Mr. Ehrisman notes with due disgust that country-club Senator Dan Lederman (R-16/Dakota Dunes) is using official state letterhead with the South Dakota state seal to promote his Rushmore PAC.
I concur that using such official letterhead for partisan purposes is inappropriate. Legislation proposed in the 2011 session could have made such defilement of the state seal illegal. A Legislative interim committee proposed Senate Bill 3, the original form of which said "The state seal shall may not be used... [i]n a political campaign to assist or defeat any candidate for elective office...." That line was the first thing amended out of the bill; SB 3 was then hoghoused to simply cross out language about the state commemorative medallion and bullion piece and to give the Secretary of State say over who gets to use the seal for commercial purposes. (Ah, something else for Jason Gant to screw up.)
Alas, Senator Lederman is thus legally free to stamp the state seal and his official title all over his political fundraising letters. We are free to take umbrage... and send out contributions to good Democrats.
Yiddish curses for Republican Jews, #6: "May you dream all your life of making aliyah to Israel, only to be rejected when you fail to produce your long-form Bar Mitzvah certificate."
The gadfly Dan Lederman has been in our legislature writing laws and making all kinds of law-and-order remarks to know better. Anyone who's been around the leggie longer than one term knows this. They teach legislators at their freshman orientation not to use the State Seal for campaign purposes, and there is no explanation other than contempt for the law for Lederman to use the State Seal for a fundraising letter.
Mike O'Connor of rural Alcester is his opponent. Mike served in the House of Representatives with great statesmen Roger McKellips and Rollie Chicoine. Mike also served the USDA during the Clinton Administration to make agribusinesses more successful in South Dakota. After a break from politics, Mike is back and can bring far more useful and serious expertise to Pierre to reinvigorate South Dakota's rural economic development.
Scary stuff. Map of faulty bridges: Spink County most at risk.
http://saveourbridges.com/map.html
US014 and Missouri Rv
Last Updated by tadmor on Jul 26
Built 1962
National Bridge ID 33100118
12068 cars per day (avg)
Hughes County, SD
Lederman is an opportunist who is more worried about his national rep as a neocon as he is about his district. He's embraced ALEC and ALAC. What's ALAC...why nothing more than Shariaphobia in action. Dan just came out with a new blog post saying that we need to pass the American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) Bill in South Dakota...outlawing any foreign originated law from being used in SD...because that is the biggest challenge facing the state...apparently.
Good old Dan is also hedging his bets by promoting Fox News' favorite nut job, Steve King who represents neighboring Sioux City. Here's a quick recap of King's particular brand of crazy:
http://thinkprogress.org/?s=Steve+King&nl=1&x=0&y=0&fqtype=ThinkProgress
The latest out of Dan's BFF King: he wants dog fighting legalized, rape victims must not get pregnant because he doesn't know any, he's pretty sure that Obama's parents faxed his birth to Hawaii, thinks food safety is a waste of money...and the hits just keep coming.
Tell O'Connor to run hard... and cite the blogs!
Yiddish curses for Republican Jews, #9: "May the Christian right defend the invocation of your rabbi at their convention as proof of the GOP commitment to diversity, especially since everyone knows "God does not hear the prayers of a Jew.""