Pure Pierre Politics

Calling themselves the Coalition for Cures Not Cloning, Chris Hupke of the South Dakota Family Policy Council and others plan news conferences Thursday in Sioux Falls and Rapid City to announce their organization’s formation. They plan to oppose a ballot measure planned by former State Treasurer Dave Volk and others that would open the way to embryonic stem cell research in South Dakota. That research currently is banned here. Hupke’s group said South Dakota has the strongest law in the nation against it. Volk hasn’t officially filed his initiated measure yet with the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office and therefore hasn’t started seeking petition signatures yet. To get the initiative on the November 2010 statewide ballot he needs 16,776 valid signatures filed no later than April 6. Volk’s political committee calls itself South Dakotans for Lifesaving Cures. Until he files the official version of his initiated measure, it’s unknown what his proposed law would actually be.