On heels of Ethics Office debacle, politicians in South Dakota try to repeal new anti-corruption law

By: Dan Krassner

Political Director

Email Copy and paste the text below, or send it in a new email message You should really see this: https://act.represent.us/sign/ethics-office-aca-attack?source=taf . RepresentUs has a smart plan to fix our broken political system. Check it out.

Politicians are catching a "let's get rid of ethics laws" flu. And apparently it's highly contagious.

Last week Congress tried to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics in a secret vote. Fortunately, thousands of people responded with outrage and they backed off.

Now, politicians are scheming to repeal America's first statewide Anti-Corruption Act in South Dakota. And they're not even doing it quietly.

They got started early: Just weeks after the public voted to pass this comprehensive anti-corruption law, several politicians got together and filed a lawsuit to temporarily halt the new law by tying it up in the court system. But challenging the Anti-Corruption Act in court is just the temporary plan - after all, the court may not rule in their favor.

So state senators, representatives, and even the Governor are talking about repealing the law when they come back to work in the capitol on January 10th.

That's right. They're talking about repealing an Anti-Corruption Act, passed by voters, on their first day back to work.

It's easy to compare this anti-corruption attack with the Congressional attack that happened in Washington D.C. last week, and there are certainly a ton of similarities. But there's a key difference: in Washington, there was an Office of Congressional Ethics to hobble. In South Dakota the status quo is rampant corruption with little oversight.

South Dakota is ranked the 4th most corrupt state in the country. It's a state where lobbyists can give unlimited secret gifts to politicians. It's a place where politicians have gone on the record supporting lobbyist-written bills.

It's no wonder that people in South Dakota saw the urgent need to pass an Anti-Corruption Act. And it's also no wonder that politicians - many of whom have been recently embroiled in scandals - are freaking out about it and trying to stop it.

If you're not a South Dakota resident, you might be thinking "why does this have anything do with me?"

You may have noticed I called this America's first statewide Anti-Corruption Act. The plan isn't to pass this in South Dakota and walk away. The anti-corruption movement is working to pass Anti-Corruption Acts state-by-state across the country. And what happens with this first statewide law could set a precedent for other states.

The good news is there's still a way to stop politicians from repealing the law - people across the country can take a stand against this attack, just like they did with the news about the Ethics Office, and scare politicians off.

There's already a petition targeting the ringleaders of the opposition, and South Dakotans are planning to deliver signatures to lawmakers in South Dakota.

Here's how you can help protect America's first statewide Anti-Corruption Act:

Add your name to the petition



Share the petition on Facebook – and tag anyone you saw who shared an article about the Congressional Ethics Office



Watch and then share this video about two of the people behind this attack to spread the word



Call Senator Curd and give him an earful – he's the Senate Majority Leader and one of the most vocal opponents of the Anti-Corruption Act. His number is: 605-773-3821



Talk to your friends in person about it.

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