An eager reader suggests I look up the statutes on dissolving a political party. Nothing goes better with breakfast than reading South Dakota Codified Law, so let’s go!
The resignation of the chairwoman and executive director of the debt-hobbled South Dakota Democratic Party leads me to wonder if folks seeking to challenge the crony/Trumpist status quo in South Dakota are better off forming a new party or accepting the Libertarians’ invitation to join their fight for true fiscal conservatism and social tolerance than wasting time with an SDDP, as Hawks and Burnette describe it, “whose sole focus can only be on fundraising to rectify past mistakes.”
But if everyone seeking positive change in South Dakota goes independent, Libertarian, LEAD, or alternative party, and no one’s left to work for or donate to the SDDP, what happens to that party?
The SDDP won’t just go away by itself, not right away. SDCL 12-1-3 defines “political party” as a party that has fielded a candidate for statewide office who gets at least 2.5% of the total vote in either of the two previous general elections. Even if nobody ran as a Democrat for PUC or U.S. House or anything else next year, that definition keeps us a political party through 2022, thanks to Billie Sutton’s 47.6% in 2018.
If we wanted to hasten the poofification of the party, SDCL 12-5-1 allows party leaders to send a notarized letter of dissolution to the Secretary of State. But we’d need to get the sworn signatures of both the state chair (that’s Randy Seiler right now) and the national chair (that’s Tom Perez), and I have no idea if Perez would let us do that and don’t want to have to wait for permission from Washington to take care of this state matter.
(Curious: this statute assumes that a party has a national chair; what if South Dakotans formed a party of their own, uniquely focused on South Dakota campaigns, with no national mothership. Would this statute preclude that party from ever officially dissolving?)
But one other statute governs political party dissolution and throws a monkey at our wrench. SDCL 12-27-26 says a political committee (that includes parties) “may not dissolve until the political committee has settled all of its debts, disposed of all of its assets, and filed a termination statement.” According to the SDDP’s latest FEC report, the party owes $46,863.73. So until those bills are paid, the party continues to exist.
Now I don’t advocate stiffing anyone. The SDDP bought stuff; the SDDP needs to pay for that stuff; otherwise, we’re no better than Trump. But I do wonder: what if everyone resigns? What if there are no executive officers, no staff, no office, no assets (what, is there a box of staplers and thumb drives and a file tub in someone’s garage?), no sign of the existence of the Democratic Party other than 156,160 South Dakotans who’ve marked “D” on their voter registration form? Who pays the consultants and the Sioux Falls Convention Center?
Given that South Dakota has no campaign finance police and that the Federal Election Commission can’t enforce its rules, it seems the only way for the SDDP’s vendors to get their money is to go to court. And if the SDDP has no officers, staff, or assets, whom do the vendors sue? The newly resigned chair and exec? The chair and exec and staff before them who dug the hole?
The debt would disappear, of course, if we could just get every third registered Democrat to chip in a buck. That’s a small price to pay to end the drama and get back to the work on which Hawks and Burnette rightfully say we need to focus our energy. But is that debt payment the duty of registered voters who have no active connection to the party apparatus? I don’t know of any South Dakota statute that helps answer that question.
But I do know that nothing stops Paula Hawks or Stacey Burnette or any other interested change-maker from going out today and registering as an independent or a Libertarian. Nothing stops interested clean-slate activists from taking out a petition, collecting 3,392 signatures from registered South Dakota voters, and forming an all-new party to run candidates in 2020. The law may complicate winding down the SDDP, but it doesn’t stand in the way of any current Democrat from seeking other avenues and building new mechanisms for progressive political change.
Love to help. But I am a progressive Independent (Bernie Bro). After the 2016 election cycle, it was pounded into my head that Independents aren’t really Democrats. Given that, I guess you guys are on your own. Good luck!!
How about next time we elect a Chair with a solid plan to raise the money and run the party like the business it is, with clear accountability and transparency at the top? I don’t know Paula or Stacey – I’m sure they are fine people, but what was their business plan to get the funds SDDP needed to be successful? Was there one? Was it being tracked and the progress shared regularly? I regret I wasn’t paying more attention. Perhaps when a new chair is found they will put someone in who can do the job that is required (and everyone agrees what that job is).
Looks like this shows how thankful we should be that Hawks didn’t win.
” . . . what if South Dakotans formed a party of their own, uniquely focused on South Dakota campaigns, with no national mothership. Would this statute preclude that party from ever officially dissolving?”
More and more I believe that the whole Everyone-Join-the-GOP plan is more than a thought experiment. Why not do that very organizing from within the GOP on the GOP’s dime? On the accompanying post there was an off-hand reference to asking Senator Thune for money (given his HUGE war chest). Well, if SD were one party, that one party, albeit labeled the GOP, would have access to that war chest.
One party IS no parties.
It seems to me Hawk’s and Burnett’s reasons for resigning have a lot of merit. Maybe we need to fire the “governing body” and start over with people who can think outside the box.
Every foolish, registered Dumbo-crat in SD must be sent a bill for thirty cents and we’ll tack on a ten dollar surcharge for indolence, insolence, and refusal to subjugate to my and grudznick’s wishes!
– Dan “Three Balls” Lederman
Why is there such little coverage of this? Bill Nibbelink is/ was treasurer for years. Yet when will he be held accountable to provide some answers or explanations?
