Attorney General Marty Jackley announced yesterday that he had obtained a court order allowing him to release documents from his investigation of Richard Benda to state Auditor General Marty Guindon.
Let's be clear: this release is not a step toward open records. The order from the Sixth Circuit Court makes clear that Jackley won't share anything new with the public if he can avoid it:
The Court noted “This Order neither increases nor decreases any statutory requirements of confidentiality; all such provisions remain in effect. The Order simply allows these two agencies to share information in the exercise of their respective duties.” The Court further made clear that “except to the extent any information is necessary for inclusion in the Department of Legislative Audit’s public audit document, all documents and information obtained under this Order shall be held confidential and only accessed by the Auditor General and those members of his staff that are part of the GOED audit” [Attorney General's office, press release, 2014.01.10].
The press release and the court order appear to be for show. Consider this text from the Attorney General:
The release of the documents and information is for the purpose of assisting the Auditor General in completing the Department of Legislative Audit’s financial and compliance audit of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) for the period of FY2010 through FY2013. Under South Dakota law, the Department of Legislative Audit has authority to obtain access to financial records that are in the custody of state agencies in order to perform its auditing activities. The Auditors for the Department of Legislative Audit have determined that the Attorney General may have financial records and information pertinent to the GOED audit... [AG, 2014.01.10].
The Governor has authorized the Auditor General to investigate GOED. State law (I think we're talking SDCL 4-2-9) authorizes the Auditor General to access "any and all of the books, blanks, records, vouchers, cash, and property of each and every department, agency, institution, office, fund, or political subdivision which it may be authorized to investigate." The Attorney General is a state office, and he has records the Auditor General is authorized to investigate.
Maybe I'm missing something, but the law seems clear. Neither Marty needs a court order to move these documents from the AttG's office to the AudG's office. Jackley's purported privacy concerns are irrelevant, because we aren't talking about releasing records to the media and public. We're talking about one state official bound by the confidentiality exceptions to our public records laws (SDCL 1-27-1.5(5) seems relevant) quietly handing documents over to another state official bound by those same confidentiality exceptions.
The Attorney General isn't releasing public records, so why publicize it? If anything, announcing that he's transferring confidential documents to another state office increases the risk that those documents could be found or leaked, since snoopy people now know one more location where they might find those documents (and you know how the press likes to go Mission Impossible on locked desks).
Once again, Jackley is posturing. He's still hiding information from the public. And he's still acting as if the law itself as written is not enough to guide his official actions.
What perxactly are Jackley's duties? Is he there to protect incumbent rethugs from scandals? Is his job to keep the public(his employers) in the dark about official scandals? Apparently upholding the laws of your state doesn't seem to be important to him.
Quite honestly, I am outraged by this abuse of the judicial system. First, Court's are not in the business of issuing advisory opinions. They are in the sole business of adjudicating controversies. Here, there was a collusive motion brought before the Court (which one, we are kept in the dark). It was collusive as between two distinct and separate branches of government. After all, was Benda's family given an opportunity to object???
Next, it is a complete smokescreen since if the documents were obtained as a result of a grand jury proceeding, they would be completely secret. However, if they were obtained from GOED, NBP or SDRC, then they are not solely in the possession of Jackley, but can be obtained by the use of the Legislative Audit Committee's subpoena power.
Next, this is an old South Dakota legal trick. To make a very public show of getting the blessing to do something which could be done whether such blessing was obtained or not. This is reminiscent of the Epoch Star hearing before the State Banking Board. Nobody objected and so the Board issued a finding that Epoch Star was not in the business of lending money. Nevermind that they were and are.
However, one can take some solace in that Jackley has clearly aligned himself into a corner wherein he is abusing his office (and the discretion afforded that office) by trying to gain cover from the Court. Of course the Court ruled the way it did. All the parties agreed!
Wait a minute: state grand jury? Jackley's Friday presser says this:
"This joint motion requested a court order authorizing the Attorney General to lawfully release criminal investigative and state grand jury information in the custody of the Attorney General to the Department of Legislative Audit."
State grand jury? I've only seen a federal grand jury mentioned in past press on this scandal. Is a state grand jury also investigating GOED/Benda/NBP?
