Ah, April in Aberdeen, when signs sprout like dandelions…
If your housing needs are already squared away, check out the new political signs:
I first spotted Aberdeen school board member Todd Kolden‘s campaign signs on Saturday.
Signs from incumbent Rep. Dan Kaiser and young first-time candidate Drew Dennert first caught my eye this afternoon. I’ve only seen a handful of each candidate’s signs so far, but invariably, Kolden’s stand alone, while Kaiser’s and Dennert’s stand together.
You could hypothesize that it is possible that support for Kaiser’s arch-conservatism and Dennert’s archer-conservatism mutually excludes with support for Kolden’s less ideological, more pragmatic politics. But it’s much more likely that whoever is handing out Kaiser signs is also handing out Dennert signs and that the incumbent has chosen the challenger he wants as his teammate in the contest against Democrats Nikki Bootz and Brooks Briscoe.
Dennert and Kaiser have endorsed each other:
Evidently not passing the ideological litmus test, Kolden is thus left out in the rain providing color commentary:
I eagerly await the primary candidates’ forum pitting Team Kaiser-Dennert against Lone Wolf Kolden.
Anyone ask Kolden what was so right about the cesspool of wingnut pols and politics in South Dakota?
Unless greed,corruption and moral superiority are positives to be accentuated. Knock yourself out, chump.
So the two automatic NO votes on any issue are stomping up people’s grass already? Makes a guy in Aberdeen probably want to Vote Mr. H. Insaner and Insaner.
Grudz, if I had a primary, I’d have signs up by now, too. Remember, the Aberdeen City Council won’t let us put signs up unless we are 60 days from our election.
But that’s o.k.: I can focus my advertising for now on my newsletters in the newspaper. Check out my April edition here, which hit the streets a good week before the above signs did.
I see. Those fellows have an election sooner. It is good you have a newsletter. And I forgot you are not facing those fellows, you are facing the elder of the Novstrups. Al. If he isn’t put up signs yet then your newsletter will give you a head start.
Yep, I’m the outsider. I always win…
Mike from Iowa…what???
Is Kaiser and Dennert’s joining forces be similar to Cruz and Kasich joining forces against Trump to stop or slow his delegate count?
Roger, I’d only make that comparison if Kolden were some monster frontrunner and Kaiser and Dennert were desperate to stop some party apocalypse. I have no read on candidate standing in town; if anything, I’d think Kolden would be in third, behind second-place young Dennert, who will be popular among the party faithful (i.e., primary voters) for his work on other campaigns and partisan enthusiasm, and front-runner incumbent Kaiser.
YK-as long as you are out there, what are your thoughts on the Keystone 1 oil spill. You might be the first SD pol to say anything. Go for it.
Sorry about the slip up. My index fingers are dyslexic or something,TK. TK TK TK TK
If young Mr. Kolden shows himself to be saner than those others he will garner 100% of the saner vote. The saner vote might undervote and only pick 1, and if they pick 2 then they’ll split randomly or based on haircuts between the other two.
Mr. Kolden wins one of the two seats. If he shows himself to be saner than those others. Few are insaner than Mr. Kaiser.
What troubles me about Dan Kaiser running again is that he didn’t show up even once last session. I’m sorry that his son has cancer, and I have a close friend dealing with that very issue. But the people of Aberdeen deserve a legislator who shows up, who has the time to show up. Kaiser should be with his son fighting the cancer. He shouldn’t have a 2-month seasonal job he’s unwilling or unable to do. Asking the voters of Aberdeen to re-elect him under these circumstances is selfish and irresponsible.
Kaiser should be asked, “If we re-elect you how can we be sure you will show up for the 2017 legislative session and do the job?”
Kaiser should also be asked, “Do you believe someone should receive a paycheck if they don’t show up for work?”
How is this “archer conservative” Drew Dennert related to the friendly moderate Democrat, H. Paul Dennert, who represented Brown County for years?
Mr/Ms Rorschach, I understand your frustration in Kaiser not being on the job. Are you going to be running against him so there will be a fulltime representative in your district?
Nick, Drew is Paul’s wayward grandson.
Correction, Ror: Rep. Kaiser did attend and vote on Veto Day.
