From the Black Hills to the Big Sioux, the Dakota Town Hall Podcast.
Hosted by Murdoc in the West and Jake in the East, Featuring Christine Erickson the President of the Trucking and Auto association.
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Read along with this week’s transcript from Dakota Town Hall
Murdoc: Well, it’s that time of year. First congrats to all the grads. I’m buying grad card after grad card. The stack, the grad card budget this year is steep, Jake.
Jake: I don’t like have any. Like I’m just not the age where I have people like that are like, I don’t have cousins that age anymore. I just don’t have any of that.
Murdoc:So congrats to all of you kids. And welcome to it. It’s Friday afternoon. You’re punched into the cowboy here in Rapid City or maybe a little later in your headphones on South Dakota’s premier political podcast. This time with Jake in the East, it’s Murdoch in the East and Christine Erickson in the East. We’re all in one studio.
Erickson: Yes.
Murdoc: This is rare when we do this. Usually everybody’s in a different spot in the state and we’re all just on a computer somewhere. Well, I feel so honored. It’s fun when we can do this.
Jake: Should we rip off Dakota Scout quick?
Erickson: Yeah.
Jake: A couple of South Dakota made beers from Lost Cabin in Rapid City. West River a little bit. Nice pig. They just have a great, because it’s the crappier one says Lost Cabin beers and all I can. It’s good marketing, I think.
Murdoc: They just celebrated 10 years by the way. Congrats to Jesse and the crew.
Jake: And they do make a beer over there. They really do.
Murdoc: We are broadcasting live from the epicenter of South Dakota Broadcasting. It’s the Kello Studios here in downtown Sioux Falls. I must say I’ve ensconced in the Sioux Steel District this week. A lovely time I am having.
Jake: How are the martinis?
Murdoc: Excellent.I did stay up. I’m particular to the Carpenter Bar martini. It’s a tough one to beat. But tonight I am checking out the, we’re recording this on a Thursday, the Ironwood. Oh, I’ve heard great things. I had the Dahlia Tukila Bar food earlier this week.
Jake: Did you get those empanadas?
Murdoc: No, I went to fish tacos. Bartender said fish tacos, bartender was right. Bartender is almost always right.
Erickson: They are.
Murdoc: So yes. Okay, Jake, let’s do a proper introduction.
Jake: Yes. With us today, we have Christine Erickson. She is the president of the Trucking and Auto Association of South Dakota. She spent eight years on the Sioux Falls City Council in the at large spot and two years as a representative for District 11. Christine, welcome to the show.
Murdoc: Can I clarify a thing? Yeah. Because you’re the president of the Trucking Association of South Dakota and you’re the president of the South Dakota Auto Dealers Association.
Erickson: Correct. Yeah. Essentially, there are two associations that we operate out of the same location. They operate out of the same location, but two entirely different boards, groups of people, industries. One can operate without the other, to be honest.
Murdoc: So you see you’re kind of both these groups.
Jake: Correct. I do.
Jake: Yeah. Isn’t that kind of a conflict of interest? You know, car, auto, trucking.
Murdoc: It’s all got wheels. Calm down, Watertown.
Jake: 18 versus four is a pretty big difference in my opinion, but I don’t
Erickson: We represent both equally and we do it well.
Murdoc: I think the Auto Dealers Association is, we did a really good thing a few years back when the Atlas Storm hit. Those guys raised a ton of money for ranchers. That was right kind of right before your tenure, I think.
Erickson: Yeah, it was. I’ve been here for almost four years now. And so that was before my time, I think you were involved with that too. And they raised a ton of money and tried to help give back. And I think that’s what’s so amazing about the trucking and automotive industries is that they’re in every nook and cranny in the state. And, you know, I travel around meeting with members, speaking at schools and tell them, you know, thank a trucker without trucking. Everything you touch, a truck is brought. You can get it there by plane or rail, but how do you get it to the small stores?
Jake: It’s all trucking. To lead South Dakota. How do you get food to lead South Dakota? Truck it.
Erickson: And how do we get the cars to the dealerships?
Jake: Right? To lead. You gotta wag it up a hill.
Murdoc: You need that 20 team, borax, mule team or whatever it is.
Erickson: Okay, we’ve come a long ways now. Let’s be honest. We’ve come a long ways. Sorry, lead.
Jake: Christie you have a podcast as well with that, don’t it? Isn’t that true?
Erickson: We do. We just started this just a little over a year ago. It’s called Drive Line podcast. We’re still kind of kicking it off. So pun intended, drive line, right? So we talk things automotive, trucking, we talk lifestyle. We’ve had a lot of political folks on there as well from legislators. Mayor Paul was on there a while ago.
Murdoc: Like Motorhead Weekly, you know, talk about some, you know, the double collie barrel pumper. Sorry. In our school paper, we would have a little section where they would let us make fun of the motorheads because what were they reading it? Sorry, that’s not very funny. I get beat up by trucking association president.
Erickson: Those are some fighting words over there.
Jake: People say we have a very niche podcast, but South Dakota trucking might be an even more niche podcast in South Dakota politics. It’s impressive.
Erickson: Well, but we dabble in a little politics. You know, we talk about our
Murdoc: guest list is more impressive than ours.
Jake: I know we might need to expand into trucking in our show.
Erickson: You might need to go look at our podcast and steal some of our guests.
