Sounds like we’re going further down the rabbit hole, according to the Argus Leader’s version of the Citizens for Liberty story:
South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, a Rapid City conservative advocacy group, named the lawmakers Monday as part of a legislative scorecard report. An official said the party switches raise questions about lawmakers’ commitment to conservative ideology.
“If a person changes their party affiliation and doesn’t change their philosophy, I think that’s something their constituents deserve to know,” said Tonchi Weaver, a lobbyist for the group.
and…
“I’ve never registered as a Democrat. I’ve always been a Republican,” said Rep. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, who was named in the report. “I’ve never even heard of that group.”
and…
Weaver said Soholt should be excluded from caucusing with Republicans in Pierre, but Soholt was quick to defend herself on Facebook. Soholt wrote that the move away from the Republican Party came as an accident when she went to register for a new driver’s license and missed the box used to record party affiliation.
and…
“I’ve been a lifelong Republican. I was raised as a Republican and I’ve always run as a Republican,” said Sen. Jim White, R-Huron. “I think that my voting record speaks for itself and I have no idea what they’re trying to accomplish.”
Meanwhile, the GOP had this to say about the whole thing:
Republican Party Chairman Dan Lederman said that he “didn’t view the party change of former Democrats becoming Republicans as something to be ashamed of, but rather a badge of honor.”
“The South Dakota Republican Party has always been the party who has welcomed people with open arms, including Democrat legislators as former Senator Eldon Nygaard who became a Republican State Senator after being elected as a Democrat, as well as Senator Ryan Maher, who changed parties to Republican after being elected as a Democrat a number of years ago.”
Lederman continued, “If any more Democrats, especially legislators, want to switch from the party of obstructionists and join the political party of do-ers, I’m ready to sign them up today, and to welcome them in joining Republicans to get things accomplished for South Dakota.”
Stay tuned…
Nice way for Chairman Lederman to turn it into an opportunity to call on Democrats to switch parties. GOOD JOB DAN!
I have never understood why the Stace Nelson/Lance Russell group does not want people to switch…heck we all want Sen Manchain from West Virginia to switch right now and we all cheered when the West Virginia Governor switched and stood with the president when he did so.
Excellent excellent handling by Dan Lederman. Wasn’t so sure about him before but his handling of his is the hallmark of a good leader.
Agreed. Recall that Ronald Reagan switched from Democrat to Republican during the early ’60s. Nothing wrong with that. Paul saw the light on the road to Damascus. It may not apply to everyone, but there’s wisdom in the adage: “if you’re not liberal at 20, you don’t have a heart. If you’re not conservative at 40, you don’t have a brain.”
Because Stace is a dolt…what i find even more amusing is how cherry picked the bills are and how inaccurate some of the voting records are on the scorecard. It simply is not worth reading. Full of errors and half truths, and BTW…Does anyone give any credibility to anything with Mueller or Tonchi hyphenated weaver names on it? Holy cow talk about dumb and dumber.
Mr. Nelson votes with the Democrats, against the Republicans, more than most.
There is a guy who made switching parties a central part of his message. He lost to a guy who had changed parties. He thinks it is a winning issue. I think he is channeling Charlie Sheen.
Grandma voted for Roosevelt 4 times. Later in life, whenever George McGovern came on the t.v., she’d swear something in German and leave the room.
Sounds like a great lady!
This is so dumb. Isn’t it good to have democrats convert to republicans?
And wouldn’t democrats be happy to accept republicans converting to their voter file?
How about Trump? He’s been registered everything.
This is a fringe idea that strategically has 0 traction outside of the 20 people who worked on this scorecard. Waste of time and talents.
They have talent? I’m not sure they have the talent to sniff farts.
I agree that party affiliation is not what determines ones ideology…it is your stand on the issues. True conservatives are the minority as both parties are dominated by liberals. The one good thing I can say about Democrats in general is that at least they are honest about being liberals. Sad that so many liberal Republicans are not as honest. And the scorecard exposes those politicians, such as Soholt.
For the record, I was a Democrat up until 2002 due to the corruption of the Nixon administration. Now I understand that the corruption is a cancer in both parties, and the source for the corruption is the liberal big government ideology that dominates both parties.
This is not worth the paper it is printed on as they say…
So you get a positive score for keeping 22 and a negative score for repealing it…only the top 2 did that…and we all know who those 2 are Stace and Lance! Everyone else in the 33-2 MAJORITY was wrong and these 2 are right, SERIOUSLY?!
Anyone else surprised?…I am not. As I hear it these 2 supported Democrats in session more than Republicans.
But what can you expect from the 2 guys that have been thrown out of the caucus in the past.
Hitler was elected with an avalanche, and the people voted to let Barabas live… over Jesus.
The same people who elected hitler and condemned Jesus also elected Stace Nelson.
Really. That’s what I read on the internet, so I know it’s true.
So Stace, did you actually write this over the top comment with a straight face, or is being serious only for the posts where you pat yourself on the back?
Somebody made a mistake. Looking at the other blog it seems that the statements put out by Sen. Hunhoff and Sen. White are mistaken.
They were once Democrats. So what? But don’t lie and deny that facts are facts. Is everybody coming down with the Trump virus these days?
“This is a fringe idea that strategically has 0 traction outside of the 20 people who worked on this scorecard.”
That is exactly what the SDGOP Establishment is banking on. As long as people don’t know, the liberals can vote anyway they want.
Seriously? A few days back you were putting down the American Conservative Union scorecard with no reasonable justification, and now you are defending a scorecard that is clearly and blatantly biased to the point of laughable. They even paraded Stace Nelson in some of the comments by stating their opposition to the repeal of IM22 was because some Sentators had a conflict of interests.
Tonchi has always had problems with facts. Whether it is because she lacks intelligence or enjoys lying doesn’t really matter. In any event we shouldn’t be wasting our time listening to her.