SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

There was a small sidebar on the front page of the print edition of the Sunday “Argus Leader” informing readers that next Sunday there would be an interview with Tim Johnson in next Sunday’s paper discussing the Senator’s decision not to participate in debates during this year’s campaign.

In my prior post “A Run Out The Clock Campaign”, I said South Dakotans deserve a LIVE (emphasis added) press conference between Tim Johnson and both electronic media and the pen and pencil press and without conditions.

Without participation from the other major Main Stream Media Outlets that are being denied the opportunity to participate granting favored nation status is unfair.

As Senator Tom Daschle is fond of saying: “This is an important First Step.” But it does not go near far enough. On its face it appears just another managed event by the Johnson campaign in front of a friendly group. The obvious question hanging over any Interview is did the Argus ED Board agree to any special terms or scope of their questioning to gain this exclusive?

One positive thing the Argus can do, unless some agreement with Senator’s campaign prevents it, is to videotape in its entirety their session and immediately without editing post it on their Internet site. They did this with their interview with Hillary Clinton when they made national and international news with her reference to assassination.

Perhaps we could have put the debate on debates behind us if there would have been a more inclusive press conference including the political reporters, for example Bob Mercer, Kevin Woster, Denise Ross, Seth Tupper, Perry Groton, and Robert Wilson among others.

This act by the Johnson campaign just continues to delay and run out the clock. You can presume that once the Party Conventions conclude and Congress reconvenes, Senator Johnson will not be available until mid till the end of October. All we will hear will be from the Campaign, Campaign Manager, Campaign Press Secretary, Senator Johnson’s Press Secretary and perhaps 2 to 3 million in TV, radio, and mail.

We need to move past debates, this limited first step will not do that.

South Dakotans regardless of political ideology or affiliation rallied around Senator Tim Johnson when he suffered his brain hemorrhage in December of 2006. Everyone wished him a full recovery and only the best.

Most everyone was respectful of him; Norwegian Nice was the order of the day. His personal well being was South Dakota’s first concern. Despite literally months with little information about his health or recovery and the fact that he was in seclusion at an undisclosed secret location to effect a positive recovery Tim Johnson was given the benefit of every doubt.

When he had his homecoming last August it was a bi-partisan affair with well wishes from both Senator John Thune (via Video) and a personal appearance at the rally like homecoming (paid for by Johnson’s Senatorial campaign) by Governor Rounds.

In political circles and in the South Dakota media questions about his health and reelection were debated for those many months always giving Senator Johnson plenty of space.

No Debates in 2008

Since the announcement last week from the Johnson’s campaign that he will not participate in any debates in this year’s Senate campaign much has been written, spoken and televised already and the blogosphere has been on fire with speculation, point and counterpoint.

One very important fact must be continually considered as the campaign moves forward without debates and the opportunity to compare the candidates side by side.

The decision not to debate was solely Tim Johnsons.

Straight Talk’s 2Cents – With the election now less than 3 month’s away the Johnson campaign is showing what there campaign strategy truly is – RUN OUT THE CLOCK!

Secrecy and delay have been the hallmarks of events since Tim Johnson’s convalescence began. Besides being at a secret location (somewhat understandable) and despite probably hundreds of requests from South Dakota Mainstream Media, the Senator’s Spokesperson unequivocally stated the Senator was not doing ANY media interviews. This of course was not the truth. We later learned that Bob Woodruff of ABC News conducted several interviews over several months including camera crews with Tim Johnson.

Falsehood #2 – Throughout last winter and spring on at least two occasions either the Senator or Campaign spokesperson said Senator Johnson would debate. No time to worry now there would be plenty of time when Campaign season rolled around.

The simple fact is – starting with last year’s homecoming, Senator Johnson is tightly scripted and fettered by his handlers. Even the 19 stop campaign swing he is making is with politically friendly audiences.

South Dakota voters deserve better. We need to see and hear from an unfettered Tim Johnson. We need to take measure of him ourselves to make real person judgments if he is up to the grueling job of being our representative in the U S Senate for the next 6 years.

