My 1600th post! No on 7 files their campaign finance report. And they're sure not short on finance, or information.

With campaign funds (and expenditures) in excess of $700,000, the NO-on-7 campaign effort is showing that they're one of the big dogs in the ballot initiatives this year.

You can read the campaign finance report here on the Secretary of State's website. But in the meantime, check out some of these donations:


TNT Enterprises of Wagner is in for over $36,000.


Automatic Vendors of Rapid City is in for $117,000!

And there's a couple more who are in for $50k+.

The thing is, these are businesses which have seen their livelihood assaulted year after year. From some of these amounts I'm seeing, apparently they seem to be getting sick of it.

Is there going to be finger pointing by the other side talking about some of these large amounts? Sure. But there are a lot more mom& pop convenience store operations who are kicking in $500 to $1000, because having a machine in their store is what's helping to keep them afloat.

Before people start casting stones at No-on-7, I think they ought to first ask who is behind the Yes-on-7 effort. Because at this point, there's been lots of money spent on ads, many of them negative. And we still don't know who is funding them. It's as secretive as can be.

If Yes-on-7 wants people to consider their point of view as valid, the rest of the organization and the people who fund it need to come out from behind their front man.

Am I involved with either organization? Nope.

In fact, some of my close friends (my wife included) think I should be against video lottery because my family was a victim of a thieving employee who stole money and plunked it in to the machines. Video lottery didn't make this employee steal money from my dad (at one point doing so while my mom was on her deathbed) - it was a conscious decision on the employee's part. *

After three previous votes on the subject, South Dakotans have affirmed time and again that they want video lottery. It's businesses contribute to South Dakota's economy. It's a legal activity, for crying out loud. No one is holding a gun to people's heads forcing them to play.

I was watching the news several nights ago with a legislator friend of mine when Daniel Brendtro noted that he and the other mystery proponents think they can replace that revenue with a 1/2 cent sales tax increase. The comment from the legislator? "there's no way they can replace that revenue with a 1/2 cent of sales tax."

So, remove that revenue, and the voluntary entertainment tax will likely be replaced by an income tax. That's in addition to all the jobs that will be lost - both factors likely creating a downturn in the economy.

I voted No on initiated measure 7 for just those reasons. Besides. After three statewide votes, some people should get the hint.

---

*If you're wondering, I personally combed through ten years worth of financial records to help send the thieving employee to jail. (I did use to be an investigator for the state, you know).