Gubernatorial candidate Rep. G. Mark Mickelson continues his way-early road show around South Dakota. He brings his “I love CAFOs and the campaign contributions I can get from Big Ag” spiel to the Brown County Republicans’ Reagan Lunch on Thursday at Mavericks here in Aberdeen.
Note the text: “Mark is planning to run for Governor….” Not rumored to be or expected, but planning to.
Perhaps tops on Mickelson’s agenda: thanking local grocery mogul Tim Kessler for his $10,o00 donation to Mickelson’s PAC. Interestingly, Kessler is also a big donor to conservation causes, which runs counter to Mickelson’s agenda of perfecting the percentage of South Dakota waters too polluted for normal use with more CAFOs while killing low-key, low-cost, voluntary conservation incentives.
Rep. Mickelson is more focused on his 2018 statewide campaign than his District 13 campaign: while he drums up his statewide donor base, he hasn’t updated his Legislative campaign Facebook page since last August. That inattention to the home fires could offer Democratic challengers Ellee Spawn and Jim Eckhoff a chance to make some headway and upset the incumbent’s aspirational calculus.
CH,
The entrance of CAFO’s beyond bird production is good long-term for the environment as we will have less overall run-off into our water supply. I get your position to desire more small-scale production but it isn’t the environmental friendly position. Mickelson’s position is the most friendly and pro-conservation position.
About the only things that CAFO’s have solved is how to hasten the demise of the small producer. How do you handle the manure from 10,000 sows or 6,000,000 chickens. You spread it on an insufficient number of acres where it is picked up in tiled fields and transported into rivers. Or it leaches from these holding ponds into our rivers. Or a major rain event will overflow these ponds into our rivers. Or unscrupulous operators simply open the gates and dump it into our rivers.
These rivers are our rivers, they are not places to dump crap by somebody else. 79% of South Dakota’s waters were recently deemed not usable for their intended purpose. The Big Sioux River is listed as the 13th filthiest river in the country.
Neither CAFO’s, nor fertilizer users nor chemical users, nor mining operations, nor fracking operations, nor pipeline companies, nor anyone has the right to foul my drinking water. I will not stand for it. Nor will many others. The City of Des Moines’ lawsuit against three water districts is the vehicle that will change things. Our water is too important to let this continue. Mni Wiconi, Water is Life.
Concerned about Mr. Mickelson’s take on hog or animal confinements; corporate farms and the Canada pipelines.
The Repubs have a lunch in honor of America’s worst president ever??? Go figure.
Nine days later, Pat Powers features what I reported above as some sort of scoop on Mickelson’s candidate status:
http://dakotawarcollege.com/mickelson-featured-in-jon-ellis-argus-blog-as-running-for-gov-on-18