Transcript 0:00 It'll, it'll publish sometime this weekend But it's about Jim Hagan, longtime tourism secretary. I know Jim Hagan. 5:00 in the entryway of your town, dude, like... 0:10 [laughs] [ice crashing] To some, that may just sound like ice hitting heavy duty plastic, but to a Bud Light legend, it's a signal that says, "It's time." 0:22 Time to dust off the barbecue tongs and load up the cooler with 37 Bud Lights and an assortment of dips, because it's time to take back all the fun we've missed. Welcome back, Bud Light legends. 0:33 Let's take summer by the coolers. Cooler up at budlightlegends.com. Enjoy responsibly. 2021 AB, Bud Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Distributed by Beal Distributing, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 0:44 [gentle music] My grandpa was one of my favorite all-time people growing up. I remember going to the Tulip Festival with him. 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Come on down and check us out today, 41st and Grange in Sioux Falls. 1:44 [upbeat music] Welcome to Scouting Lounge, a weekly program of the Dakota Scout newspaper based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 2:05 I'm Joe Stueve, co-founder of the Dakota Scout sitting alongside- Check out the Minnesota accent going for 'Cause I, I wanna whip up a little storm this weekend here. [laughs] Come on, Ice, bring it over. See our paper. 2:18 Did you see our paper? Anyway, I'm Joe Stueve. That's Jonathan Ellis. He just opened a Busch Light which is a Beal distributed product, which I also have in front of me. And we have a third one. 2:32 And I think it's okay to call him a very, very, very, very- Yep... very, very special guest as Jonathan likes to do with our... Sometimes they aren't special. This, this one's special. 2:45 I'm willing to say- Anyone who comes on our program is special. Well, that's true, but if everybody's special, no one's special. Right? Well, there's cer- It's, it's like Animal Farm. 2:54 Some animals are more equal than others. [laughs] Oh, I, I- Like that, that's communism... it's quite the parental dilemma. Uh, and don't worry. We'll announce who our- [laughs]... our guest is here. Yeah. 3:05 If you read, I'm sure you've already saw who it was gonna be. But at some point, you always tell your kids they're special, but then at some point you have to tell them, "You're not special." Right. [laughs] Right? 3:15 Like where is that line? There's some nuance there. Um, you're special. Everyone's special in the eyes of God, but in the... To everyone else, you're not. [laughs] Much more- That's funny... City Councilor David Branco. 3:32 He has reemerged. Welcome back. Live. He's back. Yeah. Live. I'm back from the Bahamas. Tan, tan, rest- tan, rested and ready. [laughs] I'm tanned and I'm rested and I'm ready. So how was the Bahamas? [laughs] You know. 3:45 Not the Bahamas. Not the Bahamas this time. So welcome back to, uh, so you know, your life- Yeah... right? [laughs] Uh, you, as we reported a couple months ago, you had a medical scare that really 4:02 quickly laid you up for a while. 4:03 Yeah, really serious stuff, and I am and will forever be so thankful and grateful to the surgeons and the nurses and the whole staff over at Avera who saved my life, um, probably more than one time, and they've got me back up on, on my feet and, uh, ready to go. 4:22 Half of you. Yeah. I'm a little, little lighter than the last time I got in. [laughs] You're gonna need some of these to put on some weight. Yeah. I'm gonna need a few, few beers to put the weight on- So what do you-... 4:32 from being back... what do you do to pass the time when you're laying there? Play video games? No, no video games. 4:38 I was telling, uh, Ellis, though, one, one thing that was kinda cool, I was in the hospital for so long and of course Tuesday night would come up and, uh, a lot of the staff over there, the techs and the nurses were really interested in what city council is and does. 4:54 They didn't know a thing about it. So we started to have a group that would get together in my room on a Tuesday night and, and watch the council meeting and they would ask questions about, you know, "Why do you do this? 5:05 What does that mean?" And, uh, you know, we're all in there. Good for you. So when the voter turnout goes up you can take the credit. Yeah, it's about me. Yeah. 5:12 [laughs] I'm expecting whatever precinct the, uh, you know, the, the doctors and nurses and tech staff vote in, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna dominate that precinct. Yeah. 5:21 Well, yeah, could possibly moving it to the primary, that'll increase the, some municipal election turnout. It's David's little powwow, so I'm gonna just- It's, it's civic engagement that he produced. Yeah. Yeah. 5:31 Good for you. Good for you, man. Well, I can tell you this, we saw, um, very, very low numbers in 2024 city elections. I don't think that's a secret to anybody. Yeah. 5:40 And people would ask me, I said, "Look, I can't run every two years. You know? If you want to see big numbers, you're gonna have to move that thing around." So... Yeah. Yeah. You vo- You supported that move. Uh, 5:54 did you sit and listen to the entire data center meeting? Yeah. Ultimately, yeah. You liar. It was, um, it was... I was surprised by the number of people who spoke. 