Can what was done be undone?

Apparently there's a little bit of a debate as to whether or not a special session can be "uncalled." At least according to the Rapid City Journal this morning:
“Yes, it’s not going to happen,” Schoenbeck said Tuesday when asked about the special session. “It doesn’t change the fact that we’ll still be looking at the page program to make sure we protect future pages. It doesn’t change the fact that the 2007 session has to decide what they’re going to do about Dan Sutton.”

But Rounds spokesman Mark Johnston said Tuesday evening that Rounds hadn’t yet agreed to cancel the session and wasn’t certain that he could.

“There’s no provision in the constitution that allows us to undo a special session,” Johnston said.

The governor wants to be sure he has the authority before he acts, Johnston said. He also must wait for the official letter of request from Senate leaders, which is expected today, Johnston said.

Contacted later Tuesday evening, Schoenbeck said he still expects the governor to determine that he can cancel the special session.

“I believe it doesn’t make any sense to have a meeting when the people who asked for the meeting don’t think there’s a reason for it any more,” he said.

Sutton has not spoken publicly about the allegation since it became public last month. One of his lawyers, Mike Butler of Sioux Falls, has said that Sutton has done nothing wrong. And District 8 voters gave the third-term Democratic incumbent, who also served two years in the South Dakota House, a 57 percent vote of support in the Nov. 7 general election.

Schoenbeck said the page who made allegations about the February incident with Sutton reported it to his father and another page. The page’s father took the information to South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long within two days, Schoenbeck said. Long has confirmed the investigation, which has not resulted in criminal charges against Sutton, but won’t discuss it.


Read it all here
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Simple fix if It's determined the constitution doesn't have cancellation provisions. (it doesn't). Just have only the majority leader and Lt. Gov. show up, open the session, determine a quorum isn't present, close the books and go home. Per diems, travel, etc. only are given if a legislator travels to Pierre for the session and you'd only need one of the Senate's staff for the Journal: it'd only be a page long.

Would save us taxpayers a bunde.
Anonymous said…
Maybe we can discover a loophole in the law where the special session is supposed to use three drugs instead of two. Then the Gov would call it off for sure! :)
Anonymous said…
I think South Dakota would be better served if we just took the best of both worlds from Nebraska and North Dakota:

A unicameral legislature that meets every other year.

Really, if all they want to do is talk about sex and abortion, can't they do it at home?
Publisher said…
I think Anon. 10:03 has a point.
A Unicameral that meets every other year (not an election year) and is nonpolitical would be ideal. Non realistic, but ideal!
Anonymous said…
I agree with mhs, just have none of the senators come, have the Lt. Gov ,open i up, then close it. It is as simple as that. We save money and if they want it brought up, because the media sure will, then they can do it when we are not paying extra money to fund it. Because if they think that this is so important, then they can rank it up their with the abortion battle, education, healthcare, and taxes. Then you will truly be able to see where some of these Senator's come through on their words. Also, most of them just want this behind them and over with. If Wiese's and the republicans want to fight it, tell Schonebeck to represent the Wiese's with Janklow and tell Long to file charges, because Butler, Duffy, and Sutton are ready to fight this and win.
Anonymous said…
If I was the governor, I'd be concerned about legal authority to cancel the special session too.

Schoenbeck is likely to sue if it's canceled. NOBODY takes away his last hurrah. NOBODY takes away his stageshow, his witch hunt, his inquisition, his relevance.
Anonymous said…
if they do have the special session at least it would take a small portion of the budget the governor was planning on giving to state employees. Those poor state employees that can't use STATE vehicles for PERSONAL use. ahh and they are soooo underpaid...
Anonymous said…
Well, Rounds canceled the special session. So he either:
1 - Decided he has the implicit authority to do so, or
2 - Figures no one will care enough to challenge him.

And that makes sense - I cannot think of one good reason to convene the special session at this point. And our Supreme Court is pragmatic enough that I think they would uphold the Governor anyway.
Anonymous said…
I am shocked Rounds made a decision this fast! Maybe the next four years won't be so bad.
Anonymous said…
I agree with mhs. Only problem is that Sen. Kloucek will show up with about 10 voters from his district!

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