Scooped! Instead a Gribble of an idea: Name Your Mayor!

Last week I thought I would be breaking an interesting story about politics here in South Dakota, but as often happens my conscience got the better of me and I decided to call the subject for their permission. I got denied, only to see the story appear on another blog a few hours later; this was followed by an 11:00PM phone call to let me know I could go ahead with the story. Despite the disappointment I'm glad I asked, so as not to upset a friend; hopefully it will result in some juicy tidbits down the line.

Now I am reduced to some fluff from the Capitol Journal that I happened to catch this morning. The first annual Mayor's Race was held at the Oahe Speedway this weekend. Apparently these races between local civic leaders are all the rage in the drag racing world; but this is the first time that Oahe has hosted such an event. Mayors from Blunt, Gettysburg and Highmore were listed participants of the race as well as a sub for Pierre Mayor Dennis Eisnach. I can only assume that other mayors were present, but lacked the star power to be mentioned in the Capitol Journal.

The final was between the mayors from Blunt and Gettysburg, with Gettysburg mayor Jack Axsom winning due to a false start on the final match-up. I was really hoping that the Blunt mayor would have won, because he has a much more interesting name. Imagine how it would have spiced up the News from Blunt to have included the story:

Sunday supper guests of Mayor Dennis "Swede" Larson were Mayor and Mrs. Jack Axsom of Gettysburg. For dinner Mayor Axsom ate the dust from the tires of Swede's Monte Carlo. Following dinner, punch and cookies were served, and a good time was had by all.

Sorry Blunt, for now we can only dream about next year. Also an open question for comments:

If your mayor could have a nickname, what would you like it to be?

News of note for the city of Pierre

Some interesting info from Tony Mangan, news director at KCCR. First, from the political side of things the River Cities Transit will be prviding free rides to the polls on election day for anyone living in the Pierre/Fort Pierre area. River Cities is the local cab company here in Pierre and anyone interested in a ride may call them at 945-2360. Kudos to River Cities for this great community service. If the local cab company in your town isn't doing this yet, encourage them to do so.

Second, apparently Pierre has attained saturation on quick service submarine sandwich retaraunts (Pierre, pop. >15,000, has three Subways and a Quizno's.) Despite the existence of no less than three other national sub chains that could have been attracted to our fine community; someone has decided to take a step outside the box and bring a couple new franchises to town.

The planned Shooting Star strip mall project announced the they will be housing both a Papa Murphy's and (my personal favorite) an Arby's. This will be Pierre's second attempt at a paternally named pizza chain, and our first Arby's.

It is too bad Arby's couldn't get here sooner, as I understand that the only reason PP relocated the family was so that they could be closer to the fix of juicy roast beef on a kaiser roll.

Curses to you Arby's!

Rusty

Get your colors at the Dakota Voice

I would like to send a shout out to Bob at the Dakota Voice for taking the next step regarding the John McCain shirts I mentioned in the previous post. While he chose to use less colorful language in his design, it still maintains the overall flavor of what I was looking for. And the best part is you can actually buy them and rock them around your neighborhood. Check them out here:

http://www.dakotavoice.com/2008/05/new-mccain-2008-t-shirts-expressing-our.html

Thanks Bob, glad there is someone out there besides myself keeping the faith.

Rusty

A return from the desert!

First I would like to apologize to the five loyal readers of the Gribble Report for my lengthy hiatus. Ever since John McCain became the Republican nominee I have been in a general malaise regarding my feelings about the future of the party. I felt bamboozled, as I do more so everyday when he makes a speech about greenhouse gasses and how he wants to reach out to the other side of the aisle. It sickens me.

But as we have approached the South Dakota Primary on June 3rd, the juices have begun to flow. I am getting excited about my city and county races. We even have a House primary here in district 24. All of these have united to get me fired up about politics again.

I will be supporting John McCain in November as the lesser of two evils, and for those of you who feel the same way as I do, I have come up with a new slogan:

John McCain

F**K IT!

Please let me know what you think. If it is a big hit I may move on to the ordering t-shirts process. Other than that project I am also eagerly awaiting the outcome of the Legislative primaries and the preparation for the general election showdown.

As mentioned earlier on this page the Republican political director has moved on. My first question now as we get ready for the season is how will the party fill the void? It is undoubtedly a very crucial position that will advise and oversee the Republican candidates in the general campaign. Has the party been interviewing? Is someone hired? Will the job stay as a permanent position or will it morph back to it's more familiar one and done format?

I think that this position could be one of the most crucial jobs in South Dakota politics as we are facing a year when many observers feel that we could lose the State Senate and take major hits int the House. The right person could help us staunch the bleeding; the wrong, who knows?

Another dilemma (for me anyway) on the ballot this year in District 24 is Corey Landeen, Republican House primary challenger and Director of the South Dakota State Employee's Organization. He seems like a nice guy, but I just don't know if I can vote for someone who's job description includes the word lobbyist. I have to assume that he would be doing both jobs, and I don't feel like that represents my best interests. It seems like a conflict.

Anyway, enough for now. I don't want to bore the loyal reader(s) that I may have left for too long; but rest assured that I am back, and I plan to hang around for awhile.

Rusty

A little bird told me...

I am still running down the who's and where's, but I have info from a reliable source that a SD Republican Party staff member is moving on to new employment. I don't want to jinx it, so I will keep the name under my hat until I have more information. But be on the look out for some change at the HQ. Finally!

Hillary Clinton campaign spending out of control!

Hillary's campaign spending looks like the budget for a 5-star vacation, with $100,000 on parties in Iowa and $25,000 on luxury suites at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Check out the entire story here:

(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/us/politics/22clinton.html?ei=5065&en=0e0a0772289a2b92&ex=1204347600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print)

As much as I look, I don't see any $30,000 checks to Dick Kelley, so she hasn't achieved full efficiency at wasting money. But at this pace it won't be long, watch your mailbox Dick!

Morbid obesity leads to ruin among Republicans!

After reading an article about today at the Dakota War College about former Rapid City Alderman and Pennington County Republican Party executive director Mike Schumacher. (check it out here: http://dakotawarcollege.com/?p=3618 ) I was struck by a strange trend as of late.

What's the deal with extremely overweight Republicans rushing to self-destruct these days?First you have Ted Klaudt molesting his step daughters, then Heath Tople begins stalking an ex-girlfriend, and finally Mike sending fraudulent emails. And on top of this they all did it numerous times; and all at great personal cost. Heath and Ted have both lost their freedom, and Mike has risked his livelihood. It will be interesting to see how things end up for Mike, I hope better than they look for the other two.

I for one have re-newed my gym membership; and if I am ever in a position to hire an executive director of a county party I will be looking for a possessor of an Ichabod Crane-like physique.