Marty Jackley campaigned for governor in Aberdeen this morning. Addressing about three dozen area residents and a handful of local press, Jackley spent about thirteen minutes outlining the five bills he is proposing to the 2018 Legislature, then another five minutes breezing through the bullet points of his gubernatorial campaign:
Jackley then took 40 minutes of questions. Asked by a local crop insurance agent what he would do as governor to make Washington understand the reality of the farm crisis South Dakota faces, Jackley cited his work on drug-overdoses remedies and child sex-trafficking as evidence that he can “be that strong voice” to get Washington to do the Farm Bill right:
Asked about revenue concerns and opportunities, Jackley said he’s hoping to win $50 million or more for South Dakota by effectively arguing our case for taxing out-of-state online retailers. He said we might get a windfall from pending tobacco litigation. He also promised to look for more cuts, like his push as A.G. to shift costs of the 24/7 sobriety program from the counties to the offenders.
Asked about elder abuse, Jackley warned that Governor Dennis Daugaard’s FY2019 budget cuts funding for the Elder Abuse Task Force. (True! See budget page 52, listing $181,192 and two jobs cut.)
A fluff/plant question teed up Jackley’s opportunity to tout his morning announcement that his campaign met its goal of raising over one million dollars in 2017, with more than 90% of those donations coming from South Dakota, in keen contradistinction to the “unprecedented amount of federal dollars flow[ing] into the governor’s race.” Jackley never mentioned his Republican opponent, but he was clearly referring to the million-plus in out-of-state funds that Kristi Noem transferred from her Congressional campaign fund to her gubernatorial campaign fund in November 2016 (thanks, don’t forget, to Initiated Measure 22!).
Asked to name one priority, Jackley named two. As Attorney General, his priority is fighting meth crime and addiction. As governor, Jackley promises to focus on “the future of our children, the future of our state, and that’s economic development.” Business über alles… sigh….
Someone must have let another Democrat in the room: a member of the audience asked Jackley if there is evidence that increasing penalties, as Jackley proposes for meth makers and dealers, actually deters crime. Jackley said sure it does! He referred to his own experience as U.S. Attorney seeing drug dealers adjust their behavior based on statutes. “Thought-out and reasonable enhanced sentences and mandatory minimums could work.” The Economist says yeah, maybe, but not for really stupid drug dealers. But Jackley also recognizes the limits of increasing penalties: “The death penalty of drugs that they have in Taiwan doesn’t work.” So hey, meth cooks: at least Jackley won’t kill you.
A Brown County resident alarmed by the six-figure price tag of satisfying the circuit court’s order that Brown County improve security at its courthouse asked if Jackley would support the state’s picking up that tab. Jackley talked for four minutes, but he didn’t answer the question, deferring to anticipated remarks from the Chief Justice in his State of the Judiciary address next week.
Jackley’s law school chum Vic Fischbach asked about cost-shifting caused by the criminal justice reform bill of 2013, SB 70. Jackley said he’s concerned about the costs that SB 70 shifted to the counties and said the mandatory penitentiary sentences for meth crimes that he’s proposing will help shift some of those costs back to the state.
Asked about where voters could sign his petition, Jackley directed eager signers to his two blue-blazered, clean-cut staffers, Joe and Robert, who he emphasized work for the campaign, not the A.G.’s office. Jackley said his campaign team is all South Dakota. He emphasized that “I’m not running a Washington campaign. I’m running a South Dakota campaign,” just like the seven previous attorneys general who have become governor. After some pheasant humor injected by his pal Vic, Jackley vowed to put his work as Attorney General over the campaign and focus on pushing his proposed legislation this winter, handling the GEAR UP prosecutions this March, and arguing the sales tax argument before the Supreme Court possibly in April.
Finally, radio newsman Adam St. Paul asked what Jackley can do as Governor to curb corruption. Jackley recited the anti-corruption laws he successfully pushed last year and called for more transparency and oversight. He repeated his contention us that failure of oversight on EB-5 and GEAR UP lies at the feds’ feet, not his.
As a local political bonus, toward the end of his remarks (~4:50 in final video above), Jackley said he doesn’t have to come to Brown County much because our state’s attorney “Chris White is working hard for you. I don’t make any bones about it: he’s going to be a great Attorney General someday.” On the way out, I asked White about that endorsement. White responded, “What was that?!”