Saturday, July 05, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 350 • 12 of 22

News from the

Rounds lone candidate supporting EB-5 program
DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Former Gov. Mike Rounds stands alone among the four candidates for U.S. Senate in South Dakota in his support of the state's troubled EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.
• Democratic candidate Rick Weiland, however, takes issue with the program that encourages foreign investment in exchange for qualifications to secure permanent residency. During his recent convention speech, he said allowing foreign investors to jump to the front of the immigration line isn't fair to others with lesser means waiting to earn residency.
• "Should citizenship be for sale to the highest bidder?" Weiland asked. "I don't think it should."
• Rounds, Weiland and two independent candidates -- former Republican U.S. Sen. Larry Pressler and former Republican state Sen. Gordon Howie -- are seeking the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson.
• The South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development for years contracted with privately held SDRC Inc. to administer the state's EB-5 program, but the company's contract was cancelled in September, months after state officials learned

that a federal grand jury was investigating the program. The investigations have focused on the agency's former commissioner, Richard Benda, whose body was found Oct. 22 and whose death was ruled a suicide.
• Rounds said EB-5 helped him create 28,000 jobs when he was governor, and it was used for several successful projects, including The Dakota Provisions turkey plant in Huron, several dairies and the Deadwood Mountain Grand hotel, casino and event center.
• But EB-5 funds also were used to fund the failed Northern Beef Packers plant, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year because it lacked money to buy cattle for slaughter. The Aberdeen plant, which also used about $3.5 million in state Future Fund Grants and $845,000 in construction tax refunds, has been bought at auction but sits idle.
• Rounds said the state's investment is offset by taxes generated from the plant's construction and the property takes paid to local jurisdictions.

(Continued on page 13)

© 2013 Groton Daily Independent • To send correspondence, click here.