Serious allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Legislative process have been made against several Republican leaders. These problems began to surface in July of this year, and are just now coming into the light. Leadership wants to sweep it under the carpet and quietly get rid of it. It won’t be quite that easy.
Richard Nixon tried to cover up wrongdoing, and it cost him the Presidency.
Several things are troubling to concerned Republicans.
Leadership action is taking place only now, after months have passed. It would seem that they have been scrambling to keep a lid on this. Now that the lid has blown off, the E-Board has scheduled a “hearing”, in hopes of putting this to bed before the Legislature meets and has an opportunity to shine some light on the issues. From information now available, this “hearing” will be little more than a Kangaroo court. Leadership has refused to provide any information, emails or documentation that has been requested, and we are told that no one from the LRC will even be called to testify. WOW!
Leadership in both the House and the Senate are behind the scenes pressuring and lobbying Legislators to help “put a lid” on this thing.
One Legislator who has been a member of both Parties during his Legislative service said “It was easier to be a conservative in the Democratic caucus than in the Republican caucus”. That is another WOW!
Some Republicans are calling for a “return to Reagan’s 11th commandment”… never speak ill of another Republican. The problem is that South Dakota Democrats have learned that they can “become Republicans” to get elected. These “pretending Republicans” do not support the Republican party platform. If someone claims to be a Christian, but disavows five of the ten commandments, are they really a Christian? It makes no more sense for a Legislator to claim to be a Republican and not support the party platform. A NEW VOTING SCORE CARD focused on faith, family and fiscal issues was released yesterday by the Life and Liberty Group. It confirms what the SD GOP’ers showed us in their scorecard; the Republican Party has been infiltrated with liberal/moderate candidates who belong in the Democratic caucus.
So, isn’t it time to clean up the mess? We should begin by a complete, full and public disclosure of all the facts in the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of the Legislative process.
***Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***
