KSFY dispatches its Aberdeen bureau to cover the riveting District 3 Senate race!
Alas, Mondesir mispastes my statement on corruption to Initiated Measure 22. The clip she plays came from my discussion of my three top campaign priorities: supporting education, defending voters, and fighting corruption. IM 22 certainly supports my desire to fight corruption with the restoration of the state ethics commission, but whether it passes or fails, my commitment to being a real watchdog on corruption stands. When Mondesir asked me which ballot measure I’m most passionate about, I told her that’s hard to quantify but cited four: Referred Laws 19 and 20 and Amendments T and V. I explained that 19, 20, T, and V would all be perfect measures on which to show the contrast between Novstrup and me:
- RL 19: Novstrup voted to take away the rights of over 400,000 South Dakotans to sign petitions for independent candidates; I petitioned to stop that law and put it to a vote.
- RL 20: Novstrup voted to cut the minimum wage for young workers; I voted to protect teenagers’ earning power to save for college and support their families.
- Amendment T: Novstrup has argued against this anti-gerrymandering measure, saying Republicans could still hijack the independent redistricting commission. I’ve responded that the anti-gerrymandering criteria Amendment T writes into the state constitution would foil any such hijacking.
- Amendment V: I don’t recall specific comment from Novstrup on the open nonpartisan primary proposal (the seven-term incumbent offers no convenient summary of his positions on the ballot measures, while his opponent hands such a summary to every voter he meets), but Novstrup’s party is working hard to keep independents from voting in South Dakota’s primaries.
Instead of using the comments I offered specific to each of those four measures, KSFY chose to let Novstrup direct the piece with his declaration that IM 22 is the worst of the ballot measures without seeking my response to Novstrup’s Koch-fueled propaganda about 22 doing nothing but “transferring taxpayers money to politicians.”
But hey, at least KSFY is covering the Legislative races (and making up for the free puff press they gave House candidate Rep. Dan Kaiser last week). The press in general should provide local races more coverage and host more forums that help the voters compare their candidates side by side.
I started washing dishes on weekends at Leo’s Café at age 11 because Mom needed help. She never asked me to but it was conveyed to me in other ways. I was paid the same as the high school drop out that trained me. Teenagers are worked the same way everyone else is worked and deserve the same pay. The Novstrups know that these positions are so part time, late night and unattractive that only kids will do them and cutting their pay by using elected office is horrendous.
KSFY missed the big news story there: Senator proposes cutting youth minimum wage; blogger petitions to stop that cut and put it to a vote, then runs to replace that Senator; Senator bails out of election, Senator’s dad runs to preserve the seat. Even if we stick with simplistic TV conflict journalism, that story is much more interesting than our disagreement (again, presented without a direct quote from me on the issue) on IM 22.
No doubt they missed a variety of possible stories.
A broken record can just as easily repeat statements about how, “it’s important to keep taxes and regulations low.” Novstrup panders to small government ideology to grossly oversimplify and avoid the real issues. I do respect KSFY, but they really sort of dropped the ball entirely on this one.
Al recites that easy pandering slogan, but he doesn’t talk about how he raised taxes $192 million with just two bills in just this term. How does voting for two of the biggest tax increases in South Dakota history square with his campaign slogan?