Yesterday I recieved a letter from the "YES" on the South Dakota abortion ban group. At first I was going to throw it away, but then I thought to myself, "What if this is a last-minute, manipulative, nasty mail piece?" So, I opened the letter. What I next read shocked me. This letter claims to apparently be from the democratic party, telling its members that South Dakota Democrats support the ban. I was shocked that is written to actually sound like it was sent from the Democratic Party. This letter was likely mailed to democrats throughout the state like myself (they obviously knew I am a Democrat).
It gets worse, below the fold:
Here is the letter.
The "Yes on 6" Campaign has gotten very desperate. Two recent polls showed the SD abortion ban being repealed by around 10 percent. Fortunately, South Dakotans are not yet ready to force women who have been raped or may die in childbirth to carry an enfant to term. In just the last several days it came to light that $750,000 was funneled into the pro-abortion committee through a sham corporation.
In a fit of last minute desperation, State Rep. Roger Hunt, the author of the abortion ban, has set up a shell corporation called Promising Future, Inc., in order to funnel the $750,000 to Leslie Unruh's Vote Yes campaign committee.
Just fourty-five days ago, on September 14, 2006, Hunt established a corporation to funnel secret donations to Unruh's Vote Yes for Life committee which is working to pass the restrictive abortion ban.
At least $750,000 of secret funds has been funneled from Hunt to Unruh in the last 45 days alone. Hunt is refusing to disclose who his out-of-state donors are.
Even worse, Rep. Hunt has refused to identify who the money is from. This money was likely used in this last-ditch skullduggery to confuse and demoralize democratic voters in the state. This isn't the first time I recieved a last minute piece that was beyond what would be considered acceptable. In 2004 I recieved a attack mailer from the RNC against Tom Daschle that showed a coffin being put into the ground. The headline read 'Tom Daschle wants to still from our loved one's'. Not this time, I've had enough! My fax machine is raging out this leader to every TV station and newspaper in the state.
If this abortion ban goes down it will be a huge blow to the right-wing across the country. I would argue that South Dakota is one of the most conservative states in the country and you can't drive five miles without seeing an anti-abortion sign. But even pro-life South Dakotans see this ban as to extreme, while others have grown genuiely tired of the election year wedge issues. It's true that most people here are pro-life but that doesn't necessarily mean forcing other people to abide by their view. South Dakota Democrats have decided enough is enough and in a historic event, every single legislative candidate (89) signed a historic pledge to the people of this state. Common Ground is a pledge from the democrats to avoid the issues that divide us and instead focus on making life better for all South Dakotans.
Howard Dean's 50 state strategy is paying off big here. We will not allow our hardwork to be undermined by skullduggery and deception.