Making Waves Podcast

“As Conservatives, we are not far-right, we are not far-wrong, we are just right. We are right on the issue of protecting life. We are right on the issue of support for our 2nd Amendment Rights. We are right on the our support for the first responders and military personnel. We are right on our advocacy for our elderly and disabled. We are right when it comes to parental responsibility. We are right in prioritizing the education of our children, whether it is public school, private school or homeschool. These and other Conservative issues remain the core values of the Republican Party. And I support them and I will stand with them.” - Dale BartscherDale for South Dakota - Campaign website, House District 35South Dakota Right to Life HB 1257 amend the definition of an abortion.HB 1274 prohibit the dispensing, distribution, sale, or advertisement of certain articles or things for purposes of an unlawful abortion and provide a criminal and civil penalty therefor.HB 1313 require education in prenatal human growth and development.HCR 6002 honoring the life and achievements of the late Charlie Kirk. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.” - Article 1, Section 4 of the US Constitution The US Constitution Voice of the Plains - Heidi Engelhart’s substack H.R.22 - SAVE Act - This bill requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.H.R.7296 - SAVE America Act - To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes.H.R.7300 - Make Elections Great Again Act - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“You’ve got to look at the spending side of things in order to stop the growth. Lets look at how we assess, how we value, what are we valuing and how we are spending these property tax dollars.” - Senator Chris KarrSB 115 remove the prohibition pertaining to the shooting of mourning doves located within specific areas.SB 135 protect residents from increased utility costs and utility shortages caused by data centers and clarify authority to regulate data centers.SB 198 restrict the use of a cell phone by a student during instructional time.SB 228 make an appropriation for eligible water, wastewater, storm water, and nonpoint source projects and to declare an emergency. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“My message to the people of South Dakota whether you are on a rural area or an urban area is George Washington said it best that freedom and property rights go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. Your American Dream, your ability to own property, whether that is land or a home is a fundamental God given inherent right that is protected under the Constitution. For myself and so many others, we are committed to making sure you can be in your home, you can stand on your own ground and you don’t have to feel like a sitting duck waiting for somebody else to seize what is not theirs.” - Amanda RadkeAmerican Land Legacy HJR 5001 proposing and submitting to the voters at the next general election an amendment to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, prohibiting the transfer of private property to a non-governmental entity for the purpose of economic development or increased tax revenue and requiring a declaration of necessity.SB 88 clarify the procedure for a potential condemnor to examine real property absent the property owner's permission.Case Dismissed on SD Ranch Family Indicted on Fencing IssueHB 1052 (2025 law passed and signed) prohibit the exercise of eminent domain for a pipeline that carries carbon oxide.Attorney General Jackley Appreciates North Dakota AG Wrigley’s Decision Not to Sue South Dakota This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“The Legislature is the people’s arm of government. When you have the Executive branch running the show, not getting the details to the Legislative Branch, you are effectively cutting out the people in that process, and I don’t think that’s right.” - Mykala Voita Mykala Voita campaign website HB 1057 prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any product containing cell-cultured protein, and to provide a penalty therefor.SB 88 clarify the procedure for a potential condemnor to examine real property absent the property owner's permission.SB 124 temporarily prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any product containing cell-cultured protein, and to provide a penalty therefor.HB 1064 provide for the sale of producer-raised meat and meat food products directly to consumers pending legalization under federal law.SCR 604 urging the people of the state of South Dakota to return to the Lord Most High, the Almighty and Uncreate, and plead for His mercy upon the state. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“There’s dignity in being born, there’s dignity in life, and there’s dignity in death. And when you go to the nursing home, those people are going there and that’s probably the last place they are going to life. They need dignity.” - Marty Overweg.Legislative Research Council - Links to video of Committee meetings hereSB 1 - amend the process by which moneys are distributed from the employer's investment in South Dakota's future fund.Corsica leaders want nursing home to stayFuture Fund deadlock reflects deeper wedge over economic development in South Dakota This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“What we are trying to do is really shine a light on who drives property taxes - and that is local government and their spending decisions, and then how do we address that from the state level to put the onus and the - not only transparency - but accountability on local elected officials to be honest with the taxpayers.” - Jonathan Williams ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council link.Rich States, Poor States - South Dakota ranks 8th, falling from 2nd. ALEC Essential Policy Solutions for 2026 - “One of our top tier solutions is our ALEC truth in taxation model policy around 'how do you bring real transparency to property taxes?’”- Jonathan Williams This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“Call to Freedom is a faith based organization. We were founded, and Becky and all of the hearts of myself and our whole team - we do what we do out of love and fidelity to God. And we celebrate the institution of marriage as one of God’s greatest Creations.So we believe that its possible to honor the institution of marriage and all that it is and all that God designed to be, while still saying ‘but its not at the expense of kids’, and we can hold both those truths together at the same time. To say that they are not mutually exclusive. We think there is a path forward which protects kids, but honors the institution of marriage.”- Rachel Foltz, speaking of proposed legislation on child marriage How to contact Call to Freedom: [email protected]. Call to Freedom website. Call to Freedom Information Luncheon January 15, 2026 11:30 AM This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

HB 1232 - modify requirements relating to the operation of salons and booths and to declare an emergency. Passed and signed in 2025Teacher Compensation Review Board Committee - Link to docsSouth Dakota Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway - Document linkGov. Rhoden Announces Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force MembersCorrectional Rehabilitation taskforce - KELO news (video)Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force meeting - video of meetingTesa Schwans - LRC link to bills and committees This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“Northern State University does something I don’t think they pat themselves on the back enough on. And that is their E-Learning program. There are 3500 kids throughout the state that get extra training from teachers that they would not get in their own classrooms.” - Carl PerryH.R.277 - Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023WINS: Investing in northern South Dakota’s future of safe drinking waterCarl Perry - LRC link to committee and bills This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“As of today, President Trump is finally hearing the truth. He is hearing that our cattle market is controlled by - we call them the Big Four. They’re mostly foreign owned packers that control a very large majority of our whole beef market supply. They can manipulate cattle prices and they can manipulate your boc beef prices in your store.” - Mykala ViotaBeef Inspection Reform - facebook pageBurl Cain - KELO article on rehabilitating inmatesMykala Voita - LRC committees and bills (link)Meet the Candidate Mykala Voita - link Dakota Scoutwww.facebook.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“It has been easier, I think, for leaders to just let it [property taxes] go and just increase spending 3% a year and not try to make any changes. But the outcry has gotten loud enough now from [many] people who are feeling like they are renting their houses from the government that is has provided the wind in the sails for this measure…” - Majority Leader Scott OdenbachSouth Dakota’s property tax crusade eyes relief for seniors, veterans, homeowners; mandated spending cuts floated - link to Dakota Scout articleLRC link to bills authorizing the Prison in special session Chris Karr for SD - linkScott Odenbach - link LRC Chris Karr - link with bills and committeesLRC Scott Odenbach - link to bills and committees This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“People know that South Dakota’s public education system, for better or worse, is not producing great outcomes. And so they know that, if given the choice, there’s going to be a lot of families that are looking for something that personalizes education and gets their kids up to a higher level academically. They know the reality is that if these laws open up, their public school enrollment is going to go down.” - Jennifer Beving Dave Roetman asks the question: “What does AFP do?” “My job is to be the lobbyist for the everyday taxpayer that doesn’t have special interest groups coming in and fighting for them.” - Jennifer BevingAFP - SD (link) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“Senator Jensen and I co-chaired a summer study. Essentially our Summer Study was ‘the initial incarceration re-entry analysis and comparison of relevant states’. We were on this discussion of recidivism, where to we sit, how does South Dakota do? And it is a terrible picture. We are not doing very well.” - Greg JamisonGreg Jamison bills at the LRC (link) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“At the end of the day, we have Election Day, the cards get flipped over, and the American people get to speak. And you're judged, and the answers are right there on the table.” - Matt HurleyMatt Hurley on XSoutheastern StrategiesVictory Insights Toby Doeden for South Dakota - link This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“But for the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) your Mill levy would be lower. People need to understand that.” - Taffy Howard Contact info to sign petition or volunteer:John James [email protected] or (605) 863-3859Tonchi Weaver [email protected] or (605) 390-1078Taffy Howard [email protected] or (605) 381-0593City of Rapid City TIF policy page Rapid City mayor signs resolutions, finalizing Libertyland and Sports Complex TIF DistrictsTalking TIFs: City Addresses Common Questions, Statements, MisperceptionsTaffy Howard - SD legislature This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“We saw during 2020, during the Covid scare, that there were certain medications where if a physician were to prescribe those medications, they could face punitive action. It should never be that way.” - Bobbi AnderaRhoden's prison chief quits as $650M vote on penitentiary replacement looms Bobbi Andera 2025 bills - link This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

