Pure Pierre Politics

Yes, she married him. Yes, she stayed married to him. Yes, she ran for president after all of that. Yes, she lost and accepted the post of secretary of state. And now it seems inevitable that Hillary Clinton gets to suffer humiliation again and again and again as Newt Gingrich scorches whatever gets in his path as he runs for president. She is his victim now a second time, because he was having his own affair while attacking her husband, Bill Clinton, way back when for having an affair while Mr. Clinton was president. Each time news reporters and commentators point out that fact about Gingrich’s moral character, she gets another pin stuck into her. How President Barack Obama and the American people benefit from her remaining in his administration under the circumstances is a mystery. Imagine being a foreign leader meeting with her. What must they wonder about our nation?

My idea, of course: Why not an eagle soaring? It’s a deeply important symbol in the two main cultures of this place where we live.

We’ll open the bidding with the old Turtles’ tune: “Happy Together.” (Written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, according to Wikipedia…)

House Republicans are up on the Capitol’s fourth floor in their closed-door caucus at this moment, but Republican Rep. Lance Russell of Hot Springs is down at his desk in the House chamber on the third floor. The whereabouts of another Republican House member, Rep. Stace Nelson of Fulton, wasn’t immediately known. But good sources say there was a shout-down in the office of House Speaker Val Rausch, R-Big Stone City, this morning with Nelson present. Supposedly Russell and Nelson are persons non grata among the Republican caucus for their past behavior regarding House Republican leadership. Russell had stopped going to the daily caucus meetings long ago.  Whether they have been truly barred from attending isn’t clear. One reason is that House Republicans have a rule: What’s said in caucus isn’t repeated outside of caucus. Russell said this afternoon that nobody’s directly spoken to him about his official status. “All I’ve heard is back channels,” he said. There is at least one state Highway Patrol office in uniform who has been present in the third-floor hallways around the House chamber. We’ll relay more as we can reliably learn it.

UPDATE: Nelson just confirmed that he received word, in a phone message from House Republican leader David Lust at 4:45 p.m. yesterday, that he was kicked out of the caucus. Nelson said that when he spoke to this reporter earlier yesterday he thought the question about his status was a joke. “The joke’s on me,” he said this afternoon. Among the complaints against him, he said, was the legislator voting-record report card that was linked to his web address. Another was that he spoke too much to reporters about certain internal disputes within the House Republican ranks involving him and others. You have to wonder where, and how, all of this will come to a head. Others evidently are, too; at least two HP officers are now walking the third-floor halls around the House chamber.

The state Transportation Commission this morning reduced the speed limt to 55 m.p.h. from 65 on much of S.D. 42 east of Sioux Falls down to the Iowa border. Traffic has increased on the road as people make the drive to and from the new casiono just on the other side in Iowa. Commission chairman Dick Gregerson of Sioux Falls said people who live along highway on the South Dakota side would like the speed limit dropped to 45 m.p.h. But DOT staff said going that low might create too unsafe of a disparity between people who are driving in the 60s and those obeying the speed limit. There are 12 intersections and 57 driveways along the stretch of road. Traffic and development are expected to increase. Commissioners informally agreed they would take another look at the speed limit if 55 doesn’t prove to be slow enough. They voted 4-1 in favor of 55, with Gregerson casting the lone nay. The zones that were 45 and 30 on either side and through Rowena remain unchanged.

On the Rapid City Journal web site this morning is this plea: “The Journal is looking for people to share their experiences with synthetic drugs.” Hmmm…

There were more lobbyists hanging around the halls outside the House of Representatives chamber this afternoon than the bills on the debate calendar would seem to warrant. Why were they there? There were rumors that House members were going to censure somebody and that Rep. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, had been kicked out of the House Republicans’ caucus meeting. There was no censure, and Nelson explained to this scribe that he had missed the 1 p.m. caucus meeting because he had some other meetings with constituents. He showed the text he had sent alerting House Republican leader David Lust that he wouldn’t make it. The rumors flew, too, that some House members weren’t happy with the decorum shown by, and in return toward, Nelson and Rep. Frank Kloucek, D-Scotland, during the Tuesday debate over a court-fees increase. Kloucek referred to Rep. Nick Moser, R-Yankton, as the “junior” representative from Yankton County. Moser in turn refused to answer Kloucek’s question.  Kloucek later said he didn’t mean anything negative; Yankton County has two House members, Moser and House Democratic leader Bernie Hunhoff. No fireworks flew this afternoon, on the House floor where 70 representatives sit together in close quarters; things seemed to be fine. Nelson, and Rep. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, wrote the letter in December that raised questions and allegations about obstruction and spying by House Republican leaders during the 2011 session. That triggered an official investigation by a subcommittee of the Legislature’s Executive Board that found no evidence of wrong-doing.

A national group, The Tax Foundation, just released its annual rankings of states’ business-friendliness. Wyoming leads the list, followed by South Dakota. Nevada, Alaska and Florida rounded out the top five. South Dakota received top marks for no personal income tax and no general corporate income tax, but was 34th for sales taxes, 41st for unemployment insurance taxes and 20th for property taxes for business. Go to www.taxfoundation.org on the Internet if you want to see more.

Word this morning from the office of U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson is that Kristy M. His Law of Fort Thompson pled guilty in federal district court yesterday to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol with a minor present in the motor vehicle. We’ll spare you the details of how her vehicle weaved ditch to ditch until she crashed Aug. 11. The stunning facts are that her blood alcohol content was measured at .168 percent — at 8:56 a.m. It was measured a second time, at 9:45 a.m., when the BAC was .161 percent. That’s still twice the legal limit. She faces sentencing April 16.  She could get penalties as severe as two years in federal prison, up to a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release. Here’s hoping she can find the will and the perseverence needed for the road ahead.

Wyoming has one on its state flag. It’s also the Wyoming state mammal. North Dakota State University’s athletic teams bear the name. There’s Bison, South Dakota, of course. And now Sen. Tom Nelson, R-Lead, wants to toss aside the coyote and install the American bison as South Dakota’s official state animal. He’s filed legislation, Senate Bill 114, that would do precisely that. Let the howling begin.