T D ’ O N | F 1861tearsheets.yankton.net/april14/040814/040814_YKPD_A4.pdfIn 1904, Longacre Square...

et’s face it, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Mc-Cutcheon v. FEC case in regards to campaign spendingwas mostly predictable, especially in light of 2010’s Citi-zens United decision, which essentially opened the spig-ots for money to pour into political campaigns.

The McCutcheon decision, which struck down the overall lim-its on the number of campaign contributions, merely confirmsthat our politics has become a money game of the most excessiveorder. Our democracy may be free, and there is still the concept ofone person and one vote, but in regards to influence, money willnow scream louder than any peeps the great majority of us will beable to muster.

The great winners in this decision are the very wealthy and thepolitical parties, who will now enjoy an even more lucrative sym-biotic relationship. Rich donors may now shovel their moneyacross a broad spectrum at the parties, who will then generallybehave in accordance with the wishes of their money masters.That’s how modern democracy works.

The losers, obviously, are the rest of us, who don’t have theclout of the super-rich and major corporations and, thus, have tohope that there’s someone somewhere who has bucks and whohappens to care about the same issues you do.

The McCutcheon case really wasn’t about whether politicalmoney is good or bad, but whether Congress or the states havethe right to regulate such donations. This ruling effectively saysthey don’t, citing First Amendment grounds and declaring, saidChief Justice John Roberts, that Congress “cannot level the play-ing field” (or paying field) for this type of free speech.

But the First Amendment right to free speech has boundaries,and when one person’s “free expression” eclipses another per-son’s right, it is a serious problem. Congress’s ability to refereeand regulate has been essential to our republic, but that protec-tion has been crippled by this decision.

Justice Stephen Breyer said in his dissent that campaign fi-nance laws recognize First Amendment rights by protecting the“marketplace of political ideas,” and that “a ‘chain of communica-tion between the people,’ and their representatives, cannot serveits purpose unless the public opinion it protects is able to influ-ence government opinion.”

The end result of this decision, coupled with Citizens United,may technically be more free speech for rich donors to politicalparties, but it will also produce a greater disconnect between ourpolitical parties/our lawmakers and the American people, whosevoices will be drowned out by the great money megaphones thatwill now become even louder and more influential.

Our government is for sale, and the market is now open forbusiness. That’s the message here, and that’s a pity for those of usleft on the outside looking in from an increasingly greater dis-tance.

kmh

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Tuesday, 4.8.14ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net

VIEWS PAGE: Views@yankton.netPRESS DAKOTANP A G E 4

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OPINION

The Court Puts UpA ‘For Sale’ Sign

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always inevery prayer of mine making request for you all with joy. Philippians1:3 NKJV. Portals of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

F RO M T H E B I B L E

By The Associated PressToday is Tuesday, April 8, the 98th

day of 2014. There are 267 days leftin the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: OnApril 8, 1864, the United States Sen-ate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amend-ment to the U.S. Constitutionabolishing slavery. (The House ofRepresentatives passed it in Jan.1865; the amendment was ratified andadopted in Dec. 1865.)

On this date: In 1614, painter,sculptor and architect El Greco died inToledo, Spain.

In 1820, the Venus de Milo statuewas discovered by a farmer on theGreek island of Milos.

In 1904, Longacre Square in Man-hattan was renamed Times Squareafter The New York Times.

In 1911, an explosion at the Ban-ner Coal Mine in Littleton, Ala.,claimed the lives of 128 men, most ofthem convicts loaned out from pris-ons.

In 1913, the 17th Amendment tothe Constitution, providing for popularelection of United States senators (asopposed to appointment by state leg-islatures), was ratified. PresidentWoodrow Wilson became the firstchief executive since John Adams toaddress Congress in person as heasked lawmakers to enact tariff re-form. The Republic of China’s first par-liament convened.

In 1935, President Franklin D.Roosevelt signed the Emergency Re-lief Appropriations Act, which providedmoney for programs such as theWorks Progress Administration.

