South Dakota Democratic Party

2008 Legislative District Delegate Application

2008-02-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

2008 Legislative District Delegate Application

FORMS MUST BE INTO THE SOUTH DAKOTA DEMOCRATIC OFFICE BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON MARCH 4

P.O. Box 1485 – Sioux Falls, SD 57101-1485 Phone 605-271-5405

– Website www.sddemocrats.blogspot.com

DATE: _____________________, 2008

Mr. Jack Billion, Chair South Dakota Democratic Party 309 W. 43rd Street, Suite 107 Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57103

Legislative District Delegate Application Form Pledged to _____________________ for President (Must be submitted to the SDDP Office no later than 5 p.m. March 4, 2008) Dear Chairman Billion: This letter is to notify you of my intent to be a delegate to the Legislative District # ___ Delegate Selection Caucus scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8. In doing so, I am declaring myself as a potential delegate for ____________________________________, who is running for the Democratic nomination of President of the United States. I am currently a registered Democrat in _________________________ County. Please forward this application to my candidate’s official representative for South Dakota for review and approval so that I may participate in the Legislative District Caucus. Signed (please sign here), ____________________________________________ My name is (please print clearly) Paid for by the South Dakota Democratic Party, Bill Nibbelink. Treasurer. : ___________________________________________ I am registered to vote at this mailing address: ________________________________________________________________________ My phone number: _______________________________ My email address: ________________________________

simply print out this post, fill out the information, and send in

2008-02-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

South Dakota Democrats can weigh in on presidential nomination

SIOUX FALLS – Results of Super Tuesday and subsequent Democratic Party state primaries should make South Dakota’s 23 delegates and four alternates to the Democratic National Convention a high priority for front-runners Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

This development, S.D. Democratic Party Executive Director Rick Hauffe said, is increasing interest in Democratic Party activism and in participating in the two delegate selection events in South Dakota scheduled for March.

“Super Tuesday blew the doors off of the notion that South Dakota’s delegate selection process will go unnoticed by national campaigns,” Hauffe said. “We are seeing unprecedented interest among people wanting to get active as Democrats and to help their choice for President win the nomination.”

The first delegate selection event in South Dakota will be caucus meetings held in each of South Dakota’s 35 legislative districts on Saturday, March 8, and the second is a statewide caucus to be held at the Senior Center in Pierre at noon on Saturday, March 22. Both events are designed to select the first 10 delegates and three alternates who will go to the Democratic National Convention in late August at Denver, Colo.

Those who want to participate must first sign a form to be a delegate at their local legislative district caucus on March 8. The signup forms are available from the SDDP office or county Democratic Party leaders, and they must be received by the SDDP office in Sioux Falls by March 4. Only registered Democrats who will be eligible to vote in the election and who send in signup forms may participate in the caucuses.

“Our office phones are ringing constantly from people wanting to become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention or who want to help Clinton or Obama,” Hauffe said. “We didn’t expect South Dakota to be the high priority it is at this point, but it’s clear that both campaigns are going to fight hard for every delegate and alternate who goes to Denver this summer.”

South Dakota’s 23-person delegation includes the 10 Congressional District delegates who will be chosen through the two-tiered caucus system in March and the results of the June 3 state primary election. In addition, there will be four alternates going to the national convention, including three alternates that will be chosen through the results of the June 3 primary election.

The other positions in South Dakota’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention are:

Seven “super delegate” positions which are automatically filled by the state party leadership and South Dakota’s Democratic members of Congress.

Six delegate positions and one alternate position which will be elected June 28 by the Democratic State Central Committee at the S.D. Democratic Party state convention in Oacoma.

Those wishing to participate in the March caucuses and in becoming one of the 10 delegates and three alternates chosen via the June 3 primary election should send their completed forms to the SDDP office. The address is P.O. Box 1485, Sioux Falls, SD 57101. The forms will also be available online soon on the SDDP website, www.sddp.org. The phone number for the SDDP office is 605-271-5405.

Hauffe said that Clinton and Obama must have a minimum of 2.025 delegates to win the nomination at the national convention. However, he said the fact that 842 delegates will be so-called “super delegates,” they are not bound by the rules to support one candidate over the other.

“As you watch Obama’s poll numbers rise and this race tightens up, you can see that those 842 super delegates and the status of John Edwards’ delegates will make a difference with who wins the nomination,” he said. “South Dakota’s 23 delegates are growing in importance every day as this primary rolls on.”

Democratic Leaders Call For Responsible Government

2008-02-15T09:36:00.001-08:00

Leadership seeks cap on state bureaucratic growth

PIERRE – Democratic legislative leaders today (Thursday) said they are working to install a cap on the annual growth of state spending to three percent or less.

Sen. Scott Heidepriem, D-Sioux Falls, the Senate Democratic leader, said similar growth restrictions that state laws have imposed on public school districts should be imposed on state government. For several years, the state has restricted school budgets to live within a spending growth cap of 3 percent or the increase in the consumer price index, which ever is less.

“The growth of state bureaucracies under the current governor has been dramatic,” Heidepriem said. “We’re introducing legislation to put the brakes on this governor’s spending and hold state government to the same standard that the governor and the state legislature have imposed on local governments.”

Heidepriem said such a measure is needed to show good faith toward school districts that have relied on uncertain support from the state budget while being forced to live within state-enforced spending caps. He said taxpayers are facing a national recession, and they are looking to state leaders to demonstrate fiscal restraint.

“Leadership starts at the top, not from the bottom to the top,” Heidepriem said. “For years, state politicians have dictated fiscal restraint to school districts while underfunding their basic needs. Meanwhile, they have passed one record-sized budget after the other.

“It’s time for a change. We think the governor and the legislature should be able to take their own medicine and we think taxpayers deserve to witness this kind of fiscal responsibility at the top.”

Rep. Dale Hargens, D-Miller, the House Democratic leader, said inadequate state funding of schools and the flat economy in South Dakota have forced school districts and county and municipal governments in his legislative district to tighten their belts. He said the governor sends two different messages when he seeks forced consolidation of small school districts and cuts to growing school districts while saying South Dakota’s economic development programs are succeeding.

“When I ask people if they’ve seen the fruits of Governor Rounds’ prosperity programs in their localities, they say they haven’t seen it,” Hargens said. “Most folks tell me that it’s time fiscal reality came to Pierre and the governor’s office. They have seen this governor purchase new airplanes and build a $3 million new mansion.

“Now, they want to know if this legislature can live within the rules it makes for their local schools and tighten its own belt on state spending.”