Current Pols Need Dose of Janklow’s Fearless Public Appearance
Published 2017-04-16 by
Cory Allen Heidelberger
Journalist Tom Lawrence gets the same sense of fear and intended intimidation from Thune and Noem’s town halls at police stations that the SDSU Collegian and I do. Lawrence notes that Tim Johnson did the same thing.
Janklow didn’t operate that way. I attended numerous question-and-answer sessions he held at South Dakota State University during his first term as governor. He would make a short statement and throw it open for questions. And insults. And attacks.
It was spectacular theater. SDSU students, many of them very liberal, some who disliked and distrusted any politician of any stripe, would challenge Janklow on his actions as attorney general and his policies as governor.
Wild Bill gave it right back, countering arguments with point-by-point responses, blended in with a few pointed jabs.
…Thune, Rounds and Noem, who share a political party with Janklow but not a whole lot else, could learn from him. Don’t hide. Don’t rely on police officers, or schedule “public” meetings when most can’t attend.
Every elected official and every candidate needs to adopt the Janklow attitude. Hold town halls at accessible times and places. Announce them well ahead of time, and advertise them on all available channels. Then listen, listen, and respond with real answers, even sharp rebuttals, not cautious, slogany, diversionary fluff.
Courage is hard when your suit is empty and your words even emptier. Sadly, Kristi, John and Mike have forgotten who they represent.
To our congressional delegation. We deserve better than the parroting of spoon fed talking points. Tell us how Congress and Trump are going to impact our Ag markets, health care and rural communities. It’s not good.
Tell us why you are following instead of leading on behalf of South Dakotans.
Most importantly, show up! The discussion might not be comfortable, but your actions are going to bring discomfort to many here in South Dakota. We’re paying your salary and you work for us…at least have the respect to talk to the people of South Dakota.
Hoping you can all find some courage…or reveal and admit your cowardice.
Your choice.
Donald Pay
Lawrence’s view of Jankow is not one I hold, and I wouldn’t want any current leader to emulate him.
Yeah, he liked to spar with people, but he often went way off the deep end with belittling, bullying and bluster, rather than confronting issues in a civil way. He showed up at meetings and town hall events, but to equate that with transparency and honesty is a stretch. He hid a lot of information from the public, violating open records laws all the time.
On issues that I was involved in at the time (environmental issues), I found him to have little depth of understanding. I always wondered if that was the case with things I didn’t know as much about. He tended to take a side on a policy matter quickly, then look for evidence to support his position, rather than letting facts direct his policy and positions. There was a lot of Donald Trump in Janklow. I think he used bluster to cover up for a lack of knowledge or a desire to learn from others’ perspectives.
If you want a personal leadership style to emulate, George Mickelson had humility and seemed more interested in crafting policy out of facts. He didn’t respond meanly when people attacked him, and he didn’t put people down just because they had a different view. He often said, “I’m just a country lawyer,” as a put down of himself, but he was pretty crafty. He often tried to get consensus on tough issues, rather than bull his way through. I still had issues with him and many of his positions and policies, but I thought he was a much better leader.
Just consider how he and Janklow dealt with water development. Night and day. Mickelson solved that issue for generations, while Janklow had created needless controversy that ended up with nothing accomplished.
grudznick
Mr. Pay, was it Governor William J. Janklow that ran you out of this state? I only ask because you seem so embroiled and seething with hate for the man, and his right-hand-woman Ms. Myers. She was a heck of a pilot, as I am sure you know, and she was a marvelous example of what a pretty young woman can accomplish. Did you hate her?
Donald Pay
Grudz, I don’t have a clue what you are babbling about. Seething and hate? No. Run me out? No. Nettie Myers? Not a fanboy, like you.
Donal
I received a telephone town hall call about a month ago. I guess she is to chicken to show up in a place like Sioux Falls in a real town hall. Anyway, she took like 3 calls and I they sounded rather rehearsed questions from the callers who were chosen. From Noems first response until her last she lied- lied – lied. Blamed Obama for everything, said the trump/ryan healthcare would actually bring down medical costs. I guess that is true if you can’t afford the medical insurance and can’t get the treatment.
