Dang! Progressive on the Prairie scooped me on that one

Tim over at Progressive on the Prairie is keeping closer tabs on the AP news wire tonight than I am. He caught a story on Judicial Accountability Act sponsor Bill Stegmeier and the little matter of a tax bill that's hanging out there. Go read his story.

And then you can take a look at this:

Circuit Judge Max Gors of Pierre had asked whether the South Dakota Revenue Department's case against Stegmeier should be dismissed because nothing had happened in the civil case for a long time.

But after a brief hearing Wednesday, Gors granted the Revenue Department's request to keep the case open.

Bret Afdahl, a state lawyer, said the Revenue Department had nearly given up collecting the money it alleges Stegmeier owes because it had been unable to locate him, but officials learned of his whereabouts when he appeared in news accounts about the proposed amendment to the state constitution.

"We were able to track him down that way," Afdahl said.

Stegmeier did not appear at Wednesday's court hearing. Bonnie Russell, who handles publicity for the ballot measure, said Stegmeier had thought the notice he received meant the case would be dismissed.

Russell said Stegmeier has not been hiding because he has been operating a business at the same location in Tea since 1993, and his business's Web site is easily found.

Heck, he just dropped "100 large" on the ballot measure. What's $7,000 for interest on an old tax bill. Chet Brokaw also had this to add about the JAIL measure itself:

Stegmeier and other supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment argue it is needed to prevent deliberate abuses by judges.

But opponents contend it would devastate the American system of government because it would threaten the fairness and independence of the judiciary by making judges afraid they would be sued for their decisions. They say it also would apply to school boards, city councils, county commissions and other state and local boards that make decisions of a judicial nature.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmm, guess your first of the 10 questions better be "so Bill, hire a lawyer yet"?

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