"Take it Back, Jack."
Jack Billion might have well have started referring to Republicans as infidel invaders and declared a jihad on them with the rhetoric he's starting to use in his press releases. In an unusually harsh move for South Dakota politics, he calls the Governor "a pawn of extremists" as reported by KSFY news:
Read it all here. And it's all ok, because Jack took it back.. Isn't it?The men who want to be South Dakota's next governor are squaring off on the abortion issue. Democrat Jack Billion is charging that Governor Mike Rounds changed his story about who will pay for a possible lawsuit over the state's abortion ban.
Challenger Jack Billion says his opponent, Mike Rounds has changed positions on who will pay for the legal defense of a ban on most abortions. He distributed a DVD to reporters showing Rounds saying it would be the state's responsibility to pay the legal bill that could reach several million dollars.
and..
At the press conference, a statement was also distributed on Billion for Governor letterhead, that called Rounds, "a pawn of extremists." Mr. Billion later changed that language. "I took that out of the prepared statement. We will re-issue that statement because I don't feel that we really wanted to get into name calling, in this regard. I don't agree with the job Governor Rounds is doing."
Actually, that brings up an idea for a new slogan. Instead of "Back Jack," maybe when he starts throwing out wild comments like that, it should be "Take it back, Jack."
Comments
During the debate in Pierre Rounds repeatedly stated that a special fund would be setup to take in all the cash people waited to donate to defend HB 1215. That included a million dollar donor both Roger Hunt or the Gov said wanted to remain anonymous.
Well the reason that it was anonymous is that there was never a real offer of a million bucks.
To date, that special defense fund only has about $12,000 in total contributions.
Now the Gov is saying it will be a cost the taxpayers of SD will have to bear. That is what I consider bate and switch. Tell the public that if the legislature passes HB1215 that it will not cost the taxpayers anything to defend. Now the story is different, the Gov now says that it is the responsibility of the taxpayers to defend HB1215 in court.
PP, I'm disappointed it that you tried to spin this to cover the Gov's backside. As much as I hate to admit it, Billon is right on this one.
Now it looks like the best course of action would be to vote no on 6,and pick up the debate again.
You don't suppose the anonymous $1M donor hasn't given any money yet because 1215 has to survive a referendum first, do you? People with $1M to give most likely didn't get into that position by giving their money away before they need to. There's a little interest to be earned on that money between the time of passage of 1215 and November.
Secondly, what about the request for anonymity itself? The AG Opinion saying donations were public info subject to disclosure might have had an effect on the donor's willingness to give.
I think it's pretty clear Rounds didn't want to deal with this bill as it was written, so why would he bait legislators to vote for it? Obviously he'd want to use the sub fund and the $1M as an additional reason to sign the bill - who wouldn't? That's just good PR (something Rounds isn't exactly known for).
Comments to come:
dumb-dumb and poopy-face
For those of you who think money had was a deciding factor, you are just as wrong as the boycotters who tried to threaten our tourism economy. The personal donations to the state have instead been donated to various organizations that now have to fund the PR battle for the referendum.
That sounds like an interesting set of fund transfers if it actually happened.
Get real, the anonymous donor is Bob Fischer from Rapid City. If you think that he will actually follow through with his pledge, you don't know Bob.
There's not a chance he will ever give more than a couple thousand.
He was willing to say anything to get HB1215 passed. But when the time comes to actually live up to the pledge, Bob never step up to the plate. He never has, never will.
I heard someone else.
By the way the LIBERALs are the ones going to cost us, let the people's voices be heard.
And I definitely think it is true that no one will contribute to the legal defense fund until after the election. Why contribute if you don't know there will even be a lawsuit? If I supported the ban, I would give my money to the campaign right now as well.
And whoever said it is right - Jack can say he is against name-calling, but anyone who reads his blog can see that he is a cranky old man.