From KELOland, The State Senate held day one of it’s inquiry into accusations against the Republican Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer and President Pro Tem Brock Greenfield, with their House Counterparts among the chief witnesses in the matter:
Five Republicans and four Democrats are scrutinizing what Senate Republican leader Kris Langer of Dell Rapids and Senate president pro tem Brock Greenfield of Clark said and did.
Former state Attorney General Marty Jackley represents them. Jackley objected several times Tuesday morning to Senator Art Rusch, chair of the investigation committee, challenging whether the Legislature had authority under state law and what evidence should be allowed.
and…
After viewing the videos, Rusch received a list of witnesses who contacted the Legislative Research Council about their interest in testifying. Most of them were legislators.
“Some but not all,” Bolin said. He suggested allowing Jensen, House Republican leader Lee Qualm of Platte, House Democratic leader Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls, and Haugaard.
Considering the strained relations between the House and the Senate, I have the feeling that this has the potential to be a carnival sideshow as much as anything.
I have never understood the desire of oneupsmanship by either house over the other especially within the same political party.
Tim Rounds you get this I know and the new word!!!
Peoples lives and reputations are at stake here and we absolutely have a larger much more well defined agenda to be working on in South Dakota than this stuff.
Jackley, not sure I’d want him defending me if it is a case that matters. Rusch as the judge, another scary thought.
That is a cheap shot. How many lawyers can you name that have won a US Supreme Court case…especially where prior law was overturned by the Court? South Dakota is pretty luck to to have the tens of millions in new revenue it is getting from that Jackley case.
Jackley single handedly made it so SD is getting sales tax from citizens buying online. Our government would be in terrible shape without him.
I agree. There is a phrase “what happens in pierre stays in pierre”. What do you all think this means? This stuff is apparently nothing new. And SD has.much more important issues at this time than if two people were drunk or just tired at 4 am.
Anon 3:06 please go back to Maryland and stay there with your liberal buddies. Your obtuse comments are objectionable.
“Considering the strained relations between the House and the Senate, I have the feeling that this has the potential to be a carnival sideshow as much as anything.”
They could avoid it all by coming clean, but we all know they have very little integrity, especially when it comes to things that they think are fine because everyone does it.
Why should Jensen testify at all? Everybody knows he wasn’t there and has nothing to offer.
As for the people who were there, if they thought the Senators were intoxicated, why didn’t they say anything at the time? Didn’t anybody suggest they excuse themselves and offer them a ride to wherever they were staying?
That’s what adults would have done.
This story is boring and it seems it has a lot to do with democrats trying to make political hay during an election. All the work got done and important legislation was passed to help small business and workers. I’m turning the channel.
Who was there?
“democrats”. It appears to be more of republicans eating their own. There are not enough democrats to make a difference, and a majority of republicans called for this. You can blame democrats for a lot, just not this.
I agree.
Why didn’t someone ask who was there?
I heard mention there were 16 people present. No names though. Who were they, and are any of them on the witness list?
If any of them testify that they thought the Senators were intoxicated, Mr Jackley can ask them why they didn’t do anything about it. Where were the adults in the room???
Then Jensen can testify and explain how he can diagnose intoxication from 175 miles away.
Nobody’s going to look good when this is over.
I am probably in the republican minority here, but if these two were bombed, which if you listen to the recording, that is obvious, they should be held accountable. No job, in the entire free world is it OK for you to go to work drunk and that appears to be what they did. The good news for Sen Greenfield is that even if he is punished, he is unopposed in November and will be right back there.
I also think we need to take a look at the Lt Gov too. Was he sober?
And finally, for the record, no sober person uses the word tomfoolery.