PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) Minority Democrats in the Republican-controlled State Senate procured a minor victory on Thursday in their battle for Initiated Measure 22.
They got enough Republicans to go along with them to delay action until next week on repealing the ethics overhaul narrowly approved by the voters in November. A rather obscure legislative rule called the '517 Procedure' was successfully used to delay debate until next Wednesday.
Capitol observers speculate that some Republicans may be feeling the heat from concerns that the State Legislature is moving too fast to repeal IM 22. Democrats are hoping that Republican lawmakers will get an earful from the folks back home.
"Now legislators will have to go home over the weekend and think about what they're going to do on this and why they're doing what they're doing and have to face the voters." Senate Minority Leader Billie Sutton tells KELO Radio News. Sutton says after Republican leaders learned that Democrats had just enough Republican support for the delay, most everyone jumped on board in what Sutton described as a "good will" effort
Most Republicans believe IM 22 is unconstitutional and needs to be replaced with ethics reforms still in line with the desires of the voters. Democrats in Pierre claim the Republican leadership is rushing to overturn the will of the voters and should instead work in a bipartisan fashion to fix problems in the measure..
The repeal and replace battle is hitting the national media. For example, the liberal advocacy group, Common Cause tells the New York Times that instead of draining the swamp, South Dakota wants to swim in the swamp.