Even conservative South Dakotans are waking up to the corruption we’ve let run rampant in Pierre. The Rapid City Journal, oft deemed a conservative rag by disappointed West River lovers of liberty, agrees that Governor Dennis Daugaard’s denial of a problem with corruption in our fair state doesn’t hold water. RCJ published an editorial on November 15, good enough for editors in the other Dakota capital, Bismarck, to pick up on November 17, citing our proposed ballot measures on gerrymandering, non-partisan elections, and the Anti-Corruption Act as signs that corruption is reaching a critical mass for the electorate:
Perhaps, they were motivated to sign the petitions after watching the state’s lackluster oversight and response to the ongoing EB-5 scandal, which has left millions of dollars of foreign investors’ money unaccounted for and led to the apparent suicide of a former state official. Now, residents are watching the GEAR UP scandal unfold, this time with millions of federal dollars at stake and which apparently led a grant administrator to murder his wife and four children before taking his own life.
Those shocking events have startled residents across the state who in many cases are not satisfied with how the cases have been investigated [editorial, “Ballot Measures Send Signal to State Officials,” Rapid City Journal, 2015.11.15; reprinted in Bismarck Tribune, 2015.11.17].
The Rapid City editors warn our GOP leadership that continued complacency in the face of obvious corruption could damage both the state’s reputation and their own party fortunes:
The governor’s office and lawmakers can point to their party’s dominance in state and federal elections as evidence that voters are satisfied with their performance. But there is much more at stake here than winning elections. If they continue to downplay concerns about these scandals and fail to enact legislation that requires disclosure, transparency and accountability at all levels of state government, it could have a major impact on how South Dakota is perceived while leading to the kind of change they now seem to believe is unnecessary [editorial, 2015.11.17].
When even the Rapid City paper calls foul on corruption in Pierre, and when the Bismarck paper happily taunts us by picking up such a critique and broadcasting it to an out-of-state audience—a.k.a. potential investors, workers, students, and new residents—it’s time to fix our state government and elect new leaders.
The remarks from North Dakota fails to recognize that the good-ole-boy system that dominates current South Dakota politics has either the knowledge to make meaningful changes and the willingness to even consider alternatives. Corruption has worked so well for the current administration, that they would rather put their heads in the sand.
I’ve found daily newspapers and reporters in North Dakota are generally better and more aggressive than in South Dakota. The N.D. Democratic Party is also a greater, more competent force in the state capital and statewide. That must make a difference. Either the cronyism and corruption are kept under control or they’re hidden better. It’s also worth noting that none of us would be reading about Rounds’ and Daugaard’s deep corruption if it were not for the violent and mysterious deaths of Richard Benda and the Westerhuis family.
As to Jabba the Gant and his pal PP, everybody saw that mess coming. It was just a matter of time.
There’s a blog writer or two bringing news, 96
Thanks, Les! But note that this blog writer messed up: the Bismarck paper failed to note that the above editorial was originally published in the Rapid City Journal on November 15. What do you think of that: the Rapid City paper tackling corruption and challenging Governor Daugaard’s assertion that there’s nothing to see here?
I have revised the original post accordingly.
Look on the bright side? This editorial was written by the quite conservative editorial board in Rapid City which was a big step forward to creating public awareness in the Black Hills region, and then it got picked up by Bismarck. Perhaps the dead tree version of the Bismarck Tribune contained some kind of attribution as Cory correctly reports it is oddly lacking in the online version.
Chalk it up as a win-win if you oppose corruption in Pierre.
Maybe if the Rapid City Journal would have written about this before the election, Mike Rounds would be right here in South Dakota having to discuss this with Angela. How could news organizations, that had reporting done by Mercer, Ross and others, like right here, ignore the obvious corruption to get this little crook elected?
Both the Rapid City paper and the Bismarck paper are Lee Enterprise papers.
Don’t forget, Jerry, RCJ endorsed Pressler in 2014:
I am amazed that the RCJ actually published an editorial of any type let alone one of any substance. Let’s see, is it one day a week or, perhaps, two which the “paper” prints such an animal? There is certainly NO investigative reporting! Who knows, perhaps there is hope for the future.