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South Dakota Republicans’ “state of emergency” to avoid implementing corruption law

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I

Imperfected

Member
bachikarn said:
Maybe we can actually flip some seats ti Blue there?
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if they're calling a state of emergency to block campaign finance reform, they probably aren't going to lose a fair election under the current rules (or, for that matter, have one).
 
L

Lord of Castamere

Member
This is a coup. Like for real. This is break windows, burn things down worthy. This is a system that will try and put you into a cage, using loopholes, that they created, to protect themselves and their pocketbooks, going directly against the will of the people.

Yeah, vote Democratic and all that, but this is beyond.
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
mr2xxx said:
But they'll keep voting Republican.
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its seriously hilarious how the republican party has all of these contingency plans to enact total control when things dont go their way. North Carolina is just as egregious.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Zen Aku said:
Can someone put this in layman term for me? thank you.
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1. Voters voted to make it so lobbyists can't give more than $100 to representatives annually

2. Republicans said "oh shit, if this passes the gig is up!"

3. Republicans say "voters were too dumb to know what they voted for!"

4. Republicans realize that LAST time they said "voters were too dumb" and repealed a law, the voters came back out and overruled their repeal

5. So this time, Republicans declare "a state of emergency" and say the voters didn't know what they voted for, because by repealing the law in a "state of emergency" it prevents voters from being able to say "stfu" to the Republicans and force the law through
 
M

Ms.Galaxy

Member
timetokill said:
1. Voters voted to make it so lobbyists can't give more than $100 to representatives annually

2. Republicans said "oh shit, if this passes the gig is up!"

3. Republicans say "voters were too dumb to know what they voted for!"

4. Republicans realize that LAST time they said "voters were too dumb" and repealed a law, the voters came back out and overruled their repeal

5. So this time, Republicans declare "a state of emergency" and say the voters didn't know what they voted for, because by repealing the law in a "state of emergency" it prevents voters from being able to say "stfu" to the Republicans and force the law through
Click to expand...

In other words, Republicans are practicing authoritarianism.
 
S

SURGEdude

Member
Ms.Galaxy said:
In other words, Republicans are practicing authoritarianism.
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Not that it's relevant in SD, but on a whole I think the right looked at the demographic shift and decided they could either modernize or go all in on rigging the system through stuff like voter suppression.

Their choice has been shockingly clear. The problem isn't just if they will get away with it, but that once you embrace this path fully you open it up for escalating tactics across the board.

It's not like you can only profile people on the center and left. If tactics like this kinda thing, the NC thing, and voter ID become a full push there's no reason to expect the left won't return the favor.

I don't see how these kind of power grabs don't end up crossing a line that can't even walked back.
 
Z

Zen Aku

Member
timetokill said:
1. Voters voted to make it so lobbyists can't give more than $100 to representatives annually

2. Republicans said "oh shit, if this passes the gig is up!"

3. Republicans say "voters were too dumb to know what they voted for!"

4. Republicans realize that LAST time they said "voters were too dumb" and repealed a law, the voters came back out and overruled their repeal

5. So this time, Republicans declare "a state of emergency" and say the voters didn't know what they voted for, because by repealing the law in a "state of emergency" it prevents voters from being able to say "stfu" to the Republicans and force the law through
Click to expand...
How are they not arrested for even trying to attempt this?
 
B

Brinbe

Member
hahahahhahahaha holy shit. This is so laughably awful, I don't even know what to say.

Enjoy, South Dakotans. Maybe try to elect better politicians next time.

From CNN's article on this. http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/south-dakota-corruption-bill-republican-repeal/

In 2015, the ethics watchdogs at the Center for Public Integrity gave South Dakota an "F" grade in its "state integrity investigation." It ranked 47th overall and 49th in transparency of "lobbying disclosure."

Meanwhile, the state has become a battleground in the proxy fight over the influence of money in politics. Represent.Us and and the Koch Brothers-backed American for Prosperity, which opposed the measure, both spent more than half a million dollars making their case to voters ahead of the 2016 vote.

State Senate Majority Leader Blake Curd, a Republican, has been a vocal critic of the new restrictions, claiming they are in violation of South Dakota and US constitutional law. Curd, his colleagues and a lobbying group filed suit against the law last year in a South Dakota circuit court. The judge issued a temporary injunction, effectively putting its implementation on hold pending further review.
But with the court suggesting pieces of the law could be salvaged, Curd and GOP leaders turned their attention back to the legislature.
He told CNN on Thursday the law was, contrary to what its supporters claimed, "more than just an ethics bill."

"It was an attempt to fundamentally transform the South Dakota citizen legislature," he said. "The most problematic sections made de facto criminals out of every single official in our state."

Curd was referring to a clause that would have tightened lobbyist donation limits and restrictions while ramping up penalties.
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HILARIOUS. FUCK YOU, IDIOT VOTERS! DON'T TAKE YOU DARE TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHT TO TAKE LOBBYIST/KOCH MONEY WITHOUT YOU KNOWING ABOUT IT!!!
 
