On my recent post regarding the persecution of Annette Bosworth, Rep. Steve Hickey responded.
Annette Bosworth is facing 12 felony charges…
…Because she allegedly left her petitions at the counter for patients to sign. Her alleged “crime” is that she is accused of not personally “witnessing” the signatures of 37 legitimate voters, but signing as circulator of the petition who “witnessed” the signatures.
OK
I have written previously that this is a common practice. Does it comply with the letter of the law? Perhaps not. Is it something that is commonplace in the effort to get signatures? Absolutely!
What I found interesting regarding Steve Hickey’s comment, was the response it generated from Lora Hubbel:
“When I traipsed all over District 9 to get my signatures I carried a petition for you also. I got over half of what you needed and took the to your church to get notarized. WHEN I WAS THERE THE PETITION CARRIER FOR YOUR OTHER PETITIONS said that YOUR PETITIONS WERE JUST ON THE COUNTER FOR CHURCH MEMBERS TO SIGN. NO PETITION CARRIER WAS AROUND FOR ALL OF YOUR SIGNATURES. How do I know? Your petition carrier told me so.”
If this allegation is accurate, it would appear that Rep. Hickey or one of his circulators 
may have also committed the unforgivable crime that is requiring Bosworth to face 12 felony charges. It would further validate my assertion that the Bosworth felony charges rise to the level of persecution rather than justice.
Rep. Steve Hickey and I have not always agreed on issues. He is, however, a man of the cloth (a Pastor). I would expect that he would respond honestly to questions about his own petitions. It would not be my intention to see him face felony charges (or any other ‘offender’) but I think it demonstrates the ridiculousness of the Bosworth felony prosecution for a “crime” that many people routinely commit.
The questions for Rep Hickey:
Were petitions left at the counter for people in your church to sign?
If so, did you sign as the circulator who personally witnessed those signatures?
If not, did someone else sign as the circulator of those petitions who personally witnessed the signatures?
To be clear… there may have been a ‘circulator’ at the church counter who actually witnessed signatures and then signed as circulator… or not.
It is fair to withhold judgment pending Rep. Hickey’s response.
***Gordon Howie is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***
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When I heard that Annette Bosworth was being called in by our AG for doing WHAT EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN HAS DONE…I decided to get a copy of Steve Hickey’s 2012 petitions in case he ever said anything bad about Annette’s petitions. It is common in Republican gatherings to “pass around the petitions” where anyone could write down their own, their husband’s, their children’s or even their neighbor’s information and “signature” on the petition and no one would be the wiser. NO ONE WATCHES! It is also common to have a petition “out” on a desk or counter for people to sign…EVERYONE DOES IT! But most politicians are thinking to themselves, “OH shoot…I could get PRISON TIME FOR THAT???!!!” Not Hickey…even though the notary at his church office where I got his and my petitions notarized SAID that they had petitions laying out in the church so people could come by and sign” ….not that they went to the parishioners to get their signature…she said THEY CAN COME BY WHERE THE PETITONS ARE LAYING OUT AND SIGN!So far Hypocrite Hickey is the only one to claim he is perfect…even when I heard otherwise.
You have to wonder what benefit will accrue to South Dakotans if Dr. Bosworth is found guilty: one less family practice doctor whose loss of license has absolutely nothing to do with her performance as a physicians…
Baloney. My petitions were in the possession of my assistant (my notary) who sat on the other side of the counter at her desk.
Thanks for the response Steve. To clarify, if your assistant/notary witnessed the signatures at the counter, did she sign those petitions as the circulator or did you?
In 2014 my assistant was only a notary for me and didn’t collect signatures. Hubbel is probably referring to the 2012 election and the time Hubbel was in my office I was standing right there at the counter with her talking to my assistant. She is mistaken or fabricating the part about someone telling her petitions sit around our church with no circulator. Baloney. I can provide a whole lot of people to verify that doesn’t happen. In my view this is crap, typical of you and Hubbel, tossing out things about people that aren’t true.
I’ve been very clear my motive for pursuing the issue legally with the Bosworth petitions. Here’s why, Gordon…. As a Christian in the public sphere it is maddening to me that you and Boz – the most overt in displaying your Christianity – morning devotions put on youtube – are known as the most unscrupulous. It’s a horrible witness. Boz in particular. She isn’t being persecuted for righteousness sake as your recent post said. That’s ridiculous. She is getting off easy.