Both the electronic media and the pen and pencil press deserve a live press conference without conditions with Tim Johnson so he can explain (with adequate follow up questioning) why he is not debating and why South Dakotans should re elect him from a distance.

In South Dakota we are a retail political State. We want to see the candidate, look him in the eye and shake his or her hand. Not just scripted campaign events, statements from spokespersons or $5 million in television advertising.

The “Argus Leader” headline on August 10th led with “Johnson’s Decision Puts Burden on Dykstra.” The burden is not on Joel Dykstra it is on Tim Johnson to let us judge him. We deserve better a spirited campaign not a game of Beat The Clock.

Endbar – throughout this campaign we continually hear the drumbeat that Tim Johnson is delivering for South Dakota. What must not be overlooked that besides wooing us with our own money (Republicans do it too) is that being a member of the majority party in the Senate and the fact he is an incumbent up for reelection he would be sending the barrels of money back for South Dakota projects whether he is effective or ineffective. If money is the sole reason to elect him (and it is not); the question is not what he delivered this year but how effective will he be for the next 5 when he is not up for reelection.

When the U S Senate recently recessed the Parties could not agree on voting on an energy bill. Essentially Republicans favored more exploration to increase supply and thus lower prices while the Majority Democrat Party wanted to curb speculation in the financial markets to lower energy prices.

Unfortunately because it is an election year political pontificating seems to be more important than actually doing anything and the Democrats led by Harry Reid refused to have a vote on the GOP plan. Reid allowed not vote despite arious public opinion polls say a large majority (upward of 70%) of the American people support more drilling.

The Senators left town and oil prices fell. Why did they fall? The simple reason is that demand has lessened and those awful speculators at the New York Mercantile Exchange consequently bid prices down. Yes, those same awful, greedy people who the Democrats wanted to restrain.

Another maxim – the markets can sort out what people want far better than more laws and Legislatures.

Economic Endbar – Point of Information – Without those dreaded risk takers otherwise known as Speculators, Consumers of energy could not contract for their future needs and thus know what their cost are going to be. You don’t have to be Einstein to understand that there probably would not be for example any long term road construction projects or be able to purchase an airline ticket more than a week or two in advance.

The rubber is finally going to hit the road and Barack Obama and John Mc Cain are soon going to announce the selection of their Vice Presidential running mate. The Vice Presidential candidate usually makes little if any difference in getting votes but their candidacies do have certain predictable values in campaigning and garnering media attention with their announcement, acceptance speech, and the single Vice Presidential debate.

The Vice President should be someone that the President is comfortable with and hopefully ready and able to assume the Presidency in the event of a Presidential vacancy (death, impeachment, or resignation). It is worth remembering that when Harry Truman became President few expected he could fill the shoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt but President Truman proved more than up to the task of leading an America at War. Truman clearly outperformed expectations.

Otherwise Vice Presidential duties are 75 percent ceremonial, attending foreign state funerals, doing party fundraising, taking political pokes at the opposition party and perhaps if called upon breaking a tie vote in the U S Senate.

The almost Legendary, Vice President (during FDR’s first two terms) John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner described the Vice Presidency “as not worth a bucket of warm piss.”

Sidebar – Cactus Jack Garner who had served as Speaker of the U S House of Representatives is only one of two persons who served as both Speaker of the House and Vice President – thus being Presiding Officer of both Legislative Bodies. It is little remembered but in 1940 Garner challenged FDR for the Democrat Party Presidential nomination. Garner from Uvalde Texas when a member of the Texas Legislature led the fight to name the Texas State Flower the prickly pear cactus (thus the nick name Cactus Jack) lost that fight to the Texas Bluebonnet. Garner lived to be almost 99 years old. He was born on November 22, 1868. In 1963 President John Kennedy who was in Texas on that fateful day called Garner and wished him a happy 95^th birthday.