6:10 But, um, hey, what I'm, uh, being told is that there is a lot of support on that petition drive, that they're getting a lot of signatures, and, uh, we may have an opportunity for the people to speak. And, 6:26 you know, as I've always said, if the majority of the people who live and work and vote in Sioux Falls do not want a data center in their town, then my job is to stop a data center from being built in their town. 6:40 Um, I hope enough... If, if there is going to be an election on that question, I certainly hope enough people turn out, because we don't want the, uh... It may be the case that, 6:51 you know, two-thirds of the people in Sioux Falls do want a data center, but we're only hearing from the 30% that don't. I don't know. I'm not saying that. But 6:59 if I can get a, a snapshot of where public opinion is on that, there's- Well- Nobody should ram that down the citizens' throats if the majority of the people who live here don't want it. 7:09 And they're willing to, to participate. Yeah, that's a good thing. 'Cause like, you know, I don't know, it doesn't matter where everybody stands if they're not willing to show up and do anything about it, right? 7:19 That's right. So- That's right... the, uh, 7:22 I don't think voter turnout, well, it's, it's disappointing when you don't have the voter turnout, 'cause you'd like a better assessment, but I have no problem living with the results, right? 7:31 Because- You had a fair opportunity to come out and- You can't, you can't bitch if you don't vote, right? That's right. I mean, people say that all the time, and it's true, or it should be true. And people, people do 7:41 get rid of it on Facebook. [laughs] Well, I, you know, I listened to some of the debate and are, again, they, they were in the last city council meeting, too. Yeah. 7:48 A few of them spoke, and in one of them, one of the, one of the leaders, you know, kind of admitted, "Yeah, we've got some tinfoil hat kinda k- stuff about the..." And, and there was. There was, there was some kinda, 8:00 there was some stuff out there about that you just have to shake your head, like, "Where, where are you getting this from?" But- Exactly. I, I think that 8:07 the issue would strongly benefit from an injection of factual knowledge and reality. Yeah. 8:14 Um, you know, even though I, I'm not backtracking an inch from what I just said, if the people don't want it, then we shouldn't build it, 8:21 I would say that I heard in the criticisms of the project a lot of things that are not factually true. Mm-hmm. And not- One of them being like, "This just came out of nowhere." That, yeah, there have been- That's... 8:34 But the, the reality is, though, the sentiment comes from somewhere. Sure. Right? And the days of being able to just poo-poo and dismiss that are over, right? 8:45 It used to be, like, there was a contingent of people who were always skeptical or, or naysayers or whatever, and you could just pat them on the head and keep moving forward with the project. But I don't know. 8:58 It's different now. You can't do that anymore. And- And we saw that, we saw that in Rapid City. Yeah, we saw it with the TIF, which- Yeah... we should probably talk about. Absolutely. You saw that with pipeline. Yep. 9:07 You saw that with prison. Yep. You know, the... Man, I've had... It's, it's a bit like talking to, uh, an avoidant or something, right? 9:17 Like, when you're trying to talk to people who support all these projects for good reason, you know, they, they see merit in it. Mm-hmm. They're still a little bit, like, you know, thumbing 9:29 their, uh, you know, kinda like looking down their nose at the opposition as if they don't, they're... You have to take that seriously. Yeah, absolutely. Or you're never going to get anything done. Right. 9:39 You can't be real dismissive like they have been. 9:42 Like, I went into a s- a summit with pro-business people, and, you know, they talk about we gotta find a way to come together, and then in the next breath, they, like, make fun of other bills that the people they need to support this bill are, you know, this project. 9:56 Yeah. You know, then they poke fun that way. It's... I don't, I don't know what to really say about it, so. Well, you can say it's disrespectful, and I think it is. 10:05 Um, I think that very often in politics, I'm gonna meet a person who's got an agenda that is radically different than mine. It, in fact, is inconsistent, not compatible with mine. 10:17 But if I'm gonna be an effective leader, um, and I'm gonna operate within the, the boundaries of what we hope could be representative democracy in the United States, I need to have respect for that person. 10:27 And I say, "Hey, they are acting on a set of beliefs that they hold. 10:31 They think these things are true, and the fact that I don't think they're true doesn't mean, first of all, that they're not necessarily true," 'cause I've been wrong once or twice in my life. 10:40 And, and secondly, it's worthwhile to have respect for not only your allies, but your enemies, and say, you know, "They're coming at this from a different perspective, and I need to, uh..." 10:52 You know, I'm a big fan of trying to... This may become, you know, uh, I, I'm the instigator of the city chess challenge. 11:00 You know, when you're playing chess with somebody, you gotta think about what, okay, what are they doing? What's gonna come after this move? And you wanna, um, try to understand the people that you're working with. 11:09 Mm-hmm. Because first of all, you wanna resolve any disputes in a civil, peaceful manner, which our country is, it may be losing its ability to do right now. 11:19 Secondly, you've gotta think about there's, maybe there are things we can work together constructively on. 11:24 If I can understand their mindset, then I might say, "Okay, we're never gonna shake hands on deal number one, but you sound like a person that might be interested to work with me on deal number two." Mm-hmm. 11:33 And that, that's what you gotta be hunting, all the time hunting. There's opportunities for compromise and constructive- Building coalitions, consensus. Building coalitions. You got it. 11:43 Well, and, and that's, you know, that's, we talk about losing some of that, certainly in Congress, for sure. Yeah. 11:49 Because it's, because it's be- it has become so social media influenced, um, and a lot of these people in Congress wanna be influencers instead of, like, actual, you know, 12:01 leaders and people who craft laws and those kinds of things. And in fact, it's become quite a disgusting institution [laughs] Yeah. It's a little-... 