There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of dollars (including Utah) or millions (direct mail political scam fundraising), that these Haber/Bosworth people scammed from others. Jackley didn’t have the legal tools to prosecute those – now he does as we clarified the law. But it’s too late. So he is going after what he can.
The second reason I went after her was because it’s high time the SD GOP clean it’s own house and no one at the time was calling her out, including SDWC. Only Troy Jones, Lee Schoenbeck and myself in terms of GOPrs were calling her out. Others were silent probably so it wouldn’t look like it came from another senate campaign – privately they’d tell me just let her self-destruct. I said, no. We need to be the party of integrity. As an elected official I went after her because the GOP needed to show we can clean our own house. As a Christian I went after her because of her lousy witness for Christ tainting others of us Christians in the public square.
Sorry to be persistent on this, but are you saying, without qualification, that all signatures on your petitions have been personally witnessed by the circulators?
Gordon – I’ll explain how this works. People gather signatures for a candidate. They take the signature sheet to a notary who confirms that person was the circulator who witnessed the signatures on the sheet. Once the notary confirms that is the case, they notarize the sheet. This is the process meticulously followed in all the signature drives I’ve have been part of.
Now let’s ask you about your organizations sloppy signature drive getting so many signatures in a short time to try and stop Obamacare. Can you assure us that the signatures you collected were collected according to the law? I have some I wonder about.
although I really didn’t need the lesson on gathering signatures I do appreciate your response Steve. as to the thousands of petition signatures that may have been gathered for various campaigns I have been associated with… I wouldn’t be so bold as to say everything was completely and 100% accurate. my objection to the whole Bosworth prosecution is that it is equal to one felony charge for about every three and a half signatures. that seems like significant over reach in my view
Mr. Hickey avoided answering the question directly. He is the false prophet/teacher (Apostle in this case as he claims to be a Hold Apostle). Listen to one of his “sermons” it is all about him not Him.
Hickey is a (comment edited by moderator)
That being said, Annette Bosworth is no victim in this, the raffle scams, or the mortgage scams she and her husband were involved with.
I have accused Mr. Hickey of lying on another blog, and pointing out his UNChristian statements and behaviors towards others.
Like most self-appointed judgementalists, he too will fall when the mirror reveals his ugliness.
hate to say it Mr. Hickey: I TOLD YOU SO.
“Only Troy Jones, Lee Schoenbeck and myself in terms of GOPrs were calling her out”
You’re falsely claiming some sort of role as a trail blazer–there were plenty of folks calling her out.
You were and are nothing special.
I told you then, and reminds you now, when you sleep with sows like Heilelberger, you can never rid yourself of the stench.
“As a Christian I went after her because of her lousy witness for Christ tainting others of us Christians in the public square.”
Hogwash.
You were egged on by Heidlelberger, and like the child hoping to please, you were left high and dry when you looked around for support and no on was standing with you at the courthouse.
Your ego knows no bursting pressure.
I would defend Pastor Hickey and anybody else running for office because this is common place and most people can attest to it including me. Candidates need to be aware as I am now aware that we must eyeball every signature. This has really never been an issue until Annette Bosworth became a threat to Mike Rounds. She was outraising him with people giving an average of $40 dollars while Rounds was getting money from big oil, insurance CEO’s, etc. Bosworth was getting on National TV and the momentum was starting to swing her way. So the question is, why did Steve Hickey and Cory Heidelberger decide they wanted to take out Annette over 37 signatures when issues like EB-5, the mysterious death of Richard Benda, etc seemed much more important. What are the real reasons why they despise Annette Bosworth. Did either one of them personally sit down and talk to her about issues they have with her? If neither one never talked to her than all the posts they have made on Bosworth is simply gossip and hearsay.
Since leaving SD in 1994 I have been disappointed to say the least that my Birth state has slipped so far to the Left. Seems that our Republican Party nationally have taken over as the PEOPLE have not cared about their constitutional rights. This is what happens when people follow money in lieu of Jesus Christ. They worry more about their security than their Liberty and then eventually they will lose both! Please keep Carl Rove and his henchmen out of SD.