It is foolish to speculate who each of the Presidential nominees will select. The short lists are in the media daily and the campaigns and parties float names daily. What is happening is that both campaigns are positioning themselves in the political center.

John McCain is a conservative but ideologically unfettered. Suggestions from GOP activists are that he must shore up the Republican Party base. Barack Obama who is in overdrive flip flopping his way to the political center will try to find a centrist to make his candidacy more attractive. One other important factor that may come into play is that both campaigns are indicating that the important battleground States are Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. I would look for candidates that will play into both the Center and these States.

Interestingly, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been mentioned as a possibility in either major party ticket. He won’t be picked.

On the Democrat side, I have no idea. Recently mentioned Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia seems logical but I think Virginia Senator Jim Webb, a former Republican and Secretary of the Navy for Ronald Reagan would have made a better choice (Senator Webb now a Democrat recently took himself out of consideration.) For the same reason Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel would be an interesting pick.

For the GOP there are several that seem to make sense. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who has moved from left to right, former Pennsylvania Congressman and Governor Tom Ridge (though he is pro choice could get through the GOP convention), and recently added House Chief Minority Whip, Eric Cantor of Richmond, Virginia all seem to be logical and in the running. Cantor who is little known outside Washington is conservative but respected by the moderate Republicans. Cantor also is Jewish and besides doing well in Virginia and would have appeal to many Florida voters.

Finally Senator Joe Liebermann would make sense but he could not get through the Republican Convention and in any event it is a fight the McCain camp would avoid.

It will be an interesting three or four weeks.

Energy Independence is a goal that our elected officials agree on. How we achieve it is totally a different matter.

The benefits of being energy independent are stable energy prices, improvement in our balance of payments and thus a stronger dollar, an improved economy, and an improved foreign policy. Ridding America of its dependence on foreign energy would be a major defeat to the Terrorists that want to destroy us.

With so much at stake, our Government continues to fail us. Just a couple of weeks ago U S Senate Democrats were going to solve high gas prices by raising taxes on energy production (remember when you tax something it gets smaller) and today their answer to the our energy crisis is to stop excessive speculation on energy in the financial markets. Tinkering with the financial markets might be justified but it won’t solve the problem and won’t produce one btu on new production. Republicans want more exploration – a far more constructive approach that will actually produces something.

I agree with the GOP on more drilling but the problem requires an even Bigger Solution. In the last few weeks some of our biggest thinkers have likened the Energy problem to War. Recently when Newt Gingrich was in Sioux Falls he used the War analogy saying America needs a Manhattan like project to deal with the Energy Crisis. Oilman T. Boone Pickens also uses the war analogy when talking about how we must deal with the energy crisis saying it is America’s biggest problem since World War II.

Recently former Vice President Al Gore used a brilliant analogy in comparing our Challenge to that of putting man on the moon (though Gore’s plan deals only with electricity generation and solely using renewable sources of energy to stop global warming rather than focusing on energy independence).

Energy Independence requires a National Goal (as Gore suggests) and becoming Independent requires a War Like Attitude (as suggested by Gingrich and Pickens). Americans need both the focus and the willingness to sacrifice.

To become Energy Independent our Government needs to set aside all the partisanship and using energy to posture for elections and political gain. We need a national discussion and put ALL possible solutions on the table for discussion including but not limited to: Nuclear, renewables (wind, solar, bio fuels, hydro, hydrogen, algae, geothermal) oil shale, massive investments for clean coal technology, more petroleum and natural gas exploration, more domestic refineries, 21^st and 22^nd Century conservation technologies including battery power, hybrids and technologies we haven’t discovered.

Energy Independence must be green and without question using the best environmental science. That being said government must have expedited permitting procedures that provides that projects and processes have in depth investigation but are not used by the tree hugger or NIMBY crowd just to delay or kill projects.

John Thune’s bill S3222 – The Transition Act of 2008 is a great first step calling for more exploration, more reliance on renewables, and finding better utilization of coal and oil shale but it does not go far enough. EVERYTHING needs to be on the table. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin who has been on Speaker Pelosi’s committee, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, recently said we need a comprehensive approach.