Don Haggar is a former legislator and Director of Americans for Prosperity of South Dakota.“There are significant increasing demands in the use of power. Because of AI and because of internet usage. It is very important that we have abundant power, that we have reliable power, and that power is relatively inexpensive in our state for our citizens. And we shouldn’t have to make choices between do we provide electricity to business or do we provide electricity to homes.” - Don HaggarAFP South Dakota - link Ballotpedia Don Haggar - link This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

Jack Kolbeck is a former Senator, current Representative and member of the Appropriations committee.“In order for you to be a good legislator in the state of South Dakota, you gotta be connected to your constituents.” - Jack KolbeckJack Kolbeck for District 13 (Facebook campaign site)Contact Jack Kolbeck (link)Jack Kolbeck named to District 13 House seat (link) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

Minnehaha County support for United Way questioned amid 'DEI' divisionsLeninists on the Prairie - You TubeLeninists on the Prairie - Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“The $650 million is not a cap, that’s a target.” - Kevin Jensen, on the new $650M deal reached that keeps South Dakota men's prison in Sioux FallsPrison task force agrees to $650M in Sioux FallsIt's Time to Act on South Dakota's New State Penitentiary by lt Governor Tony Venhuizen This is part 2 of a 3 part series. the upcoming Part 3 will be about the Juvenile justice and reforming the system This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“What increasingly frustrates me is the nature of how political the court system has become and how you can determine the outcome of a case based off of which President appointed the judge. And that is not how the legal system is supposed to operate.” - Amber HulseAmber Hulse for South Dakota The Federalist Society CALSA - Conservative and Libertarian Student Organization SB73 (Prime Sponsor) - require that an individual registering as a voter when applying for a driver license be a resident of this state for the purposes of voting This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“The Hill is not falling down. That is the one thing people just have to understand.” - Kevin JensenJameson Annex - South Dakota Prisons29 year old South Dakota inmate dies - Totally 9 this yearLincoln County will ask prison task force to be mindful of county growth plans10 injured in prison violence days after protests over security and inmate treatmentThis is part 1 of a 3 part series. the upcoming Part 2 will be about solutions for overcrowding and recidivism. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“The challenge that really happened was, as I had talked when the Executive Committee of the Legislature had asked me to answer some questions, I had left GOED prior to, or right as the $5 million contract was signed, and they went with a company that, quite honestly, from my professional opinion, just absolutely was not cut for it, and wasn't even a local company.” - Nate WelchEx-GOED director: Officials pressured to give ad firm Freedom Works Here campaignLegislative leadership grills GOED over ‘Freedom Works Here’Former GOED marketing director said state had mind made up on Freedom Works Here campaignTranscript: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“I hear from people who are struggling to stay in their homes. You knock on doors for a campaign, you hear from people. And that is one of the top issues. I had a lady in tears at her door because she didn’t know if she was going to be able to afford to pay her taxes.” - Taffy HowardSenate Joint Resolution 505 - Proposing and submitting to the voters at the next general election an amendment to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, establishing the trust for unclaimed property fund.Government Operations and Audit Committee - GOACComprehensive Property Tax Task Force — 2025 State Credit Card charges - Dakota Scout ArticleTranscript: Dave Roetman: This is the Making Waves Podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We're here with Taffy Howard. Taffy, welcome. Taffy Howard: Thank you. Thank you for having me.Dave Roetman: Now, you're a representative. Actually, you're a senator. So, what district do you represent? And can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved in politics? Taffy Howard: Well, currently District 34. I was a representative for 33 until the redistricting, which that's a whole other story because I was targeted in that redistricting. They thought by redrawing the lines and putting me into 34, I would not be able to win election again. And they were right in that it was much tougher. I did have a runoff or a recount once I was in 34. And as far as getting into politics, you know, my youngest was in college. And I was so frustrated at the time because we had just passed a massive tax increase. I think it was, I remember it was SB1. It was a huge gas tax. All those taxes rolled into one.And I was so upset. And I was approached by a representative at the time, one of my representatives. And he asked if I would consider running because two of our representatives were not running for re-election.So it was both seats were open. And I had never thought about running, but I was so frustrated at the time. I was like, I am, I was, I still am.I'm sick and tired of people saying they are conservative and then going to peer and not voting as a conservative. So that tipped me over the edge. And I was like, okay, fine, I'll run.And it was a three-way primary. And yeah, so I was elected and served six years in the House. Then I challenged Dusty Johnson and lost that and was out for two years. And in that, that's when they redistricted. So then I was asked to consider running for the Senate in 34. I'm like, okay, I'm still frustrated.We still have, there's, you know, we can get a decent number of Republicans who will vote conservatively on fiscal, or I mean on social issues. You know, we pretty much, I don't know, you know, maybe on one hand Republicans elected in the state who maybe secretly support abortion. But for the most part, we can stand together on social issues, but it's the fiscal issues.We have, just like in D.C., we have so many big spending Republicans. I'm just so frustrated about it still. Dave Roetman: Well, that's a great story. And perseverance wins out. I'm glad you're back in the Senate. There's a lot of things to talk about. For example, in this last legislative session, you were championing, spearheading the unclaimed property trust fund bill. Could you tell us a little bit about that? Taffy Howard: Sure. Now, this is a fight that I started I believe seven years ago was when I first brought the bill, because at that time we were bringing in probably $40 to $60 million a year, and it was all just being spent.I mean, other than paying out what we owed, what people claimed for their own money, other than that we were spending every dime. And I'm like, you know, this isn't right, because at any point, at any time, people can come back and claim their money, and we have to pay it. But here we were spending it, and then to hear that it's actually counted in accounting, it's counted on our books as a liability.I'm like, okay, well, this is not right. We need to be setting this aside. So I tried it seven years ago, tried it again.I had the support of Sattgast when he was Treasurer, and then Haeder came in. He supported it. But it just wasn't going anywhere.Too many people like to spend that money. But the last couple of years, we've been bringing in like $200 to $300 million a year, and now our unfunded liability is up to roughly $1.2 billion. So that woke enough people up to where they were like, okay, I think she's right. We do need to do something about this. Dave Roetman: And you were quite successful. Taffy Howard: Yes, and thank goodness, because the people of this state are on the hook for that. So we set up the trust fund. We had a bill and a joint resolution, and the reason for that is so that the joint resolution will put everything into the Constitution, put the trust fund in the Constitution, so that then our investment council can invest that in a wider range of investments and get us a higher return, like they do with our other trust funds, because we have a health care trust fund, the cement plant. We have other trust funds.Dave Roetman: I didn't know that about what we were putting in the Constitution would result in higher rates of return. That's fascinating. Taffy Howard: We created it with the bill. We created the trust fund with the bill. Without putting it in the Constitution, we're stuck putting that money in our cash account. It'll earn, you know, it's like a CD. I mean, it's basically you're not earning really anything. So allow us to put it in the Constitution. That's the only way we can have the investment council invest it. And we have the best investment council in the nation. They do an awesome job. Dave Roetman: Yes, I've heard. I've heard other states copy what South Dakota does, because our investment council is so good, but