The only people claiming that Amendment Y, Marsy’s Fix, gives rights to crime victims are its dissembling supporters. Check out their latest fibs on the subject:
“It really strengthens victims’ rights,” said Mark Mickelson, speaker of the state House of Representatives and the sponsor of House Joint Resolution 1004, the measure that put Amendment Y on the June ballot.
…“We support Amendment Y because it protects those rights while enhancing the ability of law enforcement agencies to work together and solve crimes,” said Sarah Shriver, South Dakota Communications Director for Marsy’s Law for All [Dana Hess, “Amendment Y Seeks to Fix Marsy’s Law,” Brookings Register, 2018.05.19].
“Strengthen” and “protect” are not synonymous with “narrow” and “reduce”, which verbs more accurately describe the effect of Marsy’s Fix. People who aren’t making money off Marsy’s Law pusher and California billionaire Henry T. Nicholas recognize that Amendment Y reduces the rights of crime victims:
If approved, the amendment would narrow the definition of victim under the state’s Constitution and require that those impacted by criminal offenses opt into special protections. Under the current law, victims are automatically granted the protections and notifications unless they opt out.
The amendment would also shrink the pool of family members that can receive victim protection status under the law and allow law enforcement officers to share more information about unsolved crimes [Dana Ferguson, “What’s at Stake as Voters Again Consider Victims’ Rights Amendment,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2018.05.18].
Dana Ferguson says the same thing that Bob Mercer did in his May 12 report on Marsy’s Fix. Ferguson says the same thing that Attorney General Marty Jackley says in his official ballot explanation of Amendment Y. This ballot question reduces victims’ rights.
Amendment Y’s supporters refuse to make that reduction of rights clear, because they refuse to acknowledge that their opponents have been right all along about the additional and unnecessary costs that their proposal imposes on local governments. If they can’t be honest, the supporters of Marsy’s Fix don’t deserve your vote. Vote NO on Y June 5, and then demand that legislators come back with the amendment South Dakota really needs: a full repeal of Marsy’s Law and a return to South Dakota’s effective victims’ rights statutes.
GOP = Lie.
Anything Michelson is for should be reviewed with great skepticism. He seems to have a vendetta against democracy and the voters of S.D. It appears he doesn’t think that voters are capable of making wise decisions and that only he can with his narrow focus & thinking.