Jim Holbeck, one of the plaintiffs suing to block Amendment C for violating the single-subject rule, says the Second Circuit Court’s acquiescence to the Attorney General’s ignoring of a legally served summons is one more example of South Dakota’s one-party corruption:
Last week, a motion for default judgment was denied after the South Dakota Attorney General’s office successfully argued it would not accept being notified of the lawsuit by certified mail.
“It seems like the connections are thick in this state and that people end up scratching each other’s backs. That’s what happened here,” Holbeck told KELOLAND News. “It’s a shame that we play these games to stall things so that we cannot make these decisions when we need to make them” [Eric Mayer, “‘That’s Not Democracy’: Lawmaker Concerned About Amendment C Legal Challenges,” KELO-TV, 2022.04.25].
Holbeck also nicely nutshells his legal argument as a reason every South Dakotan should vote against Amendment C:
“I’m not on the Supreme Court, obviously, but they looked at the marijuana law and they said that had two different subject matters on it,” Holbeck, a former government teacher and Harrisburg superintendent, said. “By golly, there’s no doubt in my mind this has two subject matters on it.”
The language of Amendment C on the ballot says it would require a 60% threshold for future ballot measures “imposing taxes or fees or obligating over $10 million.”
“It says either raising taxes or spending money,” Holbeck said. “People could be for one or the other. I think what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. This is just wrong” [Mayer, 2022.04.25].
I’m no fan of the single-subject rule for constitutional amendments that Republicans proposed and voters approved in 2018. The single-subject rule is an infinitely malleable and possibly unconstitutional standard that gives the Republicans one more weapon to wield in their war on initiative and referendum. But as long as the single-subject rule remains the law of the land, folks like Holbeck and his co-plaintiff David Owen are free use it to beat back bad Republican ideas like requiring a 60% vote to pass fiscal ballot measures. Perhaps all those voters who supported the single-subject rule four years ago will show up at the polls over the next 40 days and provide the summary judgment against Amendment C that the corrupted court declined to issue.
They don’t want to poke the sleeping beast. It won’t be a quaint tea party like they expect from polite, respectful, intelligent Democrats. Some of us are all those things because we’re decent enough people. But trust and believe, bedlam isn’t the style in these parts. Ghosts slipping through the grass in organized silence on moonless nights, putting primal fear in little bullies is an experience they do not want. There may well be whooping and swirling and hoofbeats of invisible riders coming from all directions, too. But if you were able to get your hands on some history or bent an ear to an old timer’s boogieman stories, you would know, the still, black darkness of one or two nights cause such a fire, nothing is recognizable by dawn. Now, why would anyone with any respect/smarts want to force the beast to have to get buck? Some cannot wait to be unleashed and they are giving too many excuses for that to happen. I tell my people to stay out of jail because we will need all our able-bodied, young warriors when/if the time comes. And that is why they are systematically thrown in a box, Second Amendment rights and voting rights stripped for good, because once they feel comfortable they eliminated the chances of any consequence for their actions, then we are in real trouble. It is not good it has gone this far and they are still molesting the people. I personally have told everybody I know, I am doing this ‘cleanse’ in my life, and will no longer keep the company of non-voters. Sadly, many cannot vote because of records from their past. They still pay taxes. I recall a tea party or something where taxation without representation didn’t go over too well. All the 14-17 year olds holding down jobs in our state need to demand their rights. They are tax-paying, contributing members of society. If you can hold down a job and if you are a mother, you should have the right to vote. Hell, in this state you can kill with a machine gun before voting. Isn’t that just a mockery? The ballot should be what you pry from our cold, dead hands.
Molon Labe my ballot, Xerxes!
Yes, Mr. Holbeck is correct….we are up against the conspiracy of the powerful and comfortable plotting to continue their reign by blunting one of the only remaining “powers of the people”. Putting it on the Primary ballot is just as cynical as it gets in politics.