Jake: So we, you know, we were kind of slow, slow start, but we’ve had a great opportunity to talk about South Dakota trade. You know, we had Luke Lindbergh on there and talking trade and that’s been a hot topic for our industries right now too. And so it’s just kind of a fun way for us to connect differently. You know, our truckers are down the road so they can pop it on and take a listen and hear what’s going on in the industry.
Murdoc: Truckers would have something to say about tariffs.
Erickson: Yeah, they do and auto dealers too. But you know, we, you know, I don’t know if we want to talk about tariffs, but you know, the thing with the tariffs are, you know, we’re kind of in that wait and see right now. It’s a negotiation tool. We’re really trying to be patient to see where this lands.
Murdoc: That’s high answer about tariffs. Any of you, any of you folks that are considering running weigh right in as an expert, just, you know, so let’s, let’s, let’s focus on you. Let’s do your history.
Erickson: Let’s do your, how do you, how did you get here?
Jake: Yeah, so where’d you, I mean, you started your four year into politics and some of the stuff. Where did that start?
Erickson: So, uh, born and raised in Rapid City. So when we talked west and east, but I will tell you though, here’s the deal. Okay. I didn’t realize that there was this riff between the two until I left Rapid City and I was younger, you know, as in my twenties, whatever. And I, you know, you move across the state.
I lived in Pierre, worked a little bit for state government and then landed here in Sioux Falls, working for state government and then worked for the banking industry for a little bit until I went to work for a small business. And I didn’t really realize that it was such a riff until you left. I mean, we just kind of did our thing and we were good old folks out west and then here we are. It’s like, oh, you’re from the east.
Oh, west is best. Oh, that is this whole thing. And so I find it fascinating. And I, you know, I go back home, I go to Pierre, you know, home is Rapid City still. And it’s an interesting riff, I will say.
Jake: It is. I mean, because it’s, they are two uniquely different. We are very similar in a lot of ways. And very different in a lot of ways.
Murdoc: I mean, it’s the rancher versus farmer. That’s because we’re the mountain west. It’s the rancher versus farmer, I always say. Right? You got the ranchers and the farmers. That’s a reductive way of looking at it.
Jake: I think it’s, I think it’s kind of, it’s kind of like the culture of it though, right?
Murdoc: There is a difference though. Like I remember moving west and like being annoyed for two years. And I couldn’t quite figure out why it’s because the metronome’s just got a slightly different beat to it.
Jake: It’s like everyone has like, it’s like siesta, right? In Spain or something like that.
Murdoc: Well, you know, we’ll just, we’ll get to it when we get to it. Everybody hold their bridges and you’re not used to that right away.
Erickson: Right. Right. Yeah. So that’s, you know, I’ve born and raised here my whole life. And so South Dakota is home. No place I’d rather live.
I get to travel a little bit with my, my gig and just with my boys being involved in all things sports. And so, you know, I wasn’t really political. I wasn’t really political at all. I mean, I voted all the time. I paid attention. I certainly had a voice, you know, and when you have children, it changes you because you, you want to make life better.
You now don’t just have someone, you’re just not relying on yourself, but you have others that rely on you. And so I want to make sure they’ve got, you know, the best opportunities to come back home and have education and jobs and all the things. And so when I originally ran, I had three small children, a baby, a preschooler and a kindergartner ish in that range. And it was hard. It was really hard on our family, but I loved every minute of being in Pierre just to see how to make change and, and learn the process and really give back. And so I spent just a short time out in Pierre two years to be exact and decided that for my family, me running this in Sioux Falls, the council race was the best decision. Jim Enteman wasn’t running at the time. So he and I sat down and he said, Nope, I’m not running.
And I said, I want to take this on. So 2013. Yep. And so I took that challenge on, ran at large and, you know, the rest of history as far as that’s concerned of, you know, running two terms and just really like at the local level, that’s where the decisions are made. I see what I pay attention to what’s happening federally and all of that is super important. But the everyday day to day change that you can make is really, really fascinating. When I was in the legislature, you know, and sitting there voting on pine beetles, voting on things that my district 11, and that was the hot top billboards and pine beetles.
Jake: I forgot how big, yeah, pine beetles, I kind of forgot about them.
Erickson: Yeah. And, and billboards, that was a west side issue and was being litigated. And that was our big time, the massage board, those three things were like biggest issues at that time.
Erickson: Now, I don’t, I’m being a little sarcastic because there’s a lot of other things that were really important, but I’m sitting there in my seat going, Okay, I represent the west side of Sioux Falls district 11, my little box,
Erickson: the whole state is important, the economy of the whole state super important. But man, I want to make a change and a difference truly for my constituency that I can see close. And so for me, it was the best decision for me to run for the city council. Some of my legislative friends were like, are you moving backwards?
Jake: That’s a, it’s a rare move to go from legislature to city council. You don’t see a ton of that.
Erickson: You don’t. And, and rest his soul, David Lust was a huge mentor of mine and just missing every day. And I mean, he’s just, I learned so much from him, family friend of, of my parents on Rapid and learned so much from him. And I remember I came in his office to tell him that, Hey, I’m going to run for city council. And he’s like, why would you do that?
Murdoc: I mean, I literally, he’s like, you’re going to argue about the dog in the yard. What are you doing?
