You know who should run for Legislature? Brad Johnson. The Watertown businessman and columnist, whose services Governor Kristi Noem decided were no longer needed on the Board of Water and Natural Resources earlier this year, would be just the right guy to go back to Pierre and educate legislators. Consider his apt critique of Speaker Steven Haugaard’s (R-10/Sioux Falls) rigid opposition to funding or even studying public preschool:
Haugaard, a Sioux Falls attorney, said the primary reason the council wasn’t formed is because if it did not exist, it couldn’t produce a report suggesting the state help fund preschool. Consequently, the Legislature wouldn’t have to talk about possibly creating and funding preschool.
That’s like deciding not to create a Flood Advisory Task Force because it would tell the Legislature that it is going to flood next spring. Consequently, the state would not have to budget to repair damaged roads and other infrastructure.
If we remain ignorant of a problem, then there is no problem, so Haugaard’s thought seems to go [Brad Johnson, “When It Comes to Funding Preschools, Ignorance Is Bliss,” Aberdeen American News, 2019.09.28].
As The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy instructs, if you can’t see a problem, the problem can’t eat you. Keep that towel wrapped around your head, Speaker Haugaard!
Where do these people COME from?
They come from South Dakota, aren’t you proud and honored ?😉
Mr. H is saying that Mr. Haugaard believes preschool is just like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. Or, perhaps, Mr. Haugaard, insaner than most though he is, has this towel in preparation to waive it to signal surrender to the rest of the legislatures.
O.M.G. And he is the GOP speaker of the House. That’s all the better they could do? Really? For shame. How embarrassing for you SD. You truly have my sympathy.
Speaker Haugaard will never surrender. His admission through the pearly gates depends on fighting godless preschool.
Private preschool is not a financial burden to the rich 1%-ers that the Republicans cater to. And it’s a tax credit for those moneyed individuals who need to eliminate any and all IRS taxes, just like their hero Donald Trump does. Likewise denying critical early education opportunities (like universal public preschool) to the middle class is a way to ensure the advancement of their children over us second-class citizens and our kids.
I’m sure South Dakota is not alone in America as states with moronic public officials. Haugaard is just an example. We have a governor that won’t ok a cash crop for farmers after denying hemp crops due to ignorance. We even have a senator that’s too busy to read a transcript accusing the president of criminal acts.