Meeting Summaries 

Finances Chair: Rick Knobe Finances: Ann Schiltz Rick reported that current funds are sufficient through the end of 2026. However, additional fundraising will be needed for any new expenses and for 2027. Ann, Rick, and Craig Brown have signing authority, and two signatures are required on all checks. Going forward, Ann will provide a monthly…

Chair Dan Kippley Guest: Heather Baxter, candidate for Secretary of State Heather Baxter, a current member of the House of Representatives (District 34), presented her platform centered on modernization and efficiency. Ms. Baxter stated she wasn’t brought up to focus on politics. You just enjoy the person. We can agree to disagree. Ms. Baxter grew…

Guest: Dan Ahlers, candidate for Governor Dan Ahlers is a longtime South Dakota public servant, small business owner, and former legislator. He previously served in both the South Dakota House of Representatives and State Senate, representing District 25. Mr. Ahlers is from Dell Rapids and was the Executive Director of the South Dakota Democratic Party…

Decisions on Donations for Endorsed Candidates The Change Agents members met to finalize financial contributions for the upcoming election cycle based on the candidate endorsements we voted on in our last meeting. The candidates endorsed by Change Agents were interviewed by the group and voted upon before endorsements were given. The session was marked by…

Round Table Results Craig Margulies and Mark Noordsy presented Roundtable Results Craig thanked the committee and volunteers for the success of the roundtable on Saturday. The committee came in under budget with costs totaling $1230. Mark stated that there were 65 participants. Over ½ of the surveys were completed and of those 92% rated the…

No L          John Fiksdahl There is a meeting this afternoon. John should have more information next week. Roundtable         Craig Margulies Roundtable preparations are set. Volunteers will be setting up Friday at 10. On Saturday, volunteers should arrive at 7:30. Candidates will arrive at 8:15. Guest:   Frank Klouchek, candidate for PUC Mr. Klouchek…

Candidate Roundtable August 22nd Candidate Roundtable August 22nd               Craig Margulies Preparations are largely completed. There will be nine tables including the candidates and two folks discussing ballot issues. Set up is Friday at 10 am. L No L No        John Fiksdahl A local campaign manager has been hired. John expects they will be ready to…

Guest: Brent Hoffman Guest: Brent Hoffman candidate for county commissioner Mr. Hoffman is a resident of Hartford. He has previously served on the school board, city council and as a state senator. Mr. Hoffman stated he was a reluctant candidate but with prayer, he was encouraged to step up. He is a veteran of the…

Fall Roundtable August 22 Craig Margulies The roundtable is scheduled for August 22. We have 50 confirmed attendees with a target of 60. Kathy is still contacting people. All county commission candidates have confirmed attendance: Kenny Anderson, Jen Bleyenberg, Rick Bonander, Brent Hoffman and Curt Soehl. County Auditor candidate Curt Deedrich is confirmed. Now that…

L No – John Fiksdahl The L No group is working on strategy, and the funders are locked in. They have done some polling. Change Agents previously bought the domains for the website. John encouraged the members to share the messaging. The members discussed an additional donation to the cause. Fall Roundtable August 22 Craig…

Fall Roundtable August 22 Craig Margulies All five county commissioner candidates will be attending. Josh Phillips (next sheriff) will not be able to attend. Leah Anderson cannot commit until the governor’s runoff is settled. John Fiksdahl will speak on Amendment L. Reynold Nesiba will address other amendments. The table captains are set, and we have…

Dan Kippley chair Guest Sheri Lund, Lincoln County Auditor Ms. Lund has been the Lincoln County auditor since 2014. She is running unopposed for the position this fall. Ms. Lund provided a recap of the recent appointment of Herman Otten to the Lincoln County Commission, following Betty Otten’s resignation for health reasons. There were 10…

Guest Speaker Curt Deedrich Guest Speaker Curt Deedrich, running for Minnehaha County Auditor As a young person, Mr. Deedrich took an interest in student government. His family encouraged public service by being involved in their volunteer fire department, Farmers Coop, township trustees, church and Home Bureau. He was elected to his local village board while…