Erickson: Yeah. And he’s like, do you want people calling you every day? And I said, Yes, I do. I want to, like, I want to fix stuff. Right. And so I said, I don’t view this as a step backwards.
I view this truly as a promotion of getting to do the impact every single day. I wanted to get my hands dirty. And so that’s where I went. And it took me a little bit to get my feet under me a little bit, you know, but I’m of the mindset when I started on the city council that, you know, I wasn’t there to make noise. I wanted to like, learn the process and see. And then once I had it going, I’m like, all right, it’s game time.
Let’s go. Let’s start hitting some of these initiatives that were important to me. And, you know, the city council, it was a little frustrating at times for me because, you know, I wanted to do more than vote on liquor licenses and rezone. And so how do you make really a change?
And, you know, my strategy was really different to that. You didn’t need to see my name in the paper. You didn’t need to see me bring in ordinance every week. If I could make change and impact and influence good policy by sitting down and talking to people and listening to people, that was important to me.
Jake: What do you look back through some of the highlights of your time there? Like some of the things that you saw as big moments for you?
Erickson: Well, I would say a few of the big moments when I was in the legislature, Mark Mickelson had come to me and talked to me about the USD Discovery District and said, hey, this is important. We need to get some seed money. And it’s not going to, you know, and so it was a million bucks, a lot of money, but not really a lot of money in the big scheme of things. And so I was hook, line and sinker on that issue to where I really wanted to get that to the finish line. We had West River legislators vote yes on the USD Discovery District back in that day. That was a big bold move because let’s be honest, there is a rift between West and East in the legislature. Sometimes it’s like, oh, Sioux Falls gets everything. And it’s, it’s,
Murdoc: sorry, that was all out.
Erickson: We need to rewind and cut that out. Just kidding. But so that was a big issue for me. And so I carried that over in my term in the city council. I, you know, partnered with Michelle Erpenbach and Dean Karski and Rick Kiley and got their buy in to say, hey, this is not a marathon. I’m sorry, this is not a sprint.
It’s a marathon. And so we did get some money and the mayor at the time kept cutting it out of the budget and we kept putting it back in by amendment. And so every year and it was, it was a fascinating, yet fun time to see where it’s come today. You know, again, it’s still a work in progress, but those are game changing decisions that you can make throughout the time. You know, I would say being involved in the Lyft Uber thing where some people might go, huh, not a huge deal.
Murdoc: Life changing for what was the whole deal.
Jake: This was before I was living in Sioux Falls.
Murdoc: So, yeah, so, um, you don’t even know, you just take it for granted, like the internet, you kids, so add it forever.
Erickson: What was, oh my, can somebody mute his microphone?
Jake: To be fair, we got Venmo my freshman year of college. So just so we know where I’m at.
Erickson: Oh boy, let’s not all go around and share our ages. That’s a little scary. So Lyft and Uber were not in South Dakota. Um, Dean Karski was the city counselor that really rolled out the red carpet. And he and I worked together to bring the TNC ordinance to allow it to happen, right?
And so all of that happens. And one of the vendors said, yeah, we don’t want to pay sales tax. And we went, oh, that is, we don’t have income tax.
We don’t, every, you know, sales tax is taxed on everything. And so they just didn’t want to do it. And they wanted every single driver to remit and pay.
And we’re like, that’s a disaster. You as the company have the software to do it. And so a year or two went by and I got a constituent call who is a dear mentor of mine, Greg Lafollette. And he emailed and he said, I travel all the time. It’s embarrassing that I come into town and I can’t get this.
Murdoc: You come into Sioux Falls and like this taxi that would have two windows broken out would show up and it smelled like manure. And like he’d go on about how, you know, you know, it’s only safe if these taxicabs pick you up. You don’t know what’s on these Lyft apps. Like, will you listen to yourself? Have you ever been anywhere else? My, even Vegas has changed.
Erickson: Just to be clear, those were not my words.
Murdoc: My words, my words. That’s real happened. Because I still use taxis today. But so what we did is it was a really fun like project to work on. Greg and I worked together and we went to the other vendor and said, hey, this vendor doesn’t want to be here. Let’s come to South Dakota. And so I used to work for Department of Revenue and I went to Department of Revenue and said, how can we make this happen?
And so we sat in a room and talked it out and everybody figured it out. And it took about eight months to finally get them to launch. And so it was Lyft was the first to launch here in South Dakota. We were the 50th state. So we were the last. I still only use Lyft in other areas.
Erickson: I do too because of that too. I am. And my, you know, I travel and my colleagues in other states are like, why do you use that? And I’m like, because they were the first one to come to South Dakota. And we are loyal here in South Dakota.
Murdoc: The best thing that happened to moderate chamber Republicans.
Erickson: So long story short, we were able to launch it. They were going to launch just in Sioux Falls. And instead they, I was on the board of trustees for the municipal league. And so they said, we’re going to launch statewide. And so they did.
Now, it’s slow rolling at times, but it was the first state that Lyft had ever been first in. And I said, I tell you what, we are loyal here. You’re going to own the market here.
And Uber came then a year or two later after that. And I love the choice to choose and I love competition. And so, hey, let’s do it. And I do use Uber. I do use taxis. I use all of them. And so it was good.
Murdoc: Jake, we should take a break. Yes.
