Senator John Walsh dropped out of his re-election race in Montana when the press discovers he plagiarized a research paper.
Nebraska Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann resigned and withdrew from the ballot when a court issues his sister a protection order.
Heidemann's predecessor, Rick Sheehy, resigned from the lieutenant governorship for calling lots of ladies he wasn't married to on a state cell phone.
Illinois Republican Jack Ryan didn't even call other ladies, but he quit the 2004 Senate race against Barack Obama because of revelations of unseemly sexual coercion of his subsequently divorced wife.
The Australian Liberal Party forced a candidate out because he used homophobic language on Twitter.
Thomas Eagleton never did anything wrong, but George McGovern kicked him off the ballot for seeking treatment for mental illness.
Republican Senate candidate Marion Michael Rounds sunk millions of state dollars into a boondoggle beef plant that bellied up after nine months. Marion Michael Rounds screwed the entire state of South Dakota out of possibly more than $140 million, enough to erase the structural deficit with which he saddled his successor. Marion Michael Rounds watched an employee violate Board of Regents policy, break state conflict-of-interest law, represent the state in court without a law license or legal authorization, and expose the state to legal liability. Marion Michael Rounds responds to this employee's malfeasance by rewarding him with a lucrative no-bid contract and ongoing political cover.
Marion Michael Rounds demonstrates a blatant disregard for law, good management, and the public welfare, and Republicans and the press still treat him like a viable candidate.
Better men have quit campaigns for lesser crimes. Marion Michael Rounds's failed economic development policies, budgetary irresponsibility, and crony favors are not just reasons to vote for someone else; they are reason for Rounds to quit the Senate race in shame right now.
I saw MMR's latest TV spot claiming none of Rick's charges are true. MMR says The EB-5 program is federal and he had no control over it." He also claims the state did not lose any money but it did create 5000 jobs.
I guess there is no truth in advertising anymore. I would like to have the 5,000 newly employed because of EB-5 to step forward and provide their names and those places they work.........crickets
The press in SD absolutely refuses to do a thorough investigative report on this. Maybe 60 Minutes should do a story. And I look forward to more from Mr. Duffy.
Rorschach, You mentioned Rounds using Amtrak federal funds for his airplane. I was living out of state during his tenure as governor. He flew friends and family to Twins games and the state paid for this? Can you share a little more about this? Did he pay back the state and federal government? How long ago was this?
Number 13 on Kevin Woster's list should be:
I will work tirelessly to clean up the corruption in our nation's capital and to remove South Dakota from the top ten of most corrupt states in the union.
OOPS! Posted on the wrong thread
I work from memory, Lynn. I don't keep files on Marion's wrongdoing from years ago, but there should be press and blog reports. My recollection is that Rounds, who sent his kids out of state for college, was using the state plane to take friends and family to college football games in North Dakota. He only reimbursed the state after he got caught. I believe there was an investigation into whether he could use public transportation (Amtrak) funds for a state plane not used for public transportation. I believe that money was thrown into one pot in such a way that it could be claimed it wasn't the Amtrak funds used for the plane so nothing happened. Still, it was the addition of those funds that made it possible to purchase the plane. I'm told that Mike Rounds, who is a pilot, wanted the King Air plane so he could become certified to fly it - which he was. Another nice free perk as governor, kind of like the new governor's mansion he had built and the Valhalla resort in the Black Hills that he used as a private retreat for undisclosed friends and family. Gov. Daugaard makes Valhalla available to the public and discloses who stays there. Rounds is a master of using taxpayer money for his personal benefit. After Rounds privatized a multi-million $$ state revenue stream for the Joopster, wow much did the Joopster pay Rounds since Rounds left office?
Rorschach I'll check it out a little more. Wow! That's incredible! Thank you for mentioning it.
It would be great for the SDDP purchase air time on local tv stations and pub Wismer, Robinson, and Weiland on a platform and answer questions from Cory on EB-5 and only EB-5.
Lynn, check the Argus Leader. it was the Argus that wrote an investigative story about Rounds using the state plan for personal uses (actually combining "business" with pleasure.
He only reimbursed the state after Argus investigation. Who knows if he would have, or not, reimbursed the state if the Argus had not done the feature?
the airplane b.s. should be at the top of the list, wow!!! we remember what happened last time some arrogant unqualified governor picked his own mitisbushi airplane. by the way, have you seen a Beechcraft queen or a king air lately? Those are friggin gigantic prop planes-top of the line, and I would imagine qualifying on them may be difficult/expensive.
