Government Ethics Laws: SD Lawmakers Using Emergency Powers To Overturn An Anti-Corruption

[UpInArms]

Source: International Business Times

FULL TITLE:

Government Ethics Laws: South Dakota Lawmakers Using Emergency Powers To Overturn An Anti-Corruption Ballot Measure

South Dakota narrowly approved a ballot measure on Election Day called the South Dakota Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act. The state Legislature, the very body the act is designed to hold accountable, began using emergency powers Monday to overturn the measure, which Republican lawmakers have called "unconstitutional."

A House panel voted to send a bill nullifying the ballot measure to the floor. The ethics package was passed by 51 percent of voters and would implement a public campaign financing system, a state ethics commission and stringent new rules on lobbying and disclosures. The ethics package has come under fire from Republicans, who control the Legislature by a 88-16 margin, despite the fact South Dakota was ranked 47th in the nation for accountability by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity.

"Across the board, the state lacks robust laws to prevent corruption, apparently the result of a sense, at least among South Dakota’s ruling class, that burdensome controls are not needed in a rural state with a supposedly high degree of familiarity, trust and cordiality," the Center report said.

After the election, Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd issued a statement saying the ballot measure "created a constitutional crisis" by turning "every elected official in our state" into "de-facto criminals."

A judge issued a preliminary injunction last month to stay implementation of the measure after Republican lawmakers filed suit to block it.

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/government-ethics-laws-south-dakota-lawmakers-using-emergency-powers-overturn-anti-2480581

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more info at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/south-dakota-ethics-reform_us_588684ebe4b070d8cad4e9bc

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Republican lawmakers from Gov. Dennis Daugaard to state Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd came out against the initiative before the election. The opposition was heavily funded by the South Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the largest advocacy arm of the conservative political machine run by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. How do GOP voters not understand why this is bad for them?

[GliderGuider]

2. they don't care, so long as it hurts liberals.

This sure looks like the early days of a pogrom against liberals and liberalism.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Freedom means freedom from laws according to Republicans. Free stylin' it.

If politicians want to take money from the Koch Brothers, that's their business, apparently.

They think there's no one to stop them now that we're all in "White City," with our Snowflake President.

[padfun]

4. They dont even try to hide it anymore.

The flood gates have opened.

[justhanginon]

5. You can only imagine how corrupt their legislature must be

to have it become an emergency to overturn an anti corruption bill voted in by their constituents. Hurry, hurry before they find out how despicably we have been acting.
If any of these legislators ever get re-elected, the people of South Dakota should hang their heads in shame.