Argus Leader: Charges Traded in Abortion Debate

PIERRE - Supporters of an abortion ban donated about $11,300 in anonymous contributions to nonprofit charities, officials with VoteYesForLife.com said Monday.

The donations came after opponents of Initiated Measure 11 filed a complaint with South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson saying that ban proponents had listed several illegal contributions on their campaign finance reports.

The complaint came the same day the VoteYes group asked Attorney General Larry Long to open an investigation into possible voter-registration fraud by the Healthy Families campaign.

Regarding the anonymous donations, Brandi Gruis of VoteYes said the campaign thought it should report the $11,347 to the state even as it tried to identify the donors.

Nelson cited a state law - in effect for the first time this election cycle - that says no political committee may give or accept a contribution unless the person receiving the contribution knows the name and address of the giver. Anonymous contributions must go to a nonprofit charitable group, the law says.

"In the course of a campaign, cash sometimes comes in, and there’s no way of identifying the person giving it," Nelson said Monday. "We’re saying, that money must go to a nonprofit charity."

Gruis said the campaign had been trying to identify the source of the money but having failed in that, it sent the anonymous amount to South Dakota churches and charities.

"That was done today," Gruis said.

No time limit on donating to charity

Nelson said that before the 2007 changes in the law, campaigns sometimes received cash without knowing the source, and it was just tossed into the treasury and used. The new law makes it clear that must not happen, he said.

"The law doesn’t say how quickly the money must be given to charity," Nelson said.

He said he thinks the intent was to have that happen as soon as the unidentified contribution was received, but he said, "in this case it will be a little longer. This is a new area of (campaign finance) this year."

Gruis said cash donations were received throughout the summer at events such as county fairs and through other programs.

"We chose to be very honest in reporting these contributions, which is in line with the honest campaign we have been running - much unlike our opponents who have a long list of deceptive practices such as voter fraud and false advertising," Gruis said.

According to Gruis, the contributions were donated to CareNet Pregnancy Center in Rapid City and four Sioux Falls churches - Calvary Chapel, Church at the Gate, Linwood Wesleyan and Abiding Savior.

She also said her group is concerned that Measure 11 opponents’ finances included money from Planned Parenthood and that the individual donors to that group are unknown.

Residency an issue in registering voters

Meanwhile, the VoteYes committee said it asked for Long’s investigation of voter fraud because it had "become aware of out-of-state people coming into South Dakota and registering to vote in our election with no intention of remaining a resident of South Dakota."

One of the requirements for registering to vote, the group said in a prepared statement, is that the person live in the state and have no intention of leaving. A section of state law regarding voting residence says "A person is considered to have gained a residence in any county or municipality of this state in which the person actually lives, if the person has no present intention of leaving."

Long won’t confirm any investigation

Long said in an interview that he had "seen such a request" regarding an investigation of voter registration in that ballot race. As is his custom, he didn’t comment on whether his office would open an investigation.

The Campaign for Healthy Families said in a written statement that it has "a zero-tolerance policy for illegal activity and has followed the letter of South Dakota law" in every instance.

The VoteYesForLife. com voter-registration complaint said a spokesperson for Healthy Families, Chris Cassidy, is from San Francisco.

Cassidy said Monday that he followed state law in registering to vote in South Dakota this year.

"I’m not registered anywhere else," Cassidy said. "I live here, and I’m registered to vote here."

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