MIKE ROUNDS RETIREMENT PLAN
It's time for new blood and an end to Grift Pigs
This is a badge that Mike Rounds cannot be awarded, ever.
If you are confused about which Republican to vote for in the upcoming US Senate primary on June 2nd, DON’T BE!!!
JUSTIN MCNEAL IS THE CLEAR CHOICE.
Why?
Well, for one thing, Justin McNeal has never been the “mastermind” of a fraud scandal that resulted in a $140 Million loss for South Dakota. Oh, you’ve never heard of the EB5 debacle?
Let’s dive right into it.
“The South Dakota EB-5 scandal involved allegations of mismanagement, fraud, and conflicts of interest during Mike Rounds’ time as governor (2003–2011), particularly within the state-run EB-5 investor visa program. The program, designed to attract foreign investment (mostly from China) for projects like Northern Beef Packers in exchange for green cards, was marred by a $140M fraud involving a former employee, no-bid contracts, and the suicide of an official overseeing the funds.
Key Aspects of the South Dakota EB-5 Controversy
Rounds’ Role: Mike Rounds served as Governor and was accused of directly controlling the program and overseeing a controversial privatization of its management. Critics argued his administration was responsible for the misappropriation of funds, while supporters claimed he was transparent and the program facilitated vital economic development.
Northern Beef Packers (NBP): The scandal heavily involved the $80 million in EB-5 money directed toward this beef packing plant, which went bankrupt less than a year after opening.
The Scandal Unfolds:
Misappropriation: Federal officials criticized the program’s oversight, and the state-run Regional Center (SDRC Inc.) was scrutinized for poor record-keeping.
Suicide: Richard Benda, a former state tourism secretary working for the state’s EB-5 program, committed suicide amid investigations into the misuse of funds.
No-Bid Contracts: Joop Bollen, a state official who managed the program, was accused of receiving a lucrative no-bid contract and taking $108 million in fees that some argued belonged to the state.
Shutdown: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) notified South Dakota in 2015 that it could no longer participate in the EB-5 program following these scandals.
Despite these scandals, Mike Rounds won election to the U.S. Senate in 2014, with his campaign maintaining that he was not responsible for the alleged mismanagement.
“HE WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ALLEGED MISMANGMENT”
Oh poor innocent Mike. He was just a well-intentioned dupe, taken advantage of by conniving and inept hooligans! Sounds like maybe Mike shouldn’t be putting himself in charge of business development schemes, or anything really. Too incompetent, or too corrupt. You choose.
Let’s now deconstruct Mike’s astounding CYA statement:
Mike Rounds considered himself “not responsible” for the mismanagement of a program that HE spearheaded.
Is this a weasley lie? Let’s ask Grok:
Rounds’ Role as Governor: Promotion and Expansion (2003–2011)
Early promotion: As governor, Rounds made EB-5 a key part of his economic development strategy. In July 2005, he personally wrote a letter encouraging foreign investors to participate in South Dakota EB-5 projects.
argusleader.comState involvement: The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and Department of Tourism & State Development (overseen by Secretary Richard Benda) played central roles. Officials, including Benda and Joop Bollen (the program’s day-to-day director), traveled to China to recruit investors. Rounds supported “South Dakota Certified Beef” initiatives and pushed large-scale ag projects that relied on EB-5 capital.
apnews.comKey administrator Joop Bollen: Bollen, a Dutch immigrant and former Northern State University (NSU)-affiliated export promoter, ran the state’s EB-5 regional center starting in 2004 as a state employee. Under Rounds, the program shifted from small dairy investments to bigger ventures. In 2008–2009, Bollen formed a private for-profit company (SDRC Inc., later South Dakota Regional Center) and received a no-bid contract from the state to administer the program. He resigned his state post but continued as contractor. Fees (e.g., ~$5,000 per investor + annual management fees) flowed to SDRC instead of the state.
Depositions later showed GOED (under Rounds) was in charge: It granted Bollen authority, funded activities, selected/approved projects, assigned duties, received reports, and used state letterhead for authorizations. The Board of Regents/NSU had limited involvement and was not the primary overseer, contrary to some of Rounds’ public statements.
[sddp.org]
So, obviously Governor Rounds was 100% responsible for the creation, promotion AND MANAGEMENT of the EB5 program. I mean, that’s how leadership works, or at least it’s supposed to work. Here’s a few related quotes straight from the horse’s mouth:
(EB5 is a) “proven, successful program”
“there was good that happened with the EB-5 program as well” - this quote reminds me of “Besides the ending, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?”
“[l]egal immigration is an essential part of our nation’s heritage”. - this canard is as tired as Mike must be of serving the Deep State interests. Immigration is the only reason the USA exists in the first place, obviously, but what Rounds was doing, and what continues on to this day, is not immigration but rather importation, through the aid of NGO’s like LSS, of foreign peoples for the sole reason of providing cheap labor for large companies. “Immigration” today is mostly a scam that hurts Americans rather than enriching our culture.
RICHARD BENDA
Richard Benda conflict and state loans:
Benda (Rounds’ cabinet secretary for tourism/economic development) helped arrange state loans/grants to Northern Beef.
As Rounds’ term ended in late 2010, Benda arranged a $600,000 state loan (part of ~$1–2.36 million in lame-duck assistance) and then joined SDRC to “monitor” the project (his salary ultimately came from EB-5-related funds).
[vox.com]Rounds initially claimed limited knowledge but admitted in October 2014 that he learned of Benda’s new SDRC job around the time he signed off on the loan—and approved it anyway. A later $550,000–$600,000 in funds was diverted (Benda used some for personal salary).
