South Dakota AG Files Complaint Over Abortion Ban Campaign Financing Disclosures

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long (R) recently filed a civil complaint that asks a judge to decide whether state Rep. Roger Hunt (R) should be required to identify the person who gave $750,000 to Hunt’s corporation, Promising Future, which contributed to a campaign fund to uphold a sate law (HB 1215) that would have banned abortion in the state except to save a woman’s life, the AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan reports (AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan, 1/3). The South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families successfully blocked the July 1, 2006, enactment of the law by gathering enough signatures to put the issue on the November 2006 ballot, and state voters last November rejected the measure by a 55% to 45% margin (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 11/8/06). According to the Press & Dakotan, Hunt in September 2006 established Promising Future, and the corporation later made three separate contributions of $250,000 each to VoteYesForLife.com, which campaigned to uphold the ban. Under South Dakota law, a ballot question committee consists of two or more people who raise money to influence a ballot issue, and Long is asking a judge on the Minnehaha County Circuit Court to decide whether Promising Future meets the definition of such a committee. “The real purpose of the corporation’s creation was to provide a corporate shell by which the sole shareholder could make anonymous contributions to ballot question committees that supported the passage” of the ban, Long’s filing said. Hunt questioned whether a corporation should be defined as a ballot question committee, adding, “A corporation basically, in many cases in our state laws and case law, is held to be one person.” A court date for the case has not been set (AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan, 1/3). South Dakota state Rep. Dale Hargens (D) on Thursday called on state Legislature to discuss whether to remove Hunt’s right to serve in the 2007 state legislative session for refusing to disclose the identity of the person who contributed to Promising Future, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. Hargens on Friday said, “It looks like there’s no way I can stop him from being seated” but added that Hunt should be censured in some way. Hunt has said he followed campaign finance laws. Secretary of State Chris Nelson (R) has said he is working on a bill that would constrict campaign-spending laws (Woster, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 12/30/06). Some Lawmakers Say Abortion Ban Legislation Unlikely in 2007
It is unlikely that the South Dakota lawmakers in the 2007 legislative session will propose legislation similar to a stricken law (HB 1215) that would have banned abortion in the state except to save a woman’s life, state Sen. Brock Greenfield (R), who opposes abortion rights, said recently, the Argus Leader reports. “I don’t see anything like HB 1215 in the next session or in the next two years,” Greenfield said, adding, “I think, having come through the election and the failure to get the ‘no exceptions’ bill passed, we would take a look at what the political realities are.” He also said inclusion of exceptions is likely in any future language of legislation that would ban abortions. Former state Sen. Mel Olson (D), said he foresees supporters of the law continuing to lobby for an abortion ban. “I think those people will come right back, use the November vote, misinterpret it, saying they really want us to be tough on abortion,” Olson said. State Rep.-elect Manny Steele (R) said, “[T]he biggest comment I heard knocking on doors was that people were concerned that [the ban] did not allow [exceptions] for rape and incest. So it goes back to the idea that a bill needs exceptions” (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/1).

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