they just follow what our people do.Taffy Howard: Yes, thank goodness. So, yes, that should earn us a percent higher interest probably, hopefully more. So we need people to vote for that because it'll be on the ballot. I'm actually – I have two things on the ballot, that and then the other joint resolution ensuring that non-U.S. citizens can't vote in our elections. Dave Roetman: Interesting. Tell us about that. Taffy Howard: Well, so if you go to Article 7, Section 2 of our Constitution, it ensures that every U.S. citizen will be allowed to vote in our elections. But it doesn't – if you think of drawing a circle around those U.S. citizens, it doesn't exclude non-U.S. – it doesn't say that non-U.S. citizens can't vote.So you could catch some non-U.S. citizens in there, because it's just saying, well, if you're a U.S. citizen, you have to be able to vote. But it doesn't say that Sioux Falls couldn't pass an ordinance and allow non-U.S. citizens to vote. So this says, okay, yes, if you're a U.S. citizen, you have to be allowed to vote, you know, obviously, with the limited exceptions that we have.But you will not be allowed to vote, and no city, no county, no one can pass anything that says you can vote if you're not a U.S. citizen. Because like San Francisco, there's a place around the country where they are allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote. So we want to prevent that from happening here.Dave Roetman: Yeah, the founders of our nation, I'm sure the writers of the Constitution of South Dakota, never occurred to them that non-citizens would vote or be allowed to vote. Taffy Howard: Right, right, exactly. Dave Roetman: Two things that are important. Thank you for putting those on the ballot. I'll be sure to help campaign for them. Taffy Howard: Thank you.Dave Roetman: You're welcome. So let's move on to GOAC. Taffy Howard: Yeah, Government Operations and Audit Committee.And basically, I can't remember when it was first created. It's been around a while. But we have the duties that we have, we have to look at the performance metrics from various agencies.They rotate through, so you don't do every agency every year. So this year, we're told, this is what you have to cover in GOAC. But then we have the ability to add things to the agenda. And that's where being Chair is really nice. I've already added a few items. We'll add some more items.We've only had one GOAC meeting. We'll have three more through the rest of the year. Typically, we probably could have covered everything we had to cover in three, but we spread it out over four so that we can add in the additional items that we need to cover.So the first GOAC meeting in May, we heard from the Brand Board, their annual report. We have to review that by statute. But then in addition, we also heard from Commissioner Terwilliger on the credit cards.And I'm sure you've probably read the Dakota Scout article and how they did a FOIA request to get Governor Noem's credit card expenditures from when she was in office, and how she spent like three-quarters of a million dollars over five years on things like multiple charges for $500 for Sirius XM radio. I mean, you can go to charges and you're like, you know, I don't think state taxpayers ought to be paying for her to go to Vail, Aspen, Jackson Hole. These are places, obviously, she didn't go to take care of state business.You know, we had a good hearing on that. Actually, the Auditor came in as well. But basically, it ended up being, well, she didn't really do anything illegal.It was clearly, to me, unethical, but not illegal. But I'm hoping because we had the hearing in GOAC and we have a great GOAC committee, great. I'm hoping maybe we can get some legislation out of this because my main issue with this is that so much of her spending was clearly related to a personal PR campaign or, you know, an unspoken campaign for vice president.She was out there campaigning for herself. State taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for that. So there ought to be some clear demarcation between what state taxpayers have to pay because you're doing state business or it's campaign business and your campaign funds should pay.Dave Roetman: Do you think that there's going to be legislation brought from these questions from these committee meetings? Taffy Howard: I'm hopeful that GOAC, the committee, will be able to. Obviously, we need to work on some legislation, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get behind something. Now, whether it goes anywhere, you know, you don't know.Dave Roetman: What kind of powers or authority does GOAC have? Can you just investigate things? Are there things that you can do to enforce rules or are there rules that need to be made? Taffy Howard: Well, we can. And, in fact, this last legislative session, we actually gave back GOAC the ability to subpoena people. So we, that is, we are the investigative committee of the legislature.So, for instance, last year when Ernie Otten was chair, they started going down looking into all the cases of fraud. As you know, everybody knows we have, it just doesn't seem to end. Every time you turn around, the AG is talking about another case of fraud in the state.So they started last year. Unfortunately, it was not able to be finished. So we will have, at the next GOAC meeting, we'll have DOR for sure come in because one of the court cases finished up.So now they're able to talk about it. But they actually issued a subpoena last year to have DOR come in and talk about the fraud that they were facing. Unfortunately, due to the court case, it all got pushed.So they'll be coming in July. But, yeah, we, if, I mean, the title is Government Operations and Audits. So we do have to review, we do have to review the legislative audit every year. That's part of GOAC's duties. But we also get to dig into the operations of government. And if there's something going on that needs to be looked at, we have the ability to bring people in, and hopefully they come in willingly.But if they don't, we certainly have the ability now to subpoena. Before this session, if they wanted to subpoena somebody, which they did last year, they had to go to E-Board, the E-Board, and get the E-Board to sign off on that. Dave Roetman: I see. E-Board is the executive board of the legislature, right? Taffy Howard: Yeah. Dave Roetman: Okay. I want to make it clear for our listeners because they might not know what that is.Taffy Howard: Yep. Dave Roetman: So another thing you're involved with is the Property Tax Task Force. Taffy Howard: Yes.Dave Roetman: So tell us more about that. What's going on with that? Taffy Howard: Well, nothing yet. We haven't had our first meeting yet.I'm a little disappointed. We're a little late getting started with that. But it had to go through the E-Board and everything. So I'm hopeful because we have conservative leadership. I'm hopeful looking at the people that were appointed to this. I'm hopeful that we will be able to actually make some progress, some real progress.But once again, whatever comes out of this committee, we'll still have to go through the full legislature. But, I mean, you know, I hear from people who are struggling to stay in their homes. You knock on doors for a campaign. You hear from people. And that's one of the top issues. I had a lady in tears at her door because she didn't know how she was going to be able to afford to pay her taxes to stay in her home.Now, and I have Rapid City. This is a nicer neighborhood. Everyone is struggling. It doesn't matter what their income is. I mean, maybe, I guess, the very, very upper tier are not struggling. But for the most part, everyone is struggling. And property taxes have been increasing exorbitantly. I saw one example. I'm not kidding you. They increased 128% in one year. Dave Roetman: Wow. Taffy Howard: That's it. Now, I'm hearing that's an outlier. But it's not uncommon for me to hear from people that had a 20% or 30% increase. So if you look at our effective rate in South Dakota, we're at 1.28%. The national average is .9%. I mean, to me, it's – and people like to go, well, you know, we have higher property taxes, but we have no income tax.Well, you could compare us to Tennessee. You could compare us to Wyoming. You could compare us to several other states with no income taxes, and we still have higher property taxes.And I don't know if you – Dave Roetman: This is a real issue. Taffy Howard: It is. Dave Roetman:A lot of people have been talking about this. And you're right. The people on the fixed incomes who have not planned for this, are not budgeted to have these massive increases in property taxes on top of the other inflation that they have. And people are being forced out of their home. And that's not just a tragedy. It's unjust. Taffy Howard: It is. It is. And it's shameful to me that a state like California could have something like Prop 13, which actually helps their citizens, but we can't. I mean, I've tried multiple times to pass a Prop 13 version here, but we cannot get it done.Last year, two years ago, Wyoming had 12 property tax relief bills that went through their legislature. Most didn't make it. Two made it to the governor's desk, and he signed one.And I can't remember the details of that, but then this year they came back, and he did sign another bill this year that basically for homes a million or below in assessed value, he cut their taxes by 50%. Fifty percent cut. And when I tell people that, usually their response is, yeah, but they have oil and gas money. They'll backfill it. No, no. He signed that bill with no backfill. So he essentially told the counties, the schools, the cities, deal with it. You're going to reduce these people's taxes by 50%. I'm like, wow.Dave Roetman: It seems to me that the government should actually be the ones scrimping and saving, not people who want to just stay in their own homes. Taffy Howard: Right? And oh, my goodness, it is almost impossible to get people in government. I mean, this last year, Noem's outgoing budget actually had some cuts in there because revenue was down, so they had to.But we had people who said they were conservatives fighting to put the cuts back, to restore the cuts. I'm like, okay, this is our chance, people, to actually cut something. And now we're fighting to restore it, so I don't know.But the property tax task force, I'm hopeful that we can look at everything. I mean, we should be looking at the sales tax exemptions. We should look at property tax exemptions.The question there, why should