SD Gun Owners related consultant is attacking Brown County Sheriff with new PAC in odd mailing

A somewhat odd hit piece emerged today in Aberdeen mailboxes from a newly registered Political Action Committee:

After being organized on May 7th, Political Action Committee “Shining Light PAC” is registered to former point man for the South Dakota Gun Owners group Jordan Mason:

Jordan Mason seems to be continuing the attack mail started by South Dakota Gun Owners against current Sheriff Mark Milbrandt.  Except that now the attack seems to be criticizing Milbrandt for having cross-party appeal?

Really? Milbrandt having supporters across the political spectrum is now a liability?  Are Republicans in Brown County so polarized to the impossibly hard-right that having Democrats want to support them in an election a negative?

That would be like expecting Republicans who are married to Democrats to get a divorce, because “that damn liberal should know better, and now she just needs to leave.”  You really don’t hear of people that extreme. Which is how this postcard comes off.

People with blinders on might think this made a difference, but I think a vast majority of Republicans are going to recognize this as a negative attack that seems to be flailing a bit.  Elections are won by addition, not subtraction.  And all the piece tries to accomplish is subtraction by association.

This was a misguided and expensive missile that missed the target.

And we’ll see how it all turns out on June 5th.

16 thoughts on “SD Gun Owners related consultant is attacking Brown County Sheriff with new PAC in odd mailing”

  1. Well, at least they are not blurry photocopies on orange construction paper like most SDGO postcards.

    1. Nah. Jordan’s a pro. His work usually looks pretty good.

      That said, anybody want to start a pool on when I get a hit piece in D30 because Cory Heidelberger referred to me as “reasonable” in a blog post? My money’s on mid-September. 😜

        1. Perhaps. But he certainly produces results. Otherwise he wouldn’t get hired by so many campaigns… sometimes even by two folks in the same race! (lol… don’t kill me, J!)

  2. Mark Milbrandt has been a good reasonable Sheriff for Brown County for a long time and when they re-elected him over the years party politics were never much of a consideration. He kept a pretty low profile and ran a good department. All this being thrown at him has a good chance of backfiring.

  3. Wouldn’t these cards have been more effective if they used Mr. H’s unibomber photo and called him a liberal blogger instead of a journalist?

  4. If these polititians are in favor of any gun law that restricts law abiding citizens from a constitutional right than they should be held accountable. Charging taxes and fees to law abiding gun owners is wrong and I believe this state is pro 2nd amendment so the ones who need more money and taxes need to go.

  5. This will backfire on Kaiser. Voters in Local interparty races don’t like this stuff. Everyone probably knows Milbrandt or his kids or wife or family. He’s lived in the area longer than Kaiser has been alive.

    No one thinks Milbrandt is a bad guy. Even Kaiser doesn’t think that. At least he won’t say it with his name in it.

    Distasteful and this will hurt Kaiser in a GOP primary where his opponent is well known. He has thrown away a very good image.

    His supporters will begin to distance themselves from him because they won’t want to be associated with attacks. That will hurt.

    1. I totally agree! Personally I have had a great experience with Dan as an Aberdeen police officer but this campaign against Milbrandt has really hurt Dan and some of his supporters.

  6. So Mr. Oakes, this is something arranged by Dan Kaiser? Or was it Stacey Nelson? Ridiculous garbage. Why do you even bother? You and Mr. Mason live west river. Find something else to do.

    1. Sorry for the confusion, Amber. While I do wholeheartedly support Mr. Kaiser’s campaign, I shouldn’t be so flippant with situations that don’t involve me.

      To be clear, I have no clue about “who arranged what”, other than the info which Pat posted. While Jordan and I are buddies, he also works for the campaign of someone who is currently running for the same office I am (not to be confused with an “opponent”, as we almost certainly won’t face each other in the general election due to his interesting… choices). I was merely giving Jordan credit for achieving results for his clients. Time will tell if they’re positive or negative results, I suppose. And in doing so, I was just trying to make light of the situation a little bit. Forgive my levity.

      But yes, as for me and my campaign, you’re absolutely right that I’ve got plenty to do without sticking my nose any further where it doesn’t belong. 👍

      1. are you talking about Lance Russell who is running for the same state senate seat you are seeking and Attorney General?

        1. Yeah… Campaign School 101 says to never give opponents free press by mentioning their names. But, seeing as he’s mostly running for AG, I guess he’s not really my opponent. 🤷‍♂️

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