Sidebar – Our Congresswoman has had several positions on ANWR, most recently I understand supporting some version of it.

The War of Energy Independence is a War we should have embarked on in 1973 but as former Governor Bill Janklow often said,” the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago the second best time is Today.”

Check out –

Newt Gingrich - http://www.americansolutions.com/General/?Page=9d64a628-d028-48c1-840d-330aea987841

T Boone Pickens- http://www.pickensplan.com/

I have posted on our Government’s failure to deal with energy prices previously All Talk No Answers and Gas Pains.

The Campaign season is just beginning and surprise surprise our candidates and the media are not talking about the important issues and crisis of confidence our Nation faces but the same worn out Debate on Debates.

Senator Tim Johnson’s campaign is reprising their favorite tune of lowering expectations.

For many months following Senator Johnson’s brain hemorrhage during his recovery Senator Johnson was hidden from the public. Despite many repeated requests from the South Dakota media, other than a very select few friends and political allies no one was allowed to see or hear Senator Johnson. Although we learned later that ABC’s Bob Woodward did conduct several exclusive and what were at the time confidential interviews.

The effect of this self imposed seclusion beyond obviously aiding Senator Johnson’s recovery was to create wonder and wide speculation he was recovering slowly.  In late August, Senator Johnson had his Welcome Home celebration and South Dakotans were relieved to see that he was functioning far better than all the silence led us to believe.

What is transpiring in the Debate on Debates (specifically the Dakotafest forum in Mitchell next month) is just the reprise.

Senator Johnson’s campaign is doing two things. Lowering expectations so that when the debate that will happen happens, the story and political perception will be about just the fact that Tim Johnson showed up – not what anyone says. In fact the challenger Joel Dykstra will be lucky just to get into the story the fact that he was there.

Republican activists are taking Jarding’s hook and helping promote the lowered expectation with all their crying “Where is Tim Johnson and Why won’t he show up?”

Republicans would be far better off in stating that they are surprised considering he is a candidate for election to this important office that he might not show.

They might even add that they were looking forward to an explanation from Senator Johnson as to why Congress was on vacation for most of the month of August when there are so many important issues that need to be addressed.

There are timely and critical issues that deserve discussion as we look forward to a new Government next year – they deserve attention not how many debates, the format, the height of the podium, or other claptrap. South Dakota voters deserve better.

Straight Talk Commentary – The very engaging and interesting article appeared this week in “The New York Times”. Essentially it says there is nothing funny about Barack Obama. I could not agree more.

My problem is that the Illinois Senator is inexperienced and an empty suit. We really do not know much about him. He has a shallow record both as Senator in Illinois and from Illinois. After losing to Hillary in New Hampshire he shifted his persona and positions from being everyman in Iowa to the States running up to Super Dooper Tuesday as the Liberal Candidate (reestablishing the Mc Govern coalition of anti war activists, liberal elitists, students, and African Americans.) Since becoming the presumptive Democrat nominee last month BHO now is reincarnating himself yet again.

What are Citizens to really know about the true ability and the political package we may be buying on November 4th? I expect yet another reinvention as he makes his European and Middle East Tour. Europe may receive him like a Hero or a Rock Star.

Despite his lack of any governing political philosophy his talent as a speaker and the political personalization as “the agent of change” do capture the Public’s imagination if not their funny bone.

The popular culture fascinated me and while I found nothing too humorous in “The New Yorker” magazine cover I can not understand that wile Barack Obama is truly not funny, he is also untouchable.

Want Obama in a Punch Line? First, Find a Joke

By Bill Carter

The New York Times

July 15, 2008

What’s so funny about Barack Obama? Apparently not very much, at least not yet.

On Monday, The New Yorker magazine tried dipping its toe into broad satire involving Senator Obama with a cover image depicting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his wife, Michelle , as fist-bumping, flag-burning, bin Laden-loving terrorists in the Oval Office. The response from both Democrats and Republicans was explosive.

