I saw this as a political football from the beginning. Funny how no one found a (Extreme Right Wing Conservative) Republican Attorney General, who was running for office, was playing politics with the food for votes fiasco;
“I think this was a clearly partisan charge from the beginning. The Republicans know you can make a charge five or six weeks before election day and the investigation is going to take several months. They can make a charge, make it seem like fact regardless of the fact that no laws were broken. They pretend that it was and use that allegation to scare voters.”
Nesselhuf said there is history of these kinds of “bogus charges,” and it probably will be seen again in elections.
While I don’t agree with the food exchange, I doubt a donut, a hot dog or a bowl of chili is going to convince people to vote for a certain candidate. In fact that assumption is freaking absurd and as Michael Jackson would say, “Ignorant.”
Lucas Lentsch, executive director of the state Republican Party, said he expects the Legislature to weigh in when next year’s session begins.
“Vote-buying or food-for-votes will more than likely be a policy discussion of the 2011 South Dakota state Legislature,” Lentsch said Tuesday. “I fully anticipated that there would be an investigation of some sort, the attorney general and U.S. attorney have rendered their decisions, I just expect it to continue to evolve and be a policy discussion.”
It seems Lucas just can’t let it go. While I agree there should be some legislative intervention, Lucas seems to think there should be an investigation. I guess it wasn’t good enough that his party beat the living daylights out of the Dems, he seems hellbent on punishing them even more. Bring it on, your party was participating in the practice also, and that is why the charges were probably dropped.
“My goal is to make sure that the integrity of our elections is not jeopardized by any activities of different groups or individuals for that matter,” Gant said. “We’re going to look at the language, we’re going to look at reports from the attorney general and the U.S. attorney and I want to do everything I can to provide the legislature with information on how we can best ensure that we have fair and legal elections.”
This coming from a guy who created a fake issue during the election about the Feds taking over state elections. This was clearly about sticking it to the Dems right before an election. Maybe there should be laws enacted that prevent political parties from creating controversies about the opposite party right before an election. I’m sure that would make Kermit Staggers very happy.
I said all along that nothing the Democrats did was illegal. Had they told people in order to eat a bowl of chili they need to vote Democratic, then yes there would have been an issue, but a bowl of chili is no different than a tshirt or bumper sticker – provided there is no promise of support or actual connection to a vote it is a moot point.
Democrats knew it, Republicans knew it, the public knew it… but the partisan hacks made it an issue because they thought it might get a few more people worked up enough to hit the polls. I can’t say whether it worked or not, but accusations like this seem to be commonplace in the weeks prior to an election. Just ask Martha Vanderwhateverhernameis what impact such statements and accusations can have upon a person or party.
Oh, but Costner, don’t you know, it was Jenna’s hardwork campaigning that put her over the top.
That Jenna article this past weekend was horrendous.
Get ready for abortion legislation.
The Legislature should ban food for votes – the food for their votes – the daily buffet that appears in the back of the House and Senate Chambers. It’s provided by lobbyists, organizations, towns and their Chamber of Commerce members. Nevermind the receptions, dinners, the “liquor rooms” that take place outside of the Capitol – how about limiting the free stuff, the free Chamber of Commerce shirts, free state university hats, ties, and scarves, and all that other stuff that comes in to the Capitol building. Appearance of impropriety and all that…
Monty – I agree.