In 1946, the League of Nations as-sembled in Geneva for its final ses-sion.

In 1952, President Harry S. Tru-man seized the American steel indus-try to avert a nationwide strike. (TheSupreme Court later ruled that Tru-man had overstepped his authority,opening the way for a seven-weekstrike by steelworkers.)

In 1961, a suspected bomb ex-ploded aboard the passenger liner MVDara in the Persian Gulf, causing it tosink; 238 of the 819 people aboardwere killed.

In 1974, Hank Aaron of the AtlantaBraves hit his 715th career home runin a game against the Los AngelesDodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’srecord.

In 1988, TV evangelist JimmySwaggart resigned from the Assem-blies of God after he was defrocked forrejecting an order from the church’snational leaders to stop preaching fora year amid reports he’d consortedwith a prostitute.

In 1994, Kurt Cobain, singer andguitarist for the grunge band Nirvana,was found dead in Seattle from an ap-parently self-inflicted gunshot wound;he was 27.

Ten years ago: National securityadviser Condoleezza Rice told theSeptember 11 commission “there wasno silver bullet” that could have pre-vented the deadly terror attacks. Iraqiinsurgents released a videotape ofthree Japanese captives, threateningto burn them alive if Japan did notwithdraw its troops from Iraq. (Thehostages were later released un-harmed.) Fred Olivi, who copiloted the

plane that dropped the atomic bombon Nagasaki, died in Lemont, Ill., atage 82.

Five years ago: Somali pirates hi-jacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Ala-bama; although the crew was able toretake the cargo ship, the captain,Richard Phillips, was taken captive bythe raiders and held aboard a lifeboat.(Phillips was rescued four days laterby Navy SEAL snipers who shot threeof the pirates dead.) A Russian space-craft carrying a crew of three, includ-ing U.S. billionaire space touristCharles Simonyi, landed safely inKazakhstan. David “Pop” Winans Sr.,patriarch of the award-winning Winansgospel music family, died in Nashville,Tenn., at age 74.

One year ago: President BarackObama warned Congress not to usedelaying tactics against tighter gunregulations and told families of theSandy Hook Elementary Schoolshooting victims during a visit to Hart-ford, Conn., that he was “determinedas ever” to honor their children withtougher laws. Former British PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher, 87, diedin London after a stroke. Actress andformer Disney “Mouseketeer” AnnetteFunicello, 70, died in Bakersfield,Calif. Rick Pitino, who’d coachedLouisville in the NCAA championshipgame, was elected to the NaismithMemorial Basketball Hall of Famealong with former NBA stars BernardKing and Gary Payton, former UNLVcoach Jerry Tarkanian, North Carolinawomen’s coach Sylvia Hatchell, for-mer University of Houston coach GuyLewis and former University of Virginiastar Dawn Staley.

Today’s Birthdays: ComedianShecky Greene is 88. Actor-turned-diplomat John Gavin is 83. Author andPulitzer Prize-winning reporter Sey-mour Hersh is 77. Former U.N. Secre-tary-General Kofi Annan is 76.Basketball Hall-of-Famer JohnHavlicek is 74. “Mouseketeer” DarleneGillespie is 73. Rhythm-and-bluessinger J.J. Jackson is 73. Singer PeggyLennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 73.Songwriter-producer Leon Huff is 72.Actor Hywel Bennett is 70. Actor Stu-art Pankin is 68. Rock musician SteveHowe is 67. Former House RepublicanLeader Tom DeLay is 67. Movie direc-tor John Madden is 65. Rock musicianMel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad)is 63. Actor John Schneider is 54.“Survivor” winner Richard Hatch is 53.Rock musician Izzy Stradlin is 52.Singer Julian Lennon is 51. ActorDean Norris is 51. Rock singer-musi-cian Donita Sparks is 51. Rapper BizMarkie is 50. Actress Robin Wright is48. Actress Patricia Arquette is 46.Rock singer Craig Honeycutt (Every-thing) is 44. Rock musician DarrenJessee is 43. Actress Emma Caulfieldis 41. Actress Katee Sackhoff is 34.Actor Taylor Kitsch is 33. Rock singer-musician Ezra Koenig (Vampire Week-end) is 30. Actor Taran Noah Smith is30. Actress Kirsten Storms is 30. Ac-tress Sadie Calvano is 17.