YourMaster

YourMaster

Member
Zen Aku said:
How are they not arrested for even trying to attempt this?
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Because the US has a very poor democratic system that leads to only having two parties. This causes people to think it is "us versus them" on party lines, instead of 'citizens versus politicians'. And limited representation on top because of districts. So shit politicians pull is more or less accepted by half the population all the time, and they need less than half to stay in office.
That, and it is all legal.
 
C

Chichikov

Member
mr2xxx said:
But they'll keep voting Republican.
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It's possible, maybe even likely, I don't know a whole lot about South Dakotan politics, but parties and politicians got kicked out of super safe seats because of brazen corruption.
I guess it really depends on whether or not the electorate buy their argument that this was a liberal trojan horse and not really about corruption. But they if don't buy that bullshit, I think that dems winning some seats and/or getting some of them primaried by non-cartoonishly-corrupt Republicans is not outside the realm of possibilities.
 
R

robochimp

Member
Chichikov said:
It's possible, maybe even likely, I don't know a whole lot about South Dakotan politics, but parties and politicians got kicked out of super safe seats because of brazen corruption.
I guess it really depends on whether or not the electorate buy their argument that this was a liberal trojan horse and not really about corruption. But they if don't buy that bullshit, I think that dems winning some seats and/or getting some of them primaried by non-cartoonishly-corrupt Republicans is not outside the realm of possibilities.
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The non corrupt republican part is hard, so few votes are needed in a primary that a 5-10k check from the Koch brothers can determine the race.
 
D

Diggler

Member
I'm curious what these Republicans are like with each other behind closed doors. They are literally super villains for all intents and purposes - corrupt, power hungry, criminals - do they act like it when the cameras are off, scheming away how they can get away with more insane shit?
 
R

robochimp

Member
Diggler said:
I'm curious what these Republicans are like with each other behind closed doors. They are literally super villains for all intents and purposes - corrupt, power hungry, criminals - do they act like it when the cameras are off, scheming away how they can get away with more insane shit?
Click to expand...

Not only that but they have their own national and international conventions. Just imagine what those parties are like.
 
B

Brinbe

Member
Diggler said:
I'm curious what these Republicans are like with each other behind closed doors. They are literally super villains for all intents and purposes - corrupt, power hungry, criminals - do they act like it when the cameras are off, scheming away how they can get away with more insane shit?
Click to expand...

latest
 
F

Felix Lighter

Member
This is only even possible because there is not a chance in hell that democrats can get a foot hold in South Dakota. This is incumbent Republicans wielding their power to avoid challengers who realistically would only be Republicans. If there was any real accountability by voters, like voting for the opposing party, they would think twice.
 
C

Coolluck

Member
I can see the argument against it with using taxpayer funds on political campaigns and that's why I think it barely passed. But it passed!

There's an article with a timeline on the bottom to give a good idea of what happened.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
I thought there was only war in perpetual armistice in the world: the one between North and South Korea But now wonder if there has been two all along
 
Z

Zen Aku

Member
YourMaster said:
Because the US has a very poor democratic system that leads to only having two parties. This causes people to think it is "us versus them" on party lines, instead of 'citizens versus politicians'. And limited representation on top because of districts. So shit politicians pull is more or less accepted by half the population all the time, and they need less than half to stay in office.
That, and it is all legal.
Click to expand...
Two parties system is a mistake.
 
B

Blader

Member
Glix said:
Now this is the rare type of shit where you can actually say "both sides" because all politicans do this stuff

Im as big a righty as you guys but come on. Pols ALWAYS vote no on more accountability and more tranparency and always vote yes to raises for themselves. I work in politics, all politicians do it.
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And if the South Dakota legislature's Democrats voted in the same way, you might have a point.
 
K

Kimawolf

Member
we need a system like Britain in all government office. at least it would be more representative of the people.
 
A

Almighty

Member
Seems like something a one party state would do. If the voters keep voting for these people after this then they deserve them.
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
It's things like this that really worry me when we get into the whole 'pendulum swinging' thing when it comes to American politics. When the time goes, will the pendulum even be able to swing?
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
D'ultimate said:
I keep seeing NC brought up. What's going on there?

Oh and Republican legislators are evil. Like seriously, not even trying to hide shit evil.
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Basically the Republican Governor lose the election, originally wouldn't concede because of 'a lot of questions,' but finally did, then the Republican Senate stripped much of the incoming Democrat Governor's powers.
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
Lord Frieza said:
Basically the Republican Governor lose the election, originally wouldn't concede because of 'a lot of questions,' but finally did, then the Republican Senate stripped much of the incoming Democrat Governor's powers.
Click to expand...

A storm is brewing in NC. They won't be able to gerrymander and suppress the vote enough to stay in office for much longer.

If anyone wants to help turn the tide in North Carolina, sign up here:

http://www.jeffjacksonnc.com/gameplan-2017/
 
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