by Richard Butler and Sam Kephart, Co-Chairs

South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government

Over 26,000 South Dakotans signed the petition to put Initiated Measure 10 on our November ballot.

Here’s the Secretary of State’s official description of Measure 10, which you’ll see printed on your ballot:

“An initiative to prohibit tax revenues from being used for lobbying or campaigning, to prohibit governmental bodies from lobbying, to prohibit government contractors from making campaign contributions, to prohibit government contracts when the contractor employs a legislator or legislative staff member, and to require contracts with government contractors to be published.”

Simply put, voting YES on 10 will bring common sense public disclosure and ethics reform to our state and local governments, the same standards we already require by law of our federal officials in Washington.

For example, federal election law prohibits federal government contractors from making campaign contributions to candidates for federal office.

Voting YES on 10 will require state and local politicians and contractors to play by the same rules.

Specifically, voting YES on 10 will:

Stop politicians from handing out “pay to play” government contracts in exchange for campaign money.

Stop term-limited politicians and retiring bureaucrats from trading their political influence for high-paying jobs after leaving office.

Require that relationships between elected officials and government contractors be made transparent by publishing detailed contract information on the Internet.

According to the State Auditor’s office, there are over 1,700 no-bid contracts with state government alone, not counting no-bid contracts handed out by city, county, and school district officials.

Here’s just one example: since 2004, one big-name advertising agency has received nearly three dozen no-bid contracts with the state Department of Tourism worth over $23 million. In the same time period, that company’s owners or employees contributed tens of thousands of dollars to high-ranking state officials’ political campaigns.

Other South Dakota companies that may be able to do the same job or better, for less, never even knew these contracts were available, much less got a chance to competitively bid. Watch our video exposing this at www.CleanUpSD.com.

It’s a matter of simple math for taxpayers. Giving no-bid contracts to campaign donors drives the cost of government up, meaning increased cost to taxpayers and building pressure to raise taxes. Voting YES on 10 to encourage open competitive bidding will help keep the cost of government and our taxes down.

Voting YES on 10 will also stop politicians from giving our tax dollars to organizations that use it for lobbying and political campaigns, and stop politicians from spending tax dollars to collect and funnel union dues to government employee union officials who spend their funds often lobbying against South Dakota values or on partisan political campaigns.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, there are roughly 150 lobbyists in Pierre representing organizations whose primary source of funding is our tax dollars.

After the people vote YES on 10 this November, these currently tax-subsidized lobbyists and special interest groups will remain just as free to engage in lobbying or political campaigns as all other citizens. The only difference is, they’ll have to raise and spend their own money, not our tax dollars.

Not surprisingly, polls find that South Dakotans overwhelmingly intend to vote YES on Measure 10. So who are the tiny minority who oppose this common sense public disclosure and ethics reform?

Politicians who want to continue their cozy financial relationship with lobbyists and government contractors, including campaign contributions in return for no-bid contracts and the chance of being hired after leaving office.

Lobbyists representing government contractors who think they should continue to benefit financially by rewarding politicians who have authority to spend our tax dollars.

Lobbyists and government employee union officials who want to continue using tax dollars – or union dues withheld from government paychecks at taxpayers’ expense -- to pay for their lobbying and political activities.

By prohibiting “pay to play” government contracts and tax-funded lobbying, Measure 10 threatens these groups’ ability to continue benefiting financially at taxpayers’ expense.

That’s why they’ve already spent nearly $1 million – at least part of it our tax dollars – to oppose Measure 10, including false and misleading television ads.

Thankfully, in South Dakota, the truth and the people rule. Please vote YES on Measure 10.