Next Shoe: Legis. Cmte Hears Laptop Report June 23

The Legislature's executive board took its formal swipe at Governor Rounds's imposition of a new blender pump tax by executive fiat yesterday. The next shoe may drop (or get thrown, or maybe pounded à la Khrushchev) June 23 at the first interim meeting of the Joint Committee on Appropriations. Agenda Item D(11) [PDF alert!]: report from the Department of Education on funding of the laptop program, scheduled for 1:45 p.m., LCR 1&2, State Capitol Building, Pierre.

That 15-minute portion of the agenda by itself might be worth a drive to Pierre. Maybe committee chairs Sen. Apa and and Rep. Tidemann can get answers to the questions our man Hunter posed about how $770K wasn't there when the Legislature held hearings during the session, then reappeared when Gov. Rounds decided he needed it for his pet program.

So I wonder: where's South Dakota's Dennis Kucinich, the legislator who will have the guts to stand up to this genuine violation of the separation of powers and introduce articles of impeachment against Governor Rounds?

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Update 2008.06.10: If not on June 23, some poop may hit the fan July 8 when the Government Operations and Audit Committee [PDF again!] reviews the funding for the Classroom Connections program starting at 10:05 a.m.