12:08 in a lot of ways because of that, and that, p- particularly on the House side of things. The Senate, it was a little more s- You know- More dignified... yeah, dignified. 12:14 But on the House side, I mean, there are some real losers over there, uh, in the House of Representatives. And I'm happy to say that we are, we are not represented by one of them, uh, in South Dakota. 12:24 So whether you- We're probably in the action... whether you're a Republican or a Democrat- Yeah... our representative is not one of these dipshits running around trying to be a social influencer, so. Well, 12:36 we all kind of forget, or at least I forgot for a while that our president, like, really came onto the political radar after, um, reality TV show too. Oh, yeah. So- 12:48 And, and his Twitter account was, uh, was, was pretty fire. Yeah. And I've heard it said many times when our former governor was here that, you know, she carried... 13:00 There's a perception she wanted more to be a per- like a Kardashian than a, than a- A Dooger [laughs]... than a Dooger. Uh, and it's, it's kind of like in our business, Jonathan, like 13:14 we-- People like, you write what the public's gonna read, right? Like you wouldn't have a million websites with just trash if there wasn't, if they weren't in demand. So, 13:29 you know- I think it's real- Politicians are giving people what they want. And, you know, so is the Inquirer, the Daily Inquirer, you know? [laughs] I think it's a real challenge to do good journalism, and I know 13:40 you two and a bunch of our folks here in South Dakota rise to that challenge. 13:44 But you're in a constant tension between, um, I wanna write about things that are important, I wanna write about things that are serious and that are relevant, kind of the, that mature voice of the journalism professor that you had in school telling you, um, you know, calling you to the highest ethics of the profession. 14:00 At the same time, if it's in a vacuum, you know, the tree falls in the woods and no one hears it. If no one clicks on this story, have I done good journalism? 14:08 Um, you've gotta, not only do you need to be employed, you need to have an audience. 14:13 And so you, you constantly are in that, how can I connect, you know, find that, uh, hybrid point, um, that Lagrangian point where, um, I've got a large number of readers, but I'm also writing about something that deserves to be discussed and studied. 14:31 Yeah. Got a lot of noises building up. Yeah. I guess go to that whole speech, nobody's gonna be able to hear it. Wow. No, it's good. A little victim, a little victim. 14:38 You know, you gotta have, you gotta have, um, you gotta have your vegetables and candy. Yeah. That's how, that, that's how it works. You know, I'll be honest, I mean, 14:49 the, this, the engagement, I mean, a lot of people don't read the city council stories. True. They don't, you know, uh, 'cause they don't even really know what the city council does or is. Uh, and, uh, 15:00 but, but- Well, I told you that story when I went to go get a hamburger one time. I was feeling, maybe that day I was feeling pretty important or something, and go up to go get a burger, and I've got, 15:10 you know, something like this on that says Sioux Falls City Council. And the guy that's gonna, you know, make my hamburger says, "We have a city council?" [laughs] Are you serious? And I'm like, "Yeah." He's like, 15:22 "With elections and everything, like the whole thing?" I'm like, "K- kinda." Yeah. [laughs] How old is this person? Uh, I don't know, college age, I would estimate. Okay. 15:34 [laughs] Uh, wonder how they feel about data centers. [laughs] Yeah. Or TIFs. Well, in Rapid- Well, that was a dramatic vote when Steve Levy- It was... yeah, they spoke with a loud voice. Yeah, you can't... 15:45 I don't know that any campaign would've been able to overcome that. I spoke, uh, with Brad Murdoch, who, who was in the opposition carry- you know, the proponents of the TIF. 15:56 And I told, I don't know, with those numbers, I don't know that there was anything that could've been done. 16:01 Well, I would say- The, the, the number, the sheer size of that number, they had- That number one, the size, that was a very, very large... I think that shocked a lot of people. 16:09 But number two, I, I would say that that team, now this doesn't-- I'm not arguing with the result of the thing, but I do think they were kinda paying for maybe some of the sins of the past. Yeah. 16:20 You know, people maybe in isolation, um, might have given that greater consideration if they weren't frustrated and angry about, what are we, twen- twenty-five, twenty-six different TIFs that were just- In Sioux Falls history, and Rapid is like 16:37 almost a hundred. No, I mean, yeah, they have so outpaced us. Yeah. Um, my recollection is that we have not actually issued a TIF. We, we have one that's kind of like a conditional thing. 