Janklow was a bully and a profiteer. The only thing bigger than life with Janklow was his ego.
Yes, we need an organization to stand up and shout the truth about South Dakota government.
The S D democratic party and those that run and support it has failed us on every front and is completely indistinguishable from the republican party. We elect weak democrats and strong republicans so it is no wonder why our state is so corrupt. Need loud truthful voices but also a party that stands behind progressive candidates who want the peoples welfare to be first and the intelligence to get the message out and guts to expose the republicans and democrats for the corruption they allow.
John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.
I must concur with Cory and Lawrence’s call for our Republican leadership in South Dakota to match the Janklow standard of public discourse with one’s constituents. I have commented often in recent blog pieces that Senators Thune, Rounds, and Representative Noem are not meeting the standard that Janklow set. Especially, when Janklow was willing to hold a town hall meeting in Springfield after he had just announced the intended closure of USD/S and the plans to replace the campus with a new state prison back in 1984.
But the Janklow standard should not only be a Republican standard, but also a standard for all politicians regardless of their affiliation. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall that Senators Daschle and Johnson nor Representative Sandlin ever fully met that standard as well, but these are unusual times. These are times as liberal Jon Stewart claimed, “We have never faced this before,” and conservative P.J. O’Rourke, who voted for Clinton last year, said, (In reference to the current state of national political leadership) “…Is the most severe case of American mass psychosis since the Salem witch trials of 1692.”
These unique times necessitate a greater calling by our congressional delegation to meet with the public and discuss the issues of our day. Our current Republican congressional delegation cannot hide behind the actions or inactions of Daschle, Johnson, nor Sandlin, rather the times necessitate that they stand tall without fear and with the confidence, which Janklow often expressed. Whether one was a fan of Janklow in his time or not, which I personally never was, I think it is fair to say that Governor Janklow feared no one, and I also think it is fair to say that our current leadership needs to prove that do not fear our times nor its people, which demand many answers in this very unique period in American history…..
Mike M
Janklow’s election as governor was one of the primary reasons I left South Dakota. I felt that I did not have a place among people who would do that. It might be worse now with such an entrenched and regressive one-party government. But somehow it will always be my home.
Adam
Cory – great post!
It’s is always constructive to evaluate WHY a generally crappy [perhaps] person succeeded anywhere in this world. There are always positive aspects to their personality that offset and overcome their biggest shortcomings.
I think it’s important for South Dakotans to think of Bill Janklow as an particularly eccentric yet likable person as it forces the recognition that people don’t really have personality or individuality [generally speaking] without a uniqueness of flavor that doesn’t always taste good to everybody. Independent thinking isn’t often compatible with subscription to ideology.
One thing is for sure: if you could convince Gov. Janklow to see it your way, his forceful personality was the biggest-strongest advocate you could ever hope for. We should take a moment to appreciate everyone on this blog’s assertive desire to assess the present, and envision a better total state of affairs. Unfortunately, I think it’s all our jobs to shame any smarter person we know who’s generally disengaged from politics – if you’re reading this, you agree – lazy bastards need to start paying attention to real news and taking part in GD discourse of ideas or their brains are gonna atrophy to the point of no return and Earth could very well end up man’s final frontier.
…Finally, if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you’ve got more Bill Janklow in you than >90% of South Dakotans. I thank you for that!
Among the reasons Janklow is such an interesting character is the widely disparate reactions he inspires. Rife with flaws—raging ego, short temper, the preference for fight and proving he’s right over deliberate analysis and problem-solving, as Donald Pay notes—it’s no surprise that he could drive decent people like Mike M out of the state. Identifying aspects of his leadership worth emulating, like his fearless and forceful public performances, leads to strong and not easily dismissed objections that Janklow was such a bully and profiteer (Donal’s words!) and all-around jerk that we can’t responsibly hold him up as an example.
The guy did win six statewide elections. The only reason he didn’t get to go for a seventh victory was that he killed a man. That career-ending killing should asterisk every favorable comment we may make about Janklow.