Of course there has been a state grand jury "investigation". The problem is that such can be manipulated to "exonerate" wrongdoers. Going back to the Epoch magic show from 2010. Since Jackley was AG at that time and the players arranged for a state commission to enter a finding which was known by the players (including their lawyers) to be false when entered, has Jackley been one of the "players" all along? Of course, state law requires the Governor to ask the AG to investigate before he actually can. So, until Jackley comes clean and gets honest with the public, we can only speculate whether it was Rounds or Jackley or both involved in allowing a fraud to be committed upon a state agency without any consequences to those committing the fraud.
The Rapid City Journal's account of this story said that the Auditor General's office could make a decision to release this information to the public.
If South Dakota had a "real" attorney general, he would be investigating GOED and passing that information on to the legislature and its appropriate committees without having to use the courts.
Why hasn't Jackley informed the public about this grand jury?
Be nice if Marty was as excited about figuring out why Richard Benda died than hiding information from the public. Who is he protecting?
These Martys General are probably just carefully reviewing all information. Take off your tinfoil hats and go back to your gossiping on the facebooks.
grudz
Just how long does it take to carefully review all information? GOED/EB-5 has been going on for years now.
Maybe Jackley is just a slow reader.
Perhaps the review is done and you have all the information you need about this fellow's death. It's not like he died from filling out an E5 form. You are just angry that it was nothing. Correct me if I am wrong but the coroner and Martys General have said it was a suicide. Let the man's family be.
grudz,
Vladimir Lenin said "A lie told often enough becomes the truth".
Don't you think good old Vladimir would have fit quite nicely in both the Rounds/ Daugaard administrations?
grudz,
Why is it that when I talk to you I have to put on my tinfoil hat?
Yes you are correct, the coroner and Jackley both said Benda's death was a suicide. The point is, why won't the State of South Dakota provides those details to its citizens?
Even if Benda did commit suicide, why is Jackley giving the appearance of a cover up by not releasing the documents.
Instead, Jackley is hiding behind a minor child and South Dakota courts.
Mr. Bulle, I, for one, would welcome good old Vlad and invite him to sit down and educate us all. He would be most historical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie Lenin may have said it too however.
grudz,
Did you possibly misspell "hysterical"?
So Vladimir would educate us with quotes like these?
"It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed."
(Don't know about you grudz, but I place a pretty high value on my liberty...)
"He who now talks about the "freedom of the press" goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism."
(What say you, Cory, Bob Mercer, Kevin Woster et al?)
"One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers and the disarming of the bourgeoisie (the middle class)."
(So the middle class in America is so evil the workers need to arm themselves to fight that evil?)
"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation."
(Seems to be working pretty well already...)
"While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State."
(This one: AMEN & HALLELUJIAH!)
Douglas Wiken,
Just do a Google search of the quote - it is widely attributed to the "good old Vlad"...
Did not Vlad try and exterminate fuzzy kitties too?
Steve Bulle-South Dakota,I believe,has the lowest tax rates in the nation and overall taxes are near historic lows.
grudz,
Seems that you and I.P. Larry have something in common - if you can't attack the message, attack the messenger...so let me clear the air. Yes, I hunt, and yes I hunt mountain lions, for reasons that I would never be able to get you to understand even if I had the desire to do so, which I don't. Help me out here though, what does that have to do with the topic of discussion on this post?
Nothing, Mr. Bulle. I'm all for killing those kitties.
But I would never defend doing it illegally after the season is over.
Is the Game and Fish department hiding information that they haven't released on that issue? I bet there is more too it and they are hiding it.
Your neighbor and my good friend Bob says that Game Fish is a bunch of yahoos that hide information from the public.
What I think should be of interest to South Dakotans is how the attorney general and the governor seem to be working in tandem, perhaps huddling together, as they decide when to open the spigot and let a bit of information drip out to the public. Right at about the same time that Marty distributed his release about the court order, the governor released his column to us South Dakotans to talk about, of all things, audits regarding this scandal. Coincidence? I think not. All of this effort to orchestrate the release of information just makes it seems that the truth we'll finally receive is the truth that Marty and Dennis want us to blindly accept.
http://news.sd.gov/newsitem.aspx?id=15623
grudz,
"...exterminate fuzzy kitties...killing those kitties...never defend doing it illegally...after the season is over..."
