South Dakota Searchlight has a good article by Josh Haiar which if you haven’t read it is an ominous foreshadowing of how some of the people running for governor view bringing new industries and the jobs that come with them into South Dakota, as they promise a future lacking vision and aspiration:
“You’re using tax dollars to bring in companies that compete with current South Dakota businesses,” (Jon) Hansen said. “You’re using their tax dollars to fund their competition.”
He has pledged to put an end to what he describes as “corporate welfare.”
and..
(Toby) Doeden told South Dakota Searchlight he hopes to change the focus of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. He said the state should shift its focus away from job creation, pointing to South Dakota’s 1.9% unemployment rate.
and..
“We will grow the economy with new small businesses, new energy production, expanded dairy, and bringing high-tech jobs home to South Dakota. We will keep tax rates low by growing the tax base,” the statement said. “This is growth with a purpose — not growth for its own sake, but growth that creates opportunity for the next generation.”
..(Dusty) Johnson said during a recent public forum that he is “befuddled” by blanket opposition to economic development, including data centers and other large projects. He said South Dakota leaders need to be “visionary” and bring new industries to the state “or we are saying that our children will have diminished opportunities.” That, Johnson said, is “absolutely unacceptable.”
“It’s un-American and it’s not at all capitalist,” he said.
Read the entire story here.
Candidate Jon Hansen’s NIMBY campaign is being built on the back of the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) movement and Candidate Toby Doeden’s self-funded campaign directly coming out against investment in job creation is so anti-leadership, it immediately puts him in the reject pile for being conceived as a viable leader for South Dakota.
They both lack ambition, and they lack basic leadership. They lack vision. They both disqualify themselves from consideration for the job of governor because of their short-sightedness and lunkhead pandering.
I always counsel people thinking of running that candidates should be inspirational and aspirational. Those are huge leadership qualities. Why do I point this out? Elections are not about the past – elections are about the future.
If you want your future to be kids moving away because they have no opportunity, leading to schools shutting down, and towns dying, then keep on the Hansen/Doeden path. Just because someone born on a farm in 1950 South Dakota couldn’t dream about working in an AI data Center in rural South Dakota doesn’t mean their kids won’t.
Governors have to think big and always about tomorrow. Bill Janklow brought Citibank to South Dakota (And starting under him, his COS Dave Knudson was the architect of SD’s Trust success), George Mickelson was the father and architect of today’s economic development prosperity, and why South Dakota is a good place to do business. When Janklow came back, he wired the schools for data. Mike Rounds took a deep hole in the ground and turned it into a word class research lab, created research centers at state universities to attract federal and private funding, and worked with the federal team to save Ellsworth.
While it’s in vogue to throw rocks at Governor Kristi Noem, she was far more visionary than people would care to remember. Early on, Kristi launched an effort to bring high-speed, sustainable broadband to every home and business in South Dakota. Her Cybersecurity initiative with DSU to bring a new applied research lab in Sioux Falls was a huge investment in training graduates for jobs. I can cite a few more that people ignore, but those were HUGE.
With most all of these initiatives to benefit the state for the future, there was opposition – in some cases, strong opposition. But there was a vision for the state, and there was leadership to make their vision happen.
The best takeaway from the article was a statement from Nathan Sanderson of SD Retailers talking about South Dakota’s success in the dairy industry; “If the state didn’t get involved, that growth wouldn’t have happened. This isn’t about picking winners and losers — it’s about building partnerships to improve quality of life.”
Thinking big and thinking about tomorrow isn’t just an aside when running for Governor. It’s central to the job description. And we don’t need people who don’t get that.
