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Is Gant competent or just another ‘TOOL’?
First an overview of some organizations that are behind some this;
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD ABOUT the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which helps Republicans draft bills in statehouses. (We reported on the group last month.) But you’ve probably not heard of the Republican State Leadership Committee, which gets them elected in the first place.
Able to raise unlimited funds, the Republican State Leadership Committee is a stalking horse for corporate America. Top contributors to the group include Altria (formerly Philip Morris), Anheuser-Busch, Citigroup, Comcast Cable, Exxon Mobil, Home Depot, Monsanto, PhRMA, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Verizon, and WellPoint.
Guest Poster contributed to this;
There was an organization formed to takeover state legislatures starting in 2002. The group managers make their organization look like they are loosely banded together citizens with a simple public mission to be conservative. The mission is to make all US state legislatures their version of conservative. Their version of conservatism is based in pre 1965 southern white state’s rights principles, where only certain land owners should be able to vote. As these managers continue to assume more power they want someone to make their actions appear legal…  I am sorry, they not only want they MUST have someone to make the actions legal. What group am I talking about? A little known group based out of Virginia, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). (mentioned above).
Why does this affect us in South Dakota? Why do I bring this up and why should you care?  In the 2010 Pre-General Election Financial Reports available on the Secretary of State’s website, we find the RSLC has given two of our senior elected officials in South Dakota $25,000.00 each for their 2010 campaigns. These organizations do not give this kind of money out of the goodness of the heart. They expect something in return. In a small state like South Dakota, $50,000.00 can make a difference. Who are our owned or rented officials? Well SOS Jason Gant and Attorney General Marty Jackley.
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COMPLETE DOCUMENT: Jackley 2010 Campaign Report
You remember them, Gant of the shoddy SOS office and his legal savior when questions arose recently. You might also remember the legal eagle AG decision made within hours of being given instructions on how to investigate potential computer / business / public ethics issues.
Is the SD Republican Party protecting Gant because he is an ‘investment’?
Click on image to enlarge. See more here.
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Again, why should we care? The RSLC wants our SOS office to control all our voters and local elections from Pierre. This group is part of ALEC. The mission of RSLC is to elect future members for ALEC.  We currently have several dozen GOP members of our legislature who are subsidized by ALEC. They will be pushing for more Real ID laws, use of unverifiable voting equipment, rules to block citizens from voting and limitations on the citizens right to redress their grievances before their elected officials. Once you know what ALEC is, you see how bad both RSLC and ALEC are for South Dakota.
So how does this work with ALEC, RSLC, Gant and Jackley? RSLC finances campaigns of ambitious politicians, usually people with no principles.  ALEC needs their legislation passed in Pierre, RSLC backed officeholders write SOS rules. These new laws and rules are implemented by SOS offices and the Attorney General is necessary to defend the actions in court plus write ballot explanations to confuse.
After the recent Attorney General’s financial “question not asked†opinion I had to look harder at the data we have available to find reasons for the strange official responses received and NOT received. There are more figures which do not add up and puzzle pieces still falling into place. There will be more to come in this matter.
I originally started to look into this trying to answer the questions:
“Is the AG and the SD Republican party protecting Gant because he was such a huge investment in the 2010 campaign cycle and still owes a good chunk of change?â€
“Did the SD Republican party give Gant such a large donation because they had confidence that he was qualified to be SOS?â€
“or… or he could be easily manipulated by the party and his benefactors to do their dirty work?â€
His repeated incompetence certainly shows he is not qualified for the job, so one would assume the SD Republican party was looking for a ‘tool’. Is Jackley there to keep him “legalâ€?