Sanford, who owns, you know, billions of dollars worth of property, why should he not pay any property taxes? Dave Roetman: That's a good question. Taffy Howard: Yes, right? Right. I talked to one legislature, 25% of her taxes are due to opt-outs. She has either five or six, I can't remember, five or six opt-outs on her tax bill. That's crazy. That's insane.Dave Roetman: That's standard practice these days in some of these school districts, that they just do an opt-out. And the process for preventing the opt-out is that you have to collect petitions to put it on the ballot, not the other way around. So they can just do an opt-out, and we just have to accept it, Because it's almost impossible to, I tried this once, I had to get 6,000 signatures in less than a week. And that's not easy. And we fell short by about 240. But it was over the 4th of July weekend, no less. And we just could not get the signatures in that amount of time. Point being is that we shouldn't have to collect signatures to put an opt-out on the ballot. It should go to the voter right away. Taffy Howard: Yep, exactly. We did have a bill this year that would have helped with those, with opt-outs, and it failed. So you can't even get people, they won't make it easier for the people. So, yeah. But tiffs, we should look at those.We need to be looking at cuts. I mean, just without telling cities, counties, and schools, you need to stop spending as much. You know, why does Rapid City need to pay, what is it called? We have a Director of Positive Climate and Culture.I believe that's the title that they gave this person. Yeah. So, you know, from the State Department of Education, well, from the Feds, everything from Trump on down, you know, eliminate all DEI garbage. Well, that's how Rapid City got around that. We're going to rename it and spend more than $100,000. I'm like, oh, my goodness, you can cut.Your administrative, your superintendents, your administrative staff should not be making what they're making, and they need to stop. They're spending too much of their capital outlay money on their general ongoing budget. That needs to stop.There are things we can do to help people make some cuts where they need to make cuts. But then, you know, we could be looking at things like caps, you know. So the governor did get his bill through, and I was glad that he put me on that workforce, and I did get a couple of changes made to his bill that made it a little bit better.I had a bill that was a separate bill that essentially said, if you do a renovation or improvement to your home, that shouldn't count as growth. So for people listening, if they don't know what I'm talking about when I say growth, so let's say Pennington County is setting their budget for next year. They're allowed to increase their budget by 3% or CPI inflation, whichever is less, plus growth.So then you're looking at all the new building going on, all the new construction, and before it was also if you did something to your home, and it changed in assessed value, that counted towards the growth. So you were essentially being double-taxed, because not only did your assessed value go up, which increased your taxes typically, but then that increase in assessed value was also contributing to the growth, which helped increase your taxes. So the governor was only willing to do it up to 40%, but I'm like, great.So as long as if you do a renovation or an addition and it doesn't increase your assessed value by more than 40%, it doesn't count towards the growth. Yay. Unfortunately, his bill, so it also capped, it started out it was going to cap growth at 1%.The average growth across the state in the last available year was 1.2%. So it would have been a tiny bit of help, but at least it would have helped at least five years. But then it was amended, I can't remember if the House, I think it maybe was amended in the house to 2%. So now it helps like maybe Pennington, Lincoln, Minnehaha, occasionally. Occasionally they'll have a year where their growth is over 2%. So otherwise, that's not going to help much. So we have a lot of work to do.But we could put a cap on assessed value increases. We could put a cap on taxes payable, which I tried this last year. I like that idea.I mean, I'm all for eliminating all property taxes. And essentially, why not put like a sales tax on your home when you buy it, just like when you buy your car. And when you pay that up, you own your property free and clear.Dave Roetman: I like that idea. Because I don't like the idea that we have to pay taxes, and if we fail to pay those taxes, then they can seize the property. We don't even own our own land. We're renting it from the government. Taffy Howard: Exactly. Amen.So I am fully with you there. I would love to eliminate property taxes completely. Some things would have to be converted to user fees. I mean, we have to pay for roads still. Schools have to be paid for. How do you cover that? I think everyone who has a kid in school needs to have skin in the game versus just the property owners.Now people will say, well, people renting are paying. In a way, yes, but how much are they paying? I don't know. We could go down that road, but obviously there would have to be a lot of adjustments made, a lot of cuts made, which I'm okay with.Dave Roetman: I'm all for a smaller government. Taffy Howard: Yep. You know, I was just reading, Massey was one of two Republicans that voted against Trump's big, beautiful bill. But I love Massey. I love Massey. He is a fiscal hawk.And he made very good points. I mean, we cannot continue down the road of increasing our debt, increasing our deficit. The chickens are going to come home to roost eventually. And nope, there's just so few people who seem to care or to understand that. So I don't know.Dave Roetman: I agree with Massey. He's brilliant. Taffy Howard: Thank you. Yes, he is.Of course, he's an engineer by schooling, and that tells you something. I think he's a double E, electrical, and those guys are pretty smart. Dave Roetman: Well, that's fascinating. And thank you so much for your being a fiscal hawk for us, because I think some of these issues, like, for example, double taxation when the assessed value goes up, I did not realize that. And I've had two assessment increases because I've done remodeling in my home. And that makes a lot of sense why my property tax went up 30%.Taffy Howard: Right. Dave Roetman: And we really appreciate that. Final thoughts? Taffy Howard: Elect more conservative.There were, you know, too many 18, 17, 17 to 18 votes in the Senate this year, too many. So be prepared for the next election. I was just looking at the Citizens for Liberty scorecard, and it is really sad that we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Republicans that are scoring below 50%, several score below 40%.I mean, it is, how can you call yourself a Republican even, much less a conservative, which some of these actually do. But so we have, we have work to do. We barely got the pipeline bill through this year, thankfully.But like there was a bill on data centers to give them a huge, a massive tax cut. And we barely killed that. That's going to come back because I don't know, people desperate to get data centers in the state. I don't know. Dave Roetman: I don't see why you'd have to subsidize something like that. That's a money making business. They should pay taxes like everybody else. Taffy Howard: Yep. Yep. Exactly. And there is nothing stopping data centers from coming in right now. We already have, I think, four, eight, we already have some. They're welcome to come in if they abide by whatever county, you know, if the county has setbacks, easements, whatever, fine. Come in. Build your data Center. You're free to do that. But why do we have to subsidize you? Especially when you hear instances of like in Georgia where people's electricity rates are going through the roof. It's not, I don't see them as being a good deal at all. And they specifically want several counties, and one of them would use as much electricity as the entire town of Rapid City. I don't know. How is that a good thing? Dave Roetman: If we had surplus electricity, that would be one thing.Taffy Howard: Right. Dave Roetman: I don't think we really do. Taffy Howard: No, no.Dave Roetman: Interesting. Taffy Howard: Yep. They would be building more infrastructure, and who's going to pay for that? I mean, it has to be passed on to somebody.It will be passed on to somebody. It will be the rate users, I mean, the users of the system. So those are my final thoughts: More conservatives. Dave Roetman: Those are good final thoughts. I really appreciate it.Dave Roetman: This has been Making Waves Podcast. My name is Dave Roetman, and we've been here with Taffy Howard, Senator from District 34. Taffy Howard: Yep. Thank you so much for having me on. Dave Roetman: Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“I think it was a good first showing for a lot of new legislators. And that is exciting because it means there’s a bright future. I mean, if we stay the course, if we keep electing good people, if we keep the people we got in there. Then I think we’ve got a bright future.” - Logan Manhart HB1052 - prohibit the exercise of eminent domain for a pipeline that carries carbon oxide.Transcript: Dave Roetman: This is the Making Waves Podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We're here with Logan Manhart, representative of District 1. Welcome, Logan.Logan Manhart: Hey Dave, thanks for having me. Dave Roetman: Thanks for being on. Tell us a little bit about your background, your district, where you're from, and how you got involved in politics.Logan Manhart: Yeah, sure thing. So I do represent District 1, which is basically all of rural Brown County outside of Aberdeen, then Dane Marshall County, and then most of Roberts County. So I've got a pretty rural district overall.My family's been here, gosh, for 25, 26 years, basically my whole life in the Aberdeen area. We own some real estate here in Aberdeen. I spent the last year working in construction, and this is my first year in the legislature.So the 2025 session, the 100th legislative session was my first session, and it's been exciting. Yeah, it's been an adventure, it's been a journey. And why I got involved in politics, I mean, I grew up around it, and I always heard about all the problems going on on the national level, and then on the state level, on the news, and on the radio.And eventually you just say, well, how can I fix it? I mean, how can I get involved, and how