Seems like the Amendment E campaign has a problem figuring out which script they’re reading from — or maybe its just that the script varies from place to place.
On Sunday, KELO TV’s “Inside KELOLAND” took a look at Amendment C (the so-called “gay marriage” amendment) and Amendment E. Good ol’ Jake Hanes was the “citizen” supporting Amendment E. (Some time maybe the media should ask how long “Jake” has been a South Dakotan, where he came from and whether he left any unresolved business behind.) Hanes again trotted out the lie that J.A.I.L. only applies to judges and that any claims it applies to other government bodies are just a scare tactic manufactured by opponents.
Today, South Dakota J.A.I.L.er-in-chief Bill Stegmeier appeared in the Pierre Capital Journal. The article dealt with Stegmeier’s ties to a man who wants a ballot measure to attack the “communist aggressors in the Democrat and Republican parties.” (You’ll be happy to know that Stegmeier “is becoming very popular with the patriot community.” Run a Google or other search on the “patriot community” and you’ll get an idea of the extremist groups that want South Dakota as a test tube.)
But what’s relevant for present purposes is the last two paragraphs of the article:
Stegmeier also said that if he proposed the J.A.I.L. Amendment again in South Dakota, he would throw out the provisions for board and commission members.“Next time there won’t be those things on there for them to attack, so I wonder what they’ll come up with in opposition to it then,” Stegmeier said.
(Emphasis added).
So, Hanes says the measure doesn’t apply to other government bodies. Stegmeier once again admits it does. What’s perhaps worst about their inability to stick to the same story is the media’s failure to call them on this point.
Nothing that isn’t a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency.
Joseph Addison, The Spectator
