The 50-dollar question is ...
Tim Goodwin • November 30, 2022
“If it was up to you, which one of the four would you vote for?”
Greetings! Let’s start off with a big “Whew!” as the election is over. Some states are still tabulating which makes no sense to me. In South Dakota we do not have our voting machines hooked up to the internet, so it is IMPOSSIBLE to hack the voting machines. A hard copy of the ballot is kept on hand and can be audited at any time. The voting machines are just a faster automated way of tabulating the votes.
Listed are four areas we could implement the extra revenue South Dakota is realizing, basically from a booming economy. Of course, the conservative point of view is that if extra taxes are collected over and above what was budgeted, the excess tax should go back to the taxpayers. The other view is to grow government. So, here are the 4 areas where we could use the extra tax dollars.
1.Eliminate tax on groceries.
2.Eliminate video lottery.
3.Pay for Medicaid expansion.
4.Reduce home assessment values by $100 thousand.
Let’s go through each one, shall we?
1.Eliminate tax on groceries. Some call this food tax, but that would include restaurants. The estimated $100 million is counting only groceries. One question I always ask when some group approaches me about eliminating grocery tax is, “Why do you want to do this?” The answer I’ve always received was, “because of the poor people.” OK, fair enough. However, poor people don’t pay tax on groceries, and for that matter, get their groceries for free via food stamps, now called EBT cards.
2.Eliminate video lottery. Yep, the video lottery casinos on every corner. Not Deadwood. Just the casinos that have video lottery machines. The state gets 50% of the profit and the proprietor gets the remaining 50%. I just have a hard time with our state running on losses from those who can least afford it. That being those addicted to video lottery. This is dirty money (in my opinion) and could be eliminated with this extra revenue.
3.Pay for Medicaid expansion. Yep, this was a ballot measure that passed in the General Election. Initially, there are federal funds, but eventually, as early as next year, the federal government is going to pull the rug out from under the states, making each state responsible for funding Medicaid expansion.
4.Reduce home assessment values by $100 thousand. This, again, is about $100 million. I included this one in here because of the Summer Study on Property Tax. The committee came up with this solution. I personally would like to eliminate Property Tax totally with a usage tax, but that’s an article by itself in the future.
The 50-dollar question is, “If it was up to you, which one of the four would you vote for?” You can email me at TGoodwin1955@gmail.com. Just pick 1, 2, 3, or 4. If you want to explain your reasoning, that would be great, but not necessary.
To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you.
Representative Tim R. Goodwin
District 30
Majority Whip
Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired
Greetings! How was everyone’s summer? The temps finally feel like fall, along with the colorful foliage. How beautiful are the black hills, especially in the fall! We are very fortunate to live in this part of the country! So, what have I been up to? Well, as you are aware, I lost the Primary Election to Sen. Frye-Mueller by 47 votes. The reason I ran for the Senate is that I thought I had a better chance of getting my Property Tax Bill, eliminating all property taxes, passed. Now that she is our senator for District 30, I will support her 100%. I have already visited with her regarding prime-sponsoring a property tax elimination bill in the Senate. Rep. Ladner is the chair of our Property Tax Subcommittee, so she would be prime sponsor in the House. We have our next Summer Study meeting on Property Tax on 10 and 11 October, so I will know more then. I would like to thank every Republican who voted in the June 7th primary, not just the tremendous support you had for me but for the voters who voted for Sen. Frye-Mueller as well. You exercised your constitutional right and I salute you for it. Let’s talk about our rock star governor we have for a moment. Last Friday I attended a press conference held at Dakota Butcher by Menards in Rapid City. (Do you pronounce it May nards or Men ards? LOL) Anyway, Randy Gruenwald out of Clark, SD is the owner of Dakota Butcher. He also has butcher shops in Watertown (Go Arrows!), Pierre and the Rapid City location. To call it a small butcher operation is definitely an understatement as the place is huge. At the governor’s press conference, she announced a repeal of tax on food. This would be specifically on groceries, with an estimated price tag of $100 million in lost revenue. This has come before the legislature the six years I’ve been there in some form or another. My initial question, I always asked in committee testimony, is why they want to eliminate tax on groceries.? The answer always was “because of the poor people.” My answer to that was that for those with lower income limits, (I don’t like the word POOR because most of us are or were poor at some time in our lives.) was