Bad Candidate. Bad, Bad Candidate. I think.
(Click to enlarge the article)You've got me on this one.
Ron Jenkins, who is running as Maggie Gillespie's running mate in the legislative races this fall has apparently been reprimanded by his fellow city councilmen in North Sioux City.
Except, they aren't saying why. They're just publicly reprimanding him. Without disclosing it, it's about as stupid an action as it gets. I mean, if it rises to the level of a public spanking, shouldn't the public be informed what he's being spanked for?
It is for looking crosseyed at a puppy? Or is it for leering at a stripper? Who knows?
The only thing cited is SDCL 9-8-5 which states:
9-8-5. Power of council to judge members and govern proceedings--Bribery vacating office. The council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members. It shall determine its own rules of procedure, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the aldermen elected thereto, may expel a member.An elected official is being unanimously - UNANIMOUSLY spanked by his fellow city commissioners in the midst of climbing to a higher office. And no one is saying why. And more so a problem - why is no one asking about it?
Any alderman who shall have been convicted of bribery shall thereby vacate his office.
Why am I grousing about it? Well, as you can read for yourself, the article in the newspaper tells us nothing. So, what about the other crusaders in the fight to tell the public everything?
Doesn't the Argus Leader cover this area in their investigative reporting? Or does their outrage over non-disclosure eerily stop when the letter behind the candidate's name changes from "R" to "D?" I don't see the South Dakota Newspaper Association jumping in that one either with their campaign for the public's right to know.
A semi-secret reprimand for a public official over his misconduct in a public office. Glad to see the mainstream media is raising the roof over it.
Comments
I expect the publisher of the North Sioux City newspaper to push this as far as possible, not because he's concerned with ethics, but because he is a diehard Republican. It is unlikely that you would have read anything about this incident in the Two River Times if Mr. Jenkins was running on the Republican ticket.
He was my hope for getting that jerk, Dykstra, out of office. I wonder how this will effect it?
Any action that is taken, however, must be done in open session. Since the council officially reprimanded Jenkins, it had to be done in front of anyone else present - including any media - and it becomes part of the city's legal record which is published in the official newspaper, which in this case is the North Sioux City Times.
I'm still slowly leaning about politics, so "running mates" could be the normal term for this situation and I wouldn't know.
And to be fair, if you hadn't mentioned Gillespie in this article I probably wouldn't have known who you were talking about. Heck, I didn't even realize that Distict 16 went as far south as North Sioux City.
In the Senate, Kenneth Albers (R) is running against Kethy Lessek (D). Mike Broderick is the current senator, but he's not seeking another term. I'm not sure how this election will go. District 16, like most of South Dakota, usually goes Republican. But lately I've seen a lot of people wanting women to be in government positions. That's what happened with Canton's last city commissioner election (not to say that the lady who won isn't a good commissioner). So, in my opinion, this one is up in the air.
For the representatives, there are currently Joel Dykstra (R) and Maggie Gillespie (D). They are being challenged by Ron Jenkins (D) and Dan Lederman (R) respectively. Right now I think the incumbants will retail their seats. Dykstra is an incumbant and a Republican, so he'll be hard to beat... though I dislike him. And since both Gillespie and Lederman support the abortion ban I'd say Gillespie, as incumbant, will stay.
My opinions may change when I do some more research on these candidates. All of them filled out Project Vote Smart surveys, so that's helpful.