At the very least, it is politically useful to hold his favorable examples against his fellow Republicans. We can look at the straight-forward town hall style Lawrence describes, turn to Noem, Thune, Rounds, and others, and ask, “Why can’t you be more like Janklow?” Then we put them in a box and perhaps tempt them to point to the downsides of Janklow.
Of course, it would be much more effective if we could say to Noem, “Why can’t you be more like your awesome Democratic challenger who holds town halls all the time and fearlessly defends Democratic planks, policies, and achievements?”
Donal
Do we have any New deal Democrats left in this state? Do we have any democrats? You sing the praises of a man who, at the very least, kept South Dakota in the dark ages.
We need to bury Janklow, not to praise him.
South Dakota has always had the greatest potential to provide everything our people need to flourish. Yet special interests have always had their way to take from the people what we have worked so hard to earn for their own greedy corrupt selves.
Lets work together to create a state that enriches all of our citizens, fairly enforces our laws, educates us, and leads us to compete with the rest of the country and the world.
We do not need to continue to elect the same politicians that steal from us and our children’s futures to enrich themselves now.
We must listen to what the politicians say they WILL DO to make our lives and the lives of our children better.
More importantly, we need the current politicians to show us what they HAVE DONE to improve our lives and the lives of our children.
Again, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones”
Jenny
Having cops and HPs all around the state afraid of Janklow and letting him drive like a raging maniac for decades is not the sign of a decent man.
Donal
“The guy did win six statewide elections.” Speaks much more about the people who voted for Janklow than Janklow himself. Some of the worst dictators held office for many years and is no measure of how they governed. The forward thinking people who followed Janklows career knew he would destroy himself eventually. The bullies and profiteers always do.
Roger Elgersma
Janklow was a bully, he would threaten people both publicly and privately. His bravery was not based on character of ability to be right, just his ability to intimidate at will. He would be the worst role model.
John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.
Well written Roger! I cannot disagree. But when it comes to public discourse between South Dakota political leaders and their constituents, the present reality has lowered itself to the point where Janklow has sadly become a role model, however.
We have a governor who tells the press, which reporters, he will or will not talk to. Media outlets have to go to the Summit League Tournament to interview a Senator about the political situations of our times, while an other Senator holds “Pie and Coffee” events in small towns, and our US Representative holds short notice, rather spontaneous, K-Mart style “Blue Light Special” town hall meetings at her convenience…..
David Newquist
Donald Pay gets closest to Janklow’s true legacy. His deal with Citibank, as covered in a Frontline program, apparently awarded him and the state some tidy extra funds. Although the state treasurer and auditor are supposed to approve the opening of a new account by any state agency, Janklow and his co-conspirators refused to tell Dick Butler, the state treasurer, a Democrat, of the amount of money or where it was deposited. Butler asked for an investigation of the transactions between state government and business, and Janklow immediately asked the legislature to pass a gag law which made it a criminal offense for any state official to publicly let it be known that any state agency was under investigation. Mike Rounds immediately pushed the bill through the legislature. It was later modified, but the secret bank accounts were successfully kept secret, and the basis for there being no monitoring on scams such as the EB-5 and Gear up was established. http://rapidcityjournal.com/state-treasurer-officials-at-odds-over-access-to-bank-accounts/article_8f670ad8-f2d3-5fed-9132-cf2a2af2f754.html
The bluster, bluff, and bullying of Janklow successfully cowed the South Dakota press into a pliant attitude. It did not, however, work on the national press, as in the cases with the Viking Press and Newsweek. Obituaries generally avoid the negatives, but Janklow’s brushes with the law, except for that last killing of a motorcyclist, have been thoroughly cleansed from South Dakota accounts. His juvenile incident, a sexual assault, which caused him to drop out of high school and join the Marines, the warrant issued by a tribal court, his driving violations, and other antiques are omitted so that the image of him is as a brash folk hero.
There are plenty of people with more knowledge of him who grant his political successes but think his image needs to be tempered with that other side of him which was so evident to them.
