Last updated on 2018-01-15
Lawrence County prosecutor John Fitzgerald posted a new musical slideshow Friday to promote his bid for the Republican nomination for Attorney General. It’s not real video, just moving pictures with giddyup synthesizer music and text in three fonts.
My morning quibbles:
- I’m sure Fitzgerald can tell a really compelling story about how mobsters almost killed his dad and how that influenced his own lifetime dedication to fighting crime. But absent more context, a grim image of a car wreck may not be the best second image in a promotional video. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts….
- All three Fitzgerald kids graduated from USD Law… so, what, we’re setting up a Fitzgerald dynasty of public prosecutors? Hmmm….
- He has three partisan slides: “Lifelong Republican”, “Conservative Republican”, an interruption for “Dedicated Prosecutor”, then “Experienced Conservative”. I understand Fitzgerald is pitching for a nomination from the Republican Party. But partisan affiliation and general political philosophy don’t have much to do with the bread and butter of the job of putting bad guys in prison. And that third partisan slide: is there any such thing as an “Experienced Conservative”? How does one get “Conservative Experience” as a prosecutor? Or is that phrase really just two adjectives thrown together for a conclusion using the words that gave your focus group the most goosebumps?
Fitzgerald posted a shorter, more straightforward video two months ago with one of his grandkids making his pitch:
“When you select an Attorney General, it’s hiring a lawyer to lead the fight against crimes in our state. That’s why experience matters. Vote for John Fitzgerald.” You can’t make a more direct, relevant, and succinct pitch for the job than that.
And while I choose not to exploit my family members in campaign materials, hey—that girl knows how to take direction! No schmaltz about Dear Grandpa; just drink from cup, speak to camera, point to poster, drink from cup again for visual closure.
Friday’s video is a standard laptop meme-show. The November video is shorter, simpler, and more to the point of the job Fitzgerald seeks. Now Fitzgerald needs to add some video of himself talking to the camera and voters explaining why he’s the toughest prosecutor for the job.
Not a bad story, Cory. I remember when you lived in Spearfish.
Thanks, Mary! I remember my time in Spearfish quite fondly. Why would a guy want to move from Lawrence County to Pierre? ;-)
South Dakota needs him. His whole life has been dedicated to public service. Experience is everything, no one can match his lifetime of fighting for victims. Glad you like the granddaughter’s video.
Is that John Fitzgerald, or Larry Lucas?
“His whole life has been dedicated to public service”—notice that’s not a uniquely Republican or uniquely conservative point. That’s one reason the granddaughter video is superior, especially when we get past convention and pitch for everyone’s vote.
I’d like to see a discussion of real issues, not campaign pablum like “…hiring a lawyer to lead the fight against crimes in our state.” Gawd! Which crimes? It has always seemed to me that white collar crimes and corruption never get prosecuted in South Dakota. There is a permissive attitude toward political corruption, toward officials not following public notice requirements and open records laws. What’s his answer to that? Would he suggest improvements to those laws? Does he agree with legal scholars that the AG’s role in ballot measures constitutes an unconstitutional intrusion of the executive into the legislative function? Would he look to prosecute environmental criminals who spill petroleum products, or leak acids and toxic metals from mines, rather than giving them a pat on the back? Would the AG fight for people who want to vote, but can’t because of discriminatory laws passed by the Legislature? What is he going to do to counteract the hate groups that have formed in South Dakota?
It will take real political courage to face these issues, but he seems to want to fall back on goofy nonsense.
And he should keep his father out of it. I liked his father personally, but he refused to honestly regulate the Lonetree dump and the mining issue when he served on the Board of Minerals and Environment. His lack of leadership in these areas resulted in a Superfund site and cost South Dakota a lot of money. And his leadership on the CEE Review Task Force, on which I served, was simply awful.
Donald, what job did Fitzgerald père have?
You ask good questions about the actual nuts and bolts of the job. And answers to those questions could easily fit in Facebook videos… though such specifics would best be explained by the candidate himself, not his granddaughter.
Cory, John Fitzgerald Sr was an attorney, mainly doing defense work, I believe. He had Dr. Ben Munson as a client when Janklow prosecuted him for performing an abortion. The woman died tragically due to some or other complication. Janklow saw the Munson prosecution as an opportunity to curry favor with the right-to-life crowd as he sought to advance from AG to Governor. Judge Merton Tice dismissed the case before it went to trial.
Janklow later appointed Fitzgerald to the Board of Minerals and Environment, where he was the hearing chairman during the SDDS Lonetree dump hearings, and voted to give the company a permit. Pat Duffy represented the Technical Information Project in that hearing, and subsequent lawsuits. That Board decision was eventually overturned by the SD courts.
I actually can’t remember if it was Janklow or Mickelson who appointed Fitz to the BME.
Fitz is just getting started on his campaign. He will be a tough opponent. Notice he doesn’t go around talking about ballot issues like Ravsnborg. That’s all that guy knows….or pretends to know anyway.