Well friends, seems we have a Lee Schoenbeck clone over here in Minnehaha County that seems to feel the need to have a firearm handy when encountering rightwing conspiracy driven aliens from another planet. You know, you and me. You may remember back in February when the Republican Senate Pro Tem Lee Schoenbeck exclaimed “I should have brought my shotgun!” when following grassroots activists into the State Capitol.
We will get to today’s gun comment in a bit, but we’ll first back up to September 10.
The September 10th Minnehaha County Commission meeting was filled with more contentious exchanges and hostile rhetoric, mostly coming from Joe Kippley. Auditor Anderson was requested by Kippley to bring an update on the 2020 election records after the press release detailing unreconcilable audit logs and an apparent algorithm in the absentee data. She did as requested and repeatedly said that the discrepancy is still there, it hasn’t been resolved. If you haven’t seen this one yet, click below.
Commissioner Kippley’s seething hate for Leah Anderson comes out in every word he says, but the highlights were calling her presentation half-baked, a walking lawsuit, the auditor who cried wolf, claims she is doing something illegal with no response as to what that is, unfit to do her job, and asked her to resign. He also called the citizens in attendance useful idiots and aliens from another planet.
Poor Joe doesn’t understand what he’s talking about but he’s really good at throwing out catchy phrases for the Dakota Scout and Keloland to pick up to highlight in their articles. Joey completely missed the point of the update. There are 24,500 ballots not accounted for by the digital audit logs and that digital data that is required by federal law to be maintained for 22 months (up until now due to litigation) IS NOT THERE.
So for all the people reading this that aren’t as dense as Joe Kippley, there’s a major problem in the data in Minnehaha County, it’s still there as Anderson said, AND the County did not properly maintain that data so they are now known to have committed federal election records retention violations. Does everyone understand this?
We sued for that data, twice. The county has partial data, which appears altered, and didn’t properly maintain and preserve it all, which is a violation of federal law. THIS is why they fought us so hard. Because they KNOW.
Citizens in attendance of this meeting were appalled at Kippley’s behavior and the media circus ensued. Clips of the meeting were even widely circulated on FM Radio stations.
Today’s meeting was the next chance for people to address the commission. Again, the room was filled with patriots supporting Leah Anderson.
Interestingly, the live feed of the meeting was not working due to technical difficulties. What a coincidence.
After being promised the video would be published today, it is still not available.
The meeting today had at least four Sheriff’s Deputies securing the meeting room. Joe Kippley ducked out early as he had to attend to his (not a conflict of interest) City Health Czar job. During the meeting Commissioner Beninga left the room commenting “too much coffee.”
There were two Sheriffs Deputies standing in the doorway (yes we know exactly which ones) and as Gerald Beninga returned he stopped and said to the deputies “Can I borrow your gun?” The deputies joked back and said all they had were stun guns.
Really funny joke guys! Why would Gerald Beninga need a gun at a commission meeting and what would he use it for, exactly?
As you can see, the people don’t find the humor in it. What would happen to us if we walked into the State Capitol and stood next to Lee Schoenbeck exclaiming we wished we would have brought our shotguns? What would happen if we said to the Sheriff in a commission meeting “Can I borrow your gun?” We all know we’d be in handcuffs in two seconds and asked questions later.
Gerald Beninga has been emboldened by Kippley’s out of control antics and Karsky’s really long leash, and Kippley has been emboldened by the tyrant of Pierre Lee Schoenbeck’s decades of unchecked behavior. There is a massive statewide problem with the elitist attitudes of our (s)elected officials and their view of serving the public. It’s well past time to change that.
Local action = national impact.
We would like to thank all the people that continue to take off work, show up, and speak out. There are groups all over the state now regularly attending local meetings, getting involved, and holding officials accountable. If you aren’t involved in your county or city, start today.
It’s only too late when we give up. NEVER give up.
Pretty sad. I am sure Kelo and Dakota scout will take back the false claims they made about Leah. Yeah right. If we are doing something illegal isn’t it their job to tell us or just take it straight to the news. As of tonight I still don’t know of what we are doing illegally. Thousands of people committing perjury on their voter registration forms but they come for Leah who is trying to explain the law to them. Lying is more common than the truth these days. If one of us made that comment It would be the lead on the news everywhere is South Dakota tonight.
Would be helpful if ppl called the mayor's office & complained about Kippley's (who is a city employee) unprofessional behavior.