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Gatekeeper
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United States of America
Feb 2000
time: 23:32
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Everyone:
A jury has convicted Rep. Bill Janklow, R-S.D., of manslaughter and three lesser charges in the death of Hardwick, Minn., resident Randy Scott. Janklow ran a stop sign and collided with Scott, killing the motorcyclist instantly, Aug. 16. A jury took five hours to determine his guilt.
Here's the kicker: The jury was composed of men and women from Janklow's hometown, Flandreau.
Hardly anyone in the state thought Janklow — a political giant in the state and Washington, D.C. — would be convicted of manslaughter, but he was. Janklow has since announced he will be resigning his seat in the U.S. House on Jan. 20, the same day he will be sentenced. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
In the meantime, the state is effectively without representation in the U.S. House, as it had only a single representative based on its population. A special election is planned June 1 (in conjunction with the primaries) to fill the spot.
There are national political ramifications to this historic day in South Dakota. With Janklow's political career utterly destroyed, the U.S. House seat in the state is wide-open. It's expected that former Rep. John Thune, R-S.D., will now be forced to seek that seat instead of running against incumbent Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who's also the Senate Minority Leader in Washington, D.C.
IOW, the GOP may have just lost the chance at gaining a Senate seat from South Dakota, and the House seat is no guarantee either, as Stephanie Herseth, a Democrat, is seeking it as well, and isn't exactly unpopular. Aside from Thune, there was no strong potential GOP candidate to run against Daschle, who's popular on his own merits in South Dakota.
But the overall point is this: Justice was served in South Dakota on Monday, and the politically powerful do not always escape their just reward.
Gatekeeper
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centrifuge
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quote:
Originally posted by uh Clem
Maybe SD deserves not to be represented. |
I grew up in SD, believe me this is huge news in the state.
...but honestly what kind of bull$hit comment is that?
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Mordoch
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Denver, Colorado
Jan 2002
time: 05:32
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quote:
Originally posted by DanS
Have you ever been to SD? You could probably run some stop signs your whole life and nobody would get hurt.
But even if it wasn't waiting to happen, there was a chance that it would happen, which he was responsible for considering. |
Apparently he nearly hit another family in a car while running that SAME EXACT stop sign at the same intersection the year before. Clearly what he was doing wasn't safe, and it was inevitable that he was going to hit and kill someone sooner or later.
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uh Clem
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Born in the US; damned if I know where I live now
Nov 1999
time: 23:32
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quote:
...but honestly what kind of bull$hit comment is that? |
A snarky one. A six-in-the-morning one. Got a problem with that?
As pointed out, Jackass has come close to killing people previously. One woman, when asked why she didn't press charges in a previous (non-fatal) incident, said, "Well, he's the Governor." What's that got to do with it?
A lot of people looked the other way either because Jackass was powerful, or they knew he was good at getting pork for South Dakota. Yeah, he'll kill somebody someday, but he makes us money.
It's lucky he killed only one person. He could just as easily have plowed into a school bus.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that SD should be denied all representation. Force them to elect a Negative Representative, whose only job will be to oppose SD's interests. That'll teach 'em.
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Gatekeeper
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United States of America
Feb 2000
time: 23:32
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quote:
Originally posted by uh Clem
As pointed out, Jackass has come close to killing people previously. One woman, when asked why she didn't press charges in a previous (non-fatal) incident, said, "Well, he's the Governor." What's that got to do with it? |
In a story today, some in the jury are afraid of retaliation — not from Janklow or his family, mind you, but from some of his more rabid supporters. Which, I need to remind you, are not all South Dakotans. Last I checked, 90 percent of registered voters in the state supported the guilty verdict ...
quote:
A lot of people looked the other way either because Jackass was powerful, or they knew he was good at getting pork for South Dakota. Yeah, he'll kill somebody someday, but he makes us money. |
Uh, yeah. One rep out of 435. I'm sure he just got the state tons of pork, so that's why he got away with it. He was in the U.S. House for a year out of a 30-year political career — the rest of the time, he was governor, in private practice, or states' attorney.
quote:
It's lucky he killed only one person. He could just as easily have plowed into a school bus. |
Can't argue with that.
quote:
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that SD should be denied all representation. Force them to elect a Negative Representative, whose only job will be to oppose SD's interests. That'll teach 'em. |
Yeah! Let's disenfranchise an entire state! Woo-hoo! That'll show 'em! After all, each and every single one of the those prairie hicks (725,000 at last count) knew what Janklow was and could do, but, hey, the hicks wanted the money more than anything else. 
Never mind the fact it was those same hicks who convicted him of manslaughter (hometown hicks, in fact). Never mind that the vast majority of those hicks in the state support the conviction and subsequent resignation of Janklow.
Gatekeeper
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Mordoch
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Denver, Colorado
Jan 2002
time: 05:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Case
Did he actually have a choice in that matter? Here in Australia any member of parliament who's found guilty of a serious crime automatically gets kicked out of parliament, and loses their (very generous) superannuation as well. |
Basicly he would have automaticly lost his vote in Congress if he was sentanced to a certain length of time in jail or more, this is intended to create a similar effect as Australia's policy. You are technically a Congressman, but you are not allowed to vote so its just an empty title. Furthermore, a review of his actions by the House Ethics Committee would automaticly occur, likely resulting in impeachment proceeding against the guilty Congressman. Once impeached, you are formally expelled from the House of Representatives. While a couple of news sources suggested that it was not certain that he would be impeached if he hadn't resigned, its extremely likely given that he was convicted of a crime just one step down from murder.
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centrifuge
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quote:
Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Never mind the fact it was those same hicks who convicted him of manslaughter (hometown hicks, in fact). Never mind that the vast majority of those hicks in the state support the conviction and subsequent resignation of Janklow.
Gatekeeper |
My Dad still lives in a small town in SD, he is a die hard Republican, and former Janklow supporter. His feelings are much the same a the vast majority of the state, "if the man commited the crime then he deserves to suffer the consequences."
All of this talk about SD letting him slide is complete nonsense, up until this point he hadn't done anything to warrant this amount of action. I mean honestly, just about every poster on these forums has been guilty of traffic violations at one point or another. In a state like SD, where the population density is minimal, and the whole state (except for the very western part) is flat as a pancake, it is very easy to drive without complete compliance to the laws.
That said, if the cops see you do anything, even something as minimal as forgetting to turn on a blinker, they will pull you over. South Dakota is not easy on traffic violations. Trust me, I grew up there and damned near everytime that I go back I get a speeding ticket. 
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09-12-2003 12:29
But it wasn't his reckless driving that got his rear kicked, it was his behavior after getting stopped. On the video you can see his friends who were riding with him leaning against their car watching. Why didn't they get the same treatment? Because they weren't acting like rebels without a clue...
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