More craziness reported yesterday from the scandal that threatens to destroy the candidacy and career of SD-Sen Republican nominee, and former Governor, Mike Rounds (and thereby reward the energetic campaigning of populist Democratic nominee Rick Weiland):
Before the very quiet no-bid privatization of all processing and profits from fees charged to investor immigrants,
During the two years when the state, even more quietly, contracted out only part of that processing and profit to a company owned by the state employee who did the contracting out,
...There was this newly reported bizarre incident that was more widely known in the state government, but had no bad consequences for the perpetrator -- who was that same state employee:
In 2008 [Joop Bollen] practiced law without a license, represented South Dakota in court without authorization from the Attorney General, and exposed the state to serious legal liability that our real lawyers had to run in to clean up. Yet the state kept him on the job through 2009. The state sent him on fancy trips overseas to recruit more EB-5 investors. The state gave him a lucrative no-bid contract to continue his same EB-5 work as a fully private citizen.
...People … knew he was breaking these rules. And … (I'm looking at you, Mike Rounds) kept doing him favors and keep doing him favors.
... It should boggle every voter's mind that Bollen-favor-doer-#1 is now asking for our trust on the November ballot.
One of the comments provides some useful comparative context for the infamous Joop Bollen’s impunity:
The State Bar is quite aggressive in going after unlicensed [University of South Dakota] law grads who try to help indigents obtain public benefits, such as veteran's benefits or indigents who have been charged with crimes.
...
While it probably is good public policy to prevent unlicensed folks from acting as lawyers, the priorities in choosing who to prosecute is somewhat unsettling.