that they receive food stamps, now issued on EBT cards which take the monies out of their account where the state deposits for them an allocation each month. Thinking a little deeper about these proposed tax cuts on groceries probably makes sense with our current inflation-ridden economy under the Biden administration. State sales tax is 4-1/2 cents. It was 4 cents until the Partridge Amendment went through in 2016 and was supposed to be repealed with a sunset clause but the problem was the sun never set on the ½-cent because of creative bookkeeping in the Dept. of Revenue. But I digress. Yes, I think the legislature should support Gov. Noem and give all the citizens needed financial relief through stopping grocery taxes. Does that mean municipalities would also drop their add-ons to state tax, in some cases 2%? With inflation skyrocketing, fuel doubling, and who knows what propane and natural gas will be this winter, I think the old Nike slogan “Just do it” applies here. To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Representative Tim R. Goodwin District 30 Majority Whip Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired Tgoodwin1955@gmail.com
Greetings! Isn’t anyone just a little upset about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) just passed by Congress?? There are things to be upset about like the one-year anniversary of the disastrous pull-out from Afghanistan when we left $8 billion worth of high-tech military equipment behind. Actually, the figure is much higher than that when you figure in all the research and development costs to make all of that military equipment now in the hands of the Taliban, Iranians, Russians and Chinese! Other reasons to be upset include our energy independence. Two short years ago we had energy independence. We were exporting oil and gas and gas prices were around $2 per gallon. Interest rates on home loans have gone from 2.25% to over 5% now. Consumer goods have all kinds of shortages. I can’t ever remember going to grocery stores and seeing empty shelves of certain items until now. The Inflation Reduction Act has to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I know it’s been a busy summer and some of us, me included, don’t pay much attention to the news, but this you have to see! The Inflation Reduction Act is a 739-billion-dollar expenditure. Yes! Our federal government thinks it can spend its way out of debt and inflation!! Inflation, that’s another failure, when it was 2% or less 2 years ago and now is at 8.5% and rising. Inside this monstrous boondoggle (Sen. Rounds term) is 80 billion dollars to hire 87,000 more IRS agents. This more than doubles the number of IRS agents currently on our payroll. Yes, it is ours. We pay for it out of our taxes. Digging a little further in the job announcement for these additional IRS agents, it says: Requirements include working 50 hours per week, which may include irregular hours and be on call 24/7, including holidays and weekends and “CARRY A FIREARM AND BE WILLING TO USE DEADLY FORCE, IF NECESSARY”. No, this isn’t the KGB in Russia. This is our own United States Government. Yes. Yours and mine!? The point here, in my opinion, is to intimidate us so we “don’t criticize or else you’re getting audited.” The IRS knows our tax code is so large and cumbersome that the average wage earner can’t keep up with it, so “be quiet because no way do we want to be audited” and now, with armed agents who agree upon hiring to use deadly force if needed. Our Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen says these additional IRS agents aren’t going after the household or business that makes less than $400,000. Really, if you take out all the households that make more than $400,000, do we need 87,000 more agents? Of course not. Don’t kid yourself. They are coming after us average wage earners. To back this up, the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation says the additional income from all these audits (How many audits per agent per year?) is projected that 90% of this additional revenue will come from small wage earners and businesses, making 200,000 or less per year. That’s us folks. This isn’t, or shouldn’t be, a partisan issue but it is. The IRA passed in the Senate with 50-50 votes making our Democrat Vice President pass it 51-50. In the U.S. House of Representatives 220 yes votes (all Democrats) and 207 no votes (all Republican) with 3 absent and 5 seats that are vacant. That should add up to 435 Congressional seats. Noteworthy is that 160 of these votes were done by proxy, meaning someone else voted for 160 Congresspersons who were absent. The 3 absent votes are unexplainable to me. Senators Thune and Rounds voted against the IRA, as did Congressman Johnson. So, there you have it. Our Internal Revenue Service is going to have more agents than our United States Marine Corps has marines, and, by the way, they are going to be armed and have agreed to use deadly force if necessary. No, I am not making this up! To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Representative Tim R. Goodwin District 30 Majority Whip Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Greetings! Rep. Trish Ladner and