Jake: We are here with Christine Erickson. She is the president of trucking and the president of auto association here in South Dakota. Two of them separate. And we’ll be right back talking more about what’s affecting Sioux Falls and what Christian’s thoughts are on that.
Murdoc: Maybe hypothetically, what if someone was going to run for mayor?
Jake: Yeah, like what would you be, if you hypothetically, what would the race be about? What would you care about?
Murdoc: Let’s find out next.
Jake: You’re back with the Dakota Town Hall. We’re here with Christine Erickson. We’re all on the east side together in one studio here in downtown Sioux Falls at the KELO studios. Thank you for hosting us, Kello. Christine, what does a exploratory committee for mayor do?
Erickson: Boy, I don’t know. I think there’s a few candidates you could probably…
Jake: Did you have an exploratory committee?
Murdoc: Are you one of them people?
Jake: Yes, you did. You launched one of a couple like…
Erickson: We are exploring the option.
Murdoc: Listen, if we’re going to make fun of Toby Doden, we have a standard to uphold your Christine.
Erickson: I want to let you know I have not done a survey or a text blast or an email blast.
Jake: But you put those elbows up. You know, elbows up, I got an exploratory committee saying they’re trying to box out other people.
Erickson: Well, look, here’s what I think about the box out. And I don’t criticize you for saying that. I will tell you, I’ve been asked to step aside in issues and career moves in the past. And I will never tell someone to not run. That’s just not my style.
If you, boy, if you want to run, hey, you go for it. David Z. David Z. Right? Well, and there’s a lot of names being thrown out right now. And I’m willing to sit down and meet with anyone and just be like, hey, what’s your why?
What’s your passion? Are we the same? Are we different?
How are we going to make Sioux Falls better? And so, sure, I’ve been having a lot of meetings. I’ll be completely… It’s no secret. I mean, it’s no secret I’ve met with a handful of folks to build a team to say, does this make the most sense for us?
Life is about timing, right? And I looked at exploring this seven years ago. And when I was up for reelection for the city council, and there was an open mayor’s race at that time, and we really, really considered it then.
And the timing wasn’t right. I loved being on the council, was having some life changes. And so, for me, I stayed on the council, gave my time, loved being in the private sector right now with representing two major industries across the state and being able to influence change in the daily lives of automotive and trucking.
And so, I’ve loved that. And so, just looking forward at what is my plan, what is my why, what do I want to influence, and am I the best person for that? And so, we’re certainly exploring that and have some decisions to make and some announcements to make in the near future. And so, that’s just where we are. Did that answer your question?
Murdoc: The same question we asked Governor Larry Rodin. If you were to run for mayor, we asked some governor, what would be your main focus, your main issues that you would care about if, hypothetically, you ran for mayor?
Erickson: Well, look, I’ve been meeting with some constituents in the Sioux Falls residents already saying, what are you hearing? What’s your why of, why do you stay? What draws you to Sioux Falls? Why did you move here?
Or why are you considering leaving? And I will say over and over and over again, the number one issue I continue to hear is crime, crime, crime. Now, I will tell you statistically, crime rates are down.
However, people don’t want to hear that. When you hear in a but when you hear over a weekend on a Friday morning, because it’s cold, people left their keys in their car at the gas station, and those are stolen. People don’t feel safe all the time.
And so, it’s what can we do to give you that sense of peace? And also Sioux Falls is changing. While the population is going up and we’re doing a great job on crime, I want to make sure they have the resource, if I were to run, I would ensure that they have the resources that they need. When I served on the council, I brought a very popular item, yet a little bit controversial on two different issues of the police force were at some odds with their contract. And so, myself and another counselor, Councillor Nitzert and I brought an amendment to allow for the back pay.
It was two months. They couldn’t come to terms. Let’s just give them the pay. We imposed the contract on them.
Let’s give them the back paid of January. And so, it failed, but it was a loud message to them that we support you and we find that you are a priority. The other one that I did with also Councillor Nitzert was we allowed for police overtime for special events. Instead of taking officers off the street and putting them down at the parade, let’s give them overtime and ensuring that our streets are completely policed, if you will, and doing that. And so, my background has always been advocating for and supporting our police department because if you don’t feel safe, boy, that’s a real basic, basic function in my opinion.
Murdoc: So, I just think, yeah. What’s your stance on street racing?
Erickson: I was going to ask this to you. Oh my gosh. We’re going to put her in a pickle here.
Jake: I know. It’s a bit of a pickle because you know, auto.
Erickson: I know. Yeah, we love cars and our fast cars. Hey, look, here’s the deal. I watched that issue in period. You know, I’m the lobbyist for automotive and trucking and we have our cars. And so, I either monitor or advocate for or against all bills with anything with wheels. It’s just my thing for our industries.
And so, I certainly watched that. I found it a little fascinating how controversial it got based on west versus east because the Sturgis rally, that came up quite a bit is, it’s a thing like that’s, and so, the intent of the bill was not to harm or hurt the racing out in Sturgis or any of that. It was, those are done in responsible ways. It was really to cut down on. Fetchers Parkway.
