A good attorney would have told you, you can’t win. So why didn’t the same attorney tell you to file NEW charges in a NEW case?! I have said this is NOT about state law and filing deadlines this is about a MASSIVE conflict of interest. Every single elected official on that dais, including Mayor Poops, received donations and campaign help from the Skab’s main investor, Matt Paulson, then they voted to GIVE a contract to the same person who donated to their campaigns. But it gets even better, they all knew Matt and his Peach colored Lambo SUV was an investor in the Skab before the vote, but the public didn’t know. Probably one of the most unethical and corrupt votes I have ever seen the council take. Quid pro Quo. How can anyone TRUST the council to make a decision based on fairness from now on? They can’t. And here is the kicker, the Argus has more circulation and reach then the Skab, so this tells me the decision by the councilors was based on bias and not facts. I will say it again, I don’t think either paper should have the notices, a gigantic waste of tax dollars. You can see all the notices to your heart’s delight for free online and if you don’t know what the internet is you can always go down to the clerk’s office and get a copy. So wasteful, but not surprising since our state legislature is ran by the stupidest people imaginable. Still waiting for ETC. or 605 Magazine to apply for the notices. I wonder if the AL counsel even knows what a conflict of interest is . . . remember when Randall Beck was gunning for the Denty?
Ironically, if the AL would have reached out I could have provided them evidence of the corruption and lies with some very colorful text messages from one of the Skab owners(?). To which he sent me even more nasty messages before I had to block him. He’s a real Prickly Pear. Maybe the council pricked the Skab because of their enormous professionalism 🙂 and almost Pulitzer Prize winning journalism in uncovering Noem’s hair salon receipts.
He only becomes PRICKly when he’s been drinking. Which, I’ve observed, is pretty often these days.
It’s definitely a conflict of interest, but isn’t the problem that there is a lack of conflict of interest laws on the books in this state? #BananaRepublic
( and Woodstock adds: “And on another note, did you see our Governor dancing with Trump on a Georgia stage for 38 minutes last night?”…… #Ackward ……:
FF: 01:25:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IkNvUaCwIU
VSG, I would agree, our ethics laws are worthless in SD and the AL probably figured they were screwed with judicial relief. Just look at the plagiarized campaign forms with the school district or Marshall living out of his district for a year. Nothing happened because no one cares about ethics. No worries, I have a surprise cooking for the Skab and they ain’t going to like it and neither is the council, but I figured it was a last ditch effort to rub it in their faces that they took an unethical vote on the Skab and I will probably proceed to the School Board to tell them the same thing.
MMM, I know several prominent Republicans in Sioux Falls that read the Skab but don’t like Joe and have quietly been complaining to the other investors to kick him to the curb. I like Ellis, but I think he will let Joe sink the Skab before he lets him go, or he ends up in jail.
I made this sort of comment yesterday. I will assume it was lost in the ethernet.
The issue here is the courts typically avoid political questions like the plague, and the issue of corruption or lack of accountability in the local government would be deemed a political question – I’ve seen it before over and over again. The courts would rather let the voters decide if a politician or group of politicians acted corruptly and “throw the bums out” rather than even go anywhere near the issue in the first place. So they stick with the safe route about deadlines and whatnot.
So since it’s on voters to determine who is corrupt or not, and voters typically go with the “nice guy” in the election, no matter how corrupt they may be. And I know from personal experience that even if you expose the corruption and bring receipts, the voters just don’t care enough to be bothered and in fact, you will be vilified for exposing the “nice guys” who are just so danged nice they would NEVER do something like that! I have a feeling you’ve experienced this yourself Scott, as I read through the issues with the school bond issue a few years ago, I imagine you got a lot of pushback for being “mean” to the “nice lady” on the school board.
Honestly, I would have been right there with you on that particular issue, as this whole idea of “well, you can’t prove we acted improperly (because we conveniently hid/destroyed any evidence we did)” is asinine from the get go. But it is something the government does a lot at all levels, unfortunately, and they get away with it because, again, the courts aren’t going to touch that sort of issue at all.
JJ, you are giving the Republican court system in this state too much credit. In theory, you are right, but the courts in South Dakota only way in on political issues when it benefits the GOP….. #RememberTheAlamo #RememberIM22 #JudgeShopping
“Say, isn’t it time for the Dakota (War College) Scout to print another recent negative story about a South Dakota Republican official….. so as to try to make them look nonpartisan?”…..
VSG, Well courts in general, despite claiming to be non-partisan arbiters of the law, often know very well which way their bread is buttered. If SD were a majority Dem state, the reverse would be the case I guarantee. The courts are, after all, just an extension of the state, and there is an understanding that they will err on the side of the state in most matters of dispute.
The old adage of “we have investigated ourselves and found no evidence of wrong-doing” comes into play here. Courts have never and can never be independent from the state apparatus – so if a decision of theirs benefits the state institutions, they will more often than not make such a decision as there is no real incentive for them to buck the system or hold it accountable – at least not if they have hopes of a higher judiciary position or otherwise gaming themselves a new political position in one of the other branches of government. Heck, even thoughts of professorships or non-profit board positions likely weigh into their calculus.
In short, the only people who are truly free to hold government accountable are those who are not in government and will never be in government because we’re “too mean” for the voters to accept us. Ends up being a catch 22 for people like us because we’ll never be taken seriously. It’s the old story of Kassandra over and over again. Inevitably when the piñata breaks, the voters will moan about “Why didn’t anyone warn us (about the corruption)?” And we just have to respond, “Why didn’t you listen when we did?”
… After all, it’s not THEIR money politicians are spending on their buddies and backroom deals, and it won’t be their money they’re spending paying out settlements when and if they are ever caught with their pants down. It’s really a win-win situation for politicians all around.
JJ, but that wouldn’t be right either, would it?
VSG, Nothing I outlined is “right” – but right isn’t what wins elections and re-elections. “Right” doesn’t run our government at any level. The nation we live in and the sort of government we would prefer to live under are diametrically opposed to the reality we find around ourselves.
Sad fact is, it’s always been that way, it’s just more visible recently thanks to the internet and instant communications. I can count on one hand the number of leaders throughout history who actually placed the needs and interests of the people they rule before their own personal benefit.
The degeneracy of our government reflects the degeneracy of our society in that we as a population lack the knowledge, will, or even desire to counter what’s going on. Instead, we are conned into voting for the same people every election who break their promises, enrich themselves, and screw over the people they ostensibly represent – because after all, “the other guy” is worse, but my guy is the “nice guy”.
JJ,
But isn’t the “the nation we live in” the same as “the reality we find around ourselves”?
AND, it could be said that our government has gone to the “Right” since that tragic day in Dallas and some think that is “right”. In fact, there is even symbolic footage from that day of onlookers in the Parkland Hospital parking lot standing around in great sadness as a traffic sign can be seen behind them that reads: “Keep Right”…..
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