Jason Glodt is pushing legislative candidates to endorse his Amendment S, the vanity bill California billionaire Henry T. Nicholas is paying Glodt good money to promote here in South Dakota. Here’s the survey Glodt has sent to legislative candidates, with my responses in green:
I offer the following response, and urge my fellow candidates to respond similarly:
No one has brought to light a pressing need, a glaring gap in the criminal justice system that must be filled by an astroturf constitutional amendment. We thus have time to put this measure on hold and think more about it. Vote No on S in November, then let’s bring this issue to the 2017 Legislature. Let’s work with South Dakota’s victim support organizations, law enforcement, lawyers, and judges to identify problems. Let Henry T. Nicholas pay Jason Glodt to keep campaigning, to come join us at the Capitol to craft legislation to fix the problem he says exists. And if there’s something we need to do to help South Dakota crime victims, I’ll bet we can muster a near-unanimous Legislative vote.
I look forward to Gldot publishing that statement on his website and releasing it to news publications in my district.
Reminder: Our North Dakota neighbors have an identical measure on their November ballot, and their prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other experts have been giving the proposal (branded “Marsy’s Law” by its well-paid promoters) negative reviews, saying it is redundant with existing legal protections, threatens due process, and could impose delays and greater costs on the criminal justice system. (Sounds familiar!). Attorney Mark Friese notes in this podcast interview with Joel Heitkamp that North Dakotans, like South Dakotans, already have victims’ rights legislation. Friese calls those legal protections “the best in the country.” Friese says that every prosecutor, every defense attorney, and every retired judge he has talked to opposes Marsy’s Law, which he says sounds good at first, but could actually delay justice for victims if implemented.
I don’t really have a position on this Marcy business and haven’t turned my mind to ponder it just yet. But soon. I appreciate, however, Mr. H’s prompt response on a survey of sorts and also admire his scribe-like penmanship. Like a monk, nearly.
It is important for our Legislatures to respond with information on how they believe. Kudos to Mr, H, and I look forward to reading Mr. Novstrup’s positions as well.
The problem with too many of cookie-cutter bills is they are solutions in search of a problem. I agree Cory. Let’s take time and consult with experts first to determine if there is an issue and if so we can craft something to our specific needs.
Haven’t seen anything in the mail. Must be some type of contingency plan in case the ballot measure fails?
Jason must have figured he burnt his bridges with me after all the RINO Rounds schemes he used to get one of the worst “Republicans” into the Senate?
I try and answer all the surveys.
Glodt expects Stacey Nelson to lose his primary, so why send him a survey? Finck got a survey.
No survey for you yet, Stace? Interesting! And are you sure Finck got one, Ror? Very interesting!
Mark, I don’t mind citizens coming up with their own initiative without waiting for the “experts” in Pierre to come up with a proposal. But you’re right that a cookie-cutter proposal like Nicholas’s vanity trip is bad for South Dakota. If crime victims were really getting unfair treatment from South Dakota laws, savvy legislators would have latched onto that issue for easy political points, not to mention for the sake of solving a pressing problem.
I got mine, and I am checking the state’s attorney to see what kind of effect this law will have?
While this all looks good on the surface, I have some concerns.
What are your concerns, MC?
And yes, Finck got a survey. Notice how Stacey Nelson doesn’t tell us where he stands on this issue? He’s waiting to see which way the wind blows.
MC, I would love to hear your state’s attorney’s opinion! Will you share it with us when you get that response? And indeed, as Ror asks, what concerns do you have?
And Stace, where do you stand on Marsy’s Law?