According to the RC Journal, Rounds used a government airplane for private use until 2006, when initiated legislation outlawed the practice. The journal says he reimbursed the state for such use. After 2006, he continued to travel to most places by air rather than driving, which was criticized.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/gov-rounds-is-frequent-flier-with-state-plane/article_92845f3e-daa8-11df-95f3-001cc4c002e0.html
Rounds is also reported to have opposed the 2006 legislation that stopped him from using the plane for private trips.
http://ballotpedia.org/South_Dakota_State_Aircraft_for_State_Use,_Initiative_5_(2006)
Given the state's vote on the 2006 initative, perhaps that too should be a campaign issue?
Rounds' wiki page has recently been edited with Bendagate references.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Rounds#Tenure_2
A couple blogs claim to describe Round's airplane activities. The first says Rounds used Amtrak funds to purchase an airplane, and questioned the legality of this particular use. It cites a purported letter from Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar, a democrat, to the inspector general of Amtrak, asserting that
"South Dakota used money from the federal railroad agency to replenish the state aeronautics fund after buying the $1.5 million aircraft.
States without Amtrak rail service got a one-time payment from the agency in 1997; South Dakota got $23 million. The money initially could be spent only on intercity bus and rail service, but that was expanded in 1998 to include air service centers and "the purchase of intercity air service between primary and rural airports and regional hubs."
Oberstar's letter states that the airplane purchase was "in violation of the express purposes for the funding."
http://www.loneindependent.com/2007/09/the-state-owned-airplane-again.html
A second Minnesota blog on State and Local Public Finance asserted:
"In South Dakota, the governor’s purchase of a 6th state airplane ($1.4 million) without legislature consent (none was technically needed) raised questions from numerous state lawmakers as to its need. In addition, causing greater public anger was the discovery that he used the planes to attend 7 of his son’s high school basketball games throughout the state. While personal use of the planes was reimbursed through his political donations fund, it did little to calm the public’s anger. Such controversies on how public money is being used for airplanes has now become a policy issue on which candidates for governor must take a stand – pro-plane or anti-plane . Governor Rounds insists, however, that the planes save thousands of hours of lost productivity during travel. The argument that work productivity is higher during air travel may be brought into question, however, when one considers that the governor (a licensed pilot) often flew the planes himself."
http://pa5113.blogspot.com/2010/05/tate-airplane-mart-expenditure-or.html
Is there a copy of Rounds' check proving that he actually reimbursed the state for his abuse of our airplane?
Roger, I don't know about the existence of a "check" showing reimbursement, but I thought the second blogs assertion that SD was "reimbursed through his political donations fund," seems unusual. I doubt if the people making political donations intended that their donations be used to pay for the private cost of attending BB games, rather than to support political matters. If the second blog is accurate, this would likely be a blatant misuse of political donations.
????????????
CHARGE TWO: USING STATE RESOURCES FOR PERSONAL PURPOSES
In 2005, a review of the state?s air travel logs revealed that Gov. Rounds routinely used state aircraft for non-official travel.12 During the 2004?2005 high school basketball season, Gov. Rounds used state planes to ferry himself, family, and friends to five of seven of his son?s road games.13 Gov. Rounds also acknowledged using state planes to attend Republican Party political functions; a certified pilot, he has frequently flown the planes himself. 14 Under state law, the governor is not barred from using state planes for personal use.15 He has, however, reimbursed the state for his personal travel with political contributions from his Governor?s Club; this private fund has raised serious legal questions, including possible breaches of federal policy pertaining to third party financing.16 A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation, however, found no violations of federal regulations.17 Following the revelation of Gov. Rounds?s personal use of state aircraft, South Dakota residents voted by referendum to restrict state aircraft use to official purposes.18
CHARGE THREE: USING A GOVERNMENT POSITION TO HELP FAMILY
I found this at an alternate universe blog from 2012 from Anonymous.
I erred in my first post. MMR says EB-5 created jobs but does not give a number. He also says that Rick is claiming citizenships were being sold when Rick's ad does not say that. Lesson; Don't post on a political ad until you have seen it at least twice.
Hey, WR Old Guy! Was the ad the same video that Rounds put online last week, the one that says EB-5 "creates thousands of jobs across South Dakota"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYBIE_MK6E
The funny part is that he seems to want credit for jobs created by a program he insists he had nothing to do with!
CAH,
That's the one. I, like some others would like to see a list of the jobs.
South Dakota is the only contiguous state that has never had an Amtrak line.
Rounds posted his EB-5 denial video on his Facebook page. I commented. I asked how he could not know all that money went missing when it happened on his watch. I wrote, if you did know about it, you are corrupt. If you didn't know about it, you are inept. In either case, you have no business in the United States Senate. My comment on his page has been deleted.
Thanks for trying, SDBlue!
WR Old Guy, you and I know those jobs don't add up. We have the data; Team Rounds does not: https://madvilletimes.com/2014/09/sdgop-claims-eb-5-created-more-than-5000-jobs-data-say-no/