Speaker 5: The issues, the fast cars, right? Fetchers Parkway. Well, and what was interesting, I’ve talked to a few folks that have said, you know, they got really, the people that were doing the racing got really smart on the informing each other and knowing where to go and scattering so fast and it’s like
Erickson: oh I know right so my thing with that is is how can we do it in a responsible way I mean how can we capitalize on saying hey can we can we have a facility or is there somewhere that this makes sense that we can do it in a legal way
Murdoc: Pentagon
Speaker 5: I don’t know if the Pentagon is you by Sturdovans fast are they a sponsor of yours are you did you just give them a free
Jake: plug wow let’s use some of my trucking companies and auto dealers
Speaker 5: oh there you go I love it I love it so you know it’s it’s that I think truly it’s really back to the basics it’s you know looking through it from the lens of through the lens of does this make sense and is this something we should move forward I think that there has been a lot of really good things going on under this previous administration you know I got to be there for four years and you know continuing on that momentum but also making sure that it makes sense we’re gonna have some tough decisions with the property tax bills
Jake: that were brought forward thoughts on that I mean that’s gonna be a significant impact to counties and cities
Erickson: it sure is and we just recently saw that many hot county is is raising their wheels the vote for the wheel tax is going up on the heavy trucks they tried that in the legislature that didn’t pass but you know many hot county is doing it but having that money stay local is critical to instead of just putting it in a pot for the state so to speak and so if it can stay locally those funds let’s be honest some of the decisions that have been made over many many years probably ones I did as well were you know they they can impact the counties and the cities greatly and so what I think is really important is to have a seat at the table making sure that we’re bringing the legislators in and and having the conversations of hey what do you think about this and how can we get to yes in a compromising way and so property taxes is a big deal I heard about it on the council all the time I hear about it now with commercial property and you know I just got my tax bill earlier this year and it hurts it hurt bad and I’m like good golly I don’t you know this this is a tough pill to swallow and so people need relief they do and so it’s finding that balance of yeah you know what we need tax relief for property tax but then at what cost does that mean we might not get a pool or we might not get a couple other projects well the city doesn’t pay for
Erickson: schools
Jake: yeah well the reality is we’re going from the from the you know the highest amount of flush with cash we’ve ever been in this state right the code of dollars that basically meant we had every project was greenlit to now to appear to where to go we’re not doing this we’re not doing that okay we can do this but we’re not doing that so you’re right the property tax relief stuff is going to be it’s probably pure to pay
Erickson: Paul yeah it really is but it’s about priorities and it’s just really hit and reset with the citizens in mind you know I I just know that their relief needs to happen when you see people getting taxed out of their homes because they can’t afford it anymore that’s tough it’s tough but we also have to recognize that you know the American dream has changed a little bit too that you know some of the younger generation don’t want to have the three-car garage and the dog and the fence and the five
Jake: yeah we do how many that’s great
Erickson: well but I mean I okay maybe a little bit younger than you will say you’re getting older here but you know some of some of the college graduates are saying I want to live in a condo and be mobile I want to travel and be able to do that quickly and easily I mean during COVID so my small business was short-term furnished rentals and in that 30 to 3 months you have 30 days 3 months and we had people all the time coming from other states to South Dakota to live because you know we were free and we were they wanted to come live there they came from California they came from Minnesota they came and so they came and they were mobile and could do it
Murdoc: one Senate seat in District 29 California
Jake: that’s John Carly is referring to okay the Department of Transportation is that right is yeah we’re talking a little bit for the show yeah they decided or not said to accidentally overcharged on vehicle licensing fees motor vehicle you have to care about this
Erickson: yes yes so it was a motor vehicle division and recently so there was a software update that was that happened I don’t want to speak out of tune but essentially what happened is they overcharged five hundred and thirty thousand dollars
Jake: it was Pfizer probably right it’s got to be Pfizer it’s always Pfizer
Erickson: I don’t know who it was but I know that there was an overcharge of five hundred and thirty thousand dollars I mean that’s that’s
Murdoc: not a million less than some people embezzled from the state recently well that’s kind of the question what’s
Erickson: going on with this money so that’s a great question and really there hasn’t been an update unfortunately for us you know a lot of our heavy-try people will do it on a quarterly basis so they may or may not have been impacted but for those that have been impacted what happens I know if I pay my licensing and fees late I I get interest tacked on to it rightfully so I get it it’s make sure we pay on time but when government does it where’s the accountability is there gonna be a credit is there gonna be a refund it might not make sense to send all the money back right away today but what makes sense is making sure that there’s a credit on file that when Jake’s does his next time he gets a credit of X yeah whatever have a solution ready to go and have some accountability
Jake: is it kind of just crickets from the department they’re kind of just like maybe this will go away and we
