This kind of reminds me of how the Bed & Booze tax Events Center funding source mysteriously disappeared – it is no secret the Hospitality and Beverage industry beat the shit out of the EC Task Force to drop the funding source. It kind of looks like they are doing a number in the SD court system to;
The testimony began after Circuit Judge Kathleen Trandahl ruled that the smoking ban passed by the Legislature is eligible to be referred to voters. The opposite ruling would have settled the case, but now the court system must determine whether opponents collected enough valid signatures to put it on next year’s ballot.
Okay, I know that the judge only ruled that IT CAN be referred to the voters, IF, the signatures are valid. But we know where this is going . . . I have followed politics long enough in this state to know who runs the show, and it isn’t the little man.
UPDATE: What did a freaking tell yah.
I found this part of the judge’s decision troubling;
Nelson, though, said the ruling on substantial compliance and Trandahl’s decision to allow signatures from people on the inactive voter list to be considered valid set troubling precedents and might lead to him arguing for an appeal.
“Apparently, you don’t need a notary seal, and inactive voters can sign a petition, and we’ve got a statute that says that’s not the case,” Nelson said.
Why don’t we just let monkey’s sign petitions from now on. Once again, South Dakota proves it’s motto, “Big Business first, people second.”