Heated Debate on Initiated Measure 10

According to the Rapid City Journal, there was spirited debate last night at a forum on Initiated Measure 10.

The proponent was Sam Kephart and the opponent was former state Rep. Tom Hennies.

Kephart, a Spearfish businessman who lost the Republican U.S. Senate primary to Joel Dykstra in June, offered a fiery defense of the proposed law. In a voice that sometimes rose almost to a shout, he said the measure’s restrictions on the awarding of government contracts and use of taxpayer money for lobbying would help citizens wrest power from “the hands of the business and political elite” in South Dakota.

But Hennies wasn't lying down in his opposition to 10:

Hennies, a former Rapid City police chief who served eight years as a Republican member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, was no less spirited in his response. He rejected the notion of widespread corruption and wasteful sweetheart deals between business and state government in Pierre.

While I have some concerns about some provisions of the proposed law, overall I think it is a positive measure. I voted for it in "early voting" at the court house yesterday.

I don't think individuals or even private groups should be muzzled in their political expression.

But I do have a BIG, BIG problem with the use of taxpayer dollars being used to lobby for more taxpayer dollars--one egregious example of that is the South Dakota school funding lawsuit where schools were suing the state (using taxpayer funds) in pursuit of more taxpayer funds.

I don't think opponents of this measure have done themselves any favors with some of the over-the-top scare tactics I've heard.