The Governor is already marshaling the forces necessary to fight the repeal by referendum of two of his most important pieces of legislation. Mr. Ehrisman reports that the Chamber of Commerce has sent out this flyer promoting a July 2 forum with Governor Daugaard to encourage people to "Vote Yes on 14":
This flyer says that Referred Law 14, the continuation of corporate handouts under the unchecked discretion of the Governor, is South Dakota's "strongest weapon in the fight for a stronger economy." South Dakota's best economic asset isn't a strong work ethic, good schools, great quality of life, or even our low taxes: it's our willingness to dole out corporate welfare. Wow: I think the Chamber just managed to insult pretty much everyone in South Dakota.
I'm also getting new signals that the Governor is already in attack mode on HB 1234, his flagship education reform bill, which will likely be redesignated Referred Law 16 for the November ballot. Secretary Gant has not certified the 30,000 signatures submitted to him Monday to put that school-wrecking legislation to a public vote, but two sources have reported receiving live push-polling on the bogus bonus bill. One correspondent reports a caller ID of 231-244-2031 and recalls the poller saying "Research Center." Online chatter associates this number with Mountain West Research Center, which is known for doing occasionally illegal push-polling. (I seem to recall getting a push poll call from them during a previous South Dakota election, but I can't remember the particulars. Ring a bell, anyone?)
Naturally, I don't have the receipts in my hand showing Governor Daugaard and his minions hired Mountain West to start phone-bombing South Dakotans with his anti-teacher propaganda. It is possible that the testing corporation lobby that will profit from HB 1234 or ALEC itself is behind the calls. But I suspect Daugaard plans to be as engaged in fighting for his school-wrecking education bill as his budget-nicking corporate welfare bill.
Recall that Dennis Daugaard is the same man who, right after his GOP primary victory in 2010, said that June is when most people just want to go to the lake. If he's starting now with the forums and phone calls, he must be more worried about the electoral prospects of his unpopular legislation than he was about his personal voter popularity in 2010.
Can the Governor legally spend taxpayer dollars promoting referendums? If not, who is spending the $ on his behalf?
I'm thinking that the best thing he could do is show how many "excellent" jobs have been created. Not to mention show where past money has been spent and how it has provided "excellent" jobs for the everyday taxpayer. Not to mention a complete look at how those investments have helped South Dakotans more than their out-of-state owners.
In talking with some others, they would rather see the potential for cronyism taken out of the process and having each economic development $ scrutinized by a bipartisan committee. The idea was also brought up that a requirement be that the owner of the business and their top management live in South Dakota before they give out any taxpayer funds.
Would it be a better use of the funds to advertise that South Dakota promotes low wages for its people and establish ourselves as the domestic third world option? Suck on that India and Pakistan!
What's sad is that a story on KELOLAND about Cigna has the Director of Economic Development saying that call center jobs are the new economy! And that's very sad if that's their idea of the new economy they want for the people of South Dakota.
http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm/Cigna_To_Hire_50_In_Sioux_Falls_Office/?Id=133469
Don't get me wrong, call centers provide above poverty level jobs, but they certainly don't create anything close to giving South Dakotans any chance at creating wealth or being able to afford college for their kids to have a chance at a better future. We are better than that!
My neighbor Rod Goeman has long contended that a call center would be a great addition to Madison's job base. I understand the "something's better than nothing" argument. I also understand that not all call centers are created equal. Help desk and survey calling may be more tolerable work than cold call sales. But kit's still mostly low-skill labor that burns people out, hardly the kind of work I'd want to promote as a career.
As for tax dollars, you're darn right: per SDCL 12-27-20, no one can spend tax dollars on political agenda items... although there are ways around that. For instance, the July 2 event may fall under this exception to said law: "This section does not prohibit the state, its agencies, or the governing body of any political subdivision of the state from presenting factual information solely for the purpose of educating the voters on a ballot question." We'll want to parse the Governor's words at the July 2 program very carefully to make sure he sticks with the facts.
If he looked at the facts Cory he wouldn't have proposed this. It's about business only.
maybe we should crash this party. lol
Well, we can RSVP at 800-742-8112. But it says "join other business leaders." Hmm... are we business leaders? Will they let us in?
I don't think I have a suit that is expensive enough looking. damn
One of the things uncovered in a study of water development projects in the 1980s was how state and federal funds were laundered through various state boards then to local water conservancy districts (as they were called then) and then to private entities (consultants and engineering firms, mainly). Private entities, run by political insiders, were given sweatheart deals (often no bid contracts or grants) and it was expected they would kick back some taxpayer money for campaign donations. This circular corruption is common in South Dakota, and seems to be legal. I suspect you have a lot of that happening with respect to various local development organizations. Referred Law #14 seems to be a direct threat to the system that generates this sort of petty corruption, so I expect the corrupted will circle the wagons.