Comedy has been no easier for the phalanx of late-night television hosts who depend on skewering political leaders for a healthy quotient of their nightly monologues. Jay Leno , David Letterman , Conan O’Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old.

But there has been little humor about Mr. Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique. And within a late-night landscape dominated by white hosts, white writers, and overwhelmingly white audiences, there has been almost none about his race.

“We’re doing jokes about people in his orbit, not really about him,” said Mike Sweeney, the head writer for Mr. O’Brien on “Late Night.” The jokes will come, representatives of the late-night shows said, when Mr. Obama does or says something that defines him — in comedy terms.

“We’re carrion birds,” said Jon Stewart , host of “The Daily Show” on the Comedy Central channel. “We’re sitting up there saying ‘Does he seem weak? Is he dehydrated yet? Let’s attack.’ ”

But so far, no true punch lines have landed.

Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Mr. Obama: There is no comedic “take” on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh, like allegations of Bill Clinton ’s womanizing, or President Bush’s goofy bumbling or Al Gore ’s robotic persona.

“The thing is, he’s not buffoonish in any way,” said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson ’s monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Mr. Letterman. “He’s not a comical figure,” Mr. Barry said.

Jokes have been made about what Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton really thought about Mr. Obama during the primaries, and about the vulgar comments the Rev. Jesse Jackson made about him last week. But anything approaching a joke about Mr. Obama himself has fallen flat.

When Mr. Stewart on “The Daily Show” recently tried to joke about Mr. Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, “You know, you’re allowed to laugh at him.” Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, “People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them.”

Despite audience resistance, Mr. Stewart contended, his show had been able to develop a distinctive angle on Mr. Obama.

Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Mr. Stewart said, “So far, our take is that he’s positioning himself to be on a coin.”

There is no doubt, several representatives of the late-night shows said, that so far their audiences (and at least some of the shows’ writers) seem to be favorably disposed toward Mr. Obama, to a degree that perhaps leaves them more resistant to jokes about him than those about most previous candidates.

“A lot of people are excited about his candidacy,” Mr. Sweeney said. “It’s almost like: ‘Hey, don’t go after this guy. He’s a fresh face; cut him some slack.’ ”

Justin Stangel, who is a head writer for “Late Show With David Letterman,” disputed that, saying, “We always have to make jokes about everybody. We’re not trying to lay off the new guy.”

But Mr. Barry said, “I think some of us were maybe too quick to caricature Al Gore and John Kerry and there’s maybe some reluctance to do the same thing to him.”

Of course, the question of race is also mentioned as one reason Mr. Obama has proved to be so elusive a target for satire.

“Anything that has even a whiff of being racist, no one is going to laugh,” said Rob Burnett, an executive producer for Mr. Letterman. “The audience is not going to allow anyone to do that.”

The New Yorker faced a different kind of hostility with its cover this week, which the Obama campaign criticized harshly. A campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, said in a statement that “most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive — and we agree.”

Asked about the cover at a news conference Monday, Mr. McCain said he thought it was “totally inappropriate, and frankly I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive.”

The cover was drawn by Barry Blitt, who also contributes illustrations to The New York Times’s Op-Ed page. David Remnick , the editor of The New Yorker, said in an e-mail message, “The cover takes a lot of distortions, lies, and misconceptions about the Obamas and puts a mirror up to them to show them for what they are.

“It’s a lot like the spirit of what Stephen Colbert does — by exaggerating and mocking something, he shows its absurdity, and that is what satire is all about,” Mr. Remnick continued.

Mr. Colbert said in a telephone interview that a running joke on his show has been that Mr. Obama is a “secret Muslim”; the New Yorker cover, he said, was consistent with that. “It’s a completely valid satirical point to make — and it’s perfectly valid for Obama not to like it,” he said.

