A year end campaign finance filing has been made in the last couple of days for the Yes on V committee, which is one of the groups being targeted for taking dark money in from out of state. You remember this campaign, whose campaign co-chair is the newest appointment to the Board of Elections, Rick Knobe:
YES on V Sdcfdisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd
Please note that according to the most recent filing, Knobe’s group rang up another $248,000 in dark money being brought in from the out of State group “Open Primaries.” And curiously, a companion filing was made alongside this one noting where Open Primaries got it’s money.
As per 12-27-19, which notes in part:
Before contributing more than ten thousand dollars in the aggregate to a ballot question committee pursuant to § 12-27-18, an organization shall provide to the ballot question committee a sworn written statement made by the president and treasurer of the organization declaring and affirming, under the penalty of perjury, the following:(1) The name and street address of every person who owns ten percent or more of the organization, has provided ten percent or more of the organization’s gross receipts, including capital contributions, in the current or preceding year, or has provided ten percent or more of the funds being contributed to the ballot question committee
And, they did file, but the filing only raised more questions….
Open Primaries Inc by Pat Powers on Scribd
Open Primaries, which has put over 1.1 million into upending South Dakota’s system of elections, apparently is wholly owned by “The Action Now Initiative.” And what do we know about them?
What do we know? Darn near nothing.
And as a 501 (c)(4), we won’t know where they received the money they dumped into the 2016 South Dakota Election for at least the next year to 18 months. We won’t know how much they put into South Dakota’s Amendment V Ballot Measure until the next election cycle is well underway, and this last one is forgotten.
We do have their 2014 IRS Filing, however.
2014 Action Now Initiative 990 by Pat Powers on Scribd
According to their 2014 IRS form (under which they put $880,000 into Open Primaries in 2014) they are required to file a schedule of their contributors…. which is not attached.
So, Yes on V took 1.1 Million in mostly dark money from Open Primaries, who is owned in turn by the Action Now Initiative.
Do we have any idea where their money is coming from? Sort of, if Ballotpedia is correct.
The Action Now Initiative is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization started by billionaires John and Laura Arnold. The group works in conjunction with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to advocate for policy changes to state pensions, education, and anti-obesity measures.
Yes, that would be the same John Arnold who has previously been mentioned as one of the top backers of Open Primaries, Inc. So, he put millions into Open Primaries Inc. directly, and put more of his money to it through the Action Now Initiative.
It’s like taking a million from his left hand and putting it in his right, but filtering it so it’s not going to be attributed so directly to one person.
There could be others who put money into it, but we won’t know for well over a year. And so these massive chunks of cash find their way to the Yes on V Ballot Measure, as ran by Rick Knobe, the co-chair of the Yes on V Ballot Committee.
What a political campaign finance reporting mess. And a dark and hidden one, at that.
So, what’s the responsible thing for the State Legislature to do in the face of trying to resolve the abuse of inadequate disclosure laws?
One approach comes in the form of House Bill 1200, as introduced by Mark Mickelson is an effort to provide fuller disclosures for dark money groups like this, requiring them to provide far deeper disclosures than current laws provide. It might not be perfect, or the only approach, but it’s one step that the legislature could take. And there might be others.
But somehow, I didn’t imagine that appointing Rick Knobe, who had a direct hand in causing the need for these laws to be written, to the State Board of Elections would be one. Isn’t his ballot campaign why they’re passing these laws in the first place?
Before they move forward, that’s probably a mistake they need to correct.
I would like to hear a statement from Curd as to why he selected Knobe for this position based on the obvious facts above. And one from Krebs too if she was at all involved in this. I had liked Krebs for further office, but this kinda poisons my view of her. Had liked Curd too, but now I wonder. Has he issued any statement on his reasoning?
“dark money”?– google–koch money in south dakota
To all readers of The Dakota War College: stop reading and responding to Jaa Dee’s posts. Her rants do not deserve the attention that she so desires.
If everyone stop responding to her lunacy, she will stop posting it.
translation=== #1 I am pissin FACTS into this con. sandbox….#2– You are too stupid to have a factual discussion…#3– bllllaaaaahhhhhaaaaarrrrghhhhhaaaaasnotetc.
The forced exposure of the names of donors by the government is not a feature of the limited government created by the Founders, who were firm believers in and practitioners of anonymous speech. When advocacy groups are forced to publish the names of their donors, their donors are exposed to potential retaliation by their employers, a loss of business clients and partners, and even physical attacks.
Conservatives need to stop giving into the language of the Left and calling it dark money. It is anonymous speech, and that is true even when we do not like the people saying it or what they are saying.
Knobe is a flake, what is going on with Curd and Krebs? Krebs has lost my support for any further office.