Independent  candidates are a thorn in the side of the Republican establishment.

 

Solution:  Eliminate them.

That is apparently the objective of the South Dakota Republican super-majority.  The Republican party currently “owns” South Dakota politics.  While Republican leaders like to demonize Harry Reid (rightfully so) for steamrolling the political process, that is exactly what Republican leadership has done / is doing in South Dakota.

Governors office, Republican.  Senate, Republican. House, Republican.  US Senate, Republican.  US House, Republican.

If all these Republicans were supporting their own platform with their votes, I might be less inclined to object.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.  Lord Acton, the English historian/politician nailed it when he said,  “Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  In South Dakota, Republicans have absolute power.

Now, they want to seal the deal with Senate bill 69.  It puts another nail in the coffin for Independent candidates, by making it increasingly difficult to get petition signatures, thus helping to eliminate them from the ballot.  Corey Hidelburger (you know who I mean… the hard-left blogger with the difficult last name) has published an analysis of the bill which is worth the read.  He identifies two provisions of this bill which are most troubling:

“Democrats, Republicans, and voters registered as members of other recognized political parties will no longer be able to sign petitions for Independent candidates. Given the math I’ve discussed in a previous post, plus the fact that Independents have no natural organization or network that helps a candidate find them, this new restriction makes it much harder for Independents to find eligible signers and far outweighs the advantage of the decreased signature requirement for Independents.

and

The Secretary of State will no longer accept petitions sent by registered mail that reach her office after the submission deadline, effectively denying candidates who depend on the mail to reach Pierre two or three days of petition circulation time.

Making it more difficult for Independent candidate serves the purpose of maintaining the Republican strangle-hold on South Dakota politics.  SB 69 isn’t good for South Dakota.  If you agree, contact the Governors office an urge him to veto this bad bill.

Eliminating Independent candidates is not good for South Dakota.

***Gordon Howie is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

     “It’s not about right or left, it’s about Right or Wrong.”

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