Cory Heidelberger takes issue with legislation proposed by State Senator Corey Brown.

What follows is an article written by Heidelberger (why can’t he change his name to something easy to spell, like Howie or, say… Brown).  He seems to take plenty of time disparaging Brown’s motivation, but presents an interesting question to readers who take the time to see the issue.

Is it better to DOUBLE the number of required signatures or not?

Leaving signature requirements where they are makes it easier for citizens to bring forward an issue that may be ignored by the State Legislature.  At this time in history, that might favor Democrats, since Republicans have absolute power in the State Legislature, thereby allowing them to simply ignore any issue advanced by Democrats.  If you remove the partisan element from this equation, the larger question becomes “should citizens have easy/reasonable access to address issues that may be ignored by lawmakers?”

One could build a case that this legislation further nails shut any door the Republican supermajority in South Dakota chooses to close.  Given the recent performance of Republican leadership in our state and nation, this move should give us pause.

Heidelberger article:

Senator Corey Brown (R-23/Gettysburg) has perverted Senate Bill 69, the cornerstone of the petition reform package, into an effort to make it harder for Independents to get on the ballot. Not satisfied with that damage, Senator Brown now files Senate Bill 166, which continues the Republican war on the people’s power of initiative and referendum.

Current statute (SDCL 2-1-5) uses the total number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election to determine how many signatures are necessary to place an initiated measure or referred law on the ballot. Per SDCL 2-1-1, initiated laws and referenda require signatures of 5% of those gubernatorial voters. Given the turnout of 277,403 voters in the 2014 gubernatorial election, petitions for initiatives and referenda in the next two cycles will require 13,871 signatures to make the ballot.

Because initiatives and referenda tend to go badly for his party, Republican Senator Brown wants to repeal SDCL 2-1-5 and replace the signature count not on the number of people who actually voted in the last gubernatorial election but on the number who could have voted. Assuming he means registered voters on November 3, 2014, that’s 521,041. SB 166 would thus nearly double the number of signatures needed to get measures on the ballot, to 26,053.

And because he knows folks are already planning initiatives that he doesn’t like, Senator Brown includes an emergency clause in SB 166 to make sure no one could file an initiative before July 1 under the current, less onerous signature requirement.

South Dakotans, Senator Brown does not trust you. He wants to take away your constitutionally guaranteed power to make your own laws. Don’t let him do that. Write or call Senator Brown and ask him how Senate Bill 166 serves the public interest.

Thank you Cory H. for addressing this issue.

Corey B., we will gladly print your point of view if you wish to send it to us.

Voters and taxpayers, you might want to weigh in on this one!

You can reach Senator Corey Brown at (605) 773-3821 if you wish to share your thoughts with him.

***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.”

You can help:

• pitch in a few bucks… hit the “Donate” button on this page
• “friend” me on facebook for daily updates
• SHARE the articles on this site with your network
• PRAY for our State and Nation (please pray for me too, if you can)