16:51 You mean since you got on, you mean? Since I was elected. I do not believe that we have voted finally to approve any, uh, TIF financing for any project. Uh, although there is one project that... 17:04 'Cause I specifically wrote up a set of terms and conditions, and those have not been met. But the argument is, well, what if all the terms and conditions have been met? 17:14 Then we would still have an opportunity to approve it. But one of those terms and conditions was timeliness, and it's been a while. So we'll have to, we'll have to see with that. Well, 17:25 I think there's a perception that Rapid City, like you said, paid for the TIFs in the past. Yeah. Rapid City had a record, you know, of the most TIFs compared to Sioux Falls. 17:35 I don't know, but they're three or four times as many as we- Yeah... we've issued. And then, uh, you've also got this backdrop of like anti-economic development everywhere now. Uh, 17:47 this, this wave of populism does, is, is growing, not- Not receding... not receding. And I mean, the, the Pete Lien & Sons is very prominent, wealthy, they're a company owned by wealthy people. 18:06 And populism in general seems to cultivate, um, resentments to the wealthy You know, a bit. So it's like a perfect storm. Yeah. I don't think Murdoch and the, uh, Team Rapid City were gonna overcome that. 18:23 Um, so- Well, I, I was, I- Congratulations to, uh, Cathy Howard- Yeah... to Tom Shea Weaver for, for that. I was gonna say that after that vote, a, uh, a friend of mine who is a doctor out there sent me a picture of the, 18:39 from Rapid City, of the mean quarry, uh, with a big cloud rising through it in the wind of like dust and, and his, his was, uh, destroying thousands of lungs. 18:49 [laughs] So there's, there's probably maybe an element of that a- also attached to the, that project, so. 18:57 But I, I agree that I think it's probably this whole wave of populism that we see and that, you know, like, like Joe rattled off the list, you know, uh, carbon pipelines, data, data centers, um, the prison. 19:11 A lot of skepticism. We talk, we're talking about TIFs. They're, they're, the TIFs are gonna be under the microscope at the legislative session. Yeah. Um, and I, I would anticipate that, uh, 19:22 they will be, there will be some s- some s- legislation that passes that reins TIFs in. Uh, now that will put, uh, the governor in an inter- interesting position. Mm-hmm. Um, but, um- Well, and it's a, it's a challenge. 19:36 I'll, I, as I've stated before, maybe on your, on your pages, but certainly in public, my view on TIFs for a city is that you really should have an almost never perspective. 19:50 Um, but there are people that say almost never is not good enough for me. Right. I need to hear never, never. And then there are other people who say, "Well, why wouldn't we just... I mean, 20:00 any time that is could be good for the city, it should be used." And so there's a temptation, or at least there's a, a desire in that instance to really, 20:11 you know, by, by legislation, um, set parameters for the lawmaker, for the councilor, for the mayor to only do within this limited space. But I think experience has taught us that the better way to 20:29 only have TIFs c- allowed in that almost never, but a really great situation arise very easy. You gotta elect good people. 20:35 You have to elect thoughtful people that are focused on being very selective, that are intelligent, that do their homework, dive into the deal and say, "No, this doesn't need a TIF. 20:45 No, this wouldn't even be good with a TIF. Okay, here is that rare example. I found it. 20:50 I found the, you know, bird of paradise that if we just give it a little bit of help, could really be a massive benefit to the residents of the community." They're, they're not common. They're out there. 21:02 And, um- Well, why not just let everybody have five years without paying your increment, period? Well, um- How do you think Shawn Pritchard feel there? [laughs] Not happy. Not happy. That's gonna cap on any growth. 21:16 Mm-hmm. Sort of. Uh, well, the data center thing, uh, so the TIF, the TIF was like two to one. I mean, that's a landslide away. And you know what? 21:26 I just, I, I, just to interject here, for everybody who's passionate about the data center project and listening to us talk about TIFs, there is no TIF for the data center project. It hasn't been asked for. 21:40 It hasn't been granted. Um, I, I mean- You're preempting a joke I had, but go ahead. Ah, man, I should've waited. [laughs] Oh, that's fine. Sorry to step on your joke. No. 21:49 But, uh, and I can tell you, I personally have mentioned, you know, said in no uncertain terms to the folk, or the proponents of the data center, that if you come back and ask for 22:01 taxpayer financing, um, I'm, I'm a hard no on that, and I'll become a hard no on the project. Yeah. Well, they're, and they're trying to get, they're trying to get their... 22:10 At, in the legislature, they're trying to get their, uh, sales tax bill through. So I think that that's sort of, of their, their primary focus. Um, but- I wouldn't bet on that getting through. 22:21 And at this point, I think you could see some people who are, like, more than likely to vote for that today. By the end of session, not. The way the current is moving here, uh, I mean, if you... 22:34 There's some folks who stuck their neck out pretty far on the pipeline issue- Yeah... that aren't up there now. Yeah. Right? And- Yeah... uh, this, this will have similar resonations, I think, if, if we... 22:46 And I, I don't think you're gonna see as many people, like, dying on that hill. 22:51 Well, and we constantly are, uh, and this is wise, uh, speaker, public, public input will come forward and say, someone will say, "We need to think about the pros and the cons for this project." 