Hunhoff: ASL agitprop “nutty,” “poison"

Last year a Texas group calling itself American Stewards of Liberty with ties to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion presented anti-Earth resolutions to a receptive Otero County Commission and the San Juan County Commission heard two resolutions dealing with land use issues after watching ASL's Margaret Byfield's dog and pony show. Byfield is lobbying the Yankton, South Dakota County Commission appearing for a second time in the mostly Democratic district near the Yankton Sioux Nation.

I left the state Legislature in 2016 partly because the atmosphere in Pierre was getting as ugly and nutty as Washington. Outside agitators were arriving to push their agendas, interrupting our work on real issues. Three weeks ago, I attended a Yankton County Commission meeting to report on historic preservation issues; also on the agenda that night was a woman from Texas who wants our county to pass a resolution opposing what she calls President Biden’s 30x30 “Land Grab.” Her accusations are outlandish. The “land grab” amounts to the same conservation programs that have been benefiting our farmers and landowners under Republican and Democrat administrations. I write to simply caution our local boards and commissions to be wary of well-funded outsiders who come here with their hidden national agendas. They will poison our local politics, just as they’ve poisoned Pierre and Washington. [Bernie Hunhoff]

Byfield spoke in La Junta, Colorado last week.

ip photo: Scott Parsley, Bernie Hunhoff and Pat Garrity pose during the 2014 Democratic State Convention in Yankton.