Can you say “re-elect” when you were elected 8 years ago? R. Shawn Tornow asking people to “re-elect.”

Pat Powers

From a postcard making the rounds on Facebook, it looks like former legislator R. Shawn Tornow is really, really stretching the truth in a postcard he sent out to District 14 residents:

“Re-Elect Tornow?” Shouldn’t you be elected before you say re-elect?

Tornow was elected in 2010 for a term in District 14 before he was tossed out in the 2012 legislative primary. (He had some other problems as well.)

While he’s asking people to re-elect, he leaves off the part where he wasn’t elected in 2012. And 2014. And 2016.  So, maybe it’s just me, but “Re-Elect’ seems to be quite the stretch.

23 thoughts on “Can you say “re-elect” when you were elected 8 years ago? R. Shawn Tornow asking people to “re-elect.””

  1. Another Stace Nelson guy running Loosely with the facts ….shocker

    If you go to his law office website Stace Nelson is the voice of the guy doing the commercial ….seriously

  2. Another “true” conservative

    Historically A rated..misleading also…. when was he last rated in 2012??

  3. PP thinking of if I would ever run again surely asking for votes to Elect sounds better than Re-Elect especially as you mentioned the 3 or 4 elections since serving.
    But what gets my goat more than that in the postcard is Shawn’s obvious disgust with his own legislative service in calling pay increases for Legislators “Wasteful”. This must mean he also thinks increases in teacher salaries are wasteful. I don’t remember Shawn bringing a bill to have Zero Salaried Legislators.

    1. I don’t know if the guy supports pay raises for teachers or not, but the way you came to that conclusion makes no sense.

      1. Anon let’s agree then that the State would be better served not wasting money by going back to 1999 Teacher salaries which is where Legislators are today. If paying people what they are worthy of receiving is wasteful spending; as Shawn implies, we are on the wrong planet. And Shawn’s legal fees need to revert to 1999 as well. Yes indeed wasteful spending.

  4. Pat,

    I think the use of “re” in this situation may be proper because the prefix means “again” or “again elect.”

    But, there are four questions:

    1) Does the passage of time or three election cycles make it “improper?” I don’t think so but possibly “less proper.” See the distinction?

    2) Does the reality he was elected in a district which has since had its lines re-drawn and to some degree only shares a District number make it “improper?” I think this definitely makes it “less proper.”

    3) Does the fact he was beaten and not wants to go back make it “improper.” Here is the rub where I’m moved to support your general thesis. I think having been beaten so mitigates the “again” as to make its inference improper.

    4) What is the tradition? Can anyone cite another example where someone has said “re-elect” when running for a non-consecutive position? I can’t think of one but can think of many examples of people returning after an absence from a house of using “elect.”

    My conclusion: Unforced error and improper but not so significant as to be meaningful.

    1. VSG,

      Good question. Going just off memory, I don’t recall a reference of a campaign of “re-election.”

      Interesting trivia of the election of 1892 is a South Dakotan (Kyle) ran for President under one of the populist banners which was only three years after granted statehood (Kyle got second for the nomination). I think the next South Dakotan to run again for President was McGovern in 1972 and then Pressler in 1980.

      1. HHH ran in ’60, ’68 (nominee), and ’72. But he was only a native South Dakotan and a politician from Minnesota. Daschle flirted with the idea in 2003 and the Argus claimed he was running then. I didn’t know about Kyle.

        What do you know about the possibility of George S. Mickelson running for president in ’96 had he not tragically died in the 1993 plane crash? I remember on the night of that tragic incident, that SD Public Television went to a live call in show to talk about the life and legacy of the late Governor and one of his prior aides, I think it was Adams(?) who said that he was contemplating running in ’96. Have you ever heard of that story before and or do you have more to add to this?

  10. Tornow spent his whole adult life either on the government payroll or trying to get on the government payroll. No surprise he’s trying again to get back on the government payroll.

    I want to know why he put a left-facing elephant on his card. Does the Republican elephant logo not face right everywhere else but Tornow’s card?

  11. What a greaseball hiding behind the (R) in the GOP. This fellow is the original RINO. Who represents greaseballs. He should shave that porn stasch and be more transparent.

  13. VSG,

    I thought about referencing HHH but then it exposed me to being inaccurate because another native ran I didn’t know about.

    I do know The plans GSM told me directly and he was likely not done with politics.

      1. IF I knew who and if there was another, I’ve have said it. I don’t know of one so there might not be one. Or there might be one.

          1. But to continue this discussion a little further. In addition to HHH (1964), there are two other VP nominees with a South Dakota connection. Lloyd Bentsen’s (1988) father was from Clear Lake, South Dakota and Jack Kemp’s (1996) grandfather was from Watertown, South Dakota.

  14. That supreme court opinion is devastating. He does not sound like someone who should be a representative of the people…..

    “Tornow’s conduct in this case, combined with his lack of respect for the
    legal system, his attack on a judge who sat on his daughter’s case in which he
    participated, and his minimization of his conduct, cannot be overcome by his prior lack of complaints.”

    “This conduct falls well short of our mandate
    under SDCL 16-19-31 that we as Justices of this Court, certify to the public that Tornow is “fit to be entrusted with professional and judicial matters, and to aid in the administration of justice as an attorney and as an officer of the court.”

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