This is wrong, and possibly illegal: ARE REPUBLICANS PUNISHING DEMOCRATS FOR EB-5 INQUIRY? PIERRE, SD — Republican leaders have fired a legislative secretary in the State House of Representatives, leaving Democrats wondering whether the incident is related to the EB-5 inquiry. Republican and Democrat leaders are allowed to employ staff secretaries during the legislative session. Both Republicans and Democrats have Caucus secretaries. Because of their minority status the Democrats only have two — a secretary to the House Minority Leader and a secretary to the Senate Minority Leader. House Minority Leader Spencer Hawley interviewed applicants and selected former legislator Kathy Tyler as the House secretary, but she received notice that she was terminated on Friday (Jan. 16). Republican leaders pointed to a constitutional provision (Article 3, Sec. 12) that says legislators may not have an interest in a state contract while in office or for a year after leaving office. The provision has proved controversial in the past because of its vagueness. “Employing Kathy as a secretary hardly qualifies as a contract,” said Rep. Hawley. “If it does, then half of our legislators could have conflicts of interest which we don’t think they do.” He said anyone working for a hospital, nursing, non-profit or school that receives Medicaid monies, school aid or other government assistance would have a bigger conflict than a legislative secretary who receives reimbursement of about $4,000 for the eight-week legislative session. Hawley said Democratic legislators feel that the firing is retaliation for former Rep. Tyler’s lead role in exposing the EB-5 scandal last year. “I can’t say what’s behind this, but that’s certainly how my caucus feels,” he said. The firing of Tyler is the second time this year that Republican leaders refused to hire a Democrat. Ann Tornberg of Beresford was chosen by Senate Minority Leader Billie Sutton as his secretary, but Republican leadership in the Senate refused to make the appointment when Tornberg was chosen as chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party. Sutton said her dismissal was surprising because two Republican state senators have served in the legislature while also doing double duty as state party chairs for the Republican Party.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:19:01 +0000
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