Thought for Today: “The truth isalways something that is told, notsomething that is known. If there wereno speaking or writing, there would beno truth about anything.” — SusanSontag, American author and critic(1933-2004).

O N T H I S DAT E

MANAGERS Gary L. Wood

Publisher

Michele SchievelbeinAdvertising Director

Tonya SchildBusiness Manager

Michael HryckoCirculation Director

Tera SchmidtClassified Manager

Kelly HertzEditor

James D. CimburekSports Editor

Beth RyeNew Media Director

Kathy LarsonComposing Manager

Israel MontalvoDistrict Manager

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YO U R L E T T E R S

The results of the most recent Internet poll on thePress & Dakotanʼs Web site are as follows:

LATEST RESULTS: Which candidate do you most strongly support

for Yankton City Commission?Chris Ferdig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41%Craig Sommer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22%Jake Hoffner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20%Nancy Wenande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17%TOTAL VOTES CAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265

The Press & Dakotan Internet poll is not a scientificsurvey and reflects the opinions only of those whochoose to participate. The results should not be con-strued as an accurate representation or scientific meas-urement of public opinion.

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CURRENT QUESTION: How do you think the Minnesota Twins will do

this season?To vote in the Press & Dakotanʼs Internet poll, log on to

our website at www.yankton.net.

Online OpinionSuccessful TournamentYankton Basketball, Inc.

We would like to thank everyone involved inmaking this year’s Roger Haas Tournament acontinued success.

A special thank you to the individual volun-teers who worked as refs, T-shirt/gate sales,book and clock keepers, and all the facility jani-tors. Without your generous volunteerism ourtournament would not be possible.

Thank you to MMC and the basketball pro-grams, and the Yankton School District/SAC forfacility use. Thank you to Boller Printing/Ob-server, P&D and KVHT for great tournamentcoverage. Thank you to all the businesses whodonated food and beverages for the apprecia-tion supper and the Riverfront Events Center forthe preparation. Lastly, thank you to all thegreat businesses who continue to sponsor ourtournament every year. We are looking forwardto our 25th tourney next year!

Thanks again for all your support.

BY AMY NELSONYankton City Manager

Local leaders visited Wash-ington, D.C., last week to meetwith the South Dakota con-gressional delegation and staffof various federal agencies re-lating to community and eco-nomic development in

Yankton andthroughout theregion.

Represent-ing the Cham-ber ofCommercewere CarmenSchramm,Yankton Cham-ber executive

director, and Kevin Watt ofFirst Dakota National Bank,chairman of the YanktonChamber Governmental Af-fairs Committee.

Also in attendance was LisaScheve, director of YanktonConvention and Visitor’s Bu-reau, and John Kramer, presi-dent of Yankton AreaProgressive Growth (YAPG).The City of Yankton was repre-sented by CommissionerBrooke Blaalid, CommissionerDavid Knoff and myself.

Our discussions focusedlargely around major infra-structure improvements andthe economic developmentprojects we are currentlyworking on.

Specifically, the group pro-vided an update on Yankton’sfuture collector well at PaddleWheel Point and the plannedmembrane water treatment fa-cility. Reconstruction of theeast side lift station, outfallpipe and rebuilding of High-way 50 with acquisition of thenecessary utility corridorwere also discussed. The dele-gation recognized that theseupgrades and expansions toinfrastructure provide Yanktonan advantage in economic de-velopment and were pleasedto know Yankton is proactivelypursuing these types of im-provements.