I had the distinct pleasure of attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the new B21 Raider coming to Ellsworth Air Force Base. The actual buildings are being called “low observable restoration facilities.” General Anthony Cotton was the keynote speaker. He is the Commander of Air Force Global Command and also Air U.S. Strategic Command stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base located in northwest Louisiana. This base is just south of Shreveport, Louisiana. Just a quick General Officer understanding: a Brigadier General has one star, a Major General has two stars, a Lieutenant General has 3 stars and a General has 4 stars. General Cotton is a 4-star general! An easy way to remember this is this mnemonic: Be My Little General. Be is Brigadier, My is Major, Little is Lieutenant, General is General. This is not meant to be derogatory or disrespectful in any way. It is just an easy way to equate stars with each rank of generals. So, back to General Cotton. Any time I get a chance to listen to a general, I get excited. Regardless of the branch of service, I’ve never met or heard a general who wasn’t simply the best of the very best! They are absolutely outstanding human beings and always very impressive! General Cotton was no exception. One thing he said that hit home with me was that the United States is the only country that has bomber fleets in the free world. This deterrent, of course, is designed to keep China and Russia at bay. The B21 Bomber will replace the B1 Bomber currently in use at Ellsworth Air Force Base and the 20 B2 Stealth Bombers stationed out of Whiteman AFB in West Central Missouri, about 60 miles SW of Kansas City. Now, being a retired soldier, I know little about Air Force aircraft. However, I do know the B in front of the B1, B2 and B21 stands for Bomber and the F in front, like the F16 that our Air Guard has at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, stand for Fighter Aircraft. Not bad for an Army guy, huh? The B21 Raider will have stealth bomber capabilities, delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. Once fully fielded, the B21 and the 52 will be the two bombers in existence in the Air Force fleets. “The exciting part is that Ellsworth is getting a tactical fighting squadron of 20 each B21 Raiders and a training squadron with an additional 20 each B21 Raiders. The Air Force is only fielding 100 B21s initially. The training squadron mission is to train every airman who works on that airframe in their specialty. In the Army we call it MOS, Military Occupation Specialty.” The B21 Raider is not named after the Stevens High School Raiders, but instead after the historic Doolittle Raiders who in WWII were known for their surprise attack against Japan. This forced Japan to recall combat forces for just homeland defense. Because of the Doolittle Raiders’ success, the Allied Forces morale was drastically boosted. The designation of the B21 Raiders recognizes the Doolittle Raiders as the first bombers of the 21st century. Isn’t that hoo-rah hoo-rah? Lastly, changing subjects, please exercise your honor and duty to vote. Many men and women have fought, and some have died giving us this sacred opportunity. Polls are open now at the county courthouses through June 6th, then vote at your respective voting locations on Primary Election Day June 7th. To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Yep, the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) compound, located at 11584 Farmer Road outside Custer, South Dakota (57710) is up for sale. It is actually a long way from the closest town of Pringle. Of course, everyone knows where Pringle is, right? Cell service, internet service and GPS is intermittent at best, so here are my directions: Go to Pringle and stop in at the Hitchin’ Rail (or Hitchin’ Post?) restaurant/bar and ask the local patrons how to get to the compound. If you can’t find Pringle, maybe it is best you don’t venture out. LOL. Once you are close to the compound, you will see a lookout tower. It almost looks like an air traffic control tower. This lookout tower is inside 140 acres of high fence with barbed wire on top encompassing the entire complex. “Inside the wire” like we’d say in the Army, you will find six log structures with 77 bedrooms and 74 baths, a huge meeting hall with 15-20 offices and 10 or 12 restrooms, a huge storage shed about 15,000 square feet in size, another huge machine shed, a greenhouse, generator building to live off the grid if needed, two pump houses with multiple wells and several other miscellaneous structures. It is on 140 acres. A quarter section of land is 160 acres, so this is 20 acres shy of a quarter section. The price is $6.9 million. How did this place go from a FLDS compound to being sold to the public? Good question. Three former members bought the property at a sheriff’s foreclosure sale last year for $750 K, (that’s $750,000). The way they were able to do this was that they won a multi-million-dollar federal lawsuit against the FLDS hierarchy for indiscretions done to them by the FLDS cult. This auction took place while Legislative Session 2021 was in session. I told Marcia we should play