Tag: This Week in Politics

(CNN)As summer comes to a close, everyone's trickling back into Washington. And it was a pretty buzzy week -- and that's not just because, as Karen Pence reminded us, Saturday is National Honey Bee Day. Here's what happened. Vice President Pence was on a tax cuts tour, in case we forgot about the tax cuts. Always pivot to the tax cuts. But they're provocative. I do not envy Sarah Sanders. She has a tough job. Do you think Cabinet members hate Cabinet meetings as much as most other people hate every meeting? I know their jobs are way more important than most of ours, but does that mean those meetings feel/are more productive?

With four months now on the job, Smith is in the thick of the legislative process with, among other things, the new farm bill on her plate. But beyond what may be seen as the traditional elements of a farm bill, Smith says she is also going to work to champion better nutrition programs that are typically association with farm bill legislation; programs that help people who may not be able to help themselves right now. But Smith then says there is a third component she is trying to work into the farm bill. "Our farm bill needs to include strong rural development programs like, for example, what I'm proposing to help expand rural broadband." But having easy access to broadband in rural areas also makes those areas more likely to land new businesses and new residents. "The Lewis and Clark project is extremely important. Smith worked very hard to get state funding to complete the Minnesota section of the Lewis and Clark project. "The state has been backfilling the funding that the federal government was supposed to be providing. So we really have to make the federal government stand up to its agreement. So far the feds haven't done that and it has cost the state of Minnesota $41 million and climbing.

Jon Carda is a board member with the Sioux Falls Fraternal Order of Police, the organization that represents more than 200 police officers and sergeants within the Sioux Falls Police Department. To understand the problem the FOP says exists you need to understand how the city of Sioux Falls determines what to pay police officers. Carda says Sioux Falls has settled on a 50% formula for paying police officers; essentially finding the middle range between the lowest and highest paying cities in this study. But even with that formula in place Carda says Sioux Falls is paying officers at least 5% less than that average which places Sioux Falls Police at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to recruiting officers. We feel like the city administration by taking that stance put all of us in the position where we are...we struggle. Salary issues effect not only the recruitment of new officers but the retention of existing officers and further complicating matters, a change in the retirement system for Sioux Falls Police. Make a very competitive salary. Carda says the Sioux Falls Police Department is roughly 30 officers short when compared to other cities its size. With eight years of frustration with the city's political leaders, the Fraternal Order of Police did something this mayoral election cycle that they had never done before: they hosted a debate with the runoff candidates, one I moderated. "We will hold the mayor accountable for the things he said to us.

In 1972, George McGovern of South Dakota was the Democratic Party's nominee for president. Both ran campaigns with strong visions for what they wanted America to be. And while Mondale says McGovern's campaign looks good through the lens of history, "It's not the campaign I would have run." Mondale tells me he believes McGovern made a mistake in how he executed the message of his campaign; perhaps too liberal at a time when the country was shifting to more conservative politics. Four years later.....1976.....Mondale is elected vice president on the ticket with former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter. Four years later, in 1980, they are defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan and his running mate George Bush. I think we had to open up the party. But Mondale tells me there were people in his own campaign who questioned his vice presidential choice. Sometimes after that 84 election, Mondale ran into George McGovern. Mondale asked his friend a question; "George, how long did it take you to get over your defeat in running for president?