The Legislature unanimously passed Attorney General Marty Jackley’s Senate Bill 17 to immediately ban any contribution or loan from foreign nationals to South Dakota candidates and political committees. When Governor Larry Rhoden signed SB 17 into law on March 11, the Attorney General said, “This bill ensures foreign interests will not have a role in South Dakota’s elections, keeping our campaign process transparent and accountable to South Dakota citizens…. Thank you to Republican and Democratic legislators and Gov. Rhoden for protecting our election process in South Dakota.”
A.G. and leading Congressional candidate Jackley brought SB 17 to support a March 2025 Presidential Executive order in which Donald Trump huffed that “foreign interference in our election process undermines the franchise and the right of American citizens to govern their Republic.”
Today, J.D. Vance is in Hungary campaigning for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán:
US Vice President JD Vance has landed in Budapest to bolster support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose Fidesz Party faces its most difficult election in more than 10 years.
Vance’s two-day visit comes on Tuesday, two months after US President Donald Trump endorsed right-wing leader Orban in February before Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary elections, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the country that month to show support [Brian Osgood, “Vance Visits Hungary to Shore Up Orban’s Support Before Sunday Vote,” Aljazeera, 2026.04.07].
Vance is campaigning for a Russian tool:
During a phone call between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin last autumn, the Hungarian leader assured Putin of his friendship and offered assistance in resolving the war in Ukraine.
…During the call on 17 October, Orbán told Putin he was “willing to go to great lengths” to help him, including facilitating a settlement of the war in Ukraine through a summit in Budapest.
“Yesterday our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help in any way. In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service,” Orbán said.
To illustrate his point, Orbán referred to a children’s fable popular in Hungary about a mouse that frees a lion caught in a net after the lion had previously spared its life.
According to the transcript, this remark made Putin laugh.
Much of the conversation was reportedly devoted to exchanging compliments, including about US President Donald Trump.
Orbán noted that his friendship with Putin had strengthened since it began in Saint Petersburg in 2009.
“The more friends we make, the more possibilities we have to resist our adversaries,” he said [Ulyana Krychkovska and Stanislav Pohorilov, “Hungary’s Orbán Was Willing to Go to Great Lengths to Help Putin and Russia, Leaked Conversation Reveals,” Ukrainska Pravda, 2026.04.07].
The American interlopers aren’t moving the needle much among Hungarians:
The display of transatlantic loyalty probably won’t alter the political equation in Hungary, however, where a growing swell of opposition to the ruling Fidesz party is focused on the country’s economic weakness and the cronyism and corruption associated with Orbán. That popular resistance has put Péter Magyar’s Tisza party in a strong position to win the vote, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, which has shown him ahead since late 2024.
…U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also visited in February to try to reverse Orbán’s flagging fortunes, but his talk of a “golden age” in U.S.-Hungary relations seemed to fall flat. Indeed, independent opinion surveysfollowing Rubio’s trip showed the center-right opposition actually widening its lead [Jamie Dettmer and Eli Stokols, “Vance in Budapest: Viktor Orabn’s Last Throw of the MAGA Dice,” Politico.eu, 2026.04.07].
Jackley exerted himself this Session to protect South Dakotans from the largely non-existent threat of foreign pressure in South Dakota elections, but he’s not invoking his professed commitment to the right to self-governance to condemn high-ranking officials of his own party openly trying to influence other nations’ elections.
p.s.: Trump phoned in to today’s Vance/Orbán fascist rally in Budapest. At a news conference with Orbán, Vance accused Ukrainian intelligence services of “try[ing] to put their thumb on the scale of American elections, on Hungarian elections.” He also blamed Europe for triggering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “The seeds of this conflict were actually planted well before the fighting started. And they were planted when European leaders decided that they were going to go so deep into a particular energy economy that they were going to cut themselves off from oil and natural gas that came from the East. That was a huge mistake then and it’s obvious that it’s a huge mistake now.”
The liars and cheaters love sucking each other. It’s a grim circle of jerks.
Anne Applebaum is an American journalist and member of the Council on Foreign Relations who covers “Putinism,” calls what is happening in the US executive branch, “regime change” and is married to Poland’s version of the US Secretary of State. She talked about her latest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run The World on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán steals elections, is a darling of the far white wing, has been a kleptocrat for decades and is likely the successor to the captagon trade.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/19/g-s1-49659/journalist-describes-trumps-movements-as-a-regime-change-towards-authoritarianism
What the hell is Vance doing meddling in foreign elections? Doesn’t he have his own war criminal at home to manage?
Thune, Rounds, and Johnson, you need to put a stop to this madness now! Like within the next 2 hours or you will have a dark stain to add to your legacies for doing nothing about what is about to go down.
We’ve already killed enough school girls.
First of all, the bill is just the usual political puffery. There is a federal law that already bans all such political contributions by foreign nationals. SB 17 doesn’t make campaign donations any more safe from foreign nationals. I’m sure we’ll hear a campaign ad with Jackley puffing his chest about this useless bill. Just know it doesn’t make one bit of difference.
Second, Republicans like to pretend they don’t accept donations from overseas, but you notice they don’t want to dig too deeply into Russian in-kind contributions to their campaigns or all the gifts and “deals” given to the Trump criminal family. That is certainly one way to launder foreign campaign money.
I’d like to know how this bill is going to be enforced. The Attorney General is not going to spend the time and money to check US citizenship on every person who puts a $1 donation or a $1,000 check into the hat. This bill is just one more feel good masturbatory measure.
Jackley covered up Bendagate, the Westerhuis scandal and Brady Folkens’ wrongful death so anyone who believes Marty has any integrity whatsoever is completely delusional.
You sure don’t hear jackley talk about Kendra Owens from watertown botched murder trial. Just saying.
The simplest explanation is that Vance doesn’t worry about election fraud. He’s a political opportunist, first and foremost. Feigning terror at election fraud simply signals to Trump and allows for future attempts to strike voters most harmful to republican interests generally. I don’t think most reasonable observers would disagree, but saying it anyway is kinda the point: crying about election fraud just signals to like-minded folks that you are friendly to their cause.
Based on search results, here is a breakdown of the context surrounding these allegations:
Westerhuis/Platte Scandal (Gear Up): Critics have questioned the thoroughness of the investigation into the $1 million+ embezzlement scandal involving the Gear Up program and the Westerhuis family, which ended in a murder-suicide. Jackley has defended his office’s work, stating that existing laws at the time did not have enough “teeth” to pursue conflict of interest charges against all involved parties and has since worked to strengthen anti-corruption laws.
Brady Folkens’ Death: Brady Folkens, a teenager in the custody of the state, died in 2014. His mother, Dawn Van Ballegooyen, has spent years alleging a conspiracy to hide evidence of medical negligence by state officials. While a 2017 ruling found no evidence of deliberate indifference or constitutional violations by state officials, a 2024 amendment to the death certificate stated the cause as lymphocytic myocarditis. Van Ballegooyen has stated she was told to send debt collectors for her son’s medical bills to the Attorney General’s office.
“Bendagate” and Other Accusations: Critics have sometimes used the term “Bendagate” regarding various scandals. The comments in the provided search results demonstrate a segment of public opinion that strongly distrusts Jackley, alleging that he covers up misconduct.
Jackley’s Response and Actions: Jackley has maintained that his office acts in accordance with the law. In recent years, he has proposed and passed legislation to create a Public Integrity Unit, strengthen whistleblower protections, and enhance the state auditor’s authority to combat state employee misconduct. The Public Integrity Unit reported 47 complaints and 14 investigations of state employee misconduct in 2025.