Joe Haas chaired the meeting in Rick’s absence. Discussion of Sioux Falls election results Discussion by the group: We did find out every vote counts. It is tragic that only 24.2% of registered voters voted. The candidates worked hard and the low turnout was unfair to them. Hearing stories that people received their mail in…

Guests: Zak Okuwe and Zach DeBoer, Candidates Running for Central District Council Seat Zach DeBoer has been a resident of the All Saints neighborhood for about a decade and an elementary school art teacher for 10 years. He has worked at several schools both public and private. He is from a family of teachers. He…

Fall Roundtable – Craig Margulies We have identified 7 candidates and there may be an 8th. The candidates are for county positions. There is potential to have some tables dealing with ballot issues. It will be August 22 at Eastside Lutheran, 8 – 12. The committee is also considering using the event as a marketing…

Member Dan Kippley didn’t get enough votes in his challenge for the Senate seat in District 13. Dan generously donated some of his unspent campaign funds to Change Agents. Upcoming runoff elections: City of Sioux Falls runoff election for the office of mayor, at-large council member A, southeast district council member and central district council…

Guests: City Attorney Dave Pfeilfe and Charter Revision Commission Chair Anne Hajek City Attorney  Dave Pfeilfe and Charter Revision Commission Chair Anne Hajek speaking about the amendments to the city charter. Ms. Hajek explained that there are five members of the charter commission. They are appointed by the mayor and approved by the council. They…

Fall Roundtable Craig Margulies The committee is considering using the coliseum. It’s not overly expensive. They need to check out the sound system. Once they have a better idea of the number of candidates, they will proceed. Rick, Craig and Sue will visit the site. We will need a coffee system.   The event will be…

Change Agents Meeting May 6, 2026 RoundTable         Rick Knobe Jon Beringer shared a video presentation from the Roundtable event. Suggestions were made to post it on the Change Agents web page and share it on social media. A discussion was held regarding endorsing candidates. Last week we decided to hold off on endorsements for…

Change Agents Meeting April 29, 2026 Candidate RoundTable ballot results       Mark Noordsy Mark tallied the ballots from the RoundTable. Using ranked choice voting for mayor, Jamie Smith received the most votes, Christine Erickson was second, Joe Batchellor was close behind Erickson. Greg Jamison was 4th and David Zokkaites had no votes. For school board Dawn…

Change Agents Meeting April 22, 2026 “Monday morning quarterback” discussion on Saturday Roundtable Comments by the group: It was an amazing day. The facility was good and it was well organized. At some tables, the questions were built on the prior person’s question. This led to a deeper discussion. Candidates had to think a bit.…

Change Agents Meeting April 15, 2026 Roundtable, Rick Knobe Eleven candidates are attending the Roundtable on Saturday April 18th at the Eastside Lutheran church located at 10th and Cliff. Start time for the event is 8:45. We were short one table captain. Casey Murschel volunteered. Enter on north side, under canopy. We are setting up…

Change Agents Meeting notes April 11, 2026   Candidate Roundtable, Rick Knobe We have 11 confirmed candidates, possibly 12. Next week’s Change Agent meeting will focus on preparation for the round table. There are 50-55 participants confirmed and we are waiting for responses from 10 more. It is likely that there will be some attendees…

Change Agents meeting notes April 1, 2026 No Kings Rally Mike Booke The rally was held at Drake Springs on Saturday March 28th. The wind made it challenging, but it still was well attended. The crowd was estimated at about 3000 people. There was lots of support (honks) from the people driving by.  There were…

Change Agents meeting March 18th Sue Aguilar chair Roundtable Sue Aguilar/Craig Brown The roundtable event is April 18th. All the invited mayoral and at large city council candidates have accepted. We may expand it to include the school board candidates. Currently there are 5. The last day to file is March 24th. About 90 participants…

Change Agents Meeting March 12, 2026 Mike Huber chair Daniel Balkovic was unable to attend.   L No John Fiksdal There is a meeting next week. A rough copy of web page has been developed. Yesterday the National Redistricting Foundation came out with a statement that John shared on Facebook. This is the third time in…