can I be a part of that process that we're always hearing about on the news? And eventually I decided to pull the trigger and hop in. Dave Roetman: That's great. I tell people that people tend to fixate on the big races, the senator race, the presidential race. But if you really want to be involved, you have to start at the bottom. At the bottom you have your local races, your school boards, your city councils, your legislative races, and that's how you really change America. Reagan once said, all great change in America starts at the dinner table.Logan Manhart: Oh, absolutely, yeah, definitely. And that has definitely been a spotlight for, I think, the conservative movement over the last couple years, especially since President Trump got in office. I think there's been just a general awakening or people are paying attention.I mean, they want to know, well, who actually is on your school board? Who actually is on your county commission? And as you've seen with some of the fights you've had in the legislature, that actually matters, who's on the local level. Dave Roetman: What do you think of the first legislative session that you had? Logan Manhart: I think it was a mixed bag. I think there were a lot of good ideas that we worked on.I mean, obviously there was House Bill 1052. We were able to stop the CO2 pipeline from getting put in, and that was definitely a major victory. On the other hand, yeah, huge victory, absolutely.And that was something I had ran on and many other people had ran on. So we saw a big victory there on that front. Now, when you get to other things like education or tax reform, I mean, we didn't fulfill President Trump's agenda on the state level for reforming education.I know we tried to pass a few things and they didn't make it through, so we didn't succeed on that front. And we were not able to get tax reform the way we wanted it done. And obviously that leads into a much broader conversation as to where we're spending money in this state, because we can reform the tax system all we want, but if our spending is just as crazy, then it doesn't really do a whole bunch.So it's a mixed bag. We definitely saw some good victories, some things to work on next session, and even after that. I mean, there's still plenty of work to be done.Dave Roetman: Politics is a long game, and you're never going to have the perfect solution to anything. And you also, of course, over time, you learn more about what's going on, and you just have to take your time and make things happen incrementally. I mean, the way we got here is over a century, is how we got here. And I think that it's gonna take a while to set things right. So do you think the legislative session was a success overall? Logan Manhart: I guess generally, yeah, I think it was. I think we got a lot more done than maybe expected in some ways, because we did have a lot of good, conservative legislators get elected.But back to maybe the end of my last question, there's still so much work to be done. I think it was a good first showing for a lot of new legislators, and that's exciting, because it means there's a bright future. I mean, if we stay the course, if we keep electing good people, if we keep the people we've got in there, then I think we've got a bright future.Dave Roetman: I'd agree. Do you think the fight for property rights is over? Logan Manhart: You know, I don't think so, and I think we've seen some news about that coming out recently on the federal level. I think they're now trying to step in and try to undo all the work we've done on the property rights front.We've managed to enshrine in our state, for the most part, what the state can do when it comes to taking or not taking someone's property. But there was always a concern, well, even if we win on the state level, what happens if the people at the federal level want to come in and override it? And that's, it sounds like things are starting to turn in that direction. I know a bill was just brought up on the federal level to basically prevent the states from being able to stop these type of projects on the state level, which is not good.So, to answer your question, the fight is still ongoing, and we just gotta keep at it. Dave Roetman: The government that governs best, governs least, and is most local. So, thank you for taking on that fight.Logan Manhart: Yeah, absolutely. Dave Roetman: What are your plans for the next legislative session? What do you plan on tackling?Logan Manhart: Well, probably the biggest thing, and maybe we'll get into this as we go on, is when we're bringing up legislation, we often hit a bottleneck from the establishment. And that can be seen sometimes from the governor's office, whether it's from the current governor or not, doesn't really matter.I mean, it's just historically how it's been. The next session, really getting on with education, getting some serious tax reform done, trying to flesh out some of those ideas, I suppose. I know we're kind of covering the same things, but that's really the nuts and bolts of it.And that's gonna boil down to, I think, as we move forward, who's gonna be the executive of our state for the next two and four years after this next election. I think that's really gonna set the tone for how much we can accomplish in the near future.Dave Roetman: The governor does have a great deal of influence, but the legislature has its place, too. Do you have any specific legislation that you're planning on bringing, education, tax reform, and property rights? Is there anything that you wanna tackle, and specifically, especially property rights? Logan Manhart: Well, I think we have to tackle spending, and a large portion of that spending is on education. So we need to make sure that our spending on education is actually, we're seeing positive results from that. So I don't personally plan on bringing any bills on the property tax front and the education front, though I know those things will come up.We gotta cut property taxes. I mean, that's the biggest thing. We can't just shovel the money around. We've gotta stop the bleeding. When it comes to specifics, I don't have anything particularly, but those things will for sure come up, and we need to make sure our spending is going well. We're spending efficiently and effectively, and we're gonna have to eventually cut taxes.Dave Roetman: Property taxes are a big deal. I hear this from a lot of people, and it hurts most is the lower-income and fixed-income people, little old ladies on fixed income who can't afford property tax increases like they've been getting. And I think it's a very complicated issue, and there's got to be a solution to this, but we have to look at this very carefully.Maybe shift taxation to another source, and possibly just cut spending. Honestly, government is dependent upon taxes, and maybe if it loses less tax revenue, they need to do with less. Logan Manhart: Absolutely.I heard a stat the other day. South Dakota has the most state employees per capita than almost any other state in the country, which is wild when you think about little, humble, old South Dakota. You don't realize that, for example, in a town of Groton, if you do the math, that's like 20 state employees for a town of 1,500 people.I mean, it's just crazy. We've got a bureaucracy that needs to be cut. We've got inefficiency everywhere.There's a world, I would love to see it, where we have the leanest and most efficient state government in the country. That's the world that I want to get to, and it's gonna mean cuts. Nobody wants to talk about cuts.Does everybody want to pay less to the government? Absolutely, I'm all for it. That also means you've got to cut the spending. We've got to cut the bureaucracy.Dave Roetman: I think there's a lot of movement along that line, especially with this last legislative session, your passing of the new powers and authority for a State Auditor. I think that'll help a lot, and the reform that Marty Jackley has pushed for. Logan Manhart: Absolutely, that's exactly what we're talking about here.I didn't realize how little power the state auditor had until this last year, where most of the power had lied with the executive branch to basically do their own auditing of themselves, which, I don't know how you can be a state auditor and not have the ability to audit the state, and that's basically what we were trying to do. This session was to let the auditor have the ability to audit the state, and that's one of those weird examples of things where, wow, with South Dakota, is that really how we've been running things this whole time, and everybody just kind of shrugs and says, yeah, we all knew about it, but we couldn't do anything about it, and that's the type of corruption that I don't think we can let slide anymore. Dave Roetman: Final thoughts? Logan Manhart: Well, I know this big, you know, the governor's race will be coming up here, and that's gonna be certainly exciting.It sounds like there'll be a packed field. I know I've heard anywhere from, there might be three people in the race to as much as five people in the race. I know I've, you know, I've personally encouraged my friend Toby Doeden here in Aberdeen to potentially run for governor, and I know he's got a big announcement coming up here in the next couple weeks, so I'm looking forward to that.At the end of the day, moving forward, we're gonna need an executive in the state that can get the job done, that can actually work with the legislature to pass true conservative legislation, and I think that's gonna be a big priority for a lot of people moving forward, because we've had a lot of same old, same old, and I know maybe a lot of people are not thinking about the governor's race right now. I think they will be soon, and at the end of the day, it comes down to, well, who can win the race, and that's how things are gonna go. I'm looking forward to the next session.I'm looking forward to getting things done, and honestly, I'm looking forward to two to four to six years from now to see where we can go as a conservative movement, people who have kept up the fight for property rights, and we're now gonna keep up the fight to lower taxes, keep up the fight to cut out corruption in this state. I'm excited. I'm excited to see where we as a movement can go, as a legislature, where we can go, and hopefully continue to make a good future for South Dakotans.Dave Roetman: I think we're going in the right direction, and thank you for your service. This has been the Making Waves podcast. My name is Dave Roetman.We've been here with Logan Manhart, District One. Thank you, Logan. Logan Manhart: Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks for having me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“Everything that I have I owe to South Dakota. And so, my family and I are willing to risk all of that to fight for the future of South Dakota.” - Toby Doeden Toby Doeden for South DakotaToby Doeden Unfiltered Transcript:Dave Roetman: This is the Making Waves Podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We're here with Toby Doeden. Toby, welcome.Toby Doeden: Dave, it is a pleasure to be here with you today. Thank you for having me on the podcast. I look forward to talking to patriots and conservatives alike all across the state. And so whenever I get a chance to catch up with you, it's a pleasure.Dave Roetman : Thank you. Tell us a little bit about yourself. You're from Aberdeen.Toby Doeden: Yeah, I'm a businessman from Aberdeen, South Dakota. I was born and raised in a very small town near Aberdeen called Groton, South Dakota. I lived in Groton until about seven years ago when my wife and I relocated to Aberdeen to be a little closer to some of the stuff we had going on.Pretty normal upbringing. My, you know, I guess, relatively speaking, my dad became disabled when I was very young and I was never able to work again. And so my mom worked multiple jobs just to kind of provide the basic necessities for me and my family. And I met my wife in high school, high school sweethearts. 