Hey, we at least beat Georgia!
Rightly or wrongly, though, the numbers say otherwise, and there are a number of reasons why. For one thing, South Dakota is one of only nine states that lack ethics commissions. Such bodies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “represent the public’s interest and have a similar purpose: to ensure that groups under their jurisdiction follow state ethics laws.â€
Chalk up another awesome rating for our state. We do have an open meetings commission, but according to our city attorney they are wrong. Go figure.
Starts at the top and trickles down. I wonder if they do these evaluations for city government? I wonder what the city of SF rating would be? Oh – that’s right – we can get such a great rate for bonds for a gabillion dollar facility in a shitty part of town that we must be doing just fine. Seriously – did people actually see how many people were in DT at the parade on Saturday? Secretly – I wished I wouldn’t have gone and went to Cast Aways and the lawn and garden show and played Frogger to get across the street!!! Bwahahah! I am so embarrassed that we are this dumb. Anytime there is an event in DT – it is a gold mine for businesses and economic development for sales tax revenue for the whole city. And it really doesn’t matter what time of year it is. It seriously still makes me puke in my mouth a little. Now where was I – oh yeah – corruption.
Sorry – it should say “I wished I would have gone.”
I looked at the map and it is all pretty grim, except for Bs in a few blue states and New Jersey. I think NJ is blue, but they do have a Repub governor.
I am amazed any state got over a D+.
The study only rates number and strength of laws, not the execution or effectiveness of the laws. I’m not saying that politicians in SD aren’t corrupt, but these studies really mean nothing.
Nice honor for South Dakota. Considering the string of governors and then ALEC pulling the strings of a bunch of state legislators, not much of a surprise.
I don’t look at this as we actually have corrupt legislators. I look at this as we lack the checks and balances in place for corruption to take place or how to handle it if it does become an issue.
Realize that this was an attempt to score government laws RE: ethics, but …
“Integrity†and “Ethics†would seem to be relative definitions of personal values – defined by different boundaries in different geographies.
That which would be defined as graft and corruption in a particular geography might more likely be viewed as normal, ordinary and expected conduct in places such as Louisiana, Illinois New York, Sioux Falls, etc.
The only way I can rationalize the relatively decent grades offered to (for example) IL and LA.
… or, perhaps as DDCSD suggests above, some of these states have got laws on the books … getting’ the grade. They just look past the enforcement aspect.
Alice is right, how would we know if we have corrupt lawmakers when there are no laws to watch for that corruption. Remember what happened with the investigation of the LRC? The same group of legislators that were accused of corruption created their own ‘group’ to look into. Guess what they found out? No corruption.
Sibby will get em all straightened out.
I don’t comment over at DWC, because anytime I try to clarify something, they just delete my comment. Anyway, they seem to think that we really don’t have a problem with corruption in government in SD. This coming from a member of the majority party. I’m sure if DEMS were running Pierre and this report came out, they would label them as the dirtiest bastards ever to run our state.
http://dakotawarcollege.com/archives/24557
It kind of reminds me of why Shawn Tornow, former assistant SF city attorney was terminated from his job (rumor is) he was caught fixing a ticket for his kid.
Hmmm. Republican lawmaker. Corruption. Coincidence?
They don’t exactly love me over at DWC. Think they may have a bounty out on me. Career pols like Dusty J. want to spin that report off as ‘nothing to see here folks.’ The reality is that SD probably doesn’t merit an F grade, but there definitely could be better checks. If you are a fox, why volunteer to put up chicken wire round the hen house?
Heard similar rumor bout Tornow, but don’t recall how exactly that went down. Did they have to do a non-firing by executive firing? He went through grievance process I think.
One person took ballots home for the city events center election. When 9 of 10 voters voted no yet it still passes. There should be federal supervised ballot counts. Then we’ll get intelligent winners.
PL – Are you suggesting voter fraud? If so, would love to see the full story. I found the final result questionable, but still think it passed.
So let me understand this, no one will know if state law makers are taking money and corrupt unless there are laws to watch for corruption??!! Lawmakers are not expected to have integrity and those famous republican values?
What will we tell the children?
C’mon people – don’t paint this as a Republican/Democrat or any other party thing. They are all capable of corruption and everything associated with it. This is more about the person than the party. And if Democrats are sick of never winning in this state – start finding and running people worth a damn to make people like me change my mind. And before you jump down my back – I did vote for Heidepriem in the last election as I thought he had a better plan for education – but his commercials were enough to make me not want to vote for him. As we saw 4 years ago – we saw a black man rise up and win the Presidency. People thought they would never see that happen and it did.
As for voter fraud in the EC vote – interesting and I do not think I wuld be surprised either way.
The thing I will say about the EC vote is that I think the results are reliable. I was pretty astounded by the turnout and the high percentage it won by, but those commercials did play non-stop forever.
I think I need to slow down when I am spelling. Ughhh.
In this study, Iowa ranked as 7th most ethical, but they still only got a C-. No state, even New Jersey, scored an A.
Yeah, like I said, surprised any state got over a D+. Even if you have laws in place, doesn’t mean anybody is following them, or shit, even paying attention to them.