A Bad Smell Is Coming From The South Dakota Capitol
Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are names that cause conservative Republicans to expect something is going to stink.
South Dakota has expected her Republicans to be “above the smell”, so to speak. That may be about to change. Something is beginning to smell in South Dakota, and it is coming from the Republican party. It may be time to clean the barn.
The details are somewhat sketchy, but we keep getting more information as the days pass.
Here is some of the information to date:
1. Representative Stace Nelson has resisted a large dairy facility proposed in his district. The dairy is financed with foreign money and supported by the Republican establishment.
2. Speaker of the House Val Rausch has removed Representative Nelson from the Ag Committee. It is widely believed that this action was taken in retaliation for Nelson’s challenge to a leadership position.
3. It has been alleged that Republican House Majority Leader David Lust, Speaker Rausch and Assistant Majority Leader Justin Cronin met with Jim Fry, the director of the Legislative Research Council to complain about bills being proposed by some Legislators. The process of bill development is an area that requires strict confidentiality between each Legislator and the LRC. Obstruction of the Legislative process could be a serious legal and ethical violation.
4. It is alleged that Representative Chuck Turbiville, Chairman of the Legislative Executive Board, ordered Fry, the Legislative Research Director to withhold research information related to a bill which would disclose voting records of Legislators. If that proves true, it could have serious and far-reaching ethical and perhaps criminal implications relative to obstructing the Legislative process.
5. The House Republican leadership was made aware of these allegations of tampering and obstruction with some Legislator’s bills, as early as August of this year.
6. It is rumored that these complaints were discussed at the Republican caucus retreat in October of this year.
7. As of the time of this writing, Republican Legislators have not been notified of any action by Leadership to resolve these complaints.
8. Six Republican Legislators have delivered a letter to Jim Fry and Legislative leaders demanding an explanation of the alleged misconduct by Republican Leaders.
9. A recent report card for Legislators was published, grading them by comparing their votes to the Republican Party Platform positions.
In the spirit of fairness and complete disclosure, we invite Representatives Nelson, Lust, Cronin, Rausch, or Turbiville to offer correction or comment on any of the information in this article. I would love to discuss these issues with any of them who might like to have a conversation. My office number is (605) 716-7020, and my cell phone hasn’t changed since I served in the Legislature with most of these folks, so they could call that number as well.
The questions I hear most frequently seem to be focused around some common themes. Why does the Republican leadership, which voted against the Republican Party Platform positions 60-75% of the time, appear to be so concerned about Republicans who voted with the Republican Party Platform as much as 95% of the time? Why hasn’t there been any action taken by the Leadership to address these allegations? Should there be an investigation to determine if there were ethical or legal violations? Is the Legislature really capable of doing an unbiased investigation of its own leadership? Should someone outside the Legislature do an investigation… perhaps the Attorney General?
One would expect this kind of politics in Chicago, but we live in South Dakota. Isn’t this the home of conservative politics and Christian values? It sounds like that may no longer be the case in South Dakota politics.
Once again, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues with any of the parties, but for now, the smell seems to be getting worse each day.
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This is a prime example why the Democrats are in power in Washington. The Republicans handed everything over to them during the final years of Bush. They didn’t pay attention to business and look what we have today. Really sad that this has to happen in South Dakota. Another example why hard working people are sick and tired of politians. The word TRUST has no Truth in it.
What has to happen in South Dakota, as in Washington, is to oust the Establishment Republicans and replace them with principled legislators who will stand on the values we cherish. Republicans that are RINO’s are the worst of the lot. They run for office professing their belief in the platform but morph into self-serving, self-important power brokers. Then they think they can manipulate the system and act with impunity disregarding truth, ethics and morality. If these charges are true, heads must roll at the LRC and conspiring legislators prosecuted and fired by the voters.
Having visited with a few trustworthy Representatives about how things get done in Pierre….I think it’s time to drain the swamp! I urge anyone reading this to do your homework, ask the hard questions and stay informed during the legislation session. Donate only to the candidates with scores above 60% on the card no matter what district they are from. The more patriots we put in Pierre the better our state will be at protecting itself from the progressives in Washington. There are far too many RINO’s in Pierre and not enough Republicans. The winds of change are upon them.
This is not about one man, this is about changing the system that hide the truth from the people.
Thanks, Gordon. I hope that since another year has passed and awareness of problem issues has grown, that some of the scary problem bills will be seen as more mainstream–and necessary. But of course if this latest news is swept under the rug, we’ll continue to trip on the lump. Is leadership in charge of putting up a “Bump” sign? Fasten your seat belts!
Thank you for the alerts and keeping us informed! Our prayers have been “Let the hidden things be revealed” and it sure seems like they are. Thanks again.