$30K in taxpayer funds spent to infringe on YOUR Constitutional rights
ATTENTION SOUTH DAKOTA:
We have come across some explosive information every single taxpaying citizen in South Dakota needs to be aware of.
In February of 2024, citizens began to coordinate a petition effort at the county level to return to hand counting and abandon all electronic voting and tabulating machines. Various counties created their own version of an ordinance so not all were identical.
The Lawrence County group was the first to turn in their petitions. That action set off a chain of events that led to a stand off of epic proportions in the State Legislature at the very end of the 2024 session. A series of articles posted earlier lay out all the details up to the nail biting tie vote! Links to the bill, amendments, committee hearings, and interviews are all there.
Now the main point is THIS. Lawrence County officials freaked out when the petitions were submitted. The powers that be freaked out. Sarah Frankenstein was called in (the establishment’s hit man against the election movement) and went to work collaborating with the lobbyists from SDACO, SDACC, SD Municipal League, and the SD Retailers Association, Casey Crabtree, David Wheeler, and Rebecca Reimer, to name a few.
Don’t forget - Sarah Frankenstein is STILL promoting ERIC.
We knew from watching the hog-house of HB1140 in the Senate State Affairs Committee, with no public knowledge, but three lobbyist groups in attendance, there was a coordinated effort going on. Sen. Casey Crabtree said “we have a plan” with one of these vehicle bills. Eric Erickson, lobbyist for SDACC said this was a response to an issue that arose yesterday, addressing how you do the election process, and it was a “very immediate issue that just popped up”. Yvonne Taylor with the SD Municipal League said they needed “a fix for this problem.” (tell us you are desperate without saying you are desperate, right?)
Then the debate ensued with speeches from the floor that clearly reveal the issue.
Many of the arguments made by Kristin Conzet, (a Gov. Noem appointee) Rebecca Reimer, et al were focused on supposed (not legitimate) HAVA violations and perceived election problems. However - the statute they were attempting to hijack has nothing to do with elections.
Citizens can bring petitions for a county ordinance on anything. Even, say, something like CO2 pipeline setbacks.
NOW LISTEN TO WHAT SENATOR WHEELER SAYS HERE:
The entire reason they brought the bill was to give the county commission a legal avenue to deny petitions. WHY? Because there is NO legal avenue for the county to deny petitions.
7-18A-13. Board action on initiative petition--Submission to voters.
If a petition to initiate is filed with the auditor, the auditor shall present it to the board of county commissioners at its next regular or special meeting. The board shall enact the proposed ordinance or resolution and shall submit it to a vote of the voters in the manner prescribed for a referendum within sixty days after the final enactment. However, if the petition is filed within three months prior to the primary or general election, the ordinance or resolution may be submitted at the primary or general election.
The truth is, this was an establishment backlash against the people.
Rep. Sue Peterson said it best here. You can’t fix something that you think is unconstitutional by doing something unconstitutional. The judicial branch decides the legality of an ordinance, not the commission or the State’s Attorney. We have separation of powers for a reason.
After HB1140 died in a tie vote, Frankenstein and friends went to work threatening County Commissions in at least five counties with ACLU lawsuits in an effort to convince them to break state law and violate the 1st Amendment rights of the citizens to petition the government.
Frankenstein was successful in five counties that unlawfully and unconstitutionally denied the petitions. Citizens in two of those counties now have a Writ of Mandamus filed in Circuit Court asking the court to order the commission to follow the law. Sarah Frankenstein is defending those two counties as well. How much is that going to cost?
As the opposition continues to push their false narrative that hand counting costs more…………… we finally came across just how much it COST the tax payers to have their rights trampled by the county.
Lawrence County - Nearly $15,000 of taxpayer funds used AGAINST THE TAXPAYERS.
Gunderson Palmer Ashmore LLC’s invoice for Sarah Frankenstein’s services to Lawrence County tells the tale of the conspiracy to defraud the citizens of their rights. It also details the great lengths Frankenstein went to to oppose SD Canvassing’s and Nichole Braithwait’s emails to the legislature & commission; even stalking and screen shotting our Facebook pages!
McPherson County also received a virtually identical invoice from Gunderson Palmer for Sarah Frankenstein’s “help” in robbing the constituents of the special election they petitioned for. The total damage there was nearly $13,000.00!!!!!!
And here’s the bombshell:
SARAH FRANKENSTEIN CREATED HB1140.
Sarah Frankenstein is in cahoots with the lobbyists. $$
In fact - Sarah Frankenstein even paid a fee to register with the Secretary of State as a lobbyist in case she had to testify on HB1140 - and then CHARGED the counties for it!!!!
McPherson County - Nearly $13,000 of taxpayer funds used AGAINST THE TAXPAYERS.
It is interesting to note; Lawrence county’s first billing date is 2/22/24 for petition review and work on a memo for the Auditor.
Lawrence County citizens didn’t turn in their petitions until 2/26/24.
McPherson County has been billed $1,487.50 for half the time Frankenstein spent with the lobbyists CREATING HB1140 on 2/26/24.
McPherson County didn’t turn in their petitions until 2/29/24.
Charles Mix County Citizens were also unlawfully and unconstitutionally denied their right to petition. To date, Charles Mix County has been billed $3,604.27 for Frankenstein’s services, but that is just the beginning. Meade County and McCook County have not produced a copy of the invoice yet.
Neither Lawrence nor Charles Mix have been billed for Frankenstein’s fees fighting the citizens in court against their Writ of Mandamus, which the citizens file Pro Se. These expenses could be hidden behind the surety bond Assurance Alliance, which hides the audit trail of how much money has been spent to pay lawyers to fight against our rights. ( CVR lawsuits are a prime example ) Why do we have full time state’s attorneys who can’t even defend their legal advisement that puts them at risk in the first place?
McPherson County taxpayers also have to shell out $1,477.00 to Frankenstein for the post-election audit fiasco. Auditor Lindley Howard and SA Austin Hoffman were hellbent on making sure the hand count audit matched the machines, so much so that they had a judge unseal the ballots so they could alter the results - TO MATCH THE MACHINE. Citizen affidavits reveal conflicting ballot numbers in McPherson County.
The Lawrence County States Attorney’s yearly compensation package is an eye popping $173,716.00. Why do the counties pay full-time salaries to attorneys who contract out their own work? Does this make sense to anyone?
All this total insanity just to prevent the citizens their right to verify the vote count.
What does this tell you?
Trustworthy, ethical, upstanding, moral lawyers and public officials don’t devise schemes like this. “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” Matthew 7:16
"[A] free government . . . cannot be supported without Virtue."
Samuel Williams
"...if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded."
Noah Webster
"The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public happiness, and the public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals."
Samuel Adams
And this doesn’t even include the taxpayer dollars that Minnehaha, Lincoln, Pennington and Davison county used to hire more outside attorneys to keep the cast vote records from their citizens! Those cast vote records could prove if the over $3.3 million dollars those 4 counties alone paid ES&S since 2013 actually produced accurate election results! Just think about that! The same people who say the tabulators are accurate won’t release the proof that would prove them correct???
Our petitions to bring it to a vote of the people in Lawrence County to decide if they would like to count ballots by hand or continue to have the ES&S tabulators count the vote is not illegal. $30K split between Lawrence and McPherson Counties... this doesn't even include the court costs that will probably remain unattainable by citizens since the claim will go against insurance. This lawyer and these commissioners, auditors and states attorneys who are fighting their citizens over TRANSPARENCY in our elections will someday learn and have to live with the error of their ways. It's coming folks...hold the line! - The Spearfish Speakeasy