Welcome to Patti Martinson!

Patti Martinson did it!

The RCJ has the story...

As a reminder here were the June 3 Ward 1 results:

Craig Kirsch  .  .  .   653   27.53
Tom Johnson.  .  .  . 1,003   42.28
Patti Martinson  .  .   716   30.19

According to the RCJ, here's how it came out today

Tom Johnson.  .  .      400   46.24
Patti Martinson  .  .   465   53.76

Johnson for his part, was very sportsmanlike about it, I think:

"People in Ward 1 were obviously looking for a change, and that's OK," Johnson said. "I had an opportunity to serve 14 years on the council and accomplished a lot that I wanted to do. I appreciated the opportunity."

Maybe being voted off before and coming back has given him a long view perspective?

Many thanks are due to Tom for his many years of fine service to Robbinsdale.

Patti, we're looking forward to a new voice on City Council! Stock up on the Vivarin, those council meetings can get looong! But you have to stay awake because while you're not looking they'll buy a 25 million dollar hockey rink, or give away massive amounts of tax money to corporations that will depress wages further... or approve an eyesore high-rise downtown... so keep your eyes open, who knows what they may try to pull next.

Father's Day with the SD Family Policy Council

Today I had a wonderful Father's Day experience. We went to the South Dakota Family Policy Council's (SDFPC) Celebrate Families Day at The Ranch in Rapid City. My wife Bethany and I my two daughters had a great time cavorting around on a lovely day in the hills, celebrating families with a really nice crowd. The Ranch provided a few free tickets (we bought more), free soda and popcorn, and had a Father's Day discount deal. We even won a door prize!

Because it was Father's Day, my wonderful daughters humored me and helped me quietly share that our family values all families, by wearing our our LGBT-inclusive T-shirts, including one of our Amendment C shirts, a Gay RALLY youth group shirt from the Center West, and an Equality South Dakota T-shirt created especially for the occasion. I have to say some of my friends in EqSD thought this was a little over the top, but we didn't make any big deal about it. To the SDFPC's credit, no-one hassled us at all.




My Equality South Dakota T-Shirt design






Me with Rev Dale Bartscher (right)


All the usual suspects were there, including pastoral coordinator Dale Bartcher, President Chris Hupke, true-believer and former South Dakota legislator Elizabeth Kraus Munro, and even Dakota Voice's Bob Ellis, who I was told was there but I didn't cross paths with him. My only question: where was Elli Schwiesow? Maybe this event wasn't political enough for her? (It was very low-key, they had some information tables on the way in but that was about it.)

Beth said she saw a "Straight Pride" T-shirt, I wish I had seen it too so we could have taken a picture together of our two shirts! Maybe that was Ellis??

I had a nice conversation with Hupke; I thanked him for having us there (we did call ahead, this wasn't an "ambush", we just wanted to come have fun), I said that although we may disagree strongly about many things, we love our families and love God.

I have to admit it was a little fun to get a few funny looks from the folks there. Maybe we gave some of these parents a little to talk about when they get home tonight, which is all to the good!

My point in showing up for this thing was not a confrontation, but to have fun, and take the opportunity to quietly share a broader (they might say "extra-Biblical" but I disagree) view of what is a legitimate family, and of course continue to develop personal connections with SDFPC folks, as we just may find ourselves on the same side of an issue in 2009!



Playing God's favorite game, (Skee Ball).




Happy Father's Day all!

A little beauty...

this is what Mt St Helens looks like this evening on the USFS/NPS VolcanoCam. Rapid City has seen a day as lovely.

Another sign of the triumph of the Politics Of Me

The Kids Count numbers are in:

The percentage of underweight babies born in the United States has increased to its highest rate in 40 years, with Georgia ranking seventh from the bottom in delivering healthy infants, according to a new report that also documents a recent rise in the number of children living in poverty.

... another triumph of the conservative values of the 90s and 00s....

Sooo, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation... so how is South Dakota doing?

You can look it up on their Kids Count Data Center website here. And, surprise, South Dakota is slipping, while our Legislature spends their time laying down the law on women's medical decisions, tanning salons, and my favorite, making sure ten-year-olds are permitted to blast lead into varmints... to blast lead into varmints... (Farewell, bye Mike, Buckingham, the warped values shown by your fighting for this legislation probably kept you out of the State Senate. And you know I'm all broken up about that.)

These numbers of South Dakota's rank during the Republican super-majority in our legislature have a brutal eloquence... I hope "values voters" are paying attention:

She's in

At left: 2006 primary results, pre-Tom Katus

It's official. Elli Schweisow is in the race in District 32 for State Senate. No government track record, but she has done a lot of volunteer work and LOTS of political experience.

Schwiesow said she's a "common sense conservative" and will center her campaign on affordable health care, putting education dollars in the classroom, transparent government, and protecting private property from the abusive use of eminent domain.

How about that, Elli has pretty much taken on the values of the Pennington County Democratic Party. I suspect her "common-sense" implementation plans are different though, my guess it involves the wildly successful conservative approach that has served us well for the last thirty years: "something for nothing." That's working out just dandy isn't it?

This will be a fascinating race that will be about issues, we've got three candidates with three different approaches. A good opportunity for District 32 voters to decide what kind of representation they need in Pierre, based on the issues.

Run Elli run!

Was Joe Klein in Rapid City?

Still wondering if this good-looking gent I saw wandering around in Tally's last Monday with a press credential was Joe Klein of Time. While googling him to see if it really was his, I ran across this neat article (The Democrat's New Western Stars) that had this quote about Rocky Mountain Dems:

"Bet you never thought you'd find a politician named Buffie out in Colorado. I tell folks it's short for buffalo." McFayden, a force of nature, explained that her district had 12 prisons and a solid Republican majority that voted for her because "the right's gone so far to the right, you can't recognize them anymore. When the wingers accuse me of being a liberal, I say, Sure, if you mean that I'm in favor of staying out of people's private lives and balancing the budget and I'm against stealing."

(emphasis mine)

That's about it. I am so psyched to get to Denver and meet some of these people in August. (Well, those that I don't know already from South Dakota!!)

Responding to Hillary's speech

This isn't about taking over the world for "our side" in battle in the election and the governing that follows. It's about getting enough Democratic legislators in Pierre and keeping our Dems in Congress so to create the opportunity for a real dialogue on things that matter in both Pierre and the U.S. Capitol again. A strong Dem Presidential campaign in South Dakota will help us get there.

It's that simple and that exciting.

My full take on where we're at over at Badlands Blue.
This Robbinsdale Dem is ready for the State Convention in Pierre. We will have a great campaign in 2008 and South Dakota will be the real winners.

Be sure and check badlands blue

I've been posting a lot recently on Badlands Blue so more South Dakota Dems will be able to see the excitement we've been having here in West River. Go check it out!

I had the opportunity to share the Robbinsdale thrills of the last few days with the XM radio (channel 130) POTUS 08 program with Scott Walterman and Rebecca Roberts.

If they post the podcast we'll link it in.

You'll definitely see some pictures from the primary parties, as well as the usual comments, later tonight.

Vote!