Newswire
April 19, 2012

Chairman’s Note: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, marked Equal Pay Day: To earn what men did in 2011 alone, women would have had to keep working all the way until this past Tuesday — an extra 4 1/2 months. It’s a reminder that we still have much work to do to make pay more fair. Read the Article »

Chairman’s Note: With controversy swirling over the shadowy, corporate influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council in state legislatures across America, it should come as no surprise that ALEC has been grooming 33 Republicans in our own state legislature for years. Make no mistake – efforts last year to ban collective bargaining and undermine public education in South Dakota are parts of a national agenda Republican legislators in Pierre are far too eager to push here in South Dakota. There’s only one thing you can do to a legislator who puts South Dakota’s interests behind the corporate influence of ALEC: vote them out in 2012. (See a list of candidates running against these legislators in our 2012 Election Center.) Read the Article »

Chairman’s Note: Governor Daugaard attends his first ribbon cutting ceremony for a new seed company slated to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in state support. Less than a year later, the seed company goes belly up. $2.6 million owed to farmers across South Dakota goes missing. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development withholds information about the company’s impending demise. And the Public Utilities Commission, whose job it is to protect farmers, sits idly, abandoning their only recourse – a $100,000 surety bond – to protect against unforeseen bankruptcy. Something is wrong here. In fact, lots of things are wrong. From the governor’s office to the Public Utilities Commission, we are reminded that we need better leadership in Pierre, and we need it now. Read the Article »

Chairman’s Note: Instead of investing in the middle class, Republicans in Washington again protected the low taxes for millionaires and billionaires. The fact is the ultra-wealthy are paying lower taxes than they ever have in modern American history at the same time that investments in infrastructure, education, and innovation that grow our economy are being slashed by Washington Republicans. High taxes on the middle class, low taxes on the ultra-wealthy, and no investments in our future is a recipe for economic disaster. America needs tax fairness. Our middle class depends on it. Read the Article »