Mr. Colbert said he had been freer to poke fun at Mr. Obama than other late-night hosts because “my character on the show doesn’t like him. I’m expected to be hostile to him.”

Mr. Stewart, who is also an executive producer of “The Colbert Report,” said the Obama campaign’s reaction to the New Yorker cover seemed part of what is now almost a pro forma cycle in political campaigns. “Nothing can occur without the candidate responding,” he said.

Bill Maher , who is host of a politically oriented late-night show on HBO , said, “If you can’t do irony on the cover of The New Yorker, where can you do it?”

One issue that clearly has some impact on writing jokes about Mr. Obama is a consistency among the big late-night shows. Not only are all the hosts white, the vast majority of their audiences are white. “I think white audiences get a little self-conscious if race comes up,” Mr. Sweeney of Mr. O’Brien’s show said.

Things might be somewhat different if even one late-night host was black. Black comics are not having any trouble joking about Mr. Obama, said David Alan Grier , a comedian who, starting in October, will have a satirical news magazine show on Comedy Central, “Chocolate News.”

“I tell jokes on stage about him,” Mr. Grier said, reciting a few that would not ever get onto a network late-night show (nor into this newspaper).

But he said of the late-night hosts, “Those guys really can’t go there. It’s just like the gay comic can do gay material. It comes with the territory.” Still, he said, he has no sympathy for the hosts. “No way. They’ve had 200 years of presidential jokes. It’s our time.”

Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the ABC late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said of Mr. Obama, “There’s a weird reverse racism going on. You can’t joke about him because he’s half-white. It’s silly. I think it’s more a problem because he’s so polished, he doesn’t seem to have any flaws.”

Mr. Maher said that being sensitive to Mr. Obama was in no way interfering with his commentary, though on HBO he has more freedom about content than other comedians. “There’s been this question about whether he’s black enough,” Mr. Maher said. “I have this joke: What does he have to do? Dunk? He bowled a 37 — to me, that’s black enough.”

Mr. Kimmel said, “His ears should be the focus of the jokes.”

Mostly the late-night shows seem to be in a similar position.

Mr. Burnett of the Letterman show said, “We can’t manufacture a perception. If the perception isn’t true, no one will laugh at it.”

Mr. Sweeney said, “We’re hoping he picks an idiot as vice president.”

Legendary Dallas County Sheriff, Bill Decker, when asked why Dallas had so many murders, said that Dallas can get hot in the Summer and when that happens, people can get pretty irritated.

Sidebar - Bill Decker during his career as either Dallas County Chief Deputy Sheriff or Sheriff (a period of 35 years) housed among his guests in the Dallas County Hoosegow, both Clyde Barrow and Jack Ruby.

While Pam may not be ready to shoot anybody, the Minnehaha County Treasurer is hot (at least under the collar) and clearly irritated.

Her interview on Friday with KELOland TV is titled County Treasurer Fed Up With New System and that is an understatement.

View Pam telling us how the cow ate the cabbage!   (click on Keloland News On Demad Viewer)

Pam goes overboard perhaps thinking she is back in the State Senate warring with then Senate Leader Mike Rounds (is there an element of payback at work here?) saying:

              “I am fed up.”

              “I have never seen anything in the history of South Dakota that equals this mess.”

              “I can’t imagine anything that could come out this bad.”

Pam Nelson is rightfully frustrated that the system is not working, that her patrons are made to stand in line, that her staff is stressed, and that she is not getting at least in her opinion adequate answers from Pierre.

That does not excuse her blowing up on camera. Part of me sees her genuine frustration but another part on me sees the Old Pol and Battler in Pam Nelson taking the political opportunity to exploit State Government’s apparent mishandling of the license plate issue.  Is this about fixing the problem or sticking it in the Gov's Ear?

The political fallout will happen without the mild TV tantrum but the high road would have been better to work at finding an administrative solution while the computer system is being fixed or at a minimum trying to minimize Citizen Frustrations rather than inflaming them.