GS, I’ll let Ror speak to Ror’s own political intentions, but I will note that those who understand Ror’s frustration and consider it a voting issue have two alternatives on the Republican side and two alternatives on the Democratic side.
Will Drew be getting votes because of name ID even though the name voters are remembering is that of his moderate grandfather?
This wouldn’t be much of an issue if they shared an ideology. It sounds as though this apple has not only fallen far from the tree but rolled all the way down the hill
Nick, any candidate should benefit from having his or her name ring a bell. But if the Dennert name rings a moderate bell, could that be a disadvantage in a Republican primary? Maybe that’s another reason (aside from the obvious incumbency advantage) that Dennert wanted Kaiser’s endorsement: to make clear that he’s not his moderate grandfather but a good far-right Kaiser/Stace Nelson-style Republican.
Mr. Kolden,
I don’t know you or anything about you so my first impression may be something you can use, positively. From what you’ve written here I find you arrogant and here’s why. You used “I” four times and “my” once in one paragraph. That conveys selfishness and is easily remedied. e.g. First line: Instead of “I find it amusing” better would be “It’s amusing” – Instead of “I think so” better would be “It’s correct”. Not using I, me, my, mine etc. in your writing would give a better impression. With practice you can learn to change the arrogance you’re projecting. It’s about emotional word pictures when trying to influence voters. Better to have the reader picture what you’re saying than to have the reader picture you saying it. Picturing you talking promotes competition with the voter when in essence you’re trying to win alliances. And, “I always win.” Do you know what that conveys to the reader? Nothing positive, sir.
Porter, your language advise is reasonable. But the arch-conservative Republican war on women that Kaiser and Dennert support is a far stronger signal of arrogance than pronoun usage. Let’s see where Kolden stands on issues like women’s equality compared to his primary opponents.
Or let’s not sweat it too much and just all vote in November for the two Democrats, who will legislate more humanely wisely in service to the general welfare than anyone beholden to the SDGOP establishment.
Thanks Porter. Believe me, no arrogance was intended. Thank you for your advice.
Now,how about that pipeline leak? Does anyone anywhere speak for wingnuts in South Dakota?
I wasn’t happy with the leak and obviously the monitoring system didn’t work as intended. I sure hope they remedy that because it is a much needed part of the system.
I also feel they haven’t been transparent about the situation, and they need to fix that too.
You’re welcome, Mr. Kolden. It was just a comment about how politicians use words and no comment on you. As I said, I don’t know about you and now only know what Mr. Heidelberger said about your opponents. PS … your response tells me you’d be welcome as a Democrat, because Aberdeen is headed that way, again.
cah, there is always a third option, besides voting for dem or rep, and that option is to run for office if you don’t like what the current officeholder is doing. You are a prime example. You decided to run for office because you didn’t like what was going on. Good for you. I wish more people would become involved rather than taking pot shots at those dems and reps who are willing to serve.
Saints be praised,I finally got someone on record about the spill. Thank you Mr Kolden. Enjoy this because the next thank you may be a long time coming.
I trust you have mountains of regulations ready to remedy these lapses and oodles of fines and jail time for the lax oversight officials.
Good Sense, there is a fourth option. Find a candidate that supports your issues and whose political ideology fits yours.
When you find that candidate, help with his campaign by volunteering and above all else making a financial contribution
And the final option you have is to make your vote count by going to the polls on election day.
The election process is about voters evaluating candidates and people everywhere sharing facts and opinions about candidates. The idea that only those who are running for office should evaluate and criticize candidates is totally ludicrous. Nobody with any sense would suggest such a thing.
GS, I welcome more people to participate as candidates as well. But I also recognize that it’s asking an awful lot of regular working folks to run for office. I recognize there are some people for whom running for office is forbidden by law or work policy. For others, it is financially impossible. For many citizens, there is not always a third option. I thus cannot blanket-condemn voters for complaining about our representation while declining to run for office themselves.
(By the way, GS, are you running for anything?)
And candidate Kolden! Thank you for joining us and for recognizing that we need more oversight of Keystone 1 by TransCanada and by public officials.
Now, when’s the candidate forum? Dakota Free Press readers want to know, and they will want video!
Hah! Love this article! Great :)