Governor’s Board of Regents Appointments Violate State Law
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- Mar 6, 2017
- 1 min read
Board of Regents Appointments Violate State Law
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The South Dakota Democratic Party released the following statement in response the State Senate’s deferral of consideration of executive appointments to the Board of Regents today and the violation of state law, SDCL 13-49-2, which states that “not more than six” members of the nine-member Board of Regents “may be members of the same political party:”
“Today the State Senate delayed action on the Governor’s appointments to the State Board of Regents amidst concerns the Governor’s appointments are in violation of a state law’s requirements regarding the political party makeup of the Board.”
“At the time of the scheduled vote, all but one member of the 9-member Board of Regents were registered Republicans. The Governor’s appointments were Republicans as well, in clear violation of state law that allows only six of its members to be of the same political party.”
“South Dakota Republicans seem to think they are above the law, whether it be repealing voter-backed measures months after being supported at the ballot box or by stacking state boards with Republicans in violation of state law.”
As of 2:00 p.m. CST on March 6, 2017, Board of Regents members Harvey Jewett, Kathryn Johnson, Jim Morgan, Randy Schaefer, Bob Sutton, and Kevin Schieffer were registered Republicans, and John Bastian was a registered Independent. The appointees whose nominations were to be considered by the Senate today, Pam Roberts and Conrad Adams, were both registered Republicans. Terry Baloun and Joseph Schartz, the Board of Regents members Roberts and Adams would replace were both also registered Republicans.
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