Democrats Respond to Bipartisan Vote Against Executive Appointments
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The South Dakota Democratic Party released the following statement in response the bipartisan vote in the State Senate’s against the executive appointments to the Board of Regents today amidst concerns the appointments violate 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:”
“While the Senate ultimately approved the appointments of Pam Roberts and Conrad Adams to the State Board of Regents, the fact remains that when the Governor made these appointments, and when they were originally scheduled for consideration in the Senate, the appointments were in violation of state law. The most generous interpretation of these actions is that the Governor’s office and Republican majority did not care enough about state law to make sure they were in compliance with it.”
“It is telling that several Republicans did join with Democrats in voting to reject these nominations. It is very disappointing, however, that the overwhelming majority of Republicans approved these nominations despite legitimate concerns state law is being broken.”
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