Ah, memories! Here are my past Top Ten Wish Lists:
2016
2011
2015
2010
2014
2009
2013: no list! Distracted by trip to France!
2008
2012
2007
Every year, I make a Top Ten List of stories I’d like to blog in the coming year. Every now and then, one or two come close to true, like 5/8 of my wish on the ballot measures (dang! remind me to have that 2018 Election Night party at Red Rooster!) and to see Chuck Brennan abandon Sioux Falls in a fit of pique (16 minutes after 2016—worth the wait!). But Schreck for Senate? Hawks for House? Chaos in the SDGOP? Alas, no such luck.
But hope springs eternal—that’s how we liberals survive South Dakota winters… and South Dakota! So here’s my tenth great blog wish list: the Top Ten Stories of 2017!
1. Public Outcry Deters Legislature from Restricting Ballot Measures (Pierre, February 16, 2017): In a packed committee room, Senators today killed three measures aimed at limiting the people’s power to put measures on the ballot. 21 South Dakotans testified against each bill. Over two hundred more activists filled the hearing room and the hall outside, sporting bright red pins with white letters reading, “…the People Rule!” “Legislators are finally figuring it out,” said Senator Stace Nelson (R-19/Fulton), who spoke to the pro-democracy protestors in the Rotunda before the hearing. “We work for the people, and we must respect their will.”
2. Governor Daugaard Calls off Special Session as Acting President Pence Raises Debt Ceiling (Pierre, March 27, 2017): Lawmakers enjoyed a relatively quiet Veto Day in Pierre as Governor Daugaard called off the special session he had planned to fix the state budget. Last week, the Governor had announced that he would reconvene the legislators immediately after they gaveled out after considering vetoes in order to take up emergency appropriations and contingency plans for the FY2018 budget after President Trump refused to sign debt ceiling legislation, bringing all federally funded activities to a halt. After invoking the 25th Amendment last Wednesday, Acting President Pence immediately signed the debt ceiling increase and the continuing spending resolution for the remainder of the federal fiscal year. “Federal funding makes up 36% of our state budget,” Governor Daugaard said. “We’re counting on Acting President Pence to remain in the White House and avert any further fiscal chaos.”
3. Aberdeen Book Store Expanding (Aberdeen, May 11, 2017): The Corner Book Shoppe owner Elizabeth Svensen announced she is doubling the size of her State Street store. “We’ve been saving for 14 years for this expansion,” said Svensen. “And that whole debacle in Washington has inspired people to start thinking and reading again. Books are back in style!” Svensen says two new rooms and a twelve-slot parking lot will be built on the lot south of the current store and ready for use by November 1.
4. Mercer Surfaces in Cuba, Begins Tell-All Political Memoir Online (Havana, June 6, 2017): After a reported health scare and disappearance from public view last December, veteran political reporter Bob Mercer has surfaced in Havana. “I saw the writing on the wall… and the wall on the writing,” said Mercer in an interview at La Bodeguita del Medio. “I didn’t want to take my chances with a Trump White House undoing the First Amendment. I faked that illness, went underground for a few weeks, and found my way here to Havana. Now I can finally write everything I know about EB-5, GEAR UP, and the rest of South Dakota’s scandals on my blog!”
5. EB-5 Meets Trumpgate (Aberdeen, July 5, 2017): In a trial-stopping bombshell, South Dakota’s former EB-5 czar Joop Bollen has released documents showing EB-5 visa investments may have been illegally transferred to Donald Trump. A December 3, 2007, letter in the Bollen document dump shows Trump instructing South Dakota economic development officials to “wire my money to UH,” which appears to be an abbreviation for Ultracare Holdings, a Cyprus-based, Russian-owned firm that received $1.7 million from EB-5 financed Northern Beef Packers in December 2007, January 2008, and April 2008. Other Trump firms in Cyprus are among the entities implicated in charges of money-laundering and tax evasion against the former President and several former Cabinet members.
6. Dakota Access Pipe Transferred to Borehole Research Site (Philip, August 1, 2017): Thirty rail cars carrying reclaimed steel sections of the canceled Dakota Access Pipeline rolled into Philip today. Last spring, the federal government seized the buried pipe amid claims of environmental violations and fraud by Energy Transfer Partners. As part of its bankruptcy settlement, ETP was required to liquidate remaining assets to fund removal of the almost completed pipeline and restoration of land along the pipeline route. The 450 sections of pipe delivered to Philip will be used to stabilize boreholes being drilled in Haakon County to test nuclear-waste disposal technology.
7. Transgender Initiative Sponsor Abandons Petition Drive After Bathroom Boo-Boo (Rapid City, August 23, 2017): Jack Heyd has ended his effort to place a transgender bathroom bill on the 2018 ballot. A video of Heyd emerging from a women’s bathroom at the Central States Fair went viral Monday. The video shows two little girls chasing Heyd out of the clearly marked bathroom and whacking him with pink and blue balloon animals. “I didn’t see the sign!” said Heyd. “It was that darned eclipse!” Excuses notwithstanding, the negative publicity appears to have been too much for Heyd, whose proposal to stop schools from allowing transgender students to use the appropriate bathrooms and locker rooms has drawn little support and vigorous opposition from civil rights groups. A similar measure has failed in the Legislature two years in a row.
8. Governor Taps Hart to Recruit New Americans (Sioux Falls, October 1, 2017): Governor Dennis Daugaard appointed Clara Hart to lead his new foreign worker recruitment initiative. “Certain members of my own party are afraid of immigrants,” said the Governor. “Clara Hart is the perfect person to dispel those fears and show the world South Dakota is a great place to live and work.” “We are all immigrants,” said Hart, who came to America as a refugee in 1988. “If we want our economy to grow, we must attract more immigrants. With Trump gone, now is the perfect time to open our doors to the world and welcome our fellow women and men.”
9. SHS Waves off Gov Bid, Pledges to Help Primary Winner (Sioux Falls, December 15, 2017): Stephanie Herseth Sandlin told the Sioux Falls Democratic Forum today that she will not run for Governor in 2018. “I’m having the time of my life with my son, my husband, and my job,” said the former Congresswoman. “I don’t need a new challenge right now. Besides, the Democrats have already fielded three great candidates. Max and I will throw in big behind the primary winner and help take back Pierre in 2018.”
10. Huether Staying Home (Sioux Falls, December 29, 2017): Mike Huether will not be on any ballot in 2018. Reversing signals he sent last year, the Sioux Falls mayor announced at a press conference this afternoon that he will not run for higher, statewide office. “The Governor’s field has all the candidates it needs,” said a downcast Huether, “and Congress? Holy cow, I don’t know what change they need, but after roasting Trump, the last thing America wants is another businessman in Washington. Now who wants to play some tennis?”