issue. His department has thus prepared these guidelines to help schools meet this civil rights obligation.

Not included in the document: any mention of an obligation for public school districts to provide showcases for elite athletes or their parents dreaming of winning a free ride to Duke and making a career out of throwing balls. It looks like Rapid City school board members will need to have some focused, passionate discussions of meeting these new requirements for disabled students before they pour resources into winning the Class 11AAA State Championship.