SOUTH DAKOTA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ELECTS LEADERSHIP AT STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Mitchell, SD (Dec. 7, 2019) – The South Dakota Democratic Party held an election during their regularly scheduled State Central Committee meeting in Mitchell today. Interim Chair Randy Seiler was officially elected to office along with newly elected Vice Chair Nikki Gronli and Treasurer Marcia Bunger. They will join four-term Secretary Lorri May to complete the elected leadership team.

Seiler found himself in the role of Chair in October after the resignation of Chairwoman Paula Hawks and Executive Director Stacey Burnette. While in the interim role, Seiler and numerous volunteers have worked countless hours to rectify past inaccurate FEC reports and verify accounting records that left the party with financial concerns.

“Although we are still in the process of correcting past misfilings, we have a dedicated team and a third-party accounting firm working diligently to make sure we have accurate information filed. We’ve also done an assessment of our monthly income and taken steps to quickly eliminate past debt that might have held us back. I couldn’t be prouder of the work of many Democratic Party members from across the state.” – Randy Seiler, Chair

During the meeting, members of the State Central Committee were also provided the updated financial report and approved the 2020 budget and calendar.

“Going forward, we’ll work with our statewide leaders to put in place financial constraints that will prevent something like this from happening again. It’s critical to have our third-party accounting partner to oversee the accuracy of our filings. We take this very seriously.” – Marcia Bunger, Treasurer

With the 2020 election around the corner and contested races for the Democratic ticket for both U.S. Senate and House, the South Dakota Democratic Party needed to quickly put the financial and leadership distractions behind them.

“Today we took a big step forward and put some challenges behind us. We will now go through the work of hiring an Executive Director that can continue to support our work. I’m very proud to be part of this team. The passion of this group of people is why we are a stronger party today.” – Nikki Gronli, Vice-Chair

For further information on today’s meeting, please call Nikki Gronli, 605-376-3337.

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