Having this kind of interview was certainly not the way to persuade the Governor and State Government to fix the problem. Was she expecting help by saying in effect, this is the biggest mess I have ever seen.

Pam Nelson needs to cool off.

The Pam Nelson File

Pam Nelson was elected and served several terms on the Sioux Falls School Board. Then she was elected to the State Legislature where she served two years in the House of Representatives and eight years in the State Senate. In the Senate she served in Democrat Party Leadership, one term as Minority Whip, one term as Majority Whip, and one term as Assistant Minority Leader.

In 1996 she filed to again serve in the State Senate from her western Sioux Falls District but when Republicans recruited Assistant Sioux Falls Fire Chief, Dick Hainje (Hainje went on in 2001 to become Mike Rounds’ Assistant Senate Majority Leader and now is President Bush’s Regional Director of FEMA in Kansas City) as her opponent, Nelson decided that perhaps a better outcome would be to find another Office and she secured the Democrat nomination to the Public Utilities Commission. It was an open seat due to the retirement of Ken Stofferehan. Nelson defeated Republican Roy Letellier in a close election (48.2% to 46.8%).

In her 2002 PUC reelect as the incumbent Commissioner she found herself again facing another formidable opponent, just term limited Sioux Falls Mayor Gary Hanson. She had built up over her six year term a sizeable Campaign War Chest (if my memory serves of about $80,000). Rather than actively contest Hanson she employed her assets to assist Curt Johnson who was running against Bob Sahr for the four year term created by the death of Laska Schoenfelder. It was believed in political circles that if the Democrats could maintain a Commission Majority, Commissioner Jim Burg and Curt Johnson when elected would appoint Nelson (whom it was assumed would lose to Hanson)  as the PUC Executive Director.

During her time in Pierre, Nelson became the Democrats strongest Political Activist in the Statehouse and during the 2002 election cycle was de facto running the State Democrat Party.

Sahr’s defeat of Johnson caused Nelson to return to Sioux Falls. In 2004 she ran for County Treasurer against Sara Menjares. This November she is running for her second term without opposition, the Minnehaha County Republicans failing to recruit a candidate to this well paying ministry position.

The current so called license plate crisis is unfortunately another very visible public example that is fostering public opinion that our Government is Broken.

You wonder if the State cannot even license motor vehicles, how they can do anything. The purpose of this post is not to asses blame rather to focus on how we get the wheels back on the train and restore trust in what we call Government.

Public trust in government institutions has been lost through a series of high profile events. Headlined by the perception of the mismanagement of the War in Iraq (or perhaps our occupation of Iraq) was bungled (read hear Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld), the response to Hurricane Katrina, the unfortunate high profile disclosure of the conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital the public has little confidence in Government.

Adding to people’s loss of Confidence are high gasoline and energy prices, eroding home values caused by the subprime mortgage meltdown and now the confirmed Bear Market on Wall Street.

As a consequence Congressional approval ratings are at an all time low about 9% and the President’s approval rating is hovering around 30%.

That is what makes State Government’s response to the license plate situation puzzling.

First changing to the new system did not just come as a surprise. From the time the new law was enacted the Bureaucrats knew what their task was and when the implementation date was. This was not a tornado, forest fire, or blizzard that just showed up and needed an emergency response. Other than the “State’s Computer System” is running slow, the cause of the problem is not known. Presumably it is programming and speculating -inadequate testing. No doubt the Department of Revenue will fix the problem - Hopefully very soon.

Minnehaha County Commissioners perhaps over reacting a little are calling this a State of Emergency. One wonders what they would call a tornado or flood.

There is no excuse for this but it seems to me that standing in lines and frustrations could have been avoided. Certainly Citizens wanting to pay for their car and truck tags and paying for their vehicle sales tax have every right to be frustrated if not mad. Even the Treasurer’s office staff has a right to be upset with an inadequate system. Of course it does not help matters that the Minnehaha County Treasurer, Pam Nelson is blaming Pierre.

