Rhoden: No assurance full-strength South Dakota Senate staves legislative discord
Governor weighs in on this week's Senate clash that put spotlight on tie-breaking power of state's lieutenant governor
PIERRE — A dramatic procedural standoff in the South Dakota Legislature this week reflects a broader strain of political discord shaping American politics.
That’s according to Gov. Larry Rhoden, who called dysfunction at the state Capitol Tuesday “disheartening” while defending the constitutional authority of the lieutenant governor to break tie votes in the Senate.
“I’ve seen 26 years of good process, and the reason we haven’t seen that rule brought out in our lifetimes was because it was never necessary,” Rhoden said Wednesday from his Pierre office during a wide-ranging interview with The Dakota Scout. “And so to see it have to be applied was discouraging in a way that we’ve got to that point.”