35 years later, we're still here. We got married basically right out of high school, started our family.We were very, very poor. Our first house, I like to tell people, was just north of 400 square feet. Most of the windows were busted out. And it had no furnace when I bought it.And the only reason I was able to buy it, Dave, is because a very nice gentleman in Groton by the name of Ray Johnson sold it to me for 4,000 bucks. And he financed the entire thing for me with no money down.Dave Roetman : wow,Toby Doeden: And so, that's where I brought my first son, Jackson, home from the hospital.And that's where we lived for quite a few years. And in fact, my oldest daughter, Josie, when she was born a year and a half later, we raised her, you know, for the first couple of years in that house. So, uh, very, very humble beginnings.Um, looking back on it, people ask me like, like if you could change anything from your past or your childhood, or, you know, even after you got married, would you, I said, why would I, because if things had been even marginally easier, I wouldn't be here doing what I'm doing today. Like, I truly believe that. I think people that have the hardest road to success are generally the ones that get there and are able to sustain it because they have that, they have that, that, that drive and they, and they have that, that foundation of, of what their life used to be like, and it keeps them getting out of bed every morning.Dave Roetman : You still own that house?Toby Doeden No, the house got tore down, um, about three years ago. Last time I looked, it still shows up on Google earth. So my wife and I look at it occasionally, but, uh, it got tore down.Had I known it was going to get tore down, I would have bought it and I would have renovated it and, um, I would have just rented it or something, kept it as a rental property just because of the nostalgia.Dave Roetman: Nostalgia about it, yeah. How did you get involved in politics?Toby Doeden: Well, that's a great question.Um, I was the least political person you've ever met up until about two years ago. And so, um, I had spent, you know, two and a half decades building companies, raising my family. And I woke up one day and I realized that the South Dakota that I had kind of taken for granted growing up in, uh, was starting to change.And a lot of the things that were angering me, much like a lot of other Americans that were happening in our country, um, were starting to sift into South Dakota and it scared me. It was the first time in my adult life that I thought, you know, South Dakota could change to the point where we can't function the way we did 20 and 30 years ago. And so, um, based on that, I, I just felt like, like it was time for me to give back.I mean, everything that I have, I owe to South Dakota. And, and so, you know, I'm, you know, my family and I are literally willing to risk all of that to fight for the future of South Dakota. And, and, and so, um, I mean, that's a really short answer.It's, it's, it's, it's much more nuanced, much more complicated than that, but I never asked for this. I didn't look for politics. Politics found me, I guess is the way to say it.Dave Roetman : Fair enough. You recently had an announcement. I'm sure you'd like to tell us about it.Toby Doeden Absolutely. There is a very, very large, um, um, event coming up at the Aberdeen Wiley Park Pavilion on May 28th, the doors open at 5 PM. That night, it's going to be the beginning of the new future of South Dakota, Dave.And so I'm going to go in depth. We're going to have, first of all, we're going to have some really like a lot, we're expecting almost a thousand people. We're going to have, you know, community leaders, political leaders, uh, from all over the state are going to be there.A lot of grassroots people, just a lot of everyday folks, just like you and I are going to be there. And, um, I'm going to talk about what my role is going to be in serving the great people of South Dakota, moving forward and what my vision for the state is for the next decade.Dave Roetman: What are some of the issues that you're going to discuss or are you going to talk about in the next year?Toby Doeden: There are several issues that are very important to South Dakotans. When I got involved into this about a year and a half ago, I didn't understand who was involved in politics. I didn't know anything about politics. I didn't know who to talk to.So I literally just started calling dozens and dozens of people. And eventually I parlayed that into traveling the state for 15 months and talking to community leaders, legislators, and, and more importantly, thousands of fellow, you know, residents of South Dakota. And through that process, I was literally able to get directly from the source, what people are suffering from and what people care about the most.And at the top of that list right now is clearly property taxes. I know that's that buzzword, but it's not even a buzzword. Like it is taxes.Okay. Property taxes right now are having the most negative impact on our economy of anything in my adult life. Small business owners are being crushed by property taxes.Homeowners are being crushed by property taxes. Seniors are being driven out of their homes and young people can't buy homes. That's a very, very serious problem.$2 billion a year are going into the coffers of the state government. And, uh, and so I, but having said that, and, and this is maybe way too much detailed than what you're looking for today, but I fundamentally believe that all of the serious problems in South Dakota, whether it's education, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's property taxes, all has a direct stem back to how inefficient our state government is. Our budget has doubled from, from less than 4 billion to being on the precipice of $8 billion.And so how can a state government, which I like to compare to a company, like we're a $7 billion company now, South Dakota is, how can a company invest in their infrastructure and in their people if they don't have any money left over? Right. And so because our state government is so inefficient and because we're wasting so much money, we're so dependent on the federal government. We don't have the money or the resources to address these serious problems.So the first thing we have to do is we have to shrink the size of our state government. We have to be the leanest, most efficient state government in the country. And then, and only then are we going to have the resources we need to go really fix these serious problems.But the top of that list is clearly property tax. After that, probably the most common answer I get is, believe it or not, drugs, fentanyl. You know, I heard a statistic recently that the overwhelming majority of crimes in Sioux Falls have a direct tie one way or another to fentanyl.And so with Biden's border policies for four years, people thought that was a southern border issue. That was a, that was a, that was an upper 48 issue because the, the, the cartel and the drugs and the fentanyl found their way into South Dakota too. So property taxes is certainly at the, you know, Uno number one on that list by a wide margin.Dave Roetman : That's fair. I've heard a great deal about how South Dakota is a drug corridor that comes right here through Sioux Falls. And it's a very serious issue.Toby Doeden Well, we have two federal interstates, you know, one east and west, one north and south, um, or a small rural state with a lot of trusting people. And I think largely, uh, that's the, you know, that, that makes, uh, it attractive to, you know, the cartels and the other nefarious people that are selling drugs.And so I actually had a conversation. I think Marty Jackley was on your show a couple of weeks ago. I had a conversation with Marty recently, and we were talking about how they were, they were cutting his budget. And, and, and this is another problem.It's a systemic problem from a bloated state government. When we have fentanyl that is coming in through our interstate system into South Dakota, we should never have a budget issue for the attorney general of our state. We should have a specific task force that has unlimited funds to go find every last drug dealer in this state and put them behind bars and throw the key away.And so I was, I was very, very disheartened when I heard that they were, that they were cutting attorney Jackley.. , attorney general Marty Jackley’s budget when I know there's a rampant drug problem in this state. So, but again, these, Dave, I'm telling you, and people are going to like, think like I'm a broken record player, all of these issues go back to our bloated, inefficient state government period.Dave Roetman: Do you have any other issues you'd like to discuss?Toby Doeden: Another one that has come up a lot in the last year or year and a half as I've traveled the state and, you know, President Trump and specifically Elon Musk and the Department of Doge have made it cool to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse.I have yet to meet a single taxpayer in the