Is there a problem with closed, corrupt government in South Dakota?

Yes. Even if our problems are not as great or as evident as in other states, the current system is set up to allow abuse of the tax dollars.

Under the current system, you pay taxes. The legislature distributes those tax dollars to the departments and agencies that make the state work. Many of those agencies and departments spend thousands of your tax dollars to hire outside lobbyists to go to the legislature to ask for more of your tax dollars – in the form of a tax increase that you pay. Read more about the tax-funded lobbyists and your wasted tax dollars here.

Under the current system, politicians can use their position to peddle influence and secure cushy positions working on government contracts they secured while still in office. Under the status quo, the highest donor to a campaign can get a no-bid contract at a high price as a thank you for their pre-election contributions.

Under the current system, it takes months to learn which firms and individuals received how much in tax funding to do who knows what services. Thomas Jefferson said, “We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them." Jefferson’s vision is clearly not the state of affairs in South Dakota.

The solution: South Dakota Open and Clean Campaign Act.

South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government
PO Box 2109
Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2109
Phone: (605) 271-8290
info@cleanupsd.com