Conservative Action Council South Dakota

Welcome to the South Dakota Conservative Action Council Website!

Thank you for stopping by the South Dakota Conservative Action Council. We are committed to making South Dakota a better place to live and raise a family through our issue-focused and non-partisan grassroots activity across the state. Whether it is tax and spending issues, private property rights, governmental accountability and transparency, education reform, or limiting government, you can count on the SD CAC to be your strong conservative voice for the citizens of South Dakota.

We would like to encourage to sign up for our e-news update and join the SD CAC supporters from across our state that are engaged, involved, and active in our pursuit for a better South Dakota.

If you have any questions, we invite you to contact us.

For Freedom and Liberty,

Lee Breard
Executive Director

RADICAL LEFT GROUP NEA CONTRIBUTES $1.1 MILLION TO GROUP OPPOSING OPEN GOVERNMENT ACT
CONSERVATIVES SHOULD TAKE PAUSE BEFORE BELIEVING THE TAXPAYER FUNDED BIG LIE CAMPAIGN

Pierre, SD - The radical left group, National Education Association contributed $1.1 million to the group opposing the South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act, YES on 10!

You might have seen one of the ads from the No on 10's big lie campaign. South Dakotans should feel comfortable in knowing that each one of their dishonest and desperate "Gag Law" commercials have been refuted as outright lies. YES on 10! will not take away anyone's personal right to speech and their ability to address elected officials, it simply prevents them from using tax dollars to pay for it.

"We now know according to No on 10's campaign spokesman Steve Willard, their big lie 'Gag Law' TV campaign would not have been possible without the funding the radical left, taxpayer subsidized, NEA" said Lee Breard, the Executive Director of the SD CAC.

"The NEA is a taxpayer subsidized organization that collects its dues from state chapters and payroll deduction of educators across the county," said Breard. "The problem is the NEA does not represent the values of many educators. The NEA uses its tax-subsidized funding to promote a radical liberal agenda through campaigning and lobbying."

Here are a few issues the NEA stands for and uses our tax-subsidized dollars to promote:
·         Oppose school choice and vouchers
·         Promote unlimited abortions
·         Supports gay marriage
·         Teach 5-8 year olds in the classroom that it is ok to be homosexual,
·         Teach 5-8 year olds masturbation is ok
·         Thoroughly explaining vaginal intercourse to 5-8 year olds
·         Remove parental education rights
·         Condoms for students in elementary school
·         Radical liberal candidates
·         Oppose private accounts for social security
·         Support mandatory Pre-K

"I don't believe a majority of the great teachers in South Dakota support these radical issues. It is time to stop their hard earned dues and our tax dollars from being used by radical left groups such as the NEA," said Breard. "Every voter in South Dakota should take pause before buying into the Big Lie "Gag Law" campaign and look at who paid for the advertisement."

Join the majority of South Dakotans who are supporting YES on 10! It is time to stop our tax dollars from being used for lobbying and political campaigns.

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The SD CAC is a non-partisan political non-profit organization that focuses on voter education and does not endorse candidates. We support: Efficiency and Accountability in Government, Limiting Government Spending, Comprehensive School Choice, and Private Property Rights.

SD CAC Releases Legislative Survey Results

Voters Can Compare Fiscal Values to Candidates' Position

Pierre, S.D. - May 28, 2008 - The South Dakota Conservative Action Council announced today the results of their five-question legislative survey that was sent to all candidates seeking office for the 2008 elections.

Executive Director of the SD CAC, Lee Breard said, "We hope that the results of our policy survey can be a useful guide for voters to choose the best candidates in the upcoming elections. If your candidates did not bother to answer the survey, we encourage you to call them directly and ask them these critically important questions."

The survey conducted focused on the core issues of the SD CAC:

School Choice Legislation
Private Property Rights
Limiting of Government Spending
Government Transparency
Constitutional Term Limits

The results of this survey show a variety of stances amongst candidates, Breard noted, that there is a fair amount of disagreement on two of the questions: school choice and limiting government spending. Yet, there is strong agreement on the issues of government transparency, private property rights, and constitutional term limits.

Breard continued, "There is overwhelming support for government accountability in spending. The results show that 96% of candidates that responded are in favor of the ethics reform in transparency and open government legislation, which establishes government transparency through a state website showing government spending records. Only two of the candidates responded in opposition to new private property rights laws which limit the abuse of eminent domain. This is a good sign for the voters of South Dakota."

The survey questions, results, and the extended answers of some of the candidates are available on the SD CAC website.

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SD CAC Files 10 Open Records Request

Recent Scrutiny of State Contracts Leaves Unanswered Questions

Pierre, S.D. - May 20, 2008 - South Dakota Conservative Action Council's Executive Director, Lee Breard filed 10 Open Records requests for copies of all no-bid contracts with various departments of state and local government. After reviewing summary contract data from the State Auditor we are now requesting detailed copies of all no-bid contracts from the agencies that awarded them.

"South Dakota state law dictates that all personal service contracts are no-bid. According to the StateAuditor's office, there are over 3,000 personal service, no-bid contracts with the state of South Dakota currently on file," said Lee Breard.

"These contracts may be "open" to the public, but the process to review them is onerous and prohibitivelyexpensive. For all practical purposes they are not readily available to the citizens of South Dakota," said Breard. "South Dakota needs an easily accessible website that posts all state contracts."

The SD CAC filed Open Record requests for all no-bid contracts with 6 departments of state government:Transportation, Corrections, Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Resources, Tourism and State Development, and Education. The same requests were also filed with Pennington and Minnehaha Counties and the Cities of Sioux Falls and Rapid City.

"This is a time consuming process that must be done to investigate the wasteful no-bid contracting practices that breed corruption," said Breard. "We have already spent months researching state contracts and taxpayer funded lobbying. At one point we paid a dollar a page for 192 copies of taxpayer-funded lobbying expense reports. After scrubbing through $192 worth of information we found only 6 pages of pertinent data."

"What private citizen would go through this hassle and pay these fees to investigate how their hard earned tax dollars are spent," said Breard. "The fact that we have spent so much time, money, and effort just trying to get a straight answer is ridiculous. Government has become off-limits for the average citizen who wants to know basic answers to reasonable questions about their tax dollars."

This is the first in a series of reports concerning the state's contracting and lobbying practices. The SD CAC is working daily for the taxpaying citizens of South Dakota to uncover governmental waste and to open state government so that everyone can easily review how their tax dollars are being spent.