Sometimes Republicans do act to hold their lawbreaking members accountable. But in George Ferebee’s case, he had to leave the party first.
According to the Rapid City Journal, Pennington County Commissioner George Ferebee has been skipping lots of commission meetings since losing his primary election in June. In a fit of possible sour grapes against the party that has rejected him, Ferebee re-registered as a Constitution Party member. Unfortunately for Ferebee, he also changed his address:
According to a voter registration card dated Aug. 14, Ferebee changed his address from Hill City to Rapid City, and changed his party affiliation from Republican to the Constitution Party. On Aug. 17, Ferebee signed a new voter registration card changing his address back to a Hill City residence. His party affiliation remained Constitution [Candy DenOuden, “Pennington County Commission Asks George Ferebee to Resign,” Rapid City Journal, updated 2018.10.04].
Ferebee was elected in Pennington County District 1, which covers the Hills west of Rapid. KOTA-TV says the address to which Ferebee swore on his August 14 voter registration card he had moved was 705 South Street in Rapid City, which is in PennCo District 2.
Ferebee’s August 14 move out of his district thus ended his legitimate commissionership and left his voters unrepresented, according to SDCL 7-8-2:
The nomination and election of county commissioners shall be by a vote of the voters of the district of which such candidate is a resident voter. However, if any county commissioner moves from the district to which such person was elected or if any county commissioner fails to attend the commission meetings for four consecutive months, the office shall be declared vacant and such vacancy shall be filled pursuant to chapter 3-4 [SDCL 7-8-2].
That statute has no exception for folks who move away and then come back. The moment a commissioner moves out of the district, that commissioner is no longer a commissioner. Goodbye, George!
Hope the absence is a permanent one!
It gets even nuttier Cory, at their Con Party 2.1 convention, the Hubbel faction, selected George to be their State House Candidate in DISTRICT 32! He lives (or at least he did the first time he registered) in DISTRICT 30! Wowee!? Its all here: https://kelo.com/news/articles/2018/aug/15/constitution-party-has-two-gubernatorial-candidates-for-now/
It has been a wild ride here in Ferebee’s district, the last few years. We are glad to see him gone, ASAP. He took a drubbing in the primary in June, beaten by 30+ points.
He is also still wasting tax payer money with his silly septic tank b.s. Very much an abuse of the system.
Good grief. I would love to see an effective third party arise from the right wing and give the RINO Party a serious challenge. The SD Constitution Party this has shown itself incapable of even driving the clown car at the end of the parade.