The REAL Issues of District 15

Why are we talking about something so trivial like a “maybe she sent it, maybe she didn’t” email to a B-list celeb, PP, when there are REAL issues to discuss here? Let’s talk about what should be politically significant here:

1) John Madigan switched from being a life-long Republican to a Democratic CANDIDATE just 5 days before the filing deadline. I think we can all agree that’s shade-o-rama. Not only that, but the it becomes known that he’s the Business Manager/Office Manager of the Catholic Church, which indubitably raises questions about the separation of church and state in South Dakota state government. C’mon. Agenda much? I mean really? I don’t care what your religion or what your political party – something is very wrong with this.

2) There’s a small incestuous group of ‘Democrats’ that have their hands dirty in all of this and guess what, Martha Vanderlinde, isn’t one of ‘em. Recall the post by Kelsey here at DW where the “Elect Your New District 15 Team” mailing was discussed. Speaking of incestuous, has anyone checked out the campaign finance reports on these guys? Jim Miles is the Chair of John Madigan’s Committee and Kathy Miles is the Treasurer. Gil Koetzle is the Chair of Pat Kirschman’s Committee with (guess who?!) Jim Miles again as the Treasurer. Hmmm. I think John Madigan’s email address sums it all up: votehappyclub@q.com.
Which leads me to my next point…

3) Seems to me that there might be a little campaign finance law violation in all of this. On the “Team” mailing of Kirschman, Miles, and Madigan, Deb Koetzle is listed as the Treasurer for all the candidates in a “Paid for by the Candidates, Deb Koetzle, Treasurer” sort of way. Well, two things: 1) that’s not what the campaign finance reports say for either of these two men 2) isn’t it a blatant violation to have a joint account with other candidates? I’m certainly no expert here, but I’m also not seeing any in kind donations to each other to pay for this mailing. I’m aware that you don’t have to list a treasurer at all according to new campaign finance law, but what about if you list someone that isn’t the correct treasurer as according to your statement of organization…or even more – what if you list one person as the treasurer for three campaigns and then the supplementary documents don’t match up? What the hell is going on here? Am I missing something or is Roger Hunt these people’s campaign finance law advisor?

So, let’s stop making this about a candidate who has never tried to hide who she is or what she believes through dissecting a petty message board post, taking it’s writing ridiculously out of context (“What a hardship for young girls in the middle of nowhere SD!!” does in no way imply that this lady hates South Dakota, she’s ashamed of it, or anything else. She’s very clearly talking about pharmacy refusal in rural areas. Grow up or re-learn how to read and comprehend written information, kids. ) And you know what? At least with Vanderlinde you know what you’re going to get. We can’t really say the same about ANY of the other candidates in that district, now can we? I think all this conspiracy stuff is disgusting and it hurts everyone involved: other candidates, the voters, the district, the parties, and the state.