After the Amendment V press release this morning pointing out that potentially illegal donations have been made to promote the ballot measure which would hide party labels on the ballot, Yes on V spokesman Rick Knobe is out calling the call to return the illegal donations “A dirty trick”
Mortenson called on Yes on V to return money that it received from the two groups, which aren’t required to disclose their donors.
“The supporters of Amendment V must immediately return the illegal contributions obtained from dark money corporations that have no regard for South Dakota law,” he said in a statement.
and..
Rick Knobe, the chairman of Vote Yes on V responded with a statement accusing the state’s political establishment of playing “dirty tricks” in making the allegation. The South Dakota Republican Party opposes Amendment V.
and..
“Campaign finance laws exist to protect South Dakota elections from just this type of hidden, out-of-state influence, Mortenson said. “Yes on V should give back every cent it received from TakeItBack.org and Open Primaries and apologize to the people of South Dakota for its disregard of our campaign finance laws.”
So, the chairman of the No on V Committee calls the allegation a dirty trick, and rails on against the Republican party… But one thing I notice is that he didn’t deny that it happened. He didn’t say, No, we didn’t take illegal money. He just called making the allegation “dirty tricks” without addressing their substance.
This bad news for Knobe couldn’t come at a worse time.
Why? Because Nielsen ratings recently came in for Spring 2016. And it isn’t looking good for KSOO Radio, who came in last place among listeners in the Sioux Falls Metro area:
(There was one with fewer listeners, but most people don’t consider Yankton Based WNAX as a member of the Sioux Falls Metro area.)
Knobe’s station was 2000 listeners off of first place for persons 12 and older from 6am to 12 Midnight, with an average rating of .1, a weekly cumulative rating of 4.7 and an average share of 1.3%
I can’t imagine that Knobe’s attachment to a ballot measure designed to hide party affiliation, and disenfranchise independent candidates from the fall general election has helped attract badly needed listeners to what was once a flagship station in the Sioux Falls media market.
Getting beat up in the press, while his station is getting beat up in the ratings. It’s just not Rick Knobe’s day.
The Knobe show is terrible, which is why nobody listens. He should take his liberalism back to Chicago.
I notice Heidelberger is uncharacteristically quiet in the face of such a clear violation of our state’s campaign finance laws. If a campaign (or party) he didn’t like had done this, he would be loudly spewing all his usual venom. “This is why we need an ethics commission! Throw them all in jail!”
Don’t you realize the only “bad money” in politics is money that supports Republicans, the only bad tax-exempt groups are ones that support conservative causes, the only bad protests are those opposing Democrats/liberals, the only bad news programs aren’t shills for Democrats/liberals and laws (including FEC, FCC, and national defense laws) should only be enforced against Republicans?
There is only one right way to think, comrade.
Knobbe is breaking FCC equal time rules with all his spewing on the radio and silencing the other side. His employers are getting tired of his crusades and his low ratings
I am legitimately undecided, but I want to know who is putting up the money to fund this V campaign. Rick Weiland or whoever, please tell us who is giving the dollars.
According to the Argus, here are two organizations that are raising money (unethically or illegally).
http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/10/06/amendment-v-supporters-accused-taking-illegal-contributions/91640766/
“The Vote Yes on V campaign took contributions from two outside groups, Open Primaries and TakeItBack.org, that raised and collected money explicitly to back the ballot measure. While outside groups are free to donate money to ballot committees like Yes on V, state law forbids those organizations from contributing money that was “raised or collected by the organization for the purpose of influencing the ballot question.”
According to the South Dakotans Against Amendment V page on Facebook, 76% comes from out of state and 24% from in state. It also breaks it down as 92.52% undisclosed, 7.26% other (corporations 0.22%, individuals 1.3%, and PAC’s 5.96%.
So an amendment that claims to tout transparency in elections is NOT transparent in 92.52% of its donations! That alone should make everyone vote NO!!!