Interesting, David—even as a landmark figure in South Dakota politics, Janklow was still small fry at the national level.
Is there any way to create a “good” Janklow, perhaps capture the aggressiveness and determination without the bullying, the willingness to hold forth with the press and other comers without the arrogance and belittling, and superimpose those characteristics on someone with the decency of George McGovern or Harvey Wollman?
grudznick
Everybody knows that The Harv was a decent fellow. Still is, by most accounts. I think if you are looking for a “good” Jankow you would want to clone Mr. Rhoden.
Courage is hard when your suit is empty and your words even emptier. Sadly, Kristi, John and Mike have forgotten who they represent.
To our congressional delegation. We deserve better than the parroting of spoon fed talking points. Tell us how Congress and Trump are going to impact our Ag markets, health care and rural communities. It’s not good.
Tell us why you are following instead of leading on behalf of South Dakotans.
Most importantly, show up! The discussion might not be comfortable, but your actions are going to bring discomfort to many here in South Dakota. We’re paying your salary and you work for us…at least have the respect to talk to the people of South Dakota.
Hoping you can all find some courage…or reveal and admit your cowardice.
Your choice.
Lawrence’s view of Jankow is not one I hold, and I wouldn’t want any current leader to emulate him.
Yeah, he liked to spar with people, but he often went way off the deep end with belittling, bullying and bluster, rather than confronting issues in a civil way. He showed up at meetings and town hall events, but to equate that with transparency and honesty is a stretch. He hid a lot of information from the public, violating open records laws all the time.
On issues that I was involved in at the time (environmental issues), I found him to have little depth of understanding. I always wondered if that was the case with things I didn’t know as much about. He tended to take a side on a policy matter quickly, then look for evidence to support his position, rather than letting facts direct his policy and positions. There was a lot of Donald Trump in Janklow. I think he used bluster to cover up for a lack of knowledge or a desire to learn from others’ perspectives.
If you want a personal leadership style to emulate, George Mickelson had humility and seemed more interested in crafting policy out of facts. He didn’t respond meanly when people attacked him, and he didn’t put people down just because they had a different view. He often said, “I’m just a country lawyer,” as a put down of himself, but he was pretty crafty. He often tried to get consensus on tough issues, rather than bull his way through. I still had issues with him and many of his positions and policies, but I thought he was a much better leader.
Just consider how he and Janklow dealt with water development. Night and day. Mickelson solved that issue for generations, while Janklow had created needless controversy that ended up with nothing accomplished.
Mr. Pay, was it Governor William J. Janklow that ran you out of this state? I only ask because you seem so embroiled and seething with hate for the man, and his right-hand-woman Ms. Myers. She was a heck of a pilot, as I am sure you know, and she was a marvelous example of what a pretty young woman can accomplish. Did you hate her?
Grudz, I don’t have a clue what you are babbling about. Seething and hate? No. Run me out? No. Nettie Myers? Not a fanboy, like you.
I received a telephone town hall call about a month ago. I guess she is to chicken to show up in a place like Sioux Falls in a real town hall. Anyway, she took like 3 calls and I they sounded rather rehearsed questions from the callers who were chosen. From Noems first response until her last she lied- lied – lied. Blamed Obama for everything, said the trump/ryan healthcare would actually bring down medical costs. I guess that is true if you can’t afford the medical insurance and can’t get the treatment.
Janklow was a bully and a profiteer. The only thing bigger than life with Janklow was his ego.
Yes, we need an organization to stand up and shout the truth about South Dakota government.
The S D democratic party and those that run and support it has failed us on every front and is completely indistinguishable from the republican party. We elect weak democrats and strong republicans so it is no wonder why our state is so corrupt. Need loud truthful voices but also a party that stands behind progressive candidates who want the peoples welfare to be first and the intelligence to get the message out and guts to expose the republicans and democrats for the corruption they allow.
I must concur with Cory and Lawrence’s call for our Republican leadership in South Dakota to match the Janklow standard of public discourse with one’s constituents. I have commented often in recent blog pieces that Senators Thune, Rounds, and Representative Noem are not meeting the standard that Janklow set. Especially, when Janklow was willing to hold a town hall meeting in Springfield after he had just announced the intended closure of USD/S and the plans to replace the campus with a new state prison back in 1984.