What are you really trying to say, grudz, and what is your real agenda? If you are insinuating that I have killed a lion illegally and after the season was over, I have only one thing to say to you: "You are full of s--- up to your ears!"
Dave,
Sorry, I let grudz get me off-topic. Your comment is 100% right on - orchestration at its finest!
Dave-your guv seems pretty sure that the first"independent" auditor will find just exactly what the guv says he will find. Makes one wonder if the auditor is really "independent". Your comment brings me back to my first post. What exactly is Jackley's job? Sounds like he is the guv's personal attorney,not the one hired to make sure all laws are enforced. Kind of like SD's version of Alberto Gonzalez.
The tiny number of apex predators in South Dakota allow mesopredators like Marty Jackley to emerge then decimate keystone species like voters. Little wonder that only the white, the old, and the infirm inhabit the state.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/martin-kidston-um-researchers-helping-to-raise-awareness-tolerance-toward/article_753c3e8a-7b1b-11e3-a663-0019bb2963f4.html
South Dakota's young buck mountain lions are finding iowa's political climate more to their liking. More and more are passing through . They've been found in Michigan,Misery and even Chicago. What's that say about South Dakota? BTW-its open season on lions in iowa. No protection whatsoever.
Note there is little tinfoilery involved in the discussion of the audits of GOED. Note also that Marty's Friday press has nothing to do with whatever suicide investigation documents he has.
Every day is Opposite Day for Grudz.
"These Martys General are probably just carefully reviewing all information" says Grudz. Now there's a knee slapper.
You'd think somewhere in the midst of all that careful investigation Jackley would find the time to interview the key witness before he died.
Jackley supports open government and careful review during investigations, and Rounds wants to eliminate the Department of Education. Really they're just showing their respect for the Wild West tradition of Tall Tales.
Like prairie dogs, Larry. We need to decimate the prairie dog, and every farmer and rancher in the state is soaking the ground with poison. This is where the libby fringe and the whackjob fringe meet in agreement with burlap sacks of poison.
I know, that Larry Rhoden (Rancher) is soaking the ground with poison and decimating the prairie dog. Makes me wonder why you support him so strongly.
I hate those fat rodents, Mrs. S.
I know you don't really work but did you watch a lot of sod get busted up this fall to rape the earth behind your house?
Rhoden looks pretty trim to me, Grudz. I don't think you should be so judgmental.
I suppose if someone paid me to post on blogs I would be "really" working.
You sound like a liberal feminist with your constant blathering about rape and anti-housewife propaganda. Or maybe you're just developing Political Tourrette's. I recommend awareness training as a behavioral treatment.
It appears that grudz's little choo-choo has once again fallen off the track.
Mountain lions, game fish and parks, turning sod, prairie dogs all have to do with Jackley and the courts, HOW?
grudz a liberal feminist, hardly Bree.
I'm a liberal feminist and don't ascribe to any blathering about rape and anti-working housewife propaganda.
grudz sounds more like a _________________!!!
There's a lot of respect for Old Wild West Traditions amongst the Establishment, including blowing up the track with a stick of dynamite during a train robbery. Grudz is the guy with the black soot covering his overalls.
"Blog Bandit" ?
Well, that's dissolved into madness, almost as effective a distraction as Jackley's puffery about cooperation and proper procedure.
"State grand jury"—somewhere in South Dakota are six to ten fellow citizens who are keeping the most interesting secrets in the state.
I have to confess that I don't know much about the state grand jury, what aspects of GOED/EB-5 are they investigating and how long have they been in session?
And, most importantly, how much influence does Jackley have over them? They can only act on investigative information provided them by the Attorney General. Does anybody really trust Jackley to present an honest bill of particulars?
I guess that means the state grand jury isn't looking at Rounds, since Marty's already let Marion off the hook.
Cory-does the state have an "official" ham sandwich that the state grand jury could indict? Isn't that the prevailing grand jury joke?
As for rape and anti-housewife comments,sounds like someone has their bill of particulars mixed up. The blathering about both subjects is a staple of the wingnut side of politics. Part of their war on women's reproductive rights. What would a woman and/or her doctor know about women's reproduction that a white,rethuglican,male doesn't know better?