Statement from Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd on IM22 Lawsuit

I reached out to the legislators who are leading the effort to refer the awful initiated Measure 22 to the courts for a review, and Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd responded with the following statement:

Sen. Blake Curd (R-12)
Sen. Blake Curd (R-12)

I swore an oath to support, defend and protect the Constitutions of the state of South Dakota and the United States. I take that seriously.

Challenging IM 22 is one step in that process as it so blatantly disregards both documents. Its passage has created a constitutional crisis in our state that reaches from the Governor’s chair through every elected official in our state making de-facto criminals out of every elected office holder and giving only two choices; resign the office and abandon the voters or remain and commit a crime. Clear, direct and decisive action was needed without additional delay.

As South Dakota citizens become better acquainted with the multitude of problems created by this law that was forced into South Dakota by activists from out of state, I am confident that they will join us in the effort to correct the problems this initiated measure has created.

Thank you Senator Curd for your efforts against this measure where South Dakotans were victimized by a false advertising campaign

32 thoughts on “Statement from Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd on IM22 Lawsuit”

    1. The law was written by a group in Massachusetts called Represent Us. That group also paid for a vast majority of the efforts to get the measure on the ballot and the campaign to promote it, including the television and radio advertisements.

  1. I love how stupid everyone is saying the voters are. Rounds, Noem, Thune and Daugaard all came out against this law. I saw the postcards and voters still passed it in an election that gave Thune, Noem and Trump all over 60% support. I also saw the postcards that said 22 was publicly funded paying politicians. Voters probably saw them also. I know they were posted on here everytime there was a new one.

    The voters said thank you for your opinion but we disagree.

    I didn’t vote for the law because it’s a mess but the people spoke.

    1. I don’t get this, either. 1 candidate for POTUS stepped in a hot pile by saying half of the other candidate’s supporters fit in a basket of deplorables. Now this blog and virtually the entire Republican establishment, not just the elite, is calling the majority of the South Dakota electorate stupid, or gullible, or misguided. So is that why they vote Republican?

      1. I think they were misled by the socialists who pushed this measure, such as Rick Weiland. That is a standard tactic of the left-mislead, misinform, lie, twist, slander, deny. . . you get the picture. I think you are probably stupid to vote Democrat, or else you just do what mama and daddy always did without questioning where the Demoncrats are now as a party.

        I didn’t vote for this idiocy from Weiland and his minions, and I’m not sure why it passed, but crap is still crap; enough idiots on the supreme court voted to legalize the murder of the unborn, so that just goes to show that the majority isn’t always right.

        1. Slander. Interesting that you label Rick Weiland a socialist. Have proof that he is a registered, card-carrying member of a socialist party?

      1. This is why I don’t support direct democracy like IM’s and CA’s we have a representative form of democracy for a reason.

        The masses often are stupid and ignorant and it’s because they don’t study the laws.

    2. Did those who voted for this read the entire 34 pages and understood what they meant? I don’t feel sorry for the cronies who have to cancel their dinners, but I do not want two $50 democracy credits.

  2. Wowzer. A bunch of Republican legislators are suing the Republican Attorney General over a law passed by the majority of this state’s heavily-lopsided Republican electorate. Republicans win again! Meanwhile, the Attorney General has to take time away from serious stuff like keeping South Dakota safe, prosecuting criminals, all that boring stuff.

    1. Yes. You can blame Rick Weiland and a bunch of malicious Massachusetts political hacks. They wrote this garbage and lied to voters.

    2. If there are unconstitutional parts to this, why is it a waste of time? I guess if State constitutions and the Federal Constitution mean nothing to you, it is a waste of time, but some of us believe in the America and law, unlike Hillary, Ricky, Sanders, etc, etc.