23:01 Well, to me, the, the pros for the city are not, even though it is, I, I'd love, I can't wait for there to be jobs available. That, that's great that there are gonna be some jobs associated with this project. 23:13 But the real pros, the, the tax revenue that flows into the city that will, um, enable us to kind of offset property tax cuts that people really want. It will enable our schools to have the funding that they need. 23:27 If, if that tax revenue disappears, then the cons of the project begin to kind of have a great deal of weight. So, um, you know, I see it as a way, like, "Hey, we, we wanna cut property taxes. 23:42 You know, I'm very serious about that. Um, we've got to have some other revenue flowing into the city, um, to, to pay for police, to pay for the, the vital services, you know, the- 23:52 The, the tax part of it, I think the, the general public has a hard time understanding that growth helps keep the mill levy down, you know? Right. So that, I mean, that's where leadership comes in. 24:06 It takes leadership to, and, and good op-eds, I guess, right? Yeah. To, uh, to do that. I don't know if we ever, uh... It takes... 24:16 And whoever those leaders are that can, can bring the public along on something that, right, that they don't like, you know, Cold Stone comes to mind, that vote Uh, turning that around. Yeah. 24:26 I think we're talking greater, greater... It would have taken more of a effort, Herculean effort to turn the TIF thing around rapid than it took for Christine, those guys to get the result they did. But, uh, 24:40 they were probably sleeping on a Juna. Just take it off. Like this? That's sexy. I know, right? We can just take it off and pop it in the wash. 24:50 At Juna, our mattresses are wrapped in a super soft, breathable fabric that's cool to the touch, washable, and easy to zip on and zip off. 24:58 Hey, remember our old mattress that weighed about 300 pounds when we were throwing it out? Gross. Stop it. Don't say it. That extra weight was dead skin, body oil, dust mites. 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Thanks again to Beale Distributing and Juna Sleep Systems. Still got Mr. David here. 26:20 How's Catherine? How's the boys? She's doing great. Um, while I was, uh, in my recuperation, my son tried out for seventh grade basketball. Happy to report he is the center for the A team. 26:33 And so here next week we get started to challenge some of the other junior highs across town. Nice. Excited about that. So that was Christopher? Yeah, Christopher. Well, congratulations, Christopher. A lot of pressure. 26:48 Uh, how, uh, Jonathan, you were in Pierre. You took Pierre duties this week. Uh. Busy. Busy. Yeah, they finally, it's actually like they started Pierre build. Yep. They're off and running now. They're off and running. 27:06 Yeah. Was there a lot of chatter in the halls about the seating incident? Uh, there was a little bit, uh, as of by I think Thursday. It started to kind of, it's- Well, the event was on Friday, right? 27:19 The seating incident was Friday morning. Yeah, but there was a lot of the, lot of the fallout- Or Thursday morning... the fallout was still happening, so, but. Well, last week the news was that it happened, and 27:33 Representative Garcia was in the stories, but there was no mention in those stories of Phil Jensen. Nope. But there was this week. There was this week. On Friday, Thursday or Friday at the Education Committee, uh, 27:48 Chairwoman Leanne, uh, Lana Greenfield had changed seat positions from last session to this session, and apparently Josephine Garcia did not like her seat placement. There was kind of a kerfuffle. 28:06 They had to clear legislators into another room, and then basically like Odenbach and Hansen had to put him in the corner, tell him, "If you don't, you will, you will eat your peas and like it." Uh, well, then 28:24 this week Phil Jensen gets removed from the House Education Committee, and he wasn't really a, well, like I said, a focal point of those first stories. So the allegations are that he's sort of trying to cause a mutiny, 28:39 basically. I almost put that word in the story, but mutiny seemed a little strong and it- Against the speaker too. Yeah. Yeah. Like to sow discord or whatever, just to, for the sake of it and undermine leadership. 28:52 Uh, he didn't comment for the story that we wrote, but he did call last night to kind of give me his take. Um, he said that, uh, you know, he doesn't think he did anything wrong. 29:10 That it's, it's un- it's un- uh, un- it's not natural or normal for the chair to change the spots midterm, and the question of why remains, like they're playing politics, not him. But he's got sort of, 29:29 he doesn't have the benefit of the doubt that they would get because, one, he's not leadership and he's has a history of doing stuff like that. And it goes back to last year 29:41 when he brought the bill to defund the Huron School District. Here's a, here's one for you. I talked to him last night. 29:46 He was, he walked me through a story from another paper that wrote about it and telling me why he thought that was wrong, and I asked him if he had read ours yet. And he said he wasn't sure if he'd read ours or not. 29:58 So I'm like, "Well, let's go through mine too then." And I read it, we read it together, and I, there was a line in there, a paragraph in there where I mentioned last year's Huron defund bill, and I ca- I, 30:13 I said it was a frivolous bill. I can't remember if I put that as an attribution to somebody else. Like we are, this followed his filing of a frivolous bill to defund whatever. 