I don’t interact much with law enforcement in Pierre, but when I do, I want a smart, tough prosecutor like Roxanne Hammond in charge:
Hammond Facebook-announced her campaign for Hughes County State’s Attorney Monday. In a boost to her campaign, she received Hughes County’s appointment as state’s attorney yesterday; her appointment fills the vacancy left by Wendy Kloeppner, who left Pierre for better pay and less work in Lake County in December.
Hammond is a Republican, but absent a Democratic challenger (in Hughes County? any takers?), I can overlook that error and endorse Hammond as a member of the imperative Debatocracy: sure, sure, Hammond has experience as deputy state’s attorney and LRC attorney and degrees from USD and SDSU, but the truest mark of her intelligence and good sense is her Quad Ruby performance as a Mitchell High School debater. The proper remedy for all that ails us in the age of Tapio and Trump is to elect debaters!
Hammond is Hughes County’s third state’s attorney in two months: last month, Hughes County took former U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler up on his offer to fill in until the county picked a permanent replacement. Seiler, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, remains in the courthouse as Hammond’s deputy.
Hammond has one challenger so far, Republican Graham Oey, who lawyers for the Department of Labor and Regulation and whom Hammond was hired to replace as deputy in 2016. Oey also applied for the appointment to fill Kloeppner’s vacancy, so Hammond apparently has already beaten Oey in one five-man sample of the Hughes County electorate. The full Hughes County GOP electorate will get a chance to pick their preference in the primary on June 5.
Roxie rocks! Super smart and a good heart, in my opinion. People like her are good for our state.
Roxie Rocks! Now that’s a campaign slogan.