SDGOP: we don't need no stinking ethics

South Dakota has routinely operated in an ethics vacuum often aborting efforts to reduce opacity.

A Democratic proposal to restore the South Dakota Ethics Commission died on a vote along party lines Wednesday in the South Dakota House of Representatives. House members killed the resolution 53-16. Democrats wanted the Legislature's Executive Board to work with the executive and judicial branches of state government in developing a plan to revive the commission. Only Democrats signed as cosponsors of the ethics resolution brought by Rep. Peggy Gibson, D-Huron. "I think we can all agree the EB-5 issue remains clouded in mystery," she said. Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, said the resolution's list of cosponsors "regrettably" all come from the same party and there wasn't an attempt to enlist Republicans. "I think today it's far worse than Watergate, especially the farther east you go," Hickey said. Rep. Shawn Bordeaux, D-Mission, spoke in support of creating the commission again. "It's almost like the rug isn't big enough to sweep everything beneath it," he said, adding, "South Dakota has a big black eye." [Bob Mercer, EB-5 arguments stir up again, as House Republicans turn back request for an ethics commission]