30:22 I maybe sh- should have just left that adjective out. But You needed some sort of adjective to convey to the reader who might not have been familiar with what happened last year to know, like, why would you get 30:34 in trouble for filing a bill, right? Yeah. You needed some kind of adjective. But we- I read him through the whole story, and I'm like, "So you got any issues with that?" 30:44 And he's like, "I'm gonna go back up to frivolous." [laughs] And I looked up the definition- So he was seriously about, serious about wanting to defund, uh, the Huron district? Yeah. 30:55 He wasn't just trying to make a point. I talked to an attorney today, not 'cause I was worried I could sue or anything. I happen to be talking to an attorney going, "I'll talk to two attorneys today, Mr. David." Um, 31:06 and I told him about that, and he's like, "I hate to side with him on this, but I think you're wrong on it." And I said, "Yeah, I can... I look up the definition and I can see, uh, 31:19 like- He meant that you're wrong from a news reporter perspective, not that you're wrong Well, no, he just thought it was the wrong use of the word. Okay. 31:28 He- 'Cause frivolous, yeah, I'm like not trying to minimize my own shortcomings here. The, uh, frivolous describes something... Uh, oh, okay, that's, that's AI's thing. So I'm actually gonna go to a real link. 31:40 Do a real dictionary. Yeah. By the way, older folks, and even younger people, when you Google something now, the first thing you see is not a Google search result like it used to be. You're looking at a robot. 31:50 It's wrong more than it's right still. So keep scrolling. Uh- [laughs] I can tell you that artificial intelligence does not know the difference between parachute pants and hammer pants. 32:00 [laughs] For every one of us who was alive in the '80s and up through 1990- Right... I can tell you the parachute pants are tight and hammer pants are loose. And too legit to quit. They are too legit to quit. Yeah. 32:12 The, uh... Okay. Frivolous: behaving in a silly way and not taking anything seriously, or a frivolous activity or object is silly or not important rather than useful or serious. 32:28 Now, his contention was that bill was useful. It brought light to, uh, allegations that Huron School District was doing, like, woke things, you know? And it did. 32:41 And if that was his intention, then frivolous probably isn't the right word because people file bills all the time to start a conversation knowing there's no way it's gonna pass. 32:49 And my, my thought when I wrote it was that it's a bill that has no chance of passing. So the word frivolous probably wasn't the right one to use, and I will concede. Well, that's, that's a very good point. 33:00 Um, it reminds me of the time when Hal Wick filed a bill, this would've been around 2010, uh, that he would require everyone to carry a firearm, and his whole point was like the, uh, the ma- the mandate in Obamacare. 33:13 Yeah. You know? So, I mean, the- If healthcare is a right, then that means government must provide the right, and I have a right to bear arms, where's my government issued firearm? 33:22 [laughs] Anyway, so I mean, it's not, it's not a, uh, it's, it's happened before, and Hal, Hal Wick did a couple. I, I think he... 33:28 Well, that wasn't the only one he did that to try to make a point about policy, you know, policy issues. So, um, so you're right. 33:35 I mean, it's, it's, quote, from a, from a lawmaking perspective, it's fri- frivolous, but from a, like, having a policy discussion and, and the broader philosophical im- implications about something, it's not. 33:46 So that's- Yeah... your lawyer friend's pretty smart. But I even conceded that last night to Phil. I'm like, "Okay, well, I can see where this, that isn't a watertight word there, you know?" I'm like, "I'll change it. 33:58 I'm not running a correction, but I'll change it." I'm not sure if I did. [laughs] It was late. I was trying to get kids to bed. [laughs] Anyway, so that I think will have, uh, ripples. 34:14 So, so he got pulled off education committee, replaced with Liz May. Liz May. And now we have some musical chairs in committee because they didn't just... 34:21 To Hanson's credit, he could just pull him off the committee and leave him off any committee. You know? Like, "You just got your mornings free now, Phil." 34:28 Uh, but that takes away representation from that district in the process, which was the gripe when Julie Frabularo didn't have her seats on the committees. Uh, so John moved him to 34:41 s- t- tax and local government, took Julie Allgoff there, moved her to appropriation because Liz May took over for Jensen on House Ed. So, you know, mid, mid, uh, mid- Midstream?... 34:59 session changes happening already. I think one of the leaders said they're glad. 35:04 Like, if this is gonna happen, they're glad it happened now and not later because those committees would be, like, to- even more toxic until this bubbled up. 35:13 Introducing Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda, classic cola, cherry cola, citrus soda, and orange soda. [soda can opens] [soda pours] You hear that? It's seltzer with the pop of soda. Flavor. All with zero sugar. 35:28 Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda, the loudest flavors ever. [soda can opens] Ah. Enjoy responsibly. Anheuser-Busch Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda, IRC Beers, St. Louis, Missouri. 35:40 Distributed by Beal Distributing, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All right, big problem. I sleep hot, like hot, hot. I sweat like a pig in my bed. Do pigs sweat a lot? What? Doesn't matter. Sir, you're in luck. 35:54 I know we can help you. Get ready to stop sweating in bed. Well, while you sleep anyway. 