But the Janklow standard should not only be a Republican standard, but also a standard for all politicians regardless of their affiliation. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall that Senators Daschle and Johnson nor Representative Sandlin ever fully met that standard as well, but these are unusual times. These are times as liberal Jon Stewart claimed, “We have never faced this before,” and conservative P.J. O’Rourke, who voted for Clinton last year, said, (In reference to the current state of national political leadership) “…Is the most severe case of American mass psychosis since the Salem witch trials of 1692.”
These unique times necessitate a greater calling by our congressional delegation to meet with the public and discuss the issues of our day. Our current Republican congressional delegation cannot hide behind the actions or inactions of Daschle, Johnson, nor Sandlin, rather the times necessitate that they stand tall without fear and with the confidence, which Janklow often expressed. Whether one was a fan of Janklow in his time or not, which I personally never was, I think it is fair to say that Governor Janklow feared no one, and I also think it is fair to say that our current leadership needs to prove that do not fear our times nor its people, which demand many answers in this very unique period in American history…..
Janklow’s election as governor was one of the primary reasons I left South Dakota. I felt that I did not have a place among people who would do that. It might be worse now with such an entrenched and regressive one-party government. But somehow it will always be my home.
Cory – great post!
It’s is always constructive to evaluate WHY a generally crappy [perhaps] person succeeded anywhere in this world. There are always positive aspects to their personality that offset and overcome their biggest shortcomings.
I think it’s important for South Dakotans to think of Bill Janklow as an particularly eccentric yet likable person as it forces the recognition that people don’t really have personality or individuality [generally speaking] without a uniqueness of flavor that doesn’t always taste good to everybody. Independent thinking isn’t often compatible with subscription to ideology.
One thing is for sure: if you could convince Gov. Janklow to see it your way, his forceful personality was the biggest-strongest advocate you could ever hope for. We should take a moment to appreciate everyone on this blog’s assertive desire to assess the present, and envision a better total state of affairs. Unfortunately, I think it’s all our jobs to shame any smarter person we know who’s generally disengaged from politics – if you’re reading this, you agree – lazy bastards need to start paying attention to real news and taking part in GD discourse of ideas or their brains are gonna atrophy to the point of no return and Earth could very well end up man’s final frontier.
…Finally, if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you’ve got more Bill Janklow in you than >90% of South Dakotans. I thank you for that!
Among the reasons Janklow is such an interesting character is the widely disparate reactions he inspires. Rife with flaws—raging ego, short temper, the preference for fight and proving he’s right over deliberate analysis and problem-solving, as Donald Pay notes—it’s no surprise that he could drive decent people like Mike M out of the state. Identifying aspects of his leadership worth emulating, like his fearless and forceful public performances, leads to strong and not easily dismissed objections that Janklow was such a bully and profiteer (Donal’s words!) and all-around jerk that we can’t responsibly hold him up as an example.
The guy did win six statewide elections. The only reason he didn’t get to go for a seventh victory was that he killed a man. That career-ending killing should asterisk every favorable comment we may make about Janklow.
At the very least, it is politically useful to hold his favorable examples against his fellow Republicans. We can look at the straight-forward town hall style Lawrence describes, turn to Noem, Thune, Rounds, and others, and ask, “Why can’t you be more like Janklow?” Then we put them in a box and perhaps tempt them to point to the downsides of Janklow.
Of course, it would be much more effective if we could say to Noem, “Why can’t you be more like your awesome Democratic challenger who holds town halls all the time and fearlessly defends Democratic planks, policies, and achievements?”
Do we have any New deal Democrats left in this state? Do we have any democrats? You sing the praises of a man who, at the very least, kept South Dakota in the dark ages.
We need to bury Janklow, not to praise him.
South Dakota has always had the greatest potential to provide everything our people need to flourish. Yet special interests have always had their way to take from the people what we have worked so hard to earn for their own greedy corrupt selves.
