Why South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley Must Resign

jackleyfiring

jackley2

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but perhaps it’s because those who are charged with administering the laws are required in part to be impartial. Justice is blind. But in South Dakota, Justice is Partial and those who administer it with the heavy hand of prejudice should not be trusted to equally dispense the very laws that keep our society from slipping into chaos.

The recent trial of Dr. Annette Bosworth exposed the deepest divide among the state and one that AG Jackley does not quite understand. The following outlines the enormous missteps made by Jackley.

  • Madville Times/Dakota Free Press blogger, Cory Heidelberger, engaged in voter intimidation, when he posted all petition sheets presented by Dr. Annette Bosworth on his public blog (sheets still there) and incited his followers to investigate each and every voter in order to find something to use against Dr. Bosworth. This is a violation of federal election laws.
  • Jackley’s immunity provided to Hutterite President, Leonard Waldner, suggests that forging signatures is less of a crime in election fraud than signing as a circulator. To allow one crime to take precedence over another when it is questionable which is the most egregious of the two is negating the very reason the charges were filed in the first place.
  • As Attorney General and President-Elect of the National Attorneys General Association, he is well aware that charging Dr. Bosworth with 12 felonies when Jackley contends it happened in one act, is not only overkill, it’s grandstanding.
  • Releasing an official statement from the Attorney General’s office to a partisan blogger about the welfare of a woman shows that his motives have not been impartial. If he felt that he needed to discuss plea bargain negotiations, he should have done that transparently and openly via the office of the South Dakota AG. Sending a statement only to DakotaWarCollege.com and using a personal ad allows many to question motives, before, during and after Dr. Bosworth’s trial.
  • Jackley compared Dr. Bosworth’s trial to an Indiana case where state and local election officials conspired to sign petitions with voter’s names and fakes signatures, a form of identity theft. This is not the case with Bosworth who obtained real signatures and honestly believed that as long as she knew them, it was ok.
  • Jackley is openly discussing the sentencing of a convicted defendant. As the highest Attorney in the state, Jackley must set the example. He has not.

 

UA-154659673-1