The National Rifle Association sent out an alert tonight to it’s South Dakota Voters, as it views the awful IM22 as a direct attack on organizations such as itself, designed to prevent them from communicating about political issues without disclosing personal and private information of their members and donors
Of course, you can read it for yourself:
Remember the big story a few weeks back when the Secretary of State clearly noted that it was illegal for outside groups to use ballot measures to raise money?
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.”
and..
Secretary of State Shantel Krebs said state law requires organizations like Open Primaries and TakeItBack.org to register as ballot question committees if they raise or collect money for a ballot measure.
“If they solicited specifically for a ballot question, then that is against state statute,” she said.
Now, remember the e-mail I posted last night? It had a PS..
It directly and clearly states that people need to send Slick Rick money to “Win these Initiatives.”
I’m not sure how many more direct statements by the “takeitback.org” group have to be for someone to take state law seriously. They are absolutely raising money under the pretense of it going towards the ballot initiatives. And supposedly, that’s against state law.
The question is, is anyone going to do anything about it?
From the Sioux Falls Business Journal:
Argus Leader Media announced leadership and staffing changes Tuesday, in conjunction with similar moves occurring at many of parent company Gannett’s 109 local sites.
and..
An Argus Leader staff reduction Tuesday also included eight additional employees in the organization.
and…
In an unrelated move, Patrick Lalley is no longer the Argus Leader’s news director. His last day was Oct. 21.
I caught wind of the firings, but it was more than interesting that they note separately and very specifically that news director Patrick Lalley, who came to his position in March, has been removed as news director… and that removal had absolutely nothing to do with “the announced leadership and staffing changes,” citing it as occurring “in an unrelated move.”
Maybe they should start handing our coconut torches at the Argus, like they do in Survivor?
Bonus – updates on people being fired left and right over there make me think it’s ran like this…
A friend clued me to this being posted on facebook, noting that there will be a big Jackley fundraiser coming up in a couple of weeks:
That’s a big list of people, many of whom I recognize. I think the race for 2016 is already afoot…
REPRESENTATIVE KRISTIN CONZET
ELECTED TO LEAD NATIONAL WOMEN’S LEGISLATIVE BOARD
State Representative Kristin Conzet has been elected at the President of the Executive Board of the Women’s Legislative Network of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Women’s Legislative Network is the active, vibrant and respected organization dedicated to promoting the participation, empowerment, and leadership of women legislators in the 50 states and the U.S. territories. There are currently 1,809 women serving in state legislatures across the country. Every female legislator is a member of the Network and the organization is governed by a bipartisan, regionally-balanced board of 15 directors.
Representative Conzet was elected at the Women’s Legislative Network annual business meeting durning the NCSL Legislative Summit.
“It is a real privilege for me to lead the Women’s Legislative Network. I look forward to working with the leaders throughout the country and the world as together we face the challenges of ever-changing global economy and society.” Said Conzet.
If you were noticing (as I am) the lack of advertising for the political campaign, I noted today that US Senator John Thune is beginning some advertising for the November election. However, you may se it rolling out primarily via on-line news sources, as evidenced from this Ad at the Pierre Capitol Journal at the top of the page:
This ad leads readers to a his campaign website, and specifically this video for the campaign:
Clocking in at 30 seconds, don’t be surprised to see the on-line ad exposure complement the same ad appearing on television.
Has anyone else noticed that the Argus Leader political show “100 Eyes on Politics” has been off the air for the past 3 or 4 weeks – which is pretty unusual for a political show, given there’s a severe bout of politics going on. Has the Argus decided to change the name to “100 blinded eyes on politics?” The show talking about politics hasn’t been seen since much web time since September.
Just today, I’m starting to hear rumors floating about of another major newsroom upheaval. And we haven’t seen much of Argus “Content Strategist” Patrick Lalley in the paper since early October.
And there’s also this profile page for Lalley which doesn’t seem to be there anymore.
Given all the chaos at the state’s flagship newspaper, maybe they need to open a few of their eyes… and clue the public into what’s going on.
And the GOP brings us week #3 of “Heidelberger’s biggest hits.” This week’s golden oldie refers back to his recent diatribe (in July) against people saying “Blue Lives Matter.”
If you recall his anti-police rant:
If police officers constituted an aggrieved class disempowered by systematic, institutional bias, appropriating the Black Lives Matter slogan to express one’s concerns about police safety might be a valid act of protest.
It is a direct rebuke to those fighting to rectify genuine imbalances in America’s power structure.
If there was any doubt in your mind how utterly and completely partisan Slick Rick Weiland’s troika of ballot measures are, check out the latest fundraising push from Weiland’s group “Takeitback.org.”
Dear <Redacted>:
The two of us were both first elected in 1978—Tim to the South Dakota House, Tom to the U.S House—and a great deal has changed in the intervening years.
By far the biggest change, though, is the need for political reform.
“Big Money” dominates our elections at all levels, gerrymandering continues to load the election dice, and polarization and hyper-partisanship increases to new levels every year creating dysfunction and gridlock.
It’s easy to get discouraged, to just throw you hands up in the air and give up.
But that, of course, is exactly what the anti-reform forces want us to do.
Here’s the good news, however: Two of our good friends and former senior aides—Rick Weiland and Drey Samuelson—have come up with a bold and innovative plan to use state ballot initiatives to fix our broken politics, first in South Dakota, and then on to other ballot initiative states next election cycle.
Without drowning you in details, these initiatives will establish reforms of state government that include; reforming SD campaign finance rules, establishing an ethics commission; placing restrictions on gifts that lobbyists can give legislators; establishing a nonpartisan commission to fairly draw our legislative boundaries; and creating nonpartisan elections where ideas prevail, not party propaganda. Imagine the South Dakota Legislature moving from partisan governance to nonpartisan governance, the same as Nebraska has successfully had for the past 82 years.
This Trifecta of Reform linked here for you to review includes Amendment T (non-partisan redistricting), Amendment V (non-partisan elections), and Initiated Measure 22 (anti-corruption).
However, not one of these excellent proposals would have a prayer of being passed into law in Pierre, the state capital, but because they’re ballot initiatives, all they need is a majority vote this November. Best example was passing an increase in the minimum wage using a ballot measure in 2014 when the legislature refused.
And that’s why we’re writing.
Because we believe that these reforms represent virtually the last real hope – at least in our lifetimes – for real political reform.
Every one of them is polling ahead, and every one of them will make profound changes if they pass. South Dakotans – like people across our country – are hungry for change. They simply need to be informed about what these initiatives do, and they’ll do the rest.
But it takes money in order to educate folks and time is of the essence.
Because if we don’t pass these initiatives – Amendments T, V, and Initiated Measure 22 – reform in South Dakota won’t be happening anytime soon.
And that would be tragic.
So what we’re hoping you’ll do is make as large a contribution as you can afford TODAY—as there is still time for it to be effective.
The truth is this: we have a chance – a real chance – to pass reforms that will fix our broken political system and, while we can’t return to 1978, to ensure that our children will inherit a better world.
With your help, we can make it happen!
U.S. Senator Tom Daschle U.S. Senator Tim Johnson
P.S. Please don’t close this email out without sending whatever you can afford, even if it’s just a few dollars. We can win these initiatives—we know it—Rick and Drey just need the resources necessary to make their final push.
I’m not sure it gets much more partisan than Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson.
