Via press release. My boss is running for the South Dakota House of Representatives from District 10 (S. Sioux Falls, Harrisburg, Worthing, Brandon):

PRESS RELEASE

July 1, 2008

Mary Ann Giebink announces her candidacy for State House District 10

(Sioux Falls) Mary Ann Giebink today officially announced her candidacy as a Democratic candidate for the State House District 10.

Giebink lives in rural Minnehaha County with her husband Brad and their two children, Alexa and Jacob. She graduated in 1986 with a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Dakota Law School. Since 1987, Giebink has successfully operated her own business in Sioux Falls, Galland Law Firm, P.C.

The 2008 election is an important time in South Dakota’s history. Giebink will offer citizens a new perspective and fresh ideas to the state House of Representatives.

Giebink has been active in several community and service organizations over the past twenty years. She is currently a Rotarian, a member of the Downtown Lions’ Club and a member of the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she is on the Board of the Sioux Empire Community Theater. Further, she is a presidential delegate for South Dakota and will be attending the Democratic National Convention in August. In 2004, Giebink was named Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women (BPW) organization. This year, she is president-elect of Sioux Falls BPW.

South Dakotans are facing a number of pressing issues with mounting health care costs, skyrocketing gas prices, rising local utility costs and high grocery costs. As a small business owner and working mother, Giebink’s priorities are to help families thrive, not barely survive.

Giebink will work with the legislators to address and remedy these concerns. During a time of economic peril, Giebink is prepared to step up to help provide opportunities for working families in the state. Rather than focusing on issues that divide citizens, Giebink will fight hard to ensure that the South Dakota legislature responds to citizens’ needs and priorities.

A campaign kick-off event will be held on Saturday, July 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Pine Lake Hills Clubhouse, 7101 E. Pine Lake Drive, Sioux Falls, SD.

For more information contact Angela Shubert, Campaign Manager, at 605.334.0446.

Technorati Tags: Mary Ann Giebink, District 10, South Dakota House of Representatives, Brandon, Harrisburg, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Worthing

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, 2008 Election,

I can't tell you how I came to this information but suffice it to say I did.

It appears the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee had a reputable national polling company do a pre-SD primary poll to see how much they "want" and not necessary "need" to spend in South Dakota to challenge Sen. Tim Johnson.

The results?

Johnson is favored by 69% to "Other" 31%.

"Other" would be state Rep. Joel Dykstra, I'm presuming.

That's 2 to 1 folks.

I think you can pretty much pencil in Tim for yet another victory this fall. Republicans have minimized his chances for statewide elected office for over twenty years now.

Some Republicans whine. Tim just wins.

Technorati Tags: polling, Tim Johnson, RSCC, Joel Dykstra

The numbers are modest by broadcast, print, or even my own blogs’ standards.

Yet nearly 300 people checked out my live blogging of the South Dakota Democratic Convention on CoverItLive live blogging software.

The statistics:

Live Blog Stats
Live Blog Statistics
Email Reminders Set Up: 0
Total Blog Page Hits: 629
Total Unique Viewers: 276
Avg. Unique Viewer Duration on Blog: 11 min.

Chat TextHost Chat Messages: 67
Viewer Chat Messages Sent: 1
Viewer Chat Messages Published: 1

Post Blog StatsReplays Viewed: 0

I figured everyone who was interested in the event was in the room. And there were folks in the room with laptops and Cedar Shore Resort had pretty good wireless access, so maybe some of those hits came from inside the room.



I think this is another way to bring politics to the people. I have just scratched the surface of what the future might hold.

Technorati Tags: live blogging, South Dakota Democratic Convention, Oacoma, South Dakota, SDDP

Here are the additional delegates that the SD Democratic Central Committee selected today for the National Convention in Denver.

• Unpledged At Large Delegate—Mark Anderson, Sioux Falls
• Elected Obama Delegate—Juanita Lentz, Watertown
• Elected Clinton Delegate—Cecilia Fire Thunder, Bennett County
• Clinton At Large Delegate—Bill Nibbelink, Flandreau
• Clinton At Large Delegate—Kay Solberg, Watertwon
• Obama At Large Delegate—Martin Yeung, Rapid City
• Clinton At Large Alternate—Liz Himmel-Roberts, Hartford

Congratulations! Enjoy Denver.

From Protect Private Property:

Attached is the press release announcing the result of the South Dakota Secretary of State’s validation of SB 174 referral petitions. Unfortunately the Secretary of State determined that the 18,850 petitions submitted to refer SB 174 to the November ballot did not include a sufficient number of valid signatures to refer the law to a vote of the South Dakota people.

The efforts of Protect Private Property to refer SB 174, an act to revise certain provisions relating to the exercise of eminent domain by railroads, to the November 4 general election ballot were therefore unsuccessful.

Protect Private Property is a group of citizens concerned with property rights in South Dakota. The group worked to give South Dakotans the opportunity to vote on whether the state’s new eminent domain law should stand. The group believes that SB 174, passed by the 2008 South Dakota Legislature, is an assault on South Dakotans’ private property rights.

Existing law provides a balance between the rights of corporations and the rights of landowners in railroad eminent domain cases. SB 174 tilts the balance of law in favor of corporations and against South Dakota landowners.

We fought to keep the law in balance so that both sides would receive equitable treatment.

Technorati Tags: eminent domain, South Dakota, 2008 election, referred laws