Message from the State GOP to all Republicans – “Stop Amendment V.” Message from opponents? Stop picking on us.
In case you missed it, the South Dakota Republican Party sent out a message last night to all Republicans on a matter of critical importance – to Stop Amendment V. (As in V, for Vile, Vindictive, etc):
Greetings Grand Ol’ Partiers, Yesterday, a group of South Dakotans announced opposition to Constitutional Amendment V across the state. The effort’s website is www.VoteNoOnV.com and their Facebook page can be found at www.Facebook.com/VoteNoOnV. “Vote No on V” is led by Chairman Will Mortenson. As you may recall, the South Dakota Republican Party passed a Resolution at the June State Convention opposing Amendment V, along with Amendment T, and Initiated Measure 22. Amendment V is Rick Weiland’s effort to overhaul South Dakota’s constitution to merge the Republican and Democratic primaries into one primary in which all candidates compete. The top two finishers in that combined primary would then compete in the November general election. In addition, Amendment V would hide the party affiliation from voters. When stepping into the ballot box, South Dakotans would no longer see whether someone was a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Independent. In the release, Mortenson said the following: “The chief supporter of this ill-conceived amendment is failed U.S. Senate candidate and liberal Democrat activist Rick Weiland,” Mortenson said, “and his motivation is clear: change the rules so Democrats can hide their party affiliation from voters.” In addition to their announced opposition, “No on V” also rolled out a united force of opposition from Governor Daugaard, Senator Thune, and Congresswoman Noem. I expect the group will continue to announce additional groups of opposition in the weeks and months to come. You can read about the Vote No on V effort in some of the stories published across the state below: Capital Journal – Foes Launch Capaign Against Nonpartisan Election Measure Argus Leader – Republican Powerhouses Join to Oppose Nonpartisan Elections KELO-AM – Push Against Making South Dakota More Like Nebraska I would ask you to please take the time to encourage friends, family members, and individuals in your communities to oppose Amendment V. If you would like to volunteer your time, send a letter to the editor, or make a donation to help oppose Amendment V, please reach out to Will Mortenson at [email protected] or, of course, you can contact me directly. Thank you for your time! Ryan Budmayr |
Predictably, those pushing Amendment V are crying uncle over the letter:
“I hope we can get past the childish playground attacks on the person and look at what the issue is about,” South Dakotans for Non-Partisan Elections Chair Rick Knobe said Thursday.
and..
“Pointing out Amendment V’s hidden, big money from out-of-state is not an attack,” Mortenson said in a statement. “It is encouraging transparency in this election. Voters deserve transparency on the ballot and in this campaign.”
Chuck Parkinson, a Rapid City Republican and backer of the amendment, said the comments made about supporters of the measure, including Rick Weiland, former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, indicate a weakness in their opponent’s arguments.
Read that here in an article by Dana Ferguson, who (amazingly) is once again is writing an article highlighting Rick Weiland’s position on a ballot issue.
The truth is that Amendment V is exactly as described. It’s an anti-transparency measure, designed to hide what party the people running for office are.
In fact, it puts those running on an un-level playing field with voters, because while candidates will have voter data for people, identifying their party affiliation, voters won’t have that same information for the candidates.
It is funded by big-money, out of state donors who, yet again, are using South Dakota as their mad-political scientist lab to try to launch a national ballot measure effort.
And more importantly, you might consider this as Weiland’s revenge against Larry Pressler for running in the last US Senate Election, splitting the vote, and making sure it was impossible for Weiland to come up with enough of a margin to win. Why? It nearly guarantees that Democrats won’t have a similar situation on any November ballot, because Amendment V would make it nigh-impossible for an independent to be on the November general election ballot. It would sweep them out of the way before they could cause trouble for Democrats, as they did for Rick Weiland.
Any way you slice this turkey, Amendment V needs to be eradicated, and it’s out of state backers need to be sent packing.