state of South Dakota that thinks our state government is efficient. Okay. So as community leaders, as political leaders, as a governor, as a legislative body, if we all acknowledge that our state government isn't a hundred percent efficient, shouldn't we be doing something to make it more efficient? And so I believe every agency, every department needs to be audited.I think every nickel that comes into the state and more importantly, every nickel that comes out of the state should be looked at, and I can guarantee you when we do that, and again, Attorney General Jackley will tell you this, he's been, he's been finding large cases of, you know, seven figure, you know,Dave Roetman: fraud,Toby Doeden: fraud all across the state. And I'm telling you, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot of people, myself included, that think there's more corruption in politics and state government per capita based on dollars and spending in South Dakota than just about any other state.And, uh, what I would do as governor, the first thing I would do as I would have a task force, a very competent, high level, high skilled task force, and we would go find every single dollar that's being wasted, that's being defrauded, and that's being abused. And we would send it back to the, to the hard, hardworking taxpayers immediately.Dave Roetman: You're going to bring Doge to South Dakota. Maybe you could hire some of those guys that have those skillsets.Toby Doeden: And I've, I've had the great pleasure of meeting numerous, really good people that care as much as you and I do about the future of South Dakota, that know where some of the bodies are hidden to be, you know, I guess that's one way to say it, that are, are willing and able to get involved and be part of that process. And so you got to remember, like the closer you get to the fraud and the waste and the abuse, the more the establishment starts pulling their hair out and starts attacking you.And so, I mean, that's what the establishment politicians have been doing for as long as I can remember is, is they will push out a narrative that redirects the attention from them to whoever dares to get involved in their arena. Right. And so when I dipped my toe into the swamp 18 months ago, I got viciously attacked by the establishment, not the candidates directly, but the people that relied on the establishment candidates and system, the swamp, right.As they referred to it. And so, um, I think it's more important than ever that we have a bold executive CEO leader as governor that has the backbone to actually follow through on these things, because for decades, we've had placeholders as governors largely. And, um, I tell people this all the time, and I think this is the most profound thing that you're going to hear about the 2026 governor's race.I think it's important that people hear this. The most frequent question I get, Dave, is people say, Toby, what sets you apart from the Jon Hansens of the world or the Dusty Johnsons of the world, or anybody else that wants to run in a 2026 governor's primary? And I say, well, there's many, let me tell you the number one, anybody not named Toby Doeden that enters this Republican governor's race primary is running for governor because they want to be governor. Governor.Dusty Johnson has been plotted to be governor since he was 25 years old. The other candidates, every single one of them that gets into this race are getting in because they liked the idea of running and being the governor. The last thing I ever wanted to be was the governor or involved in politics at all.Dave Roetman : What sort of obstacles do you expect to encounter on the campaign trail and throughout South Dakota?Toby Doeden I think it's largely going to be the same obstacles I've been facing the last 15 or 16 months, just amped up exponentially higher, right? The swamp doesn't like people like me, an outsider, reformers, reformers with decades of business experience, uh, you know, a track record of holding people accountable, building successful team, building consensus. Right. Um, you know, I, I, I tell my leaders in my company all the time, they get tired of hearing it.100% accountability, 100% transparency, 100% of the time. Like that's how we operate, which is the complete opposite of the state government. Right.And to me that there is no accountability, there is no transparency and nothing happens all the time. Right. So, you know, the establishment is going to attack me with everything because they see me as a threat to everything they have and everything they built up the last 20 or 30 years in South Dakota.And so it's a dangerous, it's a dangerous time. It's a dangerous thing to be doing what I'm doing. And I know that I came into this with my eyes wide open and, uh, I'm not stopping.I don't stop. The people that have known me for decades know when I set my mind to do something, um, I go all out and I don't stop until I win.Dave Roetman: Toby, final thoughts.Toby Doeden Well, I've got a lot of thoughts, but so if you want to call him final, then we will call him final, Dave. I appreciate that. First of all, it was great to be on here with you again.Great, great to see you. Uh, I would just like to remind folks that we're going to have this massive event in Aberdeen on May 28th. It's going to be the beginning of the new future of South Dakota.I'm going to lay out how I think I can help South Dakota moving forward. And what I think the vision of South Dakota should look like for the next 10 years. And so I want to welcome anybody that's listening to this with open arms to make the trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday, the 28th of May, you can go to Toby Doden.com and you can register, you can RSVP, you can share the link.Um, and I really, really do genuinely look forward to seeing everybody on that night.Dave Roetman: Toby, thank you for being with us. This has been the Making Waves Podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We've been with Toby Doden. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com

“Right now there is a lot of uncertainty out there with the cuts. I believe 60% of the state budget in SD come from Federal funds. And with the Federal funds being cut there is a lot of uncertainty what we are going to have to deal with the next session.” - Richard Vasgaard HCR 6013 -Supporting the Electoral College, denouncing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, and inviting interested states to form the Electoral College Interstate Compact.Campaign websiteTranscript:Dave Roetman: This is the Making Waves podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We're here with Richard Vasgaard, District 16 representative.Welcome, Richard.Richard Vasgaard: Glad to be here. Appreciate the opportunity.I'm a farmer. Lived in just north of Centerville all my life. Our farm has been in the family for 125 years, so we've been around a while and agriculture is very important to me.I also have a degree from SDSU in plant science or agronomy.Dave Roetman: Salt of the earth.Richard Vasgaard: We try to be.Dave Roetman: One of your major issues is the carbon capture pipeline. Richard Vasgaard: Correct.Dave Roetman: What is your position on it? Give some background.Richard Vasgaard: As a farmer, it has grave concerns to me because, again, my degree is in agronomy and CO2 is an essential for everything we grow. And there's plenty of information out there that show greenhouses actually pump CO2 into the greenhouse to raise the levels. I've talked to people who produce hybrid seed corn and they know plants from one end to the other.And when I asked them, what do you think about CO2 levels? And they say, we need higher levels, not lower levels.Dave Roetman I've heard that we're in a carbon dioxide dearth.Richard Vasgaard: Yes.So that has grave concerns to me. And I know everybody's out there, well, we need economic development in South Dakota. Well, that's great, but we need good economic development and we can't have it for the short term.I was at the groundbreaking of GEVO back in 21, I believe, and I've been asking questions about this ever since. I asked them, as a farmer, should I be concerned about what it's going to do to my yields, reducing CO2? And their comment was, well, we hadn't thought about that.Dave Roetman: They don't care about that.Richard Vasgaard: No, they're focused on the dollar signs. And to me, it's a short term gain. And if we do cause problems down the road and it causes problems, and it's not only us as farmers, it's people that grow the gardens, that have flowers, the trees, everything that's green requires CO2.So what's going to happen if it causes a problem? There is no plan B.Dave Roetman CO2 is plant food.Richard Vasgaard: Yes. And are we going to end up going back to the taxpayers and say, well, gee, we got to subsidize the farmers now because we've caused some issues with what they grow.There's a lot of things out there that I sent a bunch of information into the PUC, I think 18 pages of stuff that I'd found regarding things like this. It's a hazardous material. I think that that's somethingDave Roetman : under that pressure, under that temperature…Richard Vasgaard: And the amazing thing to me is a year ago at the PUC when they were testifying, they didn't want to release the plume studies because of terrorism. And I can understand that. But if you look at pictures of their pipelines, every so often they have to have it come above the ground where the valves are.There's nothing but a chain link fence around it. Somebody wanted to drive a big truck through that. It caused a lot of problems.So is terrorism really the issue? Or just they don't want the public to know what the plume studies say? That's an assumption on my part.Dave Roetman But I'm guessing that the terrorists already have that information anyway.Richard Vasgaard: And you're probably correct on that. Yes. And we saw what happened in Mississippi when the rupture took place down there. It happened to be in a less dense area, but this is what they used to euthanize birds when they have bird flu or a pig barn that has a pig disease.They pump it full of CO2 and it's very effective at what it does. And I think that's a grave concern.Dave Roetman What other issues surround the CO2 pipeline? The cost, the subsidies?Richard Vasgaard: The big thing was the cost.You look at the millions of dollars that we are going to invest in this thing. Dave Roetman: Billions. Richard Vasgaard: And I get the tax credit thing.That's how ethanol got started. But the big difference is ethanol produced revenue. They sold products.This does absolutely nothing but pump it down into the ground. And I read about this winter there was an article about the airline industry and of course they want the green fuel, but they're starting to realize that this new green fuel is going to cost two to three times more than what they're paying now. So they're talking to the government about subsidies to help them.So what's the total cost of this thing to the taxpayer going to be? Nobody knows.Dave Roetman Funny how that works. Just one subsidy leads to a chain of more subsidies and everybody's getting money from the taxpayer rather than producing stuff for the market.Richard Vasgaard: And the interesting thing to me is that we could increase our corn demand by raising ethanol use from 15 to 20 percent. And they've been doing it in Watertown for years. A lot of times I burn 30 percent and whenever I can find it I put it in my vehicles.If we could bump the ethanol use, the infrastructure's there. It's not going to cost anything. It would increase the demand.The ethanol plants would be busy. Very simple solution. And the same EPA controls that and they're part of this pipeline deal too.Dave Roetman: Tell us about some of the legislation you worked on or brought this legislative session.Richard Vasgaard: One of the big pieces that caused a lot of debate in the legislature was the library bill. Everybody in the legislature understands that we have materials in our public libraries that probably shouldn't be there.And the big question is how do you deal with that? The bill that was brought forth, in my opinion, didn't take any books out of the library and it put our librarians in a bad position. The legal people that I've talked to said nobody, no judge in South Dakota is ever going to send the librarian to jail or prison. But the fact is, you know as well as I do, that we have a highly charged political atmosphere.And if a librarian disciplined a child or said something, this would be a very easy tool for the parents to get back at that person and accuse them of sending an inappropriate book home. And even though they won't go to prison, they're going to be all over social media. They're going to be in the news.And I talked to my local librarian and said she'd resign because she didn't want to be put in that position. And to me that didn't resolve anything. So I've met with several of the librarians during library week.I was invited up to the library and she showed me there were two websites that you can go to that recommend books and ages and stuff. And she typed in a title and an author on one website and it said good for 9th through 12th. So high school kids, it's acceptable.She went to the other website, same title, same author. It says for adults only. So there's a variation in what's acceptable and what isn't.And as I've talked to the librarians, it seems like they always ask the question, well where are the guidelines? What do we go by? Is there a list? And to me that seems like that is a better solution than try to criminalize them or put them in a difficult position where they're embarrassed by some parents that are trying to get back at them. So I think we got librarians working. We got the discussion started and we got librarians working on it.We need to move forward with that and come up with some guidelines. I've worked with people my entire life and if somebody does something wrong, I don't go out there and tell them, well you've got to do your job. You go out there and figure out, well where did our miscommunication come into? What is it we aren't understanding? So we both get on the same page and I think that that's a better resolution to this problem than bringing a bill that was presented in the legislature this year.Dave Roetman: I've been there myself. Miscommunication is a big cause of conflict.Richard Vasgaard: It is, it is.Dave Roetman What other bills have you brought this legislative session?Richard Vasgaard: I brought a bill regarding the electoral college. There's a number of states out there that are trying to band together and form groups to promote the popular vote amongst the states. This bill that I brought would maintain the electoral college.We got it passed through the legislature. We've sent that information to surrounding states. North Dakota has already called the Mr. Leader about it and so that we can join together.I think our constitutional, our constitution upholds it. I believe, as I went through the information, there were only five times in the history of this country where the electoral college has had to kick in and elect the president. The rest of the time it's worked the way it should, but the intent of that is so that the populous states don't override us in the midwest where we're less popular, populated, excuse me.And I think as I look at it, there's good reasons for them to do that and in support of it and our legislature's in support of it. I think we need to move down that, move that direction.Dave Roetman: Just for clarity, what you're talking about is a bill that would preserve the electoral college.Richard Vasgaard: Correct.Dave Roetman Yes, I completely agree with that. Could you imagine what would happen if it was popular vote only? They just manufacture ballots in LA County.Richard Vasgaard: Yeah, the midwest wouldn't matter.Dave Roetman Yeah, I know. They just say, oh there's 800,000 people in South Dakota. We're just going to manufacture those in LA County, California. That's it.Richard Vasgaard: And I think there's 19 states that currently have signed on with that pact for the popular vote.Dave Roetman : Okay, where's that bill now? Has it been signed? Did it pass?Richard Vasgaard: Yes, it's been signed by the governor. Awesome. Yes.Dave Roetman Thank you. That's awesome.Richard Vasgaard: Now we've got to get some other states working with us and try to keep the support of the electoral college.Dave Roetman Good. Thank you for doing that. I appreciate it.Richard Vasgaard: What other bills have you passed or worked on? I worked on another bill regarding CO2 pipeline safety. The FASMA, Pipeline Materials and Hazardous... it's a governmental agency that oversees pipelines. And after the break in Mississippi, or the rupture in Mississippi, they decided that maybe they needed to have a different set of rules for CO2 pipelines versus the other ones.So they went through a process, came up with a new set of rules, but it wasn't adopted yet. So my bill was to hold off on putting any pipeline on the ground until the new rules were established.Dave Roetman : Good idea.Richard Vasgaard: But now that Trump is in effect, he's cancelled all those rules. So they're maybe redoing it or where they're at, I don't know. But I got it through the House, but I couldn't get it through the Senate committee.So I thought that was rather important. Safety is a key issue.Dave Roetman That would apply only to South Dakota. Would it affect federal stuff?Ruchard Vasgaard: No, that'd just be South Dakota. You know, I have a friend of mine that's worked on high tensile, high voltage lines, traveled all over the country, pipelines and stuff. And when I talked to him about it, he says that pipeline should be six feet deep, just because of the material it's handling.So he's somebody that's worked with lines and stuff, so I trust his judgment. And again, I think our job as a legislature is to look out for the safety of the people and the population of South Dakota. You can't go back and do it over again if you have a problem.We need to do it right the first time.Dave Roetman : What do you expect is going to happen next legislative session?Richard Vasgaard: Right now there's a lot of uncertainty out there with the cuts. I believe that 60% of the state budget in South Dakota comes from federal funds.And with the federal funds being cut, there's a lot of uncertainty what we're going to have to deal with the next session. One of the things that we discovered this last session, former Governor Noem took some big cuts to public broadcasting and libraries. And that was probably one of the biggest issues that I received emails on, is people wanted those restored.And so we're able to get them restored, but along the way, we also found some efficiencies. So we reduced, I think the libraries, we were able to reduce their budget by $800,000. And I don't remember what the number was in public broadcasting.So there's some areas out there that we need to work on, on state government. I'm not sure if there's anybody that has a handle on all of the departments and where we're at. We've seen it with the indictments of some employees already.Transparency and understand where our dollars are being spent in South Dakota is going to be huge, especially if we see decreases in federal funding. It's kind of disappointing as a legislature. I attend a lot of meetings and everybody's talking about our taxes are too high.Our taxes are too high. But two years ago, the voters of South Dakota voted in the Medicaid expansion. It cost our state budget $51 million this year.And that...Dave Roetman It's going to increase.Richard Vasgaard: And it's going to increase. And that affects everything else.So it... They want us no more taxes, and then they vote to bring something. You kind of sit there scratching your head.Dave Roetman Entitlement that's going to increase over time.Richard Vasgaard: Exactly. Wondering where this thing's going to head. But yeah, I think next year's budget's going to be a real challenge for us.And there may be have to be some cuts to some programs across South Dakota. And we're required to constitutionally balance our budget. And that's what we're going to have to do and work with what we have.Dave Roetman Final thoughts?Richard Vasgaard: Um, it's good. You know, I served in the legislature 2020-21. I sat out for two years and was able to get back in.The process in the legislation is the part I enjoy the most. The politics, not so much.Dave Roetman : I'm with you.Richard Vasgaard: And the people... The people I get to work with is fantastic, though. I know people from all over the state and friends with many of them. And that's the great thing about being in South Dakota legislature.Dave Roetman Wonderful. Richard, thank you very much for being with us.Richard Vasgaard: Appreciate it.Dave Roetman This has been the Making Waves podcast. My name is Dave Roetman. We've been here with Richard Vasgaard, District 16 House. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daveroetman.substack.com