Erickson: just keep smiling you know well I will say on this it’s been pretty quiet we’ve had our fair share of of issues with motor vehicle with motor vehicle division with how far behind they are and issuing titles you know in South Dakota so if you just not to bore your guess but dealerships cannot sell a car unless they have the title in hand and so if you go trade your vehicle in and I want to come by it they can’t sell it to me until they have a title in hand well because of this new system which is very very needed a new system was launched they got behind four and five months now let me remind you last year they ran out of paper not necessarily ran out of paper but they were with a very limited amount of secure paper and so they got behind then to and so here we are again and it’s like what are we learning from this commerce is coming to a screeching halt you know we do have some work around they are providing weekly updates to us and we’re giving those to our members and so I’m super grateful for the communication between the two but I’m tasked to represent all these dealerships across the state that have thousands of employees so the decisions that I represent and make for them impact their livelihood in and turning commerce and so it’s been a really frustrating few months trying to get that I know they’re doing well the best they can I’ve offered to send my three staff I’ve had dealerships offer to send their title clerks and we will work for free for them and and pay for their lodging all the will send them there and let’s just get this caught up we’re not there yet we haven’t gone we’re not going but you know we’re trying to get that caught up a huge win for us this legislative session as we passed e- title
Murdoc: electronic title no one gets to say huge win for us this year I
Erickson: can’t no one said hey hey first person I’m sorry to them dingle things who went back we you know
Jake: Marty overweighed by the handsome wins
Erickson: hey let me tell you out of the vote we had one no vote who was impressive hunt hunt and I will tell you I am gonna take responsibility for that because I did not get a chance to talk to her and so I’m like if only I could have had that done but hey I’ll take a hundred folks for yeses and all the committee meetings and we worked with the title clerk we worked with the county treasures and we worked with Department of Revenue and so by January 1 of 26 July 1 of 26 e title will be live we did want to give them some time for programming and all of that but this will be so huge for commerce it will just really speed it up so we’re excited about that and
Jake: any other major wins for you guys and let’s watch this year
Erickson: well that was our big one we really went all in on that major issue it was a heavy lift I’m super excited to because we had a a business that’s excited about doing business in South Dakota and so once e title’s up and running they’re moving part of their operation and their team here and so bring jobs and economic development to our state
Jake: we gotta for that one stop building somehow right
Erickson: this is not government workers these are private workers so so yeah so I mean that’s what’s exciting for us you know and to be honest our issues are not real political everybody needs a car
Jake: everyone loves truckers for the most part
Erickson: right and it do you want to eat okay well there you go do you need toilet paper yes okay well then you better think a trucker
Murdoc: nothing together do you just listen to like
Erickson: roll on well breaker breaker 1 9 it’s Dakota town
Murdoc: not bad right it’s pretty good it’s pretty good we got to take break friends when we come back perhaps announcements that are happening in the month of May about political office tick tock back in the news and hide your Venezuelan friends were back next on Dakota town welcome
Jake: back to Dakota town hall you may listen to us on the cowboy if you’re West River or your favorite podcast player right in your ear we’re here on the east side both of us me and Murdoch with Christine Erickson the president of the trucking and auto association of South Dakota and Murdoch we were talking during the break you played football with the South Dakota legend and brother Chris Christian Erickson Adam van
Erickson: terry
Speaker 5: oh black kills also I wasn’t on the football team like I was eating the dollar streeters painting myself green party and and you know
Erickson: bow was on the football team you know let’s cheer them on though yes I love it so the
Murdoc: other the younger youngest bow and I I think we you know the thing at the time was being good at up signed out Margaritas I remember being both good at that it
Jake: was pretty fun to watch the Patriots back then I mean obviously but they were great back then so like you know watch two balls and so
Erickson: my brother making kicks right it was fun the kick in the snow was amazing I wasn’t there for that one but I remember watching it and they’re like calling a timeout and I lived in pier at the time and everybody’s like why they call a timeout don’t they know that’s gonna help him and I’m like yeah and in South Dakota we kick in the snow like this isn’t going to quote ice him yeah so
Murdoc: it was pretty fun feel like I better go run for governor or something it’s just getting exhausting at Christmas Super Bullring after Super Bowl right
Erickson: he’s been six times and he has four rings
Jake: four rings okay so he wasn’t there for the entire Tom Brady stretch right he left
Erickson: yeah he left he left and went over to the Colts the Colts right and had
Jake: a couple rings so oh yeah I forgot he was a pain man in the Colts I forget that right yeah I kind of got that second part of his tenure
Erickson: yeah yeah he’s actually he’ll be inducted into one of the oh I shouldn’t even bring it up if I don’t know the name of it there’s a in September the Hall of Fame sports Hall of Fame not in the national but it’s the
Jake: Colts or the New England no it’s in South Dakota
Murdoc: here in Sioux Falls okay okay sure in September there’s always an athlete well he’s already in Chamberlain but there’s one here in Sioux Falls coming up I shouldn’t even brought it up if I don’t know I’m a terrible sister but
Jake: it’s hard to keep up with I mean once you have like six seven Super Bowl rings who cares right I point it guy you stop keeping track of what he’s doing yeah exactly
Erickson: yeah sure sure
Murdoc: well as the day we’re recording this let’s get to the issues of the state not like it was pretty slow week as far as weeks and in politics
Jake: it was certainly a slow week we were talking about potential announcements with Christine here but there is another for sure announcement coming up at the end of May Toby Doton and I told you last week and I think I’m right
Murdoc: governor I think you’re right
Jake: thank you I’m here first I’m hearing in the you know Twitter sphere of the social experiment that is the all-day cafe in Sioux Falls I tend to agree
