Day: June 7, 2018

Democratic candidate for governor Billie Sutton spoke to about 40 voters at a Chamber-sponsored forum at the Aberdeen Ramkota today. I offer three key observations:

1. The Ramkota was better lit than the last several times I’ve gone there to hear candidates speak.
2. Sutton is prepared to brand Republican nominee Kristi Noem as a creature of the status quo at a time South Dakota needs change.
3. Sutton wants to invest in lots of good programs and services that he’ll have a hard time paying for campaigning as a “taxed enough already” fiscal conservative.

Sutton opened with a mild eight-minute speech, telling his personal story, citing some key Legislative accomplishments in which he’s had a hand (like raising teacher pay out of last place), and listing things we need to fix, like creating a needs-based scholarship, lowering the tuition burden on college students, and reducing the food tax, which he says is throttling upward mobility for the middle class. He also made good use of his current job (the kind of private sector job his opponent hasn’t had for at least eight years) to talk about the people he works with as an investment advisor who are struggling to save money for their kids and their retirement: