Pennington County Democrats hold town halls and elections

RAPID CITY – While Senator John Thune was in South Dakota attending private events like the Pennington County Republican Women’s group where press access was denied, and the Watertown Rotary Club, the South Dakota Democratic Party has been hosting open town halls around the state featuring Nikki Gronli, the former USDA Rural Development State Director under President Biden, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Julian Beaudion of Sioux Falls and South Dakota rancher and former administrator at the Farm Service Agency Zach Ducheneaux.

Gronli said in a press release that members of Congress have been instructed not to hold town halls.  “A chainsaw has been taken to the pocketbooks and retirement plans of hardworking South Dakotans, all while safety net programs are being dismantled. South Dakota voices deserve to be heard. That is why I’m holding these town halls across the state that are open to everyone,” said Gronli.

 

South Dakota Searchlight reported that Thune said he didn’t know how holding public town halls “accomplishes anything that we don’t accomplish on a daily basis” and said that he is one of the most accessible politicians in South Dakota.

The South Dakota Democratic Party Vice Chair Jessica Myers said that isn’t so. “Our congressional representation has chosen to not only be silent, but to ignore the calls, emails and appointments to their offices.”

The newly elected Pennington County Democratic Party Chair Rene McFarland Haglund told Native Sun News Today that she organized the Rapid City town hall held on April 14. “No officers from the PCDP had stepped forward and offered to help organize it. I was

just a voter at that point. But I rallied a team of 10 volunteers. We orchestrated the rental of the space at The Dahl, we did the marketing for it, we had mic runners, and I personally paid for a professional sound man. We set the stage with furniture that came from Dakota Business Center for the comfort of our panelists.” All seats were filled and there were more people standing at the back of the room. Haglund estimated 250 people were in attendance.  

 

Ducheneaux said the town hall gave people the chance to express their concerns. “They were concerned about the current political dynamics and the ramifications for them and their every day lives. I was able to provide some feedback and perspective based on my experience in the administration.”

 

Ducheneaux talked about the process which is designed to maintain continuity across administrations. “The Trump administration paused a lot of initiatives of the Biden-Harris administration beginning with the raft of dozens of executive orders in the first two days.” He said there will be a lot of non-profits that won’t be able to weather the cuts.

 

Biden-Harris also paused, said  Ducheneaux, but then they sought out solutions and refined programs. “I can tell you when we came in, the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP)  was in its second iteration. This was a duly authorized and appropriated body of law passed by Congress to be carried out by the executive branch. And the Biden-Harris team paused that but then engaged in stakeholder dialogue to find out how to fill gaps created by CFAP 1.” He said they had dozens if not hundreds of calls with stakeholder groups to find out where CFAP 1 didn’t fully fill in the gaps. “And because of that work that we did, we came up with the Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program (PLIP) for the hogs that were too big to slaughter and had to be euthanized.”

 

Ducheneaux said the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers program (PATHH) provided financial relief to timber haulers and harvesters. The program provided small sized timber harvesters some help to get their product out of the woods and closer to the market. “Those two programs would not have existed had we not paused, considered the resources available and then made adjustments to broaden the reach of those programs.”

 

He noted the “stark contrast” between the Trump administration and Biden-Harris. “I don’t see the stakeholder engagement that we were doing happening in this administration. But we were very vocal about it, and we made sure that stakeholders knew they had pathway, they could call us, and they could share their voice. We met with all stakeholders groups about what we could do with CFAP 2 and pandemic assistance programs to help them with the resources we had.”

 

Ducheneaux said the chaos in the current administration is creating confusion. “The number of times the administration has rolled out a statement, walked it back and then returned to the original statement. Take for instance the Deferred Resignation Program that was initially rolled out, without a full year’s appropriation. So they were proposing to pay people through September and only had an appropriation through the first two weeks of March. That creates the confusion and challenges at the local office level where federal government really means something to every day people. In that confusion, because of the lack of apparent vision from leadership, bad decisions are made, wrong decisions are made. If anything, it’s added to the confusion and inefficiency, in my opinion.”

 

Ducheneaux said while his wheelhouse is agriculture he was able to weigh-in and offer  opinion and perspective on broader governmental issues at the town hall,  because of his long-time experience. “People expressed concern about everything from the SAVE Act, corporate personhood, DOGE, the Farm Bill, to what does the bench look like and what is the age of the next iteration of the Democratic Party look like.”

 

He said there was a tone of existential plight. “We were right on the horns of the Supreme Court decision requiring the administration to return a man they deported without due process, and we don’t see any signs of an administration that thinks that they are obliged to adhere to the Supreme Court determination. That weighs heavy on a lot of citizens.”

 

Julian Beaudion, a small business owner and former state trooper from Sioux Falls, who recently announced that he is seeking the South Dakota Democratic Party nomination for the U.S Senate seat currently held by Republican Mike Rounds.

 

He said people at the Rapid City town hall for angry. “It wasn’t a hostile environment. There was some anger, rightfully so. The anger didn’t just come from Democrats, but Republicans and Independents. People were vocal about who they voted for in the past and who they plan to vote for in the future. When Trump was elected, people were concerned about the price of eggs. While the price of eggs has gone down, the tariffs have raised prices on everything else for consumers.”

 

Beaudion said some voters may not be reachable as he recounted a recent discussion with a Republican voter who believes that those who have been sent to prisons in other countries have received due process. “They have a unique interpretation of the law. Our Constitution gives all of us due process, whether you are a citizen or not. Aside from that, there should be a sense of civility and humanity in every decision that we make. Right now, this particular administration is not treating people like they’re human beings.”

 

In related news, the Pennington County Democratic Party has new leadership after elections were held last week. Black Hills native Rene McFarland Haglund was elected chair, Murray Lee (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) who is from Rapid City was elected as Vice Chair, Toni Diamond was elected treasurer, Lori Armstrong was elected secretary, Cesia Viera was elected Central Committee Chair and Jay Davis was also elected to Central Committee Chair.

 

Haglund said they will be putting out an official press release soon.

 

Another town hall is scheduled in Vermillion on the 24^th and in Aberdeen on the 28^th.

(Contact Marnie Cook at 8715m@gmail.com)

The post Pennington County Democrats hold town halls and elections first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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