From KELOland News, the Republican and Democrat Senate Caucuses have appointed a committee to look into allegations of misconduct that were made against two of the leaders of the State Senate:
Political party caucuses have chosen nine members of the state Senate to investigate a complaint that two top Republican senators were intoxicated while conducting official business at the Capitol during the final working day of the 2020 session of the South Dakota Legislature.
and..
The Executive Board set a June 30 deadline for the investigative panel to submit its report. The board is scheduled to meet by teleconference at 10 a.m. CT Monday, April 20. An agenda hadn’t been posted as of 9 a.m. CT Wednesday.
Is there a way to fund the investigation from a state liquor tax fund?
Mr. Dale the demon weed is bad. It is very bad.
This is as simple as asking Lt. Rhoden what happened. He was with them according to Qualm’s text posted a few days ago.
“Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden, in his role as Senate president, attempted to dissuade Jensen from proceeding with his motion and ultimately ruled Jensen’s motion out of order. Senators voted 26-4 against Jensen’s challenge of Rhoden’s ruling.”
Just ask him if anyone was drunk.
http://dakotawarcollege.com/senate-to-conduct-inquiry-over-accusations-from-final-day-of-session/
In a text to several members sent by House Majority Leader Lee Qualm and provided by Jensen, Qualm said “I want everyone to know that dealing with the Senate tonight has not been fun. When we were done we tried to find the Senator’s and they were nowhere to be found. Tried to call Sen. Greenfield but he wouldn’t answer. I finally got ahold of the Lt. Governor and he said they were coming back in.
I’m not an English major, but I would interpret “they” as the subject of the previous statement which was “senators”, not “senators and the LT”. Qualm can verify that LT was at the Capitol while the house was still in session. Is he willing to clarify?
Qualm also said they were held up for 2 hours. Which turned out to be total BS so his credibility seems to be a little shaky at this point.
This is yet another witch hunt set in motion by the pathetic, hard right, drama queen, faction of the Republican Party to distract from their own incompetence in attempt to move themselves into leadership.
Phil obviously had some bitter house member pushing him to do this. So who’s the whistleblower?
Yawn. Is this even a thing?
SD House of Cards season one. Who is playing Kevin Spacey and how high does that person take this case? Does Frank Underwood become LG or Governor? Stay tuned!
game of thrones would be more fun. there were battleaxes and dragon fire in that one.
Imagine if they put this kind of effort into something that matters?
True statement. I love Bolin and Greenfield and Jim White and so many others. I like Heinert and Qualm also. I bet I like every person involved.
Just such a waste of time.
Without being there in person, it is hard to determine what actually happened. My hope, however, is for this to be done quickly and thoroughly and not wait until June for the report. If, and I say if, someone was inebriated then a quick censure or some other punishment should be brought forth. On the other hand, if this is something made up by those on the hard right, then charges should be brought on them. As said in previous posts, our legislature has better things to do and can spend their time more effectively on critical issues than this garbage.
Could somebody identify which of the named committee members were physically present during the alleged tomfoolery?
Do not know about named committee, but the accusers were not there!
Time to get this economy going and focus on the real problems of this state.
Apparently drinking goes on a lot by most during session. My source is a person who served as a legislative intern during a session some years ago and witnessed this. There were jello shots in the hallway of a motel room belonging to a legislator before even entering the party. So why pick on these two at this time? I’m not saying this is right, but it just is.
were they in session then?
That is the difference
This is a case where “those without sin, cast the first stone” applies. Most of the individuals supporting this investigation, likely have made their own mistakes that they were given grace on in the past. I would not be surprised if those will come to light.
like the lt gov was drinking also…..
News agencies are looking for a video of a legislator dancing on tables at Bob’s from last session.
Get your popcorn ready.
They better include the LG in this investigation. If he was the driver of these two that means he was there. Was he drinking and driving?
I’ve heard this rumor also from a lobbyist.
Was the lobbyist present during the alleged tomfoolery? It was 4 AM you know.
Maybe it would be easier to list the names of the people who were physically present. Surely somebody knows who was there.