Change Agent Meeting March 4, 2026 Website Rick Knobe I have found a person to manage and update our website, Daniel Balkovic. He is a teacher at Jefferson High School. Served in military. He will attend our March 12 evening meeting so you can meet him. Candidate Roundtable Sue Aguilar Save the dates have gone…

Change Agents Meeting February 25: Discussion of legislation HB 1082-Provide meals to students that qualify for free/reduced meals. The bill has passed committee and the House. This is the 4th year it has been presented.   SB 96-Governor’s property tax bill to authorize counties to raise sales tax in order to reduce property taxes on…

CHANGE AGENTS MEETING FEBRUARY 19, 2026: L No campaign John Fiksdal A meeting was scheduled for Wednesday; however, representatives from the Education Association were unable to attend due to numerous pressing matters concerning public education in Pierre. A draft of the campaign website has also been created. Studies show that when both sides are explained,…

REPORTS: Accountability Project  (Joe Haas, Casey Murschel, Kathy Case) Need people for districts 2, 9 and 16. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do. Not all candidates have announced so they are expecting to add people to the original list. Joe tried AI Gemini and felt that it was able to provide good information…

Two of our group have the fire in their belly to run for public office:Zak Okuwe for Central City Council seat; Mike Curtis for US Congress as an Independent.  Today’s meeting was an opportunity for each to explain why they are choosing to run and what their platform will be if elected. Zak Okuwe Zak…

REPORTS: Accountability for Candidates/Incumbents (Joe Haas, Casey Murschel, Kathy Case) Group is seeking additional volunteers.  Joe will attend next Common Ground meeting to hear from speakers from District 13.  Casey gave a list of resources for gathering information, incuding social media, SDPB, Sioux Falls Chamber, professional media – Argus, Dakota Scout, Searchlight, SD Simplified, SF…

REPORTS: Home Rule Charter Commission  (Sue Aguilar) Today (Nov 19) is the commission meeting (at Carnegie Hall 4).  Because of low attendance of members at last meeting, today’s meeting will be review of last meeting’s info.  Main topic will be election dates after the June 2026 election. Rick asked members in attendance about their preference…

  REPORTS:  Joe Hoss and Casey Murschel – Accountability Politicians should be accountable to the people who voted for them. The focus to start will be Lincoln and Minnehaha County by reviewing voting records, bills they have introduced and campaign material. The committee is creating a document that current elected officials and candidates can respond…

REPORTS: John Fiksdal – L No on Amendment L No new information, a meeting is coming up on the 19th . Joe Haas – Accountability of elected officials No new information. Casey started looking at candidates. She saw an example of a candidate who stated he was right of center. What does that mean? What…

EPORTS: Sue Aguilar – Home Rule Commission Meeting Sue, Rick and Kathy attended last week’s Home Rule Commission meeting. Rick and Joe Kirby gave testimony.  There were only 2 members in attendance and one on the phone. Because so many members were out, they won’t take action until the next meeting on November 19th. The…

  REPORTS: Craig Brown-No Kings The event was overwhelmingly positive, and attendance was up. The police had more rules about the space around the Federal courthouse. Indivisible 605 had to tear down the stage and move it away from the building. $1000 was raised for SD Voices for Peace and Indivisible 605 retained about that…

Reports from:   Sue Aguilar on Home Rule Charter discussions  Testimony on the topic will be October 22nd. If you have any ideas, you can contact committee liaison Cari Hanzel at 605-367-8880 or send comments or questions to charterrevisionscomments@siouxfalls.gov There is a 3-minute public input at the end of each meeting. Charter commission: Including meeting…

Reports from: Rick Knobe on Sioux Falls Home Rule Charter meetings and conversations Next charter meeting 10/22. Sue and Rick will attend. Others are encouraged to attend. Setting dates for municipal elections   John Fiksdal on L No Amendment effort Still building coalition, the next meeting is the 3 rd week in Oct. More than…