  3. Good job Senator Curd! Refreshing to have a majority leader that has a plan before just firing away saying NO!

  4. Why do we even have elections or ballot measures in this state? Just let “these people” and their sugar daddy lobbyists make all decisions.. We were “tricked”?No we voted for the crooks to leave if they can’t do their jobs without pay offs….How much does the Heritage Fou
    ndation pay “you people” to push their wing-nut agenda?

    “Rep. Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls, said lawmakers in the citizen Legislature have been left grappling with whether they’d be allowed to keep their legislative seats following the law’s passage.”—— “The law prevents lawmakers or other elected officials from accepting contributions of more than $100 annually from groups that lobby in Pierre.”– What is so hard to understand….Don;t take payoffs!!! If you cannot stop being bribed—LEAVE!!!

    ———–
    “But that becomes a problem, he said, as many lawmakers are employed by groups that lobby the state or hold positions on boards that lobby.”—- If they have a conflict of interest—LEAVE!!!– If not– DON”T take payoffs———– A 9 year old could understand that. What an insult to the people that support this

    1. What are you considering a payoff?

      Many employers offer wages in the form of money.

      Some emplyers even provide office supplies

      A good number of empoyers offer coffee or water at no cost.

      Even some employers offer bonuses for meeting some goal, in the form of items or money

      Hang on to your hats for this one. Some of them even will spring for a meal a couple times year, in the form of a holiday party or summer outing.

      All of these can be considered a payoff. In fact just being employed byitself can be considered a payoff. is this what you really want?

  5. Why does Senator Curd care? Doesn’t he already have a minority interest in a corporation which does business with the State, which itself is a violation of law given that he is currently a sitting member of the state legislature?

    Why don’t all of the Republicans in Pierre just follow Senator Curd’s lead and claim that a a given law or initiated measure doesn’t apply to them?

    There you go, problem solved.

  6. Money and slick Rick sold a lemon. Their ads were deceiving and voters obviously did not read the 30+/- pages.

    That, and there was almost zero qualified effort to oppose the measure.

    This POS needs a redo and people better read the fine print.

  7. Payoffs? Have you been to Pierre? Cold chicken and vegetables, dry rice, bud light and time with the county highway superintendent from chamberlain isn’t exactly a bribe. jaedee how is Cambridge this time of year?

    1. Good way to dissuade even more quality people from sacrificing the time to come to Pierre-eliminate what little perks there are. Slick Rick has never even been to Pierre during session and wouldn’t know the first thing about it. Why doesn’t he just relocate (California?) and leave our decent, conservative state alone.

  8. Instead of taxpayer funded money to wannabe politicians to throw parties with, I think we’d be far better off if we provided more food to the legislatures and as much bud light beer as they wanted all day long to keep them at work and actually getting things done. Plus the bud light beer in large quantities would buy a lot more entertainment for us all.

    Plus it would keep some of the legislatures from trying to raise their own salary since it would come with all the free beer they could drink and it would increase competition for the jobs.

    1. I say take away their pay and per diem that way the rich can make all the decisions! What do the working class and poor people know anyway!

      1. No. Leave them a little pay to buy late night pancakes but give them all the free beer they can drink from gavel down until adjournment each night.

  9. Most everyone I know spent a lot of time studying the issues this year. The ads were crazy this year and many seemed quite removed from the actual issue. The 18% people were obvious frauds and in a way I think caused voters to do their homework. I was surprised IM22 passed as is was opposed by our prominent politicians. This is Republican voters sending a message. Go ahead, screw with them.

    1. The only people that read IM22 were a few politicians and lawyers, and even they didn’t understand it since it was so poorly written. Even if IM22 is reversed by the court or the legislature, there is much to be learned about the tactics and strategy on how to get people to vote for something that is bad for them.

  10. Correct. Run a bill with 30 plus pages on multiple subjects call it something that everyone can get behind, like anti-corruption, collect monster fees and then laugh.

  11. hey i thought the will of the voter was high holy writ, not subject to change as with the badly written minimum wage referendum. what changed? was it the parties affected unwittingly? lol this is rich.

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