Murdoc: I think it’s
Jake: yeah it’s well and then his I still don’t believe it someone on his staff was sending out texts like somebody hired to legislators asking them who they were gonna support they said they were from Doton’s campaign who they’re gonna support for governor so I mean that feels like if you’re texting them trying to get you know endorsements of people support
Murdoc: right and then you know I got I got a John Hansen update they want to do they finally the Facebook page answered me really one step closer what they say in the in the in the Cold War diplomacy of getting those two on this show I believe it
Jake: wasn’t a hell no good I’m not I don’t think I have a date in line but I feel confident enough to at least say it on this show that we’re you know gonna get there and we give them a lot of grief we do fair but at the same time we’re fair as all can be we talk to everybody we talk to everybody yeah
Murdoc: three inches less brutal relax a little you might have a little fun I
Jake: didn’t say they changed their name or changed our slogan it was stronger together which was the Hillary Clinton slogan
Murdoc: yeah they keep slogan shopping this one’s Mark Marys
Jake: yeah it’s faith faith family freedom faith family it’s a lot of apps a
Murdoc: lot of apps indeed a lot of apps okay so I noticed both Larry Rodin who no one really knows if he’s running or not but in a real I’m running move is making sure we’re safe from the epidemic of Venezuelans ruining our state up and down so and then Marty Jackley said hold my beer and said stay out Venezuelans
Jake: so the DCI is gonna help out with help ice out basically is that what is happening I guess I didn’t know that was a thing we did right I mean I don’t know like they probably refer things over to them when they find them or whatever what this is
Murdoc: I don’t know what it looks like I just saw the pictures and roll my eyes maybe it is something I need to pay attention to but just the thought of like oh my goodness what are we gonna do the Venezuelans it just feeds into this nonsense that the elections aren’t safe and everything else annoying this isn’t a real issue and you
Jake: all know it do you think it was just it was like no I’m calling up Larry being like hey
Murdoc: I
Jake: got ten polygraph tests on all my staff this morning I need you to get the DCI to help me out out here in South Dakota
Erickson: I’m gonna save her international airport debut for another show
Murdoc: Christine Erickson joining us sorry can’t get hard to get a word in on break 3 by the way
Erickson: I’m good listening
Jake: I’m very good listening well I mean we could talk a little bit about the Minnehaha County GOP because you and I had
Murdoc: a seat yeah
Jake: so you people what is happening with you people well we had fun we during the election for the committee yeah Jake and I sat by each other and this is recently this is really this is like what a couple months ago
Speaker 5: and was it in January it was some a couple months ago three months ago maybe yeah and we ran out of that room real quick after Joe Kipley lost his his to the run
Erickson: off here here is the issue is you had sports or something well I did I was driving carpool so I had to leave but the issue was we’re handing around sheets of paper and you’re supposed to write your name and so when we talk about election integrity and things of that sort it just didn’t feel
Jake: great you asked me to hand in one for you I said she can’t do that
Erickson: I said here here’s my vote like you know it’s coming up next it’s just like I mean the first I think we were there what an hour and a half before we voted
Jake: it took forever one time there was a nightmare with the with the treasurer thing where he like broke down in tears it was it was a if it was recorded live you would not believe what
Murdoc: here’s my here’s my
Jake: thing yeah there was a lot there’s a lot there was a lot to unpack and as you know I’m a new I’m a new committee person and so I was there and wanted to take part in my duties right and vote and whatever and I thought oh my gosh this is an hour and a half this is the most inefficient it’s crazy time everybody’s fighting with everyone and I just I have reached out to a few of the folks involved and was like how can we unite what can we do like how can we like sing from the same sheet of music right like because what happened that night is exactly why people don’t want to get involved
Jake: I mean it was so unwelcoming for the first time or that was the first time I’ve gone to a vote as well
Erickson: I mean there’s some f bombs dropped and yeah it was crazy things that were being said and and there was being some call to
Jake: oh sorry and there was a call to questions they were droning on for hours
Erickson: I just I remember looking around the room going what is
Jake: happening right now so person goes and
Murdoc: actually wants to be involved right bring it all now to what’s going on what’s currently what’s going on
Erickson: I haven’t been back to the meeting again
Murdoc: I mean oh gosh I
Erickson: get the emails and I’m I’m certainly interested right I’m certainly interested and want to be like what is going
Jake: on have them see my name taken wipe their hand off afterwards so I mean it’s
Murdoc: the it’s so icky icky rhino on you
Jake: I mean there’s it’s just more the same drama there’s not really any major updates I mean there’s a lot of backhand and I mean I kind of like this Corgi I actually he seems to be having some of the great ideas just made out the best execution
Erickson: right I feel like he’s really trying to unify yeah but it’s a struggle it’s a struggle and because others didn’t win and and it’s just like okay everybody needs to put their crap to the side and just say here we are let’s move forward let’s raise some money let’s do something
Murdoc: well I want to keep it in Sioux Falls and another candidate speculation we’re here and I’m here in Jamie Smith’s name more and more as potential Sioux Falls mayoral race Jake you know there’s more taxi cab drivers in pier than elected Democrats in pier so you
Jake: can more lift drivers in here you can understand why you know someone will make that switch I mean I I can understand that I mean why would you want if you’re a Democrat how would you want to be in pier right now it does not seem fun and we we love
Murdoc: it came in comes on that fun if you’re a Republican let’s be honest I mean it might be more fun to be a Democrat
