Tony Venhuizen maintains the SoDak Governors website, “dedicated to promoting South Dakota History, particularly through the study of our state’s governors.” Over the past few days, he has posted numerous delightful bits of trivia about gubernatorial candidates Marty Jackley, Kristi Noem, and Billie Sutton.
He has also published a welcome correction to “one small inaccuracy” in my post yesterday on Sutton’s bid to become South Dakota’s youngest governor. I noted that when the current recordholder for youth on the Second Floor, Dick Kneip, took office in 1971 a couple days before his 38th birthday, his Lieutenant Governor, Harvey Wollman, was two years younger than Kneip.
Thing is, Wollman didn’t become Kneip’s lieutenant until 1975. William Dougherty was Kneip’s LG from 1971 to 1975 and was 38 years, 8 months, and 30 days old when he took office under Kneip. Additionally, Kneip and Dougherty weren’t “running mates” in the 1970 election:
In fact, when Kneip was first elected in 1970, South Dakota still elected the Governor and Lt. Governor separately. Kneip was the Democratic nominee for governor, defeating incumbent Republican Gov. Frank Farrar. The Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor was Bill Dougherty of Sioux Falls, who defeated the Republican nominee, Dr. Bob Bartron of Watertown.
At that time, South Dakota still had two-year terms, and in 1972 Kneip and Dougherty were both reelected, again on separate tickets. That same year, voters approved a new executive article to the constitution, which changed the term for the governor and other state constitutional officers to 4 years, beginning in 1974. The amendment also provided for the governor and LG to be elected on a ticket [Tony Venhuizen, “On Kneip and Wollman,” SoDak Governors, 2017.06.06].
I regret my historical error and appreciate Venhuizen’s correction. My friend Harvey Wollman likely appreciates our not erasing from history four of his glorious years in the Senate, two as minority leader and then two as majority leader.
Venhuizen’s blog, along with the Trail of Governors project on the board of which Venhuizen serves, is a treasure trove of biographical minutiae (and I use minutiae as a term of affection) on South Dakota’s leaders. Check SoDakGovernors out!
No big deal. French math. People are used to it.