  Reports from: Sue Aguilar on Home Rule Charter Meeting The Charter Revision Commission meeting is September 24 th at 4. It’s more organizational. Sue will attend.   John Fiksdal on L No Coalition The coalition is moving ahead. Other partners have come forward. The plan is to form a ballot committee after 1 st…

Change Agents Meeting September 10, 2025 WHERE are we going? Rick- We have established a mission statement, values and priorities this year. 2026 is important election year. Rick suggested we do another event in April for local candidates focusing on mayor, school board and at large commission spots. In the fall, we could do the…

Change Agents Meeting 9/3/25  Sue Aguilar on Protecting Schools  Sue talked to the Superintendent of schools about the off-year election idea for both city and school board  .He had not considered it and will investigate. There is a city charter meeting on 9/23 starting the discussion on the election date, Sue is attending and will talk to the city attorney. Could other local things like county commission, judges be moved…

September 3rd Change Agents meeting at 11:00am at Caille Library. Welcome to Scott!  Newly retired and new to our meetings. Union Support Rally on Labor Day September 1st at 10am-12pm at Fawick Park located at 200 S. 2nd Ave in Sioux Falls.  They will have speakers at the event.                                                Sioux Falls Area Food Drive…

August 27 Change Agents meeting at 11:00am at Caille Library. Meeting schedule is provided at the end of this summary. Members had an informative discussion on the cancelation of the postal contracts with Lewis and Hy-Vee. These 2 businesses will no longer handle mail processing effective September 30th.  Members agreed it will drastically affect our…

August 20th meeting will be at 11am Caille Branch Library. Civic/citizen participation is important in our community. There are many changes happening quickly right now. Please check out the 5 calls app if you want to help make a change. See information below. Thank you, Rose! 5 calls – FREE Phone App -tool to make…

August 13th meeting will be at 11:30am Caille Branch Library.  CA meeting schedule at the bottom of the summary. AGENDA:Report on Thune Betrayal event. Craig Brown, Rick, and anyone wishing to speak.Sue Aguilar. Update on Protecting Education.John Fiksdal. Update on L No!Mike Brooke. Update on “Let’s make South Dakota purple.”Rick Knobe updates on Thune “No…

August 6th meeting will be at 11am Caille Branch Library. Travis Entenmann of Friends of the Big Sioux River will present the statistics relating to the Big Sioux. We will also get reports from each of our pillar action sub groups on their progress. Final decision on the women’s health access pillar. Steering Committee members…

The Greater Good- remembering what matters – upcoming meetings – are scheduled for September 9 and October 28 at noon at Our Saviors Lutheran Church gathering place. The first event had a great crowd. The event on July 10th had a free 45 minute event to hear insightful speakers talk about community, kindness, our shared…

Courtesy of Linda Stensland, Jay Gilbertson of the East Dakota Water Development District spoke about the status of water quality in lakes, streams and rivers in our area.  He provided charts, maps, and dialogue. Plenty to “soak up.”   A website to get information is: apps.sd.gov/NR92WOMAP It is the DANR Water Quality Monitoring Access Portal. Different…

Change Agent Members voted on these issues and the city council results are below: Should the council abandon majority vote to elect council members and adopt a 35% margin for a win? Members voted to retain the majority prevailed and reject plurality. Good discussion on this!  We sent letter to the SF city council and the…

Four issues held the floor for this meeting and final votes were held for three of them.  One was a state issue and three were local to Sioux Falls. Some members of the Sioux Falls City Council would like to change the 50% threshold for winning a seat on the Council to 35%. The purported…

Most of the meeting involved hearing from SF City Council Chair Rich Merkouris regarding a mandate from the SD Legislature to set local election dates either for June or for November.  One or the other. There are many arguments on behalf of each.  More voters historically turn out in November.  Yet a June date would…

Change Agents social event on Tuesday, June 24th at 5PM at JJ’s. Change Agents are planning a social for members and friends on June 24th.  We are hoping folks can participate in this social.  We intend to have a sign-in sheet at the event to survey members regarding availability for meetings.  Invitations coming shortly.  Craig…

