Last updated on 2013.06.16
Dakota War College continues to shovel manure for the GOP "leadership" in Pierre. Mr. Crissman opines that their rush budget (with less waiting period and counseling than legislators would demand of women making their own medical decisions) is a "newsworthy" model of tough decision-making and fiscal discipline.
Unlike our neighbors to the east, our Legislators didn't take the easy way out and let a tax increase get out of the Committee stage, and should be commended for it. Are budget cuts something to look forward to, or something that is politically savvy? Absolutely not. But these are cuts that need to be made, especially when times are tough like they are now. The money that was cut from funding can be re-examined at a later date, and can absolutely be restored when times begin to get better.
So, with that, the regular part of the Legislative Session draws to a close. The 105 Legislators who took the time out of their lives to spend roughly 2.5 months in Pierre to try and sort through the business of our fair state should be commended for the work that they do, because far too often, they don't receive enough thanks. From all of us here at the SDWC, thank you legislators, for all that you have done this Session [Tyler Crissman, "A Newsworthy Year for the Legislature," Dakota War College, 2011.03.11].
Horsehockey. Our legislators consider mandating gun ownership and criminalizing enforcement of federal law. They find time to treat women like idiots and violate HIPAA and separation of church and state, then wrap themselves in lying knots defending an indefensible bill. They propose needless studies and authorize hunting coyotes from snowmobiles. They consider slashing funding for schools and nursing homes ten percent, then celebrate reducing those cuts as if they are General Beadle saving the schools. They short education and health care, but find millions to dedicate to corporate welfare that doesn't work. They make up imaginary straw men and babble political philosophy just long enough to dismiss the clear will of the people.
The Republican majority in the Capitol has demonstrated it is out of touch with everything but the slogans it wishes everyone else believed.
Legislators don't receive enough thanks, says Mr. Crissman. He's right about that... and it's because the current Legislature doesn't deserve them. With the exception of a few brave voices, the 2011 legislature has shown no leadership, no courage, no good solutions, and no willingness to invest in the common good.
Newsworthy? Sure, Tyler. Conducting the worst Legislative session of the decade, maybe worst ever? You bet. That's plenty newsworthy.
Update 2011.03.13 16:53 CDT: Rep. Gene Abdallah (R-10/Sioux Falls) somewhat agrees with me:
"This is the worst session I ever put in," said Rep. Gene Abdallah, R-Sioux Falls, who has been through 11 sessions.
"It was just frustrating. We had no money to work with. It was hard to get everyone together," he said.
With about 30 true freshman legislators out of 105, the session presented a learning curve in which the newcomers had only 38 days to adjust.
"So many freshmen were trying to learn and sometimes didn't know which way to go," Abdallah said. "Some of them came in with their own ideas thinking they were going to save the world. It was hard to sit down sometimes and get a consensus" [Megan Luther, "Legislators Worry about Budget Cuts Sequel in '12," that Sioux Falls paper, 2011.03.12].
Wow, yeah; they're nuts all right. But we've got this guy! http://mtcowgirl.com/2011/03/09/cattle/
You have probably seen this manifesto on incrementalism posted at the Koch-funded Cato Institution, Cory. The co-rabidity of red state legislatures is no accident.
I want to meet Mr. Crissman. He writes, "The money that was cut from funding can be re-examined at a later date, and can absolutely be restored when times begin to get better."
I'm sure that the cuts CAN be restored, but if Crissman truly believes that any of the Medicaid or school funding actually WILL be restored, I'm sure that I can convince him that I am the world's first 300+ pound anorexic. I'm sure Crissman would help me incorporate myself so that I could become a tourist attraction and get a chunk of the tourism sales tax money.
It strikes me that a legislative session passing a giant new unconstitutional spending program in the middle of 10%+ unemployment that compounds the cost problems of health care is probably more boneheaded than everything the SD legislature did combined.
"The Republican majority in the Capitol has demonstrated it is out of touch with everything but ..."
... the majority of voters who hired them last November.
The "great silent majority." (That expression dates me, eh?)
Too silent.
This years session has caused me to step away from my gig mentoring youth here as I know I can't work with the man who is getting paid by the church to "run" the program I did a majority of the work for as a volunteer because of his votes as a Representative of Yankton County.
It has cost me his friendship and my trust in him. I campaigned hard for him the last two times and now I see that the man I voted for is a man that will cave under party pressure. Not the type of man i want as a friend, co-worker or legislator.
I traditionally don't let friendships die, I cherish friends and treat them as family in fact, but his comments to me and his disregard for our friendship DESPITE our difference of opinion showed me the real Nick Moser. I didn't expect him to vote differently but I expected him to respect my opinion instead of asking me to repeatedly remove posts from my facebook that contradicted what policies he was backing, asked me not to make political comments on his Moser for House facebook site and was rude and disrespectful in his comments to me via e-mail. Sad really.
Jean Hunhoff at least answered my e-mails diplomatically even though she was just spouting the same insipid rhetoric we hear from Olson, Dudley DooGuard our blunderer in chief.