hooky from Session and attend the auction. Of course, the distance of over 200 miles from Pierre would have made it at least a 2-day if not a 3-day absence so we did not attend. The compound, built in Custer County in 2005, was one of the main reasons I ran for office in 2016. In 2019 I prime-sponsored House bill #HB-1110. This bill identified the problem of the cult not ever filing a birth certificate or death certificate of any member of the compound. Remember, this place started in 2005, so at the time of the bill, they hadn’t reported any births or deaths for 14 years. This was a very precarious position as if you don’t have a birth certificate in our society, you don’t exist. This was not the worst thing about the cult. Some other issues were that young girls 12-15 years old were forced to marry elders aged 50 years and older. They believe in polygamy, so as many as 14 wives isn’t all that uncommon. The compound by Pringle was the headquarters with subordinate compounds in Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. They would transport young girls to and from the three locations. What HB-1110 did was establish a penalty for certain persons who failed to file a birth certificate or provide the notice required for filing of a death certificate. The penalty for not doing this was a Class 2 misdemeanor that could be ratchetted up to a felony if multiple infractions occurred. HB-1110 passed in the House 67-1 with 2 members absent and in the Senate 33-0 with 2 members absent. Our Governor Kristi Noem signed HB-1110 into law. Little known to the legislature at the time was that this new law was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Less than two years after passage the compound was sold at the sheriff’s foreclosure sale. There you have it. Being in the legislature can have a positive impact on our great state that we call South Dakota. To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Greetings! For discussion this week, I am, with her permission, printing the bulk of an email sent to me from a District 30 citizen: “Dear Representative Goodwin, I read with interest your piece in the paper this week that proposes the elimination of private residence property tax via an increased sales tax (or consumption tax). My family whole-heartedly supports your proposal. If South Dakota could pull this off, it would be a revolutionary step in support of private citizen rights in this country. One of the reasons my family moved to South Dakota was the unbelievable property taxes we were paying in PA (it was more than double the rate we pay in Custer). Constantly increasing property taxes are crushing the “little people” in states across our country (and of course the taxes always ever increase, they never decrease!) and I sometimes wonder how it is that we’ve strayed so far from our country’s founding principles. With the way property taxes are structured in America today, Americans never actually own their property, even after they pay off the mortgage. There just seems to be something profoundly unconstitutional about the fact that a state can take away someone’s home, even if they’ve paid for it and lived in it for decades, if they can’t meet the tax bill in any given year. My only recommendation with regards to your proposal is the inclusion of an exception for food (i.e., leave the current rate of taxation for food from grocery stores the same). [Some people] will argue that your proposal will hurt the poor the most, but if food is exempt from the increased tax rate, you will take most of the wind out of the [that] argument. Eliminating property tax and shifting to a consumption tax puts responsibility and choice in the individual’s hands – that is, if I don’t want to pay a lot in taxes, I can choose not to buy that yacht! And I like the idea that those millions of tourists who visit our great state will pay into the system every year. Deborah Hanagan, PhD Colonel, US Army, retired Constituent in Custer” Thank you to the quoted writer for your comments and for allowing me to use them publicly! To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Formula to “Eliminate Property Taxes” Greetings! As promised, here is a proposal to eliminate all residential property taxes statewide. Before showing this proposal, I’d like to preface this by saying I feel our current property tax system is antiquated and quite frankly broken. It picks winners and losers and is taxing homeowners out of their homes, not to mention the stress and strain it is putting on homeowners. We could discuss endless measures tweaking our property tax system, or we could look at options other states did or have done like proposition 13 in California, etc. Instead, let’s just think outside the box and come up with a property tax replacement, an elimination if you will. Are you with me so far? Here it goes. For every penny, or 1% sales tax collected, it generates approximately 300 million in revenue. Property taxes collected in 2021 were 1,492 million. So, if we increased sales tax by a nickel and ½ penny (5.5%), that would generate 1.5 billion statewide. As you can see, this is more than enough revenue TO REPLACE ALL RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TAXES STATEWIDE. Too simple? Maybe? This would apply to residential properties not commercial or agricultural land. It would apply to the farm or ranch home because that is taxed separately from the agricultural land. Right now, our state sales tax is 4.5%. Adding the nickel would take it to 9.5%. If we wanted to be safe, we could make it 5.5% for an even dime (10%) state sales tax. If we added municipalities up to 2% more, that takes it up to 12%. The advantage of this tax shift, called a “consumption tax”, means we are only taxed on what we consume, and another advantage is that our 13-1/2 million tourists would contribute more. In visiting with business owners, particularly those in the tourism industry, they felt a dime (10%) state sales tax would have minimal, if any, effect on their business. In visiting with homeowners, they overwhelmingly supported this tax shift. So, there you have it. Recapping: This is only a proposal. Please send me your thoughts. Is it time to think out of the box? A dime state sales tax eliminates all residential property taxes within the borders of our great state that we call South Dakota. To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Lions Lion season is officially over in the Black Hills Fire Protection District. The quota was 60 lions or 40 females. The actual harvest came in at 26 females and 16 males for a total of 42 lions harvested. I believe this was the first season that neither of my two sons nor I got a lion or at least helped someone else get a lion. All three of us blanked. It was a bad snow season which directly effects the hunting opportunities of lions. I did collect one lion story though. I was set up on the side of the mountain with my call down below me about 40 yards. I was at the entrance of a cave that was blocked off behind me. It was in the late afternoon with about 1-1/2 hours left of legal shooting time. (You can hunt all big game from ½ hour before sunrise and ½ hour after sunset.) Where I was at, when the sun goes behind the mountain to my right, it starts getting dark. Then when it is officially sunset, it’s a little darker and a half hour after sunset, its dark. On this evening there was cloud cover, so no light from the moon or stars. I’m sitting there running my FoxPro through the remote, calling 4 minutes on and then 4 minutes off with 5 different lion calls in my repertoire. It was extremely windy, and I was hoping the wind would slow down like it sometimes does at sunset. Nope, no such luck. With about 15 minutes left of legal shooting time, I thought I heard a lion call behind me to my right. I put my call on mute and heard nothing, so started it up again and dang! It sounded like the call I had going, again up to my right. So, I’d shut off my call and the call to my right would seem to stop. It was very windy, so it was difficult to tell. Anyway, its time to quit, so I stand, pick up my remote on a lanyard around my neck and tuck it in my parka. I always leave the call going. I don’t really know why, as it’s a little nerve-wracking walking down to retrieve my FoxPro. I also had a lion decoy set up. Once I got down to the FoxPro, I shut it off manually. It was then that I realized for sure that there was a lion because up behind me my call was still going, and I had my FoxPro in my hand shut off! To make it even more interesting, the call I had going was a male growling and then a low throaty sound and then a second lion on this call was tweeting back kind of like a bird. This particular call had two lions calling in it. So, here I stand in total darkness with the call I was using still going off at 100 yards above me. What did I do? Well, I thought, “There is no way this is a live situation with two lions mimicking the exact same call I had going.” I figured it had to be one of my sons or one of my hunting buddies pulling a prank on me. Actually, it wasn’t all that funny at the time, but I had convinced myself that it was a prank and proceeded the ½ mile hike, mostly downhill, to my pickup. When I got to a crest in the hill going down, I could look and see my pickup and I was wondering who else’s vehicle was there. In the meantime, this two-lion call is parallel to me escorting me down the mountain. It was then I realized this was a live situation and that I had two lions 50 or 60 yards to my right. I hit my key fob to my pickup to unlock it and turn on the lights. Not the brightest move because now I had lost my night vision. Call me chicken but what a relief once I got inside my pickup with the doors locked!! To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