Jake: this my point is Kate comes on and they talk about all these things we’re doing and I’m like that’s great and all but like how much can you guys actually affect change there it’s not the day too much like that’s a reality of it
Murdoc: no second couple weeks ago he had more legislatively in common with Kate and Whitman than he did with the South Dakota Republicans
Jake: no I think Jamie probably a legitimate thing as far as I’ve heard
Murdoc: and you probably you don’t obviously as as someone who is contemplating you probably don’t want to weigh in on some can it will give you will give you that one as a
Erickson: I mean look I don’t want to share anybody’s news I mean you know as as someone that has this exploratory committee people talk and so I certainly don’t want to share anybody’s news
Murdoc: well then let’s end it Jake with tiktok there’s a tiktok meet and come in what is that it’s okay so as we release this episode the tiktok press conference would have happened just this morning so we so next week we should have this read fellow on maybe oh I’d be great no I’m not gonna be next week oh well I need a guest host
Jake: that’s fine do it yeah great one do me and Larry and read and Tony will work Josie well whoever from the camp get on talk about tiktok I’ll talk about how it’s not a part of China anymore or whatever it’s exciting I mean if this could
Murdoc: actually don’t you dare no this is start don’t you know don’t you
Jake: this is great I like it hey it takes big moves to get things in South Dakota right
Erickson: it does people are just just coming for the same when they come to South Dakota it’s generally because it’s an invitation yep and we’re like hey let’s do it
Jake: you’ll love it it’s jay glow with city group when we got
Murdoc: them here is rodin and tiktok
Jake: legitimately if it happens yes legitimately yes if you could get tiktok
Murdoc: okay that’s the group you’re at the Sanford Research Center it’s the USD discovery
Erickson: district by politicians this is a good move hey you can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing
Murdoc: I’m not trying to be a blanket Willie here I’m just saying you
Erickson: are okay I am not an old hat dead horse I get it but in order to move tiktok here we’re gonna need at least one data center and those are the work of the devil if you go that is powers his blog so like
Jake: Pat’s not saying that by the way
Murdoc: that’s not that’s not Pat talking smack or rolling insults that’s Pat just quoting quoting
Erickson: people in leadership and a challenge
Jake: demonic
Murdoc: you know that read that read Rassner do you he fella has to figure out a budget how to eradicate the goobers otherwise tiktok ain’t gonna happen
Jake: I think if you got Larry rodin
Murdoc: who eradicated is a word I’d like to take back sorry that’s that’s too that’s too passionate they’re obviously at the table
Jake: I think Larry rodin can take the bull by the horns here and get them to get this done I think you can I think he’s kind of guy that can go and kind of
Erickson: oh my god it be so cool
Erickson: well and I think there’s some misinformation about the whole data center thing
Speaker 5: it’s it’s a let’s let’s just sit down and have those conversations to find a way to get to yes and you know I think if anybody can do it Larry can he’s he’s got a great relationship and let’s figure out where it’s gonna go what’s gonna happen and
Jake: well I think how this plays out to is like this is a legitimate thing that could happen Trump gets on board is that okay yeah we’re bringing to touch to America
Murdoc: I
Erickson: am but I’m not I have it because my kids have it so I try to monitor what they’re doing I don’t I don’t really know it’s awesome I think it’s like
Jake: yeah I mean I just I do like Instagram reels right so it’s the same thing but just owned by Americans that’s the difference
Murdoc: separate it’s a stock price and it’s not
Jake: yeah I mean I want the American oligarchs is adding what I want to see okay
Murdoc: all right my friends that’s gonna do it for our time I want to thank our guest it’s Christine Erickson she is the president of the trucking association and South Dakota auto dealers and this great that was great appearance thank you please come back something
Erickson: to be here thank you so much for the invite
Jake: I will be out next week as I said earlier gonna go to Ireland for some golf it’s gonna be a great time sorry
Murdoc: let’s wrap up the show and this can be bonus content okay sure see you all next week
Jake: bye yes go to Ireland a whole week there with my dad we’re golfing five courses essentially a small amount of courses for us on our normal golf trip because it’s about 10 rounds and five rounds so we’re kind of driving around and could take some sites you know we’re really doing it’s we’re working
Murdoc: on the Guinness yeah we’re working on trade for South Dakota we’re gonna be bringing a lot of important out of Guinness you know into ourselves and drink a lot of a lot of Irish whiskey and it’s great it’s great for I’m leaving tomorrow at noon and well be today at noon the show comes out and yeah just a whole week over in Ireland we’ll hold the fort down for you
Jake: yeah so what do you do next week and you
Murdoc: haven’t even haven’t had
Jake: great work I’ll leave it to it you’re in great hands
Murdoc: great hands listeners we have I will find a fun guest or a fun co-host we did though we got to it’ll be a special I want to plug this before we go the show historian lieutenant governor van heisen and I sat down and did the first chunk of presidential
Jake: election can you show me the photos
Murdoc: after this we’re not there yet we’re just rolling some tape on that we just got the first three episodes done this week while I’ve been in town and it’s it was so much fun and he’s so it’s so impressive he’s got two books in front of him and no notes and he just starts talking and he knows on his head and he remembers who the secretary of war is in 1804 it’s just insane
Jake: what would any sort of deadline any sort of like debut we’ll do this summer
Murdoc: the summer instead of doing them there’s so many announcements and people are may or may not be running for an office left and right so there’s so much to talk about the summer probably and so we’ll probably do like a like a put them out on Mondays for however many we have
Jake: sure and do it kind of I’m really looking forward to it sure wrap it
Murdoc: up that’ll do it from Jake in the east on Murdoch this week in the east and Christine Erickson from South Dakota auto dealers this is Dakota Town Hall see next week
