LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
ATTENTION! All Citizens of McPherson County,
The McPherson County Republicans would like to make you all aware of a resolution which has been written and proposed by McPherson County States Attorney (SA), Austin Hoffman, to be read and voted on at the upcoming December 30, 2024 county commission meeting. This resolution has far-reaching implications which would limit our First Amendment right to freedom of speech at commission meetings. Please read this resolution below and pay particular attention to item #7.
Another item of grave concern that will be dealt with at the upcoming meeting is the nearly $10,000 legal bill which was incurred when SA Hoffman advised the county commissioners to hire outside legal counsel earlier this year to fight the citizens’ First Amendment right to “petition the government for redress of grievances.” SA Hoffman worked with Rapid City Attorney Sarah Frankenstein from Gunderson, Palmer, who simultaneously worked to get a law passed in the legislature, HB1140, to stop citizens who were petitioning in counties across the state to hand count elections. SA Hoffman and Sarah Frankenstein’s attempts in the legislature failed, but Ms. Frankenstein and SA Hoffman still advised our commissioners to reject the citizens’ petition here in McPherson. Ms. Frankenstein’s law firm billed McPherson County nearly $15,000 for her work, but that has since been reduced to nearly $10,000.
The commissioners voted at the Dec. 3rd meeting to table paying this bill until the December 30th meeting. Please see the line item statement below and ask yourself if SA Hoffman’s advice to use our taxpayer money to fight the citizen’s First Amendment constitutional right is a wise use of our money?
If you will remember, it was almost three years ago this January that SA Hoffman advised the commissioners NOT to pass an ordinance to protect the citizens of McPherson on the proposed Summit Carbon Solution’s CO2 pipeline.
We would ask all concerned citizens to contact the McPherson County Commissioners and ask them to vote NO on SA Hoffman’s proposed resolution and attend the December 30th county commission meeting at 1:00 pm at the courthouse to discuss what is to be done about the legal bill.
Commissioner Contacts:
-Chairman Rick Beilke, cell (605)-380-5501, email: [email protected]
-Sid Feickert, cell (605)-380-1332, email: [email protected]
-Mark Opp, cell (605)-281-0768, email: [email protected]
-Jeff Neuharth, cell (605)-228-3556, email: [email protected]
-Anthony Kunz, cell (605)-380-7828, email: [email protected]
Sincerely,
McPherson County Republicans
Chairman Mike Klipfel
(605)-380-9158
