GOP chair forum notes indicate if elected, Lee Qualm intends to weaponize party against vaccinations

I hadn’t had this reported to me from the confederate county Republican GOP chair forum the other night. But in notes that were sent out last night there was a completely wild informational item that should give Republicans pause.

In the notes sent out, GOP chair hopeful Lee Qualm (whom at least a couple of his siblings don’t trust so much), apparently had indicated that he wants to take the South Dakota Republican Party down the same path which caused him to lose his 2020 election for State Senate in a 2/1  landslide.

What path am I talking about? His anti-vaxxer crusade.

Candidate 1 – Lee Qualm
Introduced himself and noted he would be calling everyone.

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Goals:

• • Educate State GOP and take a stand for/against vaccines – each measure should be studied and decisions based on Constitution and Platform. Provide information and use resources similar as to what has been done on RM 21 – petitions, radio ads, etc.

What… The..  _…?  Is this what the South Dakota Republican Party has been reduced to, just being considered a tool for crackpots and zealots to promote their pet issues?

One of the reasons Qualm lost his 2020 State Senate race was because he drowned himself in crazy anti-vaccination kool aid, and was the prime sponsor on Anti-vaxxer legislation House Bill 1235, that would not just have ended mandatory vaccination for school attendance, but made it a class one misdemeanor – that’s up to one year in jail – to require vaccinations such as for whooping cough, measles and polio for employees of nursing homes & state medical students.

Yet, according to the notes from the forum the other night, he allegedly wants to take over the Republican Party, send people out with petitions, and use the GOP to place radio ads for his pet anti-vaxxer cause.

Call me foolish, but I always thought the Republican Party exists to elect Republicans and not serve as somebody’s pet advocacy group! Maybe I’m shouting into the wind at this point, but you have to hope for people’s better judgement to NOT select this kind of agenda for the state’s largest political party.

If not? Then I will at least have a lot to write about over the next two years.