[en.wikipedia.org]Benda committed suicide in October 2013, days before a planned indictment on embezzlement/grand theft charges related to the $550,000 diversion.[en.wikipedia.org]
Okay, so the Benda “suicide” part of this story, while tragic, is one that I will not be going into depth on in this post. But most of us have heard the chatter. Lots of smoke surrounds this, uhhh, politically convenient suicide. Let's just say that this particular misadventure was diabolical enough to inflame the passions of particular members of the Chinese mafia.
There’s a lot more to this story, miles and miles of rabbit holes one can go down if you want to get even more depressed about the history of corruption in South Dakota. But the worst part of this story is that Mike Rounds, after all of this blew up on his watch in a very public way, was rewarded with an all expense paid lifetime (apparently) appointment to the extremely exclusive club - the U.S. Senate.
Now, what are we to take away from this story? That Mike & his bros were especially wicked people who should have gone to prison?
No, well,,,yes they should have gone to prison. And Mike Rounds certainly didn’t deserve to represent the fine taxpayers of SD in the US Senate after such a colossal failure of a program. But we should also learn from this episode that politicians have NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT or mandate to engage in business partnerships using taxpayer money. And, they suck at it. Like, hard suck.
Let’s remember that it was Governor Mike Rounds who initiated the whole corrupt institution that has become so entangled in our state’s economy to this day - GOED. Hmmm, what is the type of government that actively involves itself in the creation & maintenance of private businesses? Let’s ask Google:
State Capitalism: A system where the state intervenes in the economy and exerts significant control over large industries. The state may own enterprises or direct private companies, acting as a major economic actor while using market mechanisms.
Corporatism (or Corporatocracy): An economic system where corporate interests and the state are heavily intertwined. It often features large companies working in partnership with the government, sometimes with the government controlling or heavily influencing business operations for national goals.
Totalitarianism: A government that holds absolute control over all aspects of public and private life, including trade unions and private businesses, often suppressing any independent economic activity.
Nationalization: The process by which a government takes private assets or companies under state ownership.
State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs): Specific businesses or entities created, owned, or directly controlled by the government.”
Ahhh, “CORPORATOCRACY”, that’s exactly what we have here in SD, thanks to wanna-be dictators/CEOs like former insurance salesman/realtor Mike Rounds & George Mickelson, who unexpectedly died in a plane crash while on an “Economic Development” mission.
Let’s allow that to sink if for a minute. Governor Mickelson very well might be alive and well today if he hadn’t taken on the unconstitutional & non-mandated role of business mogul. For example, Governor Mickelson can be thanked for the following “accomplishments”:
Revolving Economic Development and Initiative (REDI) Fund — A revolving loan fund financed by a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase. It supported business expansion, job creation, and economic diversification.
trailofgovernors.com
Future Fund — Another key economic tool placed under the governor’s control for flexible, rapid-response investments.
southdakotasearchlight.com
He combined and strengthened various state economic efforts into a more cohesive approach, helped create or elevate the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), launched tourism initiatives (e.g., “Great Faces, Great Places” campaign), and promoted infrastructure and business recruitment.
Gee, thanks George.
Back to Governor Rounds.
A reasonable person would be safe to assume that after the absolute train wreck that was EB-5 unfolded in all of its gruesome splendor, the next governor - Daugaard- would have wisely shut down GOED as yet another failed government-driven experiment into areas that it did not belong.
Alas, we do not live in such a state.
South Dakota’s state motto is evolving away from “Under God the People rule” to “Land of 10,000 Grift Pigs”, sadly, and if we continue to keep voting for whoever has the most name recognition, then we should expect the same, and worse.
Because Mike Rounds is not going to change anything for the better for South Dakotans. He’s a status quo guy, for reasons that we can imagine, including personal wealth and comfort, along with being completely captured by the Deep State. Mike Rounds will do nothing to secure our elections, protect landowners from predatory globalist schemes, lower crime rates, lower property-sales-income taxes, lower federal spending, increase our liberty, protect us from forced vaccinations, enforce Transparency in government, protect us from the Surveillance state, prevent the evolution of our society to Digital ID and a social credit score system, or do anything really to improve the overall qulaity of life for our grandchildren.
SO, WHAT ABOUT MCNEAL?
Right around the time that Mike Rounds was cooking up the worst G.E.D. scam in South Dakota history, Justin McNeal was serving this country on a fast attack submarine in the Navy as a Nuclear Engineer (2001-2007). And in case you didn’t know, becoming a nuclear submarine engineer is one of the most academically and mentally demanding paths in the entire U.S. military.
Justin is also a SD business founder and operator, who started a company called Dakota Biochar, which is “a company focused on mitigating wildfire risk in the Black Hills by reducing waste-wood accumulation and restoring unproductive farmland across South Dakota through soil-healing biochar solutions”. This is actually pretty cool, because what this technology will do is take the useless and dangerous piles of “leavings” left over from logging operations all over the Black Hills and turning into a useful product that can make farming more productive. It’s solving 2 problems at one time, which is the opposite of what most of our electeds usually accomplish with all of their G.E.D. pyramid schemes of not solving any problems while transferring wealth from one party to another.
Adam Long, Justin & yours truly back in March 2024
Learn more - & DONATE - here McNeal website
In closing, everyone loves to complain about “career polticians”, so here’s your chance to actually do something about. After all, Justin has personally assured me that he only intends to serve one term as senator, then it’s back to South Dakota to resume being a productive citizen again. Isn’t that refreshing!
Let’s offer Mike Rounds a warm welcome back to SD & a happy retirement, for the betterment of us all.
p.s.
If anyone is confused about what makes a politico a RINO, below is a graphic showing what an actual Republican beleives in, and their voting record should reflect these values.
Justin needs to become a lot more visible really soon.
Excellent coverage.