Lets work together to create a state that enriches all of our citizens, fairly enforces our laws, educates us, and leads us to compete with the rest of the country and the world.
We do not need to continue to elect the same politicians that steal from us and our children’s futures to enrich themselves now.
We must listen to what the politicians say they WILL DO to make our lives and the lives of our children better.
More importantly, we need the current politicians to show us what they HAVE DONE to improve our lives and the lives of our children.
Again, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones”
Having cops and HPs all around the state afraid of Janklow and letting him drive like a raging maniac for decades is not the sign of a decent man.
“The guy did win six statewide elections.” Speaks much more about the people who voted for Janklow than Janklow himself. Some of the worst dictators held office for many years and is no measure of how they governed. The forward thinking people who followed Janklows career knew he would destroy himself eventually. The bullies and profiteers always do.
Janklow was a bully, he would threaten people both publicly and privately. His bravery was not based on character of ability to be right, just his ability to intimidate at will. He would be the worst role model.
Well written Roger! I cannot disagree. But when it comes to public discourse between South Dakota political leaders and their constituents, the present reality has lowered itself to the point where Janklow has sadly become a role model, however.
We have a governor who tells the press, which reporters, he will or will not talk to. Media outlets have to go to the Summit League Tournament to interview a Senator about the political situations of our times, while an other Senator holds “Pie and Coffee” events in small towns, and our US Representative holds short notice, rather spontaneous, K-Mart style “Blue Light Special” town hall meetings at her convenience…..
Donald Pay gets closest to Janklow’s true legacy. His deal with Citibank, as covered in a Frontline program, apparently awarded him and the state some tidy extra funds. Although the state treasurer and auditor are supposed to approve the opening of a new account by any state agency, Janklow and his co-conspirators refused to tell Dick Butler, the state treasurer, a Democrat, of the amount of money or where it was deposited. Butler asked for an investigation of the transactions between state government and business, and Janklow immediately asked the legislature to pass a gag law which made it a criminal offense for any state official to publicly let it be known that any state agency was under investigation. Mike Rounds immediately pushed the bill through the legislature. It was later modified, but the secret bank accounts were successfully kept secret, and the basis for there being no monitoring on scams such as the EB-5 and Gear up was established. http://rapidcityjournal.com/state-treasurer-officials-at-odds-over-access-to-bank-accounts/article_8f670ad8-f2d3-5fed-9132-cf2a2af2f754.html
The bluster, bluff, and bullying of Janklow successfully cowed the South Dakota press into a pliant attitude. It did not, however, work on the national press, as in the cases with the Viking Press and Newsweek. Obituaries generally avoid the negatives, but Janklow’s brushes with the law, except for that last killing of a motorcyclist, have been thoroughly cleansed from South Dakota accounts. His juvenile incident, a sexual assault, which caused him to drop out of high school and join the Marines, the warrant issued by a tribal court, his driving violations, and other antiques are omitted so that the image of him is as a brash folk hero.
There are plenty of people with more knowledge of him who grant his political successes but think his image needs to be tempered with that other side of him which was so evident to them.
Interesting, David—even as a landmark figure in South Dakota politics, Janklow was still small fry at the national level.
Is there any way to create a “good” Janklow, perhaps capture the aggressiveness and determination without the bullying, the willingness to hold forth with the press and other comers without the arrogance and belittling, and superimpose those characteristics on someone with the decency of George McGovern or Harvey Wollman?
Everybody knows that The Harv was a decent fellow. Still is, by most accounts. I think if you are looking for a “good” Jankow you would want to clone Mr. Rhoden.
Rhoden?! A guy who breaks the law to make a political point? I don’t think he’s the “good” Janklow; he’s just easier on the eyes.
Good God. Grutz, you sure do know how to ruin a completely decent analogy with that grain truth… Larry ‘Panic Button’ Rhoden.
People should just call him Panic Button.
Is there any way to create a “good” Janklow,
Mother Nature showed you the light.
Jan 12, 2012
So Cory, I take it you have not yet read: “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”
I have it on my shelf, just a little way through.