Steering Group with the updated mission statement and pillars – The pillars were discussed and comments were presented. Good discussion. It was decided by the group to accept the updated mission statement and pillars with one edit.  Then, we discussed some ways to facilitate these pillars. One example of implementation is that Van and Rick…

  Our first thing today was a congratulations to Beverly Johnson’s son, Nicholas.  He has aged out of the SF School system and Change Agents decided to fete him with a homemade certificate signed by the inestimable Rick Knobe (Nicholas was not allowed to walk with a graduating class and received no diploma from the…

Meeting began with a report from Mike C. regarding the April 25 rally at Spellerberg Park.  Then Craig B. refreshed all upon tomorrow’s March for Due Process in Sioux Falls.  It will begin at the Federal Courthouse, go to the Arc of Dreams and end at Fawick Park. School Board incumbent Nan Kelly was the…

Most of the day’s meeting was spent talking about protests, past and future. All were very satisfied about the April 19 event.  Put together on little better than a moment’s notice, it turned out hundreds of people and garnered over 4 thousand dollars in cash and two tons of donated foodstuffs for Feeding South Dakota.…

It quickly becomes obvious that Patricia Ringold is a total neophyte when it comes to running for the Sioux Falls School Board.  But she grows on you, and it doesn’t take long.  Trish, as she calls herself, spent time with Change Agents, answering the standard round robin of questions. The empty nester put three children…

Another full house with nearly 30 members, we may soon need to find a larger venue. Business first:  Krystal J. has finalized the time and place for the Change Agents Roundtable regarding the May 13 Sioux Falls School Board election.  Our Roundtable will take place ten days prior to the election, on May 3 from…

Thomas Werner is the first of three Sioux Falls School Board candidates that Change Agents will be hearing from in this and the next two meetings. Werner is a single parent and has children in the public school system.  He believes strongly in the tenure and retention of teachers.  The long-term relationships established should not…

Krystal J. noted that three new people, so far, have put their names in the hat to become a new Sioux Falls School Board member.  We will endeavor to have them speak to us at upcoming meetings.  Board member Nan Kelly intends to run again, which makes four candidates running at present.  Board President Carly…

Another full house spent the first half of the meeting with reports from those who had attended the March 14 Veterans Protest, and then a good deal of discussion about upcoming events. There will be two more protests just this week, Thursday and Sunday, both on behalf of Postal Workers, whose futures are all under…

Incoming School Superintendent Dr. Jamie Nold was the guest and presenter on this day. Business first:  Another full house found three more new faces in attendance.  Overall CA membership has increased over 30% just since the November election.  More people are looking for ways they can simply ‘do something.’ The national scene has deteriorated rapidly,…

Much business and housekeeping was discussed at this meeting. There are many upcoming events just in the next few days.  Check our Events page on this website to update yourself for your future planning. Several reports were given: Update on School Board Election – Sue and Krystal (Krystal is vacationing, so we heard from Sue)…

There was a full house with four (4) new faces attending.  Each of them introduced themselves and everyone else provided their names as well.  There will be more regarding the new attendees as we see more of them. Reports were given concerning last week’s Legislative Coffee and dozens showing up at Dusty Johnson’s & Mike…

NEW MISSION STATEMENT To support participatory democracy in South Dakota through meaningful fact-based public policy.  Thank you to all who worked on our new mission statement!  It was voted on in our meeting today.  We can decide the objectives and tactics for action on this mission statement. We can work on deciding on 3 or…

The original agenda for today’s meeting was changed.  Minnehaha County Commissioner Gerald Beninga will meet with us at a later date. Change Agent Chair Rick Knobe notified the meeting that difficulties in his private life have precluded him from being totally ‘present’ of late and in order to facilitate the ongoing success of CA, he…

First, CA Chair Rick Knobe let us know that the first two legislative coffees have been cancelled.  The Feb 1 and 8 have been canceled due to lack of legislative attendance. Rick has thoughts on having a citizen group giving voters a chance to be able to express their concerns.  In light of the Legislative…

