Lest we get too excited about Dusty Johnson as South Dakota’s next Governor, former Demcoratic legislator Frank Kloucek of Scotland weighs in with an open letter arguing that Dusty isn’t ready for the big desk:
Rep. Johnson, just recently you have taken up the banner to save the United States Postal Service and the rural post offices, all this in an effort to make it seem like you care about rural citizens. You do this just a few months before the primary election for governor of South Dakota. Where were you two years ago when Louis DeJoy & USPS upper management was moving the mail sorting centers to Fargo and Omaha?
[Editor’s Note: Rep. Johnson did complain in April 2024 about DeJoy’s proposed closing of mail processing centers in Huron and Sioux Falls. USPS subsequently announced that would spend $12.75 million in Sioux Falls and up to $3 million in Huron to update those facilities and keep them open, but those centers were downgraded from Regional Processing Centers to Local Processing Centers, meaning lots of South Dakota mail is shipped to Omaha and Fargo, and service has deteriorated.]
We told you it would not work without a delay of mail service of one to two days for first class mail and longer for newspapers and packages. Guess what? That is exactly what happened. This further eroded the USPS reliability. Where were you Dusty? Your staff was there at the meetings. Did you not believe your staff? Did you not believe your constituents? Did you not believe the postal workers? Sheryl Johnson was there standing with all of us. She was willing to take the lead in stopping this travesty as a top priority if she were elected to Congress. Over and over again your campaign is riddled with hypocrisy.
Dusty, it hurts me greatly to say you are a political opportunist and a quitter who was duly elected to the PUC as commissioner a second time and quit shortly after the election to become chief of Staff For Governor Daugaard. When the heat was on with the Gear Up Scandal and other events you quit that job and went to the private sector. Now you are quitting as U.S. Congressman when the political heat is coming for your disgraceful votes, bill sponsorships, words, and deeds which are clearly against the best interest of your own fellow South Dakotans.
Dusty, your introduction as prime sponsor of HR 4135 that would open the door to stripping private property rights away from landowners concerning eminent domain for private companies to build a carbon dioxide pipeline in South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa was another big mistake. At the Freeman Chislic Festival last year you denied it being true to me three times and told me those folks who said that to me were liars. Once again Sheryl Johnson stood up time and again to defend private property rights and you did not.
[Editor’s Note: Rep. Johnson told KSFY News in July 2025 that HR 4135 did not address carbon pipelines. However, the FAST Act to which HR 4135 refers includes “carbon capture” in the projects it covers and specifically says that “construction of infrastructure for carbon capture includes construction of… carbon dioxide pipelines” (42 USC 4370m: Definitions (6)(C).]
At the Turner County Fair I had a copy of your bill to show you that indeed it did what these friends of ours [that you called liars] said it did. You were to busy berating me and calling names to even consider it. That was not very gubernatorial to say the least. Once again Sheryl Johnson was there for the landowners and stood up for private property rights.
Your ads on Chinese investors ownership of farmland fall on deaf ears when you do nothing and have done nothing about Chinese ownership (WH Group) of packing plants and the production of fake meat by a Korean-owned company near Sioux Falls.
Who can ever forget you bringing a Russian woman spy to the South Dakota Teen Republican Camp in July of 2015 and having her speak to them? What were you thinking Dusty? Russians speaking on freedom to own a firearm without severe restrictions at a TAR camp? We find that a hard pill to swallow.
Rep Johnson, your illogical support for Trumps tariffs on Canada and legislation to purchase the Panama Canal speaks volumes on your lack of knowledge on foreign affairs. On the more humorous side, will your next move be to try to buy, annex or invade North Dakota and or Wyoming if you are elected Governor?
[Editor’s Note: An imperialist Governor Dusty might find more willing expansionist collaborators in western Minnesota.]
Dusty, I truly wish you the best, whether you win or lose. It is time you stand up for the people you represent not the huge corporate donors who own you politically. It is clear you are not ready to be Governor of the great state of South Dakota.
There are times politicians should return to the private sector. Dusty, this is the right time for you to return to the private sector.
—Frank Kloucek
Scotland, South Dakota
The trip to Yankton for the 2014 South Dakota Democratic Party State Convention to take photos for Northern Plains News was a personal opportunity to learn directly from the delegates, legislators and candidates while lobbying them about what one interested party still believes is the future of the party.
It was gratifying to be received as a credible voice at an event were everybody knew a blogger living in Santa Fe who cared enough about his home state to drive a couple thousand miles and shoot a few pictures. Frank Kloucek, Jeff Barth and the Minnehaha County people took a straggler into their ranks and pressed the caucus on strict adherence to the rules with vigorous confidence.
There were some disappointments like no representation from Lawrence County and a watered-down therapeutic cannabis plank, for instance; but, the experience of knowing these people are dedicated Democrats who are sick and tired of being bullied by the state’s dominant party while tirelessly fighting for a land they love was worth every driven mile.