The problem was first reported on July 1, ten days later it has not been resolved and there are still long lines.

Pierre reports they are working on the problem while Citizens are frustrated.

To put a temporary fix on the problem until a stable and functioning system is put in place, Governor Rounds needs to announce an Amnesty or Get out of Jail Free Card.

Whatever time limits are on getting license plates, renewing plates, paying sales tax, there should be a simple method or procedure that people can go to their County Treasurers office and have their documents or applications stamped (in effect get an excuse from the teacher) to return when Public Service Announcements have been made that a working system is in place.

Doing something to make government work might begin to restore trust in OUR government.

A different sort of drifter came hat in hand to the Sioux Falls City Council at Monday’s “Informational”.

Monday, Minnehaha County Government came with their hand out seeking a financial partnership with the City of Sioux Falls to provide not only what they believe will help address the homeless problems in Sioux Falls but also provide permanent housing for perhaps up to thirty five homeless persons.

As reported in Monday’s “Argus Leader”, County Human Services Director, Hugh Grogan, was seeking municipal government support saying, "My perspective would be, we need to know from the city that they are committed to the idea of providing permanent housing as a possible solution to the homeless issue, and to the idea of jointly funding that solution,"

County Commissioners, Carol Twedt and Jeff Barth also spoke to the need to deal with the Homeless and more specifically a program technique referred to as “Housing First.” While the County Officials emphasized they were not locked into any specific proposal they seemed anxious to have the City pursue owning the current Army and Navy Reserve Center on Russell Avenue and using it for essentially an apartment building for the (my term) most chronically homeless. The permanent housing was described as a Hospice for the Homeless. It was suggested that such a permanent solution thus was usually a last stop for many. It was stated that have a permanent home then gave social workers an opportunity to make real progress on other problems the client had. It was noted that these chronic homeless were in generally in failing health and their life expectancy was poor.

The County Officials were adroit in using a common negotiating strategy of arguing about details while just assuming that the City would be their financial partner.

From the discussion of the six City Councilors (Beninga and Costello as well as the Mayor were not present) they all seemed open to discussion and listening to the Q and A, watching their body language, and reading today’s press report probably are divided on their feelings and support on this issue.

Homelessness is an issue in our Community and is an important issue that should be dealt with. Answers are not easy as the problem has many facets, social, economic, mental health and substance abuse among others. Without question the City Council and the Citizens of Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County want to deal with this problem.

A Few Observations

Generally the State has designated the County responsible for welfare and social services. This is not a City Government responsibility.

City Government has its own obligations and challenges that they are responsible for. What would County Government be expected to do if they were approached by the City and asked to pay for street maintenance or water and sewer?

County Government is financially challenged perhaps more so than the City because Counties have growing responsibilities with recently rapidly escalating costs (Law Enforcement, Courts and Welfare) without the smorgasbord of revenue options that City Government has (property tax, sales tax, fees, and revenue funds).

The City of Sioux Falls however has plenty of its own demands at the moment. Obviously Lewis & Clark Water System is #1, the need to fund the Levee upgrades, Street repairs and maintenance, and even the so called quality of life issues (libraries, parks, and sports fields) for a growing City, For example, making the choice of using funds for a Library for West Sioux Falls or apartments for homeless, the money spent on a library (a City responsibility) will positively effect many and by waiting even two or three years actually impacts many more people.In the case of young people not having ready access to a library can be a missed opportunity to nurture learning that is of lifetime benefit.

As I often postulate, when you subsidize something it gets bigger – in this case putting the chronic in permanent housing (that does perhaps solve the immediate problem) will in my judgment by its existence create the need for even more permanent housing.

Finally if the County or the City and County do decide to proceed with the Reserve Center or another property – they should consider partnering with non profits such as Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, other non profits and Churches. I would also employ Convicts to help with construction tasks as was done when our Schools were wired and the State Fairgrounds renovated.

We ask a lot from our Government, sometimes too much, but at the end of the day Citizens must insist that Government stay prioritized and on task.