Dawn Marie Johnson is a member of the Sioux Falls School Board.  She was elected by 70% of the vote when she ran for an at-large seat in 2023.  As CA Chair Rick Knobe pointed out, she is the very first candidate ever endorsed by Change Agents. The SF School Board, as is every school…

Carmyn Berg gave some time to Change Agents, regarding a planned bill and hoped for vote regarding helping those afflicted with medical debt, which is the number one cause of bankruptcy.  Berg is a Regional Senior Manager for LLS, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS is working with Republican State Representative Brian Mulder to fashion…

Two guests gave their time to Change Agents this Wednesday. The first was Julian Beaudian, Executive Director of the HUB SD, which is an organization dedicated to uplifting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Color) as well as refugee and immigrant business professionals.  Beaudian (Bo-du-wan) is also vice-president of the local NAACP and executive director…

Tony VenHuizen was our speaker today.  Change Agents had intended to hear from each party at the meeting, but Democrats begged off with other commitments.  Tony is a District 13 Republican House member and is the Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.  He also served as Chief of Staff for former Governor Dennis Daugaard…

First things first:  “My God, why is the Police Chief in scrubs here at the hospital and about to administer an Epidural to me?” We learned today that Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum has an identical twin who works as an Anesthesiologist at Sanford, and since they both still strongly resemble one another down…

It was a packed room for the meeting with a robust discussion around the Governor’s budget address.  That was followed by discussion of the Sioux Falls City Council’s beginning to address housing and energy codes, many of which have not been updated in well over a decade.  They’ll be talking about this and gathering input…

    Samantha Chapman from the ACLU informed Change Agents of issues she sees coming in the upcoming 2025 legislative session.   Samantha spends much of her time lobbying when the legislature is in session.  In the first Trump administration, the ACLU filed over 400 lawsuits.  In the recent election, they had observers placed throughout the state…

What can one say after being unexpectedly yet thoroughly thrashed?  Only one of Change Agents’ endorsements came to pass… out of seven.  And many agreed that this was only because the winning vote was NO.  South Dakota voters voted NO on every ballot issue, except the one to force Medicaid recipients toward work requirements. And…

Sadly, Presidents Bush and Clinton were unable to attend.  Mr. Bush was involved with a painting and Mr. Clinton was involved… well, it was decided it was best to not conjecture. One question that concerned us was whether our current Mission Statement needs to be updated or revised.  Change Agents remains a relatively young organization……

Notes by Rick Knobe After a week break, we had a full house today! Sue Aguilar, Dan Kippley, Mike Huber, and Craig Marguiles have volunteered to put together a candidate recruitment plan for upcoming elections. Linda Stensland, Steve Natz, and the not present Pete (Henry Travers) and the not present John Durajczyk will put together…

What’s next for Change Agents of South Dakota?  Should it expand out into the state or stay closer to its roots in Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties? At the urging of Rick Knobe, everyone at the meeting spoke. There was consensus that more candidates should be vetted, that more fund-raising should be efforted in order to…

Two Senate candidates met with Change Agents. Clay Hoffman is running in Senate District 12 as a Democrat.  He’s a 31-year-old native South Dakotan running against a 69-year-old 10-year incumbent, and he says, “it’s time to change the crops.”  He says in his long tenure his opponent has co-sponsored a total of one bill… that…

This was the first meeting of Change Agents after the long-awaited Voting Meeting which happened last week.  At that meeting, Change Agents finally tallied their reactions to the months of hearing from one side or the other regarding the 7 ballot issues that will be in play for November. Not one of those votes was…

This was the meeting Change Agents had been working toward.  This nonpartisan group with over 70 members, Independents, Republicans, and Democrats, spent the summer learning both the pro and cons of the ballot issues on the November general election ballot.  Seven ballot issues were on the docket.  The supporters and opponents of most of these…

A freewheeling discussion (and some debate) regarding ballot issues.  Pros and cons were discussed regarding the pipeline issue (Ref Law 21), Open Primaries (Amendment H), the abortion issue (Amendment G), the Grocery Tax Repeal (Initiated Measure 28), and the Marijuana Legalization Initiative (Initiated Measure 29).  Many were surprised by the diversity of views and the…

