As you know, I am very vocal on my political views, so I want to give you a rundown on how I am going to vote in the upcoming November election. I’m not advocating you to vote like I do, because to tell you the truth, I am in the middle of the road on a few of the issues. But I would like to give you my explanations, then you can do your own research from there.

US HOUSE:
Stephanie Herseth
Not only is this decision a freaking no-brainer, it is obvious no one knows who Bruce Whalen is. Stephanie is probably the most popular politician in SD right now, I think in polls she actually rates higher then Rounds. Some would attribute this to her good looks and charming personality. Nope. She is a middle of the road moderate Democrat that votes more conservative then liberal. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Ms. Herseth, but Whalen? Give me a break!

GOVERNOR:
Jack Billion
If the race between Jack and Mikey were closer, I would be bending over backwards to tell you how great of a guy Jack is, and he is. I have yet to meet a politician that is so genuine and quick witted as Mr. Billion. Unfortunately I think Jack’s campaign staff is group of rag-tag wannabe, feel good liberals that will throw this campaign for him – sadly. Jack has many other things that work against him, especially in SD. Most of these attributes would be looked highly upon in other states, but here in good ol’ trailer trash SD, people frown upon success and progressive thinking. 1) Comes from a wealthy family (even though he doesn’t participate in the family car business, mostly run by his Republican nephew and brother). 2) he is a retired doctor. 3) He is bald. 4) He is cynical at times. 5) He is pro-choice. 6) He is a Democrat. 7) Believes in funding education. Like I said, great attributes, ah, if you lived in Vermont. I’m still voting for him anyway.  I only need one thing to get me to vote for Jack, he’s not a liar. And Mike, well, he did sell insurance.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT C: Vote NO
The group of folks who want to try to slip this past you are using the ‘stops gays from being married’ argument. Hogwash. It is already illegal for gay couples to get married in SD. It’ real purpose is to force heterosexual couples living together into marriage.  This is clearly an invasion of privacy by the government and discriminating against loving couples that are not married.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT D: Vote NO
If passed, your home would not be devalued, but also wouldn’t gain much value either. This law is designed to protect people with expensive homes from paying their fair share of property taxes by only increasing the value of their homes 3% a year. This of course would no longer make your home an investment. If you don’t like how much you are paying in property taxes, go buy a less expensive home, otherwise shut up and pay your fair share.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT E: Vote NO
If passed this law would discourage people from running for public office. Called the JAIL amendment, they stress that it would stop ‘Radical’ judges from making bad decisions. We already have a remedy for this, it is called the appeals process. What they don’t tell you is it would hurt public servants such as school board members, city councilors, etc. In other words if you didn’t agree with how a councilor voted, you could sue them. Ridiculous! This amendment is so anti-democracy I wonder how it ever got on the ballot.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT F:  Undecided (Leaning towards NO)
This one is very confusing, I’m sure you have heard the term, 2 pounds of shit in a 1 pound bag? This is more like 10 Pounds of shit in a 1 pound bag. It seems they are putting multiple things in this amendment to get it passed, some good, some bad. I say Vote no to be on the safe side. I get very suspicious of this maneuver – It smells of a boondoggle.

INITIATED MEASURE 2: Undecided (leaning towards YES)
This would raise taxes on tobacco products if passed. I’m not opposed to this, but I am highly suspicious of what will be done with the extra money raised. They believe that $35 million will be raised. $5 Million would go directly into prevention and anything over $35 million would get split up with education, etc. The remaining $30 million would go into the general fund. This worries me. That is a lot of extra money our states gets to ‘play with’ I’m leery they will blow it on pork. If the $30 million would go directly into education, I would instantly vote Yes on this measure, or if it would replace video lottery. This may be a last minute decision for me.

INITIATED MEASURE 3:  Vote NO
This one is easy. If passed it would take power away from local school boards in determining when school starts in the fall and leave it to state control. When it comes to schools, I believe in local control.

INITIATED MEASURE 4:  Vote YES
Authorize the use of medical mary jane to people who are severely or terminally ill.

INITIATED MEASURE 5:  Vote YES
Makes state employees, including our governor to use state owned vehicles for business only.

INITIATED MEASURE 7:  Vote YES
Would eliminate video lottery if passed. Let’s face it, the only thing video lottery has done is make casino owners rich and created more crime in SD. It’s time to give it the boot.

INITIATED MEASURE 8:  Vote YES
This would eliminate the outrageous tax on cell phones. Originally the measure made sense, when introduced Cell Phones were a luxury, now they are considered a necessity in business and home use. Most people don’t even have home phones anymore – including myself. It is time to eliminate this unfair tax.

REFERRED LAW 6:  Vote NO
This would stop the restrictive law on abortions to becoming into effect.