36:00 One of the greatest things about Juna mattresses is they are really breathable, which means you sleep cooler, and our mattresses are naturally breathable. We don't use materials that contain nasty cooling chemicals. 36:11 And as your body creates heat, your bed becomes even more buoyant and supportive. No more sinking in and getting hotter and hotter throughout the night. So you're the mattress nerd. 36:21 Bottom line, sleep cooler naturally with Juna. And right now, with your Juna mattress purchase, we'll even throw in a free cooling pillow. 36:29 Juna Sleep Systems' patented mattress design is specifically engineered to draw body heat away from you. No more sleeping hot. 36:37 Juna Sleep Systems, showroom in the front, factory in the back, 41st and Grange in Sioux Falls. Juna. Uh, is, is the word Canuck disparaging? No. Okay. It's not. Glad to hear it. Yes, it is. No, it's not. 36:53 Not being Canadian, I'm not 100% sure what people take offense to. Merriam's dictionary says it's a description for Canadians. Yeah. When used by in the US, it's disparaging. Well, maybe they deserve it. 37:08 [laughs] That's not gonna help Jim Hagen get any Canadians here. I feel like having, having watched the movie The Great White North, that there were other far more disparaging ways to refer to a Canadian. 37:19 Than the C- than as a Canuck. Yeah. Which at, so we're referring to the annual tourism con- conference. Conference. You haven't published that story yet online, have you? I have not published the story. 37:27 As of this recording. It is not published online. So- It, it'll publish sometime this weekend... but it's about Jim Hagen, longtime tourism secretary. I know Jim Hagen. 5:00 in the entryway, and you hear Jim do, "Bye." 37:40 [laughs] No. I think it's an interesting dilemma because he, he works in a, he's always worked in a Republican administration. 37:49 Now we're, we have a national Republican administration that's doing a lot of things that are popular with Republicans. 37:56 Uh, some of them, some things Trump's doing lately are becoming increasingly n- not popular with anybody. Uh, 38:06 but it's interesting to hear who you, like, hear that from now on some of this stuff, not to get off on that, but Jim Hagen's job is to bring foreigners into this state while the rest of the Republican 38:19 agenda is to, to take bad, people deemed not wanted here, who are also foreigners, or should be hopefully if they're getting rounded up- [laughs] No, no, no, no. Don't let Ameri- okay, anyway. 38:35 So me and Jonathan got in this, this debate over the headline of this story and the main story, and it was fighting for foreigners. And I was like, "Well, is, is foreigner triggering or is, what's..." 38:46 Foreigner means what it means, but Jim's in a interesting spot because he's gotta kind of blast through these headwinds that his industry, tourism industry, is facing because while these things, uh, are policies that have support from duly elected people who make these decisions and, um, 39:06 you have to assume they're legal until the courts say they're not. That's, 39:12 that's also making it though so, like, nor- foreign tourists who would come here otherwise are a little suss about coming to the US right now, and then specifically Canada, you wrote about. 39:23 Yeah, C- Canadians are pissed off at Trump, and that's been well documented. I mean, as soon as he got elected, he sort of started disparaging Canada a little bit. 39:30 Um, probably cost the, uh, the, uh, conservative candidate for prime minister his seat, who had been, was, was leading and then Trump gets, you know, meddles in that a little bit and cost him, and it cost him the Conservative Party the prime ministership there. 39:44 Um, there have been, you know, uh, uh, boycotts of, uh, American whiskey and bourbons in Canada, and so, you know, s- the sales have really plummeted there. 39:55 And as, as Jim- And the hockey tensions have grown pretty fierce as well. The hockey, yeah, the hockey tensions are another one. We had a gloves off fight right away in that one. Yeah. 40:04 The, uh, but, and then so, you know, so, and, and Jim Hagen, he's got a, like, I mean, he, he basically has to say, like, look, the, some of these policies, the tariffs and all that stuff, I mean, created uncertainty for Americans wanting to travel. 40:18 Uh, and then they pissed off the Canadians. The, the Canadians don't want to come to the United States, so they have, they've had some issues in trying to mend relationships there. 40:28 And Jim, of course, as you point out, Joe, works for, has always worked for Republicans, and, you know, he's gotta try to thread that needle of, like, trying to say, "This is what's our challenges are. 40:39 This is, you know, I'm, without naming names, th- you know, these are challenges that are coming from, from Washington, DC, and we have to try to figure out how to get around those challenges." 40:49 So- And it's an important dilemma to resolve because, you know, not to keep clanging the same bell, but if we want tax relief, well, one of the best ways to offset that is tourism income. 41:01 There's a lot of, anytime you go to the hills, you see foreign tourists, you see foreign workers. Yeah. 41:08 You know, Wall Drug is, is usually, uh, staffed by people on temporary work visas, you know, uh, summer jobs, things like that. Uh- Last time I was out there with the council, we were out there for, um, 41:23 possibly it was the municipal league, but it was a gathering where we had, uh, you know, half the council out there and our staff, and we were in the elevator, and there was a group of people from Germany. 