In the first, Parker farmer and former SD Secretary of Agriculture Walt Bones spoke on behalf of SB201, now known as Referred Law 21.  At his side was Trevor Jones, who represented Summit Carbon Solutions. Bones says his land would be part of the carbon pipeline network and that he welcomes it.  He presented facts…

“It’s poorly written and creates major problems.” Nathan Sanderson of the SD Retailers Association made a strong case against the Grocery Tax Repeal at the Change Agents meeting.  There are 31 organizations that oppose the ballot issue (Initiated Measure 28), and they all agree that “it’s a trap” that will force huge cuts or new…

“Freedom and property rights are inseparable. You cannot have one without the other.”  George Washington Change Agents was treated to three people and a PowerPoint presentation regarding the carbon pipeline issue (Referred Law 21).  State Senate candidate Joy Hohn (R-Dist. 9), Bev Nelson and Rick Bonander had never met before this, but have been brought…

The South Dakota abortion ban is the most radical, extreme ban in the United States. The women of SD have had their rights totally stripped from them. That was the message from Rick Weiland to Change Agents as he detailed the efforts behind getting the Freedom Amendment (Amendment G) ballot issue before the voters this…

A Quick Aside: Who will she pick? Our Change Agents group took a straw poll today on who Kamala Harris will pick as her running mate: 9.5 votes for Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania. 7.5 votes for Senator Kelly of Arizona. The half votes came from one member liking both🎶🎶🎶🤣 Very interesting that no other candidate…

Minnehaha County Commissioner Joe Kippley sat in with the Change Agents to explain the Commission’s unanimous vote the day before to table the Home Rule Charter issue for this election cycle.  The Commission meets three times a month, yet their jobs are part-time.  The county has experienced enormous growth in the past few decades, so…

Dr. Amy Kelley has over 20 years experience as an OB/GYN specialist.  She spoke to Change Agents regarding the Freedom Amendment, the November ballot issue that seeks to re-establish some Roe vs. Wade rights to South Dakota women regarding their personal health decisions.  She says the current state ban on all abortions remains untested and…

Our speaker was Anny Libengood.  After nearly two decades working for Minnehaha County, she’s now running for Commissioner.  Example of her tenacity: She only needed 50 signatures to get on the ballot as a Democrat.  She screwed up and sent it to the wrong place.  Had to try again as an Independent… that required over…

The pro Open Primaries position was presented to Change Agents by Jeanelle Lust and Joe Kirby. https://www.sdopenprimaries.org/ Our speakers contended that 82 percent of Democrats in SD support this top-two open primary ballot initiative. No one has stepped up against it and Republicans have softened to the initiative. If our state wants more moderates elected,…

Sandra Henry, District 14 SD Senate candidate was our guest. Sandra comes from a family that was very active in the community and remembers her dad’s concern about who would take care of “the little guy”.  She was in education and special education for most of her career. Education is her passion.  If elected, Sandra…

Quincy and Zeb, organizers of the pro-recreational marijuana effort, came to our meeting to discuss the recreational marijuana measure that will be on the November ballot. One of the things they will focus on with this marijuana effort is to persuade folks to get out and vote. A big voter turnout is needed to make…

Over the summer, Change Agents will be inviting candidates in the upcoming November elections and inviting folks on both sides of the issues that will be on the ballot. We want to review the record of bills and votes they have made in this legislative session and this information will be shared with the members…

At the May 29 meeting of Change Agents, Bill Linsenmeyer talked about his candidacy for House District 11. He noted the carbon pipeline was a primary reason for his quest for office, not because he opposes Eminent Domain, but that he opposes the use of it on behalf of a private company. A former employee…

Spent the hour with candidates Taylor Rehfeldt and Cole Heisey. Rehfeldt (R) is an incumbent in a crowded primary for District 14 House.  She thinks the current SD law on abortion is too vague, more education is required, yet the current House membership refuses any serious discussion on the issue.  She supports Medicaid work requirements. …