Justice At Stake: JAIL omits 60% of their Donors from finance report

The Internet Website/Newsletter Justice at Stake broke a little bit of a story on their internet Newsletter: Eyes on Justice. They're reporting that the South Dakota Judicial Accountability group is not disclosing all of their donors.

Will J.A.I.L. Cover Its Paper Trail?

Disclosure time in South Dakota is turning into a headache for the local “J.A.I.L. 4 Judges” campaign, which wants to create a fourth branch of government to hound judges and other public servants who decide contested cases until they’re not independent or accountable. J.A.I.L.’s backers flouted South Dakota law, submitting an incomplete filing, refusing to disclose where their major donors work, and concealing the addresses of more than half their contributors. Even more curious, the filing makes no mention of more than 60 percent of the donors they claimed earlier this year. Among the omissions: money donated by Ron Branson, J.A.I.L.’s “Five-Star National Commander-in-Chief.” Perhaps J.A.I.L.’s backers are trying to hide their lack of South Dakota support: 99 percent of the money donated from South Dakotans came from one man, organizer William Stegmeier (who calls September 11 a “hoax”).

Download J.A.I.L.’s Campaign Finance Report [PDF]

Oooo. Go read it and another article on JAIL here. Are they trying to tell us that the South Dakota Judicial Accountability Group might not actually be telling South Dakotans the truth? Well, ok, so we're used to that.

But this time, it's on a report that might have some legal ramifications for them. In other words, JAIL might be breaking the law.

In addition, I noticed something else that's not kosher. On the report they list the following donor:

"The Real Conservative" is a South Dakota PAC, and is required to be listed on that part of the form. Not on the main part of schedule A. It goes right there on part 2 of schedule A. (Just trying to help).

I also found a few more people of dubious pedigree on the form as well. A tax protester who had spirited his child away to the Balkans in the midst of a child custody dispute, and more than one person who has spent time in prison.

Speaking of which, in a break with tradition of not having a South Dakota example of where JAIL would apply, Bill Stegmeier held out one of the Donors, Gene Lodermeier, as the response to my posing that oft-repeated question.

Over at the "South Dakota Politics and Elections Blog" there got to be a bit of discussion where I reiterated the fact that they can't hold up one case for South Dakotans to look at. And here's what Bill Stegmeier held out in response:

Call Gene Lodermeier at 605-261-3459. He will be happy to give you a stack of affidavits, thick enough to choke a horse, which were not allowed by our courts as testimony, resulting in Gene spending some fourteen years on the Hill for a crime he could have proven he didn’t do. He’s your judicial unaccountability poster child, that is if your’re sincere enough to look into it.

Gene Lodermeier's history with the State of South Dakota is not undocumented. Again, and again. As Tim Gebhart from A Progressive on the Prairie notes, it's not the first time that JAIL is invoking convicted felons:

Last October, Ron Branson, the founder of J.A.I.L., gave credit to Gene V. Lodermeier for a letter to the editor Lodermeier wrote supporting J.A.I.L. Branson said he intended to "look him up and give him our thanks and find out his knowledge and experiences with the courts." And although the local J.A.I.L.ers cleaned their original web site after claiming to break with Branson, Lodermeier's letter is still cited and linked there.

For those who may not know, Lodermeier has plenty of experience with the federal and state court system. He received a lengthy sentence in the South Dakota State Penitentiary, including time for being a "habitual offender." In addition to appealing his conviction, Lodermeier filed a state habeas corpus action in which he raised 107 issues. At the time he was sentenced, Lodermeier had a 20-year criminal history and there was information that, among other things, he had been involved in his wife's disappearance, was a suspect in the pipe-bombing of a police officer's car and his history included "tampering with evidence, perjury, federal conviction, nascent plot to kill witnesses and past destruction of private property."

More recently, Jail4Judges modified the front page of its web site to note, "Citizens of South Dakota have expressed outrage at the corruption they see in their state." Clicking on the hyperlink for "expressed outrage" we find a letter to Branson expressing "Personal Support for J.A.I.L. Amendment." The letter writer informs Branson he has had "several correspondences [sic] with Bill Stegmeier of tea, SD, regarding J.A.I.L. and the quest to complete a most successful win this November, (Amendment E)" and says he "will have made a big difference in the number of votes for Amendment E." How is he making this difference?

I tell everyone every day to inform their friends and family to vote YES on the Amendment E. I have on my bulletin board every article published in the local newspapers referencing J.A.I.L. and the opposition to the same. I spend all my free time writing to the JUDGES and prosecutors about the movement and its necessity.

(Emphasis in original).

Who is this South Dakota supporter? Jim Lawrence, another inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. And what does Lawrence see as his greatest selling point? "Imagine the publicity your organization could promulgate through the utilization of an inmate protesting his judicial misconduct while incarcerated."

Yes, a couple of excellent poster children for J.A.I.L.: convicted felons who shouldn't be on the street but think they should be.

"J.A.I.L., breaking the law, and the people who support it." It seems from the track record of several of those supporting it, all three go hand in hand.