41:33 And I happen to speak fluent German, so w- you know, I got the- Oh, yeah... got the conversation going, and, uh- You and I... we have, uh, you know... Well, the funny part was that the council didn't know it. 41:43 So here are these guys, you know, conversing with one another about, you know, what do we do in, in South Dakota? What's the best thing to do in West Dakota? 41:50 And I started answering their questions, and you should have seen the, the jaws drop of my fellow councilors. Like, "Who is this guy?" Hmm. Yeah. Did you know, 42:01 according to Nancy TerBeek-Barry floor testimony in 2009, there was a vote in the legislature back in the day that was, like, one vote away from making German the state official language. Um, 42:15 life would've been a lot different- The, yeah... probably. That's, that's quite different. And I've always remembered that because it changed the way I thought about, like, 42:23 government-backed, uh, government-mandated speech, kind of, like, language, you know? When was that? Hold on. It's in the early 1900s, I think. Yeah. 42:33 You know, it was, it was a, a good chunk of the people spoke German here- Right... obviously. 42:38 So, but we, more of us would now if, if that- The community that I went to high school in, its newspaper switched from German to English in 1969. Hmm. It re- had remained in German that long. Really? Yeah. 42:52 Well, what, uh- How's... You're a candidate I'm a candidate. You're still a candidate. Uh-huh. Your, uh, your situation I'm sure has sort of stunted your... 43:06 Every candidate that's, that's a good candidate has a plan- Right... they announce, and you have so many days. Yeah. Right? You gotta do the, all this stuff in so many days. You lost a few days. I lost a few. 43:17 [laughs] So you're running for state auditor, which is, um, a convention-nominated position. Mm-hmm. Rich Sagast, our current state auditor, has termed out. He's termed out and he's endorsed me. 43:31 And, yeah, he did do that right away. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. Uh, so are you still... You're still the only candidate. I'm running unopposed. Yeah. 43:39 And, um, I want to let all your listeners and readers know that, if anything, this, uh, bout of illness has supercharged my interest in, uh, winning that election. I am, uh, 43:55 feeling, you know, a little bit of the comeback kid. I'm, uh, I was sick, but I'm stronger now. I'm getting stronger every day. We're gonna resume our schedule of traveling. 44:04 And, um, you know, I think it, it's not a secret, I mean, it's public record, I was traveling around all summer and fall going to these events. 44:12 But I knew something was wrong then, because the pain of making those hour, two-hour, three-hour drives was pretty significant. 44:20 And, um, I would get out of the truck, and I would have to find the strength to get up there and, um, get on stage and, uh, hopefully say something that isn't, uh, uh, depressing or boring, but rather uplifting. 44:32 And, uh, I think that now that I'm not dealing with that same intense pain level... I mean, I don't wanna drive to, you know, Rapid City anytime soon. Well, that's lemon. Yeah, I don't wanna... 44:42 Not, not, not this afternoon. [laughs] But with time, with every growing week, um, I'll be traveling more and more, doing more events. And, uh, fundraising too. 44:53 I've, I've got a couple of, uh, big fundraising events in the pipeline. But it was an astonishing thing. 44:59 I, I, I don't wanna talk too much about it 'cause I'll get choked up on your podcast, but waking up after, uh, two days and looking at your phone for the first time and seeing there's hundreds of messages of people, um, sharing their sympathy, their love, their concern, messages for... 45:20 You know, and, and, uh, some of these, you know, here's my mom, here's my sister, lots of these people are political people that I have met on the campaign trail, that I'm still gonna- You mean, like, they saw our story or something, or what? 45:32 Yeah. Oh. That's what it is. They saw the Dakota Scout story, and they realized that I was suffering. And they made an incredible effort. Um, people sent flowers and gifts. People sent messages. People sent cards. 45:46 And, uh- Well, my takeaway on that is I'm glad they're reading the Scout. Yeah. [laughs] I think it does. I think it shows the wide footprint that the Dakota Scout has. I know. I'm just joking. I'm stealing your thunder. 45:59 Yeah, but so you feel like, well, you've got some time to make up, right? Yeah, no doubt. So- I'm gonna have to work twice as hard. Um, that's a lot of weeks missed, and important weeks. Um, but I'm also refocused. 46:14 You know, uh, you were asking, what do you do? You sit there in a hospital bed. You're not allowed to leave the room. 46:19 You're plugged into the various tubes that go, machines that'll sound an alarm if you move around too much. What you do, among other things, is you reappraise your situation. You say, you know, "What am I doing right? 46:32 What am I doing wrong? What can I do better?" And, uh, you think about, I'm, uh, I'm running for this office. Do I, should I drop it? It's like, yeah. I mean, there's a perfect opportunity. 46:41 If I didn't think that this was gonna be something that I could do well, that I could, um, serve the citizens, then perfect opportunity to say, "Never mind. You know, I'm gonna just focus on my health." 46:54 But instead, the, the realization that I saw is like, "Hey, I'm ready for this. I think, uh, God has a plan for me. God wants me to run for this. God wants me to win this. 47:03 God wants me to serve the citizens of South Dakota." Well- You'll be back on the chicken dinner circuit, it sounds like. Yeah, you know it. All right. 47:12 Well, thanks again to BL Distributors, June Sleep Systems, News Tips Welcome. Thanks. 47:17 [outro music]