The most shocking part of all of this was being attacked via facebook posts and email by Mr. Moser's mommy and uncle and then one or both of them calling Nick and telling him to get on facebook and see what I was posting. (Links from here, Argus, Yankton Press and Dakotan, etc)
A 6 year friendship ruined because of this political session. I will do everything I can to ensure that Nick Moser is not voted into office again including publishing his comments to me the next time he decides to run. (I have them saved on computer, external drive AND printed out hard copies) I would urge all of you in my old congressional district (Flandreau native here) to do the same with Russell Olson.
It is time for us to oust the destroyers of our future. It is time to make a stand for equal rights for all, education, the needs of the poor, the wants and desires of South Dakotans, stimulate native businesses instead of outside entities and make sure that Pierre is a place where fairness and level heads prevail, not the one party networking that happened this year.
It is time that we stand behind Mitch Fargen, Ben Nesselhof, Bernie Hunhoff, Jason Frerichs, Angie Buhl and others willing to listen and able to talk with the constituents instead of at them.
I worry for our future but will not accept this as our norm. I will fight for this state I choose to live in because I believe in her and her people.
Shane
[CAH: Shane, I take no pleasure in seeing a Legislative session lead to the end of a friendship or come between two men being able to work together to serve young people in their community. Those results are very, very sad, and as lamentable as the practical difficulties this very bad Republican budget will cause for families and communities across the state.]
@Shane -- Wow! I too am sad to hear your story and the loss of a friendship over political views. Have you ever been out to session? It's easy to get caught up in the whirl-wind of activity and it's easy to see a "good ol' boys club" roaming the halls. Do you think he was overwhelmed by the "power" and maybe he'll change?
I do have to caution you though, you seem to be generalizing that all of the Republicans are bad and you're off the wagon. If that's the case, and you're changing your mind because of just one person, O.K., it's your choice.
But I can personally tell you that I attempted to correspond with legislators from both parties this year and heard back from just two of them. (Out of at least 15 attempts).
Don't let just one person change your mind about a whole party. If you want to change your party because you don't agree with what they believe in, then absolutely do it.
I'm personally disappointed in most of the legislators this year - both parties are equally bad! Parties need to work together - and find comprimises - not fighting it out in and outside of session.
Just sayin'.
I know some very good republicans. I am a very very conservative Democrat myself. I agree wholeheartedly that both parties need to work together.
I think those that forced themselves to the front this year (Governor, Olson, Hunt, etal) happened to be Republicans and not just here on the national front as well.
http://nathanvjohnson.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/a-republican-playbook/
great article I urge you to read.
I know there is a Democratic agenda as well, I'd be foolish to not think that. I just find myself falling on the side of the dems lately much more than the Republicans.
@KW Mr. Moser has burned his share of bridges here in Yankton. He has been called out by some of the "rich and powerful" of the town in the Paper and by the newspaper itself (which backed him in both of his campaigns).
Crazy Hunt is in my district --- I wonder how this "weird and wacky" keeps getting elected?
All we can do is keep supporting the folks that really represent what we think - right?
Best of luck.
The SD Democratic Party needs a message system that gets points like those often made by Cory and David Newquist out to a few thousand Democrats who don't or can't spend the time finding information that SD newspapers won't cover or provide.
The Democratic Party is not going to be rebuilt by fund-raising phone calls that use some fallacious charges against Gov Daugaard. There are enough facts that fundraising scripts don't need to include trash.
Before the SD Democratic Party gets money to come in, it must provide reasons for supporting it. Bashful DINO humbug giving a free ride to GOP mythology is not going to help the Party or South Dakota.
Does anyone read the DWC since Powers left? At least Pat was plugged into the happenings. These new people on the DWC post a lot of stuff slow or really random.
wiken,
why dont you talk to hildebrand. he sat on a fat list of dem volunteers rather than help SHS and that was kind of lame.
The lack of anything substative coming from this body is not disappointing, it is par for the course. Our State has been run by our Governor for years. An oligarchy form of government that appoints a monarch. I have just come to expect that from my native soils. What really is disappointing to me, and I don't exactly know how I will handle it when the time comes, and it will come since we are such a small population here in Dist 8, but how do I take anything that Russ Olson or Pat Stricherz has to say seriously when they did not even have the decency to reply to me when I contacted them? Rep Fargen and the Governor responded immediately. This is not about agreeing with me, this is about being professional, it is about having a dialogue about issues. That is the part that just really upsets me. I am a Democrat, I have been in the minority my whole life, I know what it is like to be on a losing streak :-)
KW, you need to help us beat Hunt next year. And I beg to differ: I can't look at the rational budget alternatives offered by the Dems in our Legislature and the stubborn slash-and-burn budget passed by our obstinate, unlistening Republicans and conclude that both parties are equally bad. Both parties have problems, but in 2012, we need to give Dems the reins and try restoring the damage done by the GOP this year.
Wayne, excellent point about responsiveness. If the GOP is going to beat us up with a bad budget, they could at least communicate with us and tell us why. I had hopes that Rep. Stricherz might use her blog more to communicate with constituents, but she apparently couldn't find the time. She did get back to me by e-mail in reasonable time on a couple issues.
And hey, did we really only have one crackerbarrel in Madison all session?