Yankton representatives re-iterated to the delegationYankton’s commitment to aholistic approach to economicdevelopment, citing our visionfor development of an

archery-based industrial park,collaboration between YAPGand Yankton County on agri-cultural and rail projects likeNapa Junction and the City ofYankton’s focus on retail de-velopment. Retention and ex-pansion of primary jobs,workforce development strate-gies, tourism and sales tax lev-els were also discussed asopportunities Yankton canbuild upon.

Yankton leaders shared ex-amples of the partnership thathas been built between theYankton Federal Prison Campand the community throughthe FPC’s Community Rela-tions Board and Mount Marty.The book “Four P.M. Count”was provided as an example ofhow a local educational facil-ity and the community havecollaborated with the FPC.

Yankton’s meeting with theU.S. Department of Agricul-ture’s Rural Development divi-sion explored rural housingissues and provided anoverview of the major findingsfrom Yankton’s recently com-pleted housing study. RuralDevelopment was also able toprovide us with some sugges-tions relating to their commu-nity facilities grant programthat may suit specific projectsin Yankton’s future.

Relationships built duringour visits with BurlingtonNorthern Sante Fe Railroadand the Federal Railroad Ad-ministration are expected tobenefit the Yankton commu-nity. During these meetings,specific assistance pertinent

to local businesses and cur-rent projects was requested.Requests were met with gen-uine interest and offers of im-mediate and future assistance.Yankton’s leaders learned agreat deal about the Depart-ment of Transportation’sTIGER funds. If TIGER fundsare approved in Congress, thisprogram could be a fundingsource for projects requiringrail in the future. In the mean-time, Yankton has a lot of plan-ning to do both locally andwith the State of South Dakotabefore we would be ready forthis program.

“Part of why we go toWashington D.C. is to respondto concerns we hear fromYankton’s businesses andcommunity members,” saidSchramm. “If there is someway we can help, we make theask. We are there to supportand represent our local busi-nesses and the community aswell.”

Yankton City Commission-ers agree the trip to Washing-ton D.C. is valuable.

“It is important for us tocome to ‘their turf’ and bepresent at the table.” saidBlaalid. “Yankton needs to beinvolved and know who thedecisions makers are in eachagency we work with. It is allabout relationships.”

“The partnerships that arebuilt during this trip make exe-cuting programs and projectsmuch easier,” added Knoff. “Attimes, this trip has been an es-sential step in attaining federalfunding for Yankton.”

Point Of View | Amy Nelson

Yankton Officials FindSupport In Washington

Nelson

SOUTH DAKOTASEN. TIM JOHNSON: 136 Hart Senate Office

Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; WashingtonPhone: (202) 224-5842; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 332-8896; email: http://johnson.senate.gov/emailform.html

SEN. JOHN THUNE: United States Senate SR-493, Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone:(866) 850-3855; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 334-9596;Fax: (202) 228-3855; Web: thune.senate.gov.

REP. KRISTI NOEM: 226 Cannon House OfficeBuilding, Washington, D.C. 20515; Washington Phone:(202) 225-2801; Sioux Falls Phone: (605) 367-8371;Fax: (202) 225-5823; email: visithttps://noem.house.gov

NEBRASKASEN. DEB FISCHER: 825 Hart Senate Office

Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; WashingtonPhone: (202) 224-6551; email: N/A

SEN. MIKE JOHANNS: 1 Russell Courtyard,Washington, D.C. 20510; Washington Phone: (202)224-4224; email: log on athttp://johanns.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenatorJo-hanns

REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY: 1517 LongworthHouse, Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515;Washington Phone: (202) 225-4806; District Phone:(402) 438-1598; email: log on atwww.house.gov/writerep/

REP. ADRIAN SMITH: 503 Cannon House Of-fice Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-2703; Wash-ington Phone: (202) 225-6435; Fax: (202) 225-0207;District Phone: (308) 633-6333; email: log on atwww.house.gov/writerep/

YO U R D. C . L AW M A K E R S

COURTESY PHOTOSen. Tim Johnson, center, discusses various Yankton issues withKevin Watt of First Dakota National Bank, left, and John Kramerof Yankton Area Progressive Growth during a meeting held inWashington last week.