By Joshua Haiar and Makenzie Huber,
South Dakota Searchlight
A state senator has been banned from the House of Representatives floor and lobby for the last week of the 2024 legislative session for placing a bottle of syrup on another lawmaker’s desk.
Sen. Tom Pischke, R-Dell Rapids, was informed of the action Monday in a letter from Speaker of the House Hugh Bartels, R-Watertown. Pischke’s action was a violation of decorum, Bartels said.
Pischke placed the bottle of syrup on Rapid City Republican Rep. Kristin Conzet’s desk days after Conzet motioned to defeat a commemoration celebrating the late Nancy Green, whose likeness was used to create the Aunt Jemima advertising character, which was formerly used on syrup and other products.
The commemoration was introduced by Rapid City Republican Rep. Phil Jensen with co-sponsors Pischke and Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre. It stated, in part, “that Nancy Green was a remarkable woman whose story has been sadly erased by politics.” However, some lawmakers saw the resolution as intentionally provocative.
The Aunt Jemima brand was discontinued in 2021 in response to criticism that the caricature of a Black woman perpetuated outdated and offensive portrayals of African Americans.
In South Dakota, it only takes one lawmaker to table commemorations.
The House ban is an “overreaction,” Pischke said.
“I was simply giving a gift to my good friend,” he told South Dakota Searchlight.
Banning Pischke from the floor was the “only recourse,” Bartels told South Dakota Searchlight.
“Decorum is probably one of the biggest rules in the House that we try and enforce, and the Senate does as well,” Bartels said. “Everything decorum-wise matters in the Legislature, whether it’s the last day or the last five minutes.”
A member of Senate leadership told South Dakota Searchlight there is no plan to discipline Pischke in the Senate.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