It’s early voting season! Yep, it began last Friday, April 22nd and goes to June 6th. The actual Primary Election Day is Tuesday, June 7th. Our General Election is Tuesday, November 8th. Early voting can be accomplished at your county courthouse. I stopped by my county courthouse (Pennington) and picked up a sample ballot along with what they call a “Primary Ballot Question Information Pamphlet.” This pamphlet is put out by our Secretary of State’s office. Does anyone remember who our Secretary of State is? It was in last week’s article as one of our constitutional officers. Yep, Steve Barnett! So, in this pamphlet, it talks about the pros and cons of Constitutional Amendment “C”. In the military we’d call the letter “C” Charlie. So, what does Charlie do? Well, Charlie raises the bar from a simple majority, which would be 50% + 1, to a 3/5th vote, or in other words, 60%. This higher threshold Charlie is proposing is for any ballot measures imposing taxes, fees, or obligating funds, of anything over $10 million dollars. I voted on the floor of the House of Representatives to put it on the ballot and let our citizens decide. Charlie’s opponents, (those against Charlie), say that it is unconstitutional and that a lawsuit has already been filed against it. Oh boy. Remember Constitutional Amendment A, or Alpha, in the General Election of 2020? Alpha was for marijuana legalization. It had hemp, medical marijuana, and recreational marijuana all bundled together under Alpha. The proponents (those for) argued that all components were about cannabis. The opponents (those against) argued that it was three separate subjects. By the way, our constitution states that any amendments must be single subject. Make sense? Anyway, the State Supreme Court finally (to an impatient person like me who thought it took for-ev-er) decided the case. Alpha was in fact 3 separate subjects so therefore it was deemed unconstitutional and was struck down. And, by the way, it passed on the ballot with a 54% approval. So, here is the fifty-dollar question. Ready? Why in the world do we have Charlie on the ballot right now when we are not even sure if its constitutional or in other words, if it is legal? My prediction is if we the people, actually we the voters, because you have no say if you don’t vote, pass Charlie, we are going to wait until it works its way through the courts to find out if it was legal in the first place!! Some of you have figured out where I’m going with this. Why don’t we have the Secretary of State get a legal reading from our court system before it goes on the ballot in the first place? Now isn’t that a novel idea? To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
At 11:04 MST, April 12, 2022, 36 of 70 lawmakers of the House of Representatives voted to impeach Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (pronounced rounsborg). This was the very first impeachment since statehood Nov. 2, 1889. Thirty-six was a simple majority of House members elected. We did have 3 House members excused but a simple majority is figured of the number of House members elected, not the number of House members present. I was one of the 36 who voted in favor of impeachment, as was my district mate Rep. Trish Ladner. I also entered the floor debate as a proponent for impeachment. You can listen to my floor speech and the other floor speeches on the internet. Go to Youtube, then search “SD Legislature Special Session April 12, 2022”. The issue now goes to the State Senate for the trial. South Dakota has no history of impeachment like some other states, so we don’t have rules set up for the proceeding. The Senate is currently working on the proposed rules via the Legislative Procedures Committee. On April 26th they will meet, and the full Senate will act on the committee’s work the same day. The Senate impeachment trial is scheduled for June 21 and 22, 2022. Per South Dakota’s Constitution, Ravnsborg is currently suspended from all duties related to his office. He may only return to his office if he is acquitted in the Senate. Suspended Attorney General Ravnsborg has made this comment. “The House of Representatives voted, and I respect the process, but I look forward to the Senate trial where I believe I will be vindicated.” On the civil side, suspended AG Ravnsborg has already pled “no contest” to two misdemeanor charges: illegal lane change and operating a cell phone while driving. He plea-bargained a 3rd misdemeanor of reckless driving and that misdemeanor was dropped. He has already paid the $5000 in fines and fees and has settled with the Boever family. The amount of the settlement is unknown at this time. Currently, the Deputy Attorney General is filling in. If the Senate convicts and removes the suspended AG Ravnsborg from office, Governor Noem will appoint an Attorney General until this current term ends in January 2023. The Attorney General is one of the Constitutional Officers. The Constitutional Officers include the Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden, Secretary of State Steve Barnett, Treasurer Josh Haeder, Auditor Rich Sattgast, Commissioner of School and Public Lands Ryan Brunner, Public Utilities Commissioners Chris Nelson, Kristie Fiegen and Gary Hanson. All these Constitutional Officers serve a 4-year term except the Public Utilities Commissioners who serve a 6-year term. The Constitutional Officers are selected at each party’s convention which usually is held a few weeks after the Primary Election. This year’s Republican Convention is June 23-25 in Watertown, SD. The Republican delegates who are voted in on the June 7th Primary Election, will converge on Watertown to select the Republican Constitutional Officers. Only delegates may vote, and they must be there in person. In other words, no proxy or phone votes are allowed. Once the Constitutional Officers are selected, they then are that party’s nominee for the November 8th General Election. The same process is true for the Democrat party. Here goes my famous line. Are you ready? CLEAR AS MUD, RIGHT? To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov
Impeachment “After careful and comprehensive investigation and consideration of the facts and application law, a majority of the Select Committee hereby concludes Attorney General Ravnsborg did not commit an impeachable offense in his conduct surrounding the death of Joe Boever,” Committee Chairman and House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, said following more than 4 hours of closed door deliberations. “The Select Committee recommends that articles of impeachment do not issue.” No, I’m not making this up. That was a direct quote from Rep. Gosch. Unbelievable! The Select Committee was selected by Rep. Gosch because that goes with his duties as Speaker of the House. Also noteworthy, the Select committee had 9 members, 7 republicans and 2 Democrats. The vote of not to impeach was 6-2. All 6 Republicans voted not to recommend impeachment while the 2 Democrats voted to recommend impeachment. The reason the vote count doesn’t add up to 9, as that was the number of committee members, is that the Chairman, self-selected, Rep. Gosch, didn’t vote. He said his vote was only needed if there were a tie. Here is the good news. The Select Committee selected by Speaker Gosch only makes a recommendation to the 70-member body of the House of Representatives. We, the individual members, have to vote our own conscience and no one other than ourselves can press the green “yea” button or the red “nay” button. We are having a Special Session on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 to vote on this issue. Yes, next week! Here is my take on this situation. - The first obvious “fix” was when the States Attorney finally decided to charge AG Ravnsborg with 3 misdemeanors: o Careless driving o Using a mobile electronic device while driving (cell phone) o Failing to stay in his lane. Most law enforcement and most states attorneys thought manslaughter or at least involuntary manslaughter would have been more appropriate. Once the States Attorney files the charge(s), it is final. Meaning it can’t be changed later to a more serious charge. - Next, AG Ravnsborg plea-bargained and the careless driving charge was dropped. Now he’s charged with using a cell phone while driving and failing to stay in his lane; two misdemeanors, which are equivalent to two traffic tickets. My thought is that, in recommending not to impeach, the Select Committee was using this reasoning: how can we impeach someone for two misdemeanors? My understanding is that they used instead an “in office” clause to clear AG Ravnsborg. In office, like this happened outside his normal duty office hours, or he wasn’t in his official duty as the Attorney General when he hit and killed Mr. Boever. I’m not sure what “in office” means but it is irrelevant anyway. Here’s what the House members need to look at: *Jason Ravnsborg hit and killed Joe Boever on the night of September 12, 2020. *He attempted to cover up this terrible tragedy by saying he thought he hit a deer. *Accident reconstructionists’ scientific findings were that all 4 tires of AG Ravnsborg’s car were on the shoulder of the highway, outside the white line. *The impact of Mr. Boever hitting the windshield was so hard that the windshield actually broke, sending Mr. Boever’s eyeglasses half on the floor in the front seat and half in the back seat. *The body then propelled into the ditch close to the point of impact. *AG Ravnsborg left the scene in a car he borrowed from the Hyde County Sheriff who is now deceased. *It would be virtually impossible for AG Ravnsborg and the Sheriff not to see Joe Boever’s body. Remember, the flashlight was still on the next day when they did in fact find Mr. Boever’s body. *Sec. of Public Safety, prior Colonel of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, Craig Price said that AG Ravnsborg was “untruthful” in his statement to investigators. Seriously? The top law enforcement officer in the state lied to investigators. This alone is reason to impeach! *Sec. Price also said AG Ravnsborg received or sent a text reading, “Well at least the guy was a Democrat.” If that doesn’t make your blood boil, nothing will! Mentioning a dead person’s political party?! This is not the Republican Party of which I’m a member. I most certainly will vote to impeach AG Ravnsborg and hope many House members do the same. It truly is the right thing to do. If we receive a majority vote of 36 to impeach, then the Senate has to wait 20 days to convene and then hold the trial and decide sentencing, which could and should include removal from office. To the citizens of South Dakota and to the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell, and in great appreciation to those who serve today, Thank You, for giving me the opportunity to represent you. Tim R. Goodwin, District 30 Representative and candidate for Senate Tim.goodwin@sdlegislature.gov