Again as a life long Democrat I have donated to a long list of Democrat candidates over the years. I would attend and donate to a “get out of jail” event to pay off our debt and get our party back on track. Every Republican that continues to be a Republican during Trump nightmare is a reason why we so desperately need a functioning State Democratic Party. But since everyone who could call a meeting has jumped ship like a rat, how do we start?
I salute Paula and submit if she were elected governor and randy seiler was elected attorney general, we would have a state government worth having and one not owned by the Kochs and other billionaires and capitalists dedicated to ignoring climate change. EB5 was up to $600 million of Republican fraud on SD citizens and MCEC Republicans brought us even more Republican fraud and 6 horrendous murders. Did any Republicans learn anything? Not that I can see. So Paula washes her hands of the previous SDDP and refuses to clean up its incompetence. Good on her. This weekend an extremely competent Vice Chair will head us in a better direction to deal with this $47,000 debt. Completely incompetent Trump filed for family business bankruptcy yet you Republicans believe he is a “very rich billionaire” and slander the Democratic Party every chance your greedy pea brains dream up more ways to cheat the American people from their heritage. It will very clearly be the Democratic leadership that sails the world into calmer climate seas and returns the nation rightside from this topsy turvey 8 years of Obstruction of Obama and this latest 3 year debacle delivering power to the GOP by cheating evert step of the Republican way. Bernie is great but he needs to pick a side.
The SDDP is done. Stick a fork in it. That is what happens when your leadership decides to be a money laundering operation of a loser like Clinton. You got what you deserve. Paula Hawks had no other choice but to resign. The Democrat party in SD has never been a party to financially support candidates because they have never been a party that cared to bring positions on important issues to the table that the good people of the state could support. If you have a good product, people will open their wallets and buy. SDDP has a crappy product. South Dakotans aren’t buying.
grudznick, too, salutes young Ms. Hawks. And I chuckle into my potato soup tonight, which I have spiced up in celebration with some of those little chowder crackers that are a bit bland usually, but these were shaken in a plastic baggie with some magic spices and things by my granddaughter so they have some bite to them.
“taking out a petition, collecting 3,392 signatures from registered South Dakota voters, and forming an all-new party to run candidates in 2020.”
Does that fall under the SDGOP’s anti-democracy petition rules?
If anyone out here had interest in a South Dakota Non-Republican Party (aiming to win the hearts and minds of everyone who’s NOT a registered Republican), I might want to help, but I would like a new party like this to teach the public about how ranchers and farmers in the state legislature have been holding back the state of South Dakota for FAR TOO LONG, and how the majority of South Dakotans are suburbanites and are sick and tired of the broken record, broken English, broken-brained bologna which has been waaaaay over-represented in our state government for decades.
Maybe it’s better to keep trusting in conventional politics out here, right now, and wait for many more years of Republican hegemony in SD before we draw any conclusions about the nature of modern rural people and how their mushy-soft brains have been nurtured into continuous affirmation of their shameful fantasyland built on lies and hypocrisy.
Nah… I’d rather see a Non-Republican Party of South Dakota which captures the true majority of South Dakotans.
Leeanna- NPR/SDPB radio said today Seiler had called an emergency meeting of the executive board of SDDP for this weekend to deal with these issues. The county Democratic parties throughout the state will survive this management and accounting and financing dilemma of the party with its 150,000 registered voter/members. Perhaps party registrations will climb back up as they have in the past and Democrats will once again gain some power in this tiny red state.
BTW Trump referred to lynching. Gen Harney lynched 30 Irish soldiers and posted their bodies up on battlements to intimidate the Mexican army during that war, before he came back to create the 1855 massacre at Blue Water Creek, Llywellen NE. These atrocities were among the reasons the Federal board renamed Black Elk Peak, as I am sure you know. Pennington County Democrats formally led the way in Rapid City to assist our Lakota brothers and sisters.
Governor Daugaard opposed the board decision and legislated the state board out of existance, essentially. Governor Noem of course was banned from the Pine Ridge Reservation. Rapid City Republican businessmen are restoring the Mt Rushmore Rd home of an Indian Agent emphasizing the rumor/myth with no little to no evidence that he was bff with the most renowned Lakota man in history, Crazy Horse.
So we have a way to go in SD but people of good conscience will not give up.
Register to vote. Get involved. Penningto and Custer counties are very active west-river as are others. Take America back from the Republican Party whose sole method of holding on to power is by cheating.
Get rid of it!!!
Make national news by doing so and join the republicans. As o notes…..one party is NO party’s. The voters will have to figure out just what a candidate stands for rather than just marking the R box.
“ In 2016, Clinton’s campaign created a Hillary Victory Fund — a joint fundraising committee — that allowed the candidate to raise money for both her campaign and 32 state parties at the same time.Donald Trump’s campaign did the same, albeit with fewer state parties.” In
My understanding so far Randy A. is 32 or 38 states participated, like SDDP apparently, in DNC or HRC guidance concerning the FEC investigation and $5000 fine. Trump did the same thing in fewer states. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/12/27/whats-behind-the-claim-that-hillary-clinton-got-84-million-in-illegal-contributions/
Seriously….get rid of it. You would put South Dakota on the map and greatly improve politics in this state.
Yeah clyde. You go boy. Remember bob mercer said “burn it down” too when he took over trump’s 2016 campaign. Occasionally you say smart things. So what’s the problem?
(Mercer never ran Trump’s campaign anywhere. Tapio claimed to be Trump’s SD chair.)