Roxanne Weber of Pierre declares herself a Republican and challenges incumbents Mary Duvall and Tim Rounds for their House seats.
Or does she? Consider what she says about the Legislature’s crass repeal of IM 22:
I decided last year when I was at the committee hearings and we were being refused the ability to voice our opinion on the IM 22 repeal… [Roxanne Weber, audio from Zach Nelson, “Weber Enters Race for District 24 House Seats,” KCCR Radio, 2018.02.26].
…and about the Legislature’s failure to deal with substantive issues:
We have unemployment issues. We have agriculture that’s being pushed out by big corporate industries. We have a lot of issues retaining people and getting people to come to this community and to work. We have some businesses in Pierre that are closing because they can’t find enough workers. And I feel like for the last several issues we haven’t focused on any of those issues. It seems like we’ve been focusing on anything but those issues. And then when issues do come up they’re an emergency, and we throw a bandage on them, and then off we go and we think that’s good enough. And I don’t think that’s good enough. I think that the challenges that are coming up in the next ten years are so unique that we have to consider looking at them in a different way and trying to address them today and not waiting until they get worse [Weber, 2018.02.26].
That’s all a clear and solid indictment of the status quo. But in the next breath (at least as presented by Zach Nelson), Weber contradicts herself with markety-happy-family talk:
The incumbents right now have been doing a good job— [Weber, 2018.02.06].
Stop tape there. Everything else Weber said yesterday on the radio, along with her entry into the race, says the incumbents right now are not doing a good job.
Contrary to the conspiracy theories of the RINO shouters, we Democrats have not infiltrated the Republican Party and we never will. In the modern online world, Democrats who pretend to be Republicans will be easily sniffed out and subjected to merciless questioning and ribbing that will derail any effort to critique and overturn the establishment.
We will not change the mess in Pierre by hanging Rs around our necks and talking nicely about the 40-year Republican establishment that has governed South Dakota into the ground. We must stand separately from that broken system, critique it directly and clearly, and persuade voters to abandon the Republican brand and embrace truly responsive and effective government.