I caught a pleasant surprise on facebook this afternoon.
Michael Clark, who contributes here from time to time, and is an all around good guy, has apparently applied to take over Steve Hickey’s spot in the legislature.
From facebook:
I don’t know if he’s going to be successful, but I for one would love to see Mike appointed, and then run as a candidate for the state legislature. There will be two seats open with Hawks serving as the Dem’s sacrificial offering in the Congressional race, so if you aren’t chosen – take heart.
I’m glad to, and I’m sure there are others who will be happy to step up to the plate to help Mike run in the spring.
MC would be a great addition, but he is an independent thinker and that is not what Daugaard and “GOP Leadership” is looking for. I wish it wasn’t true, but MC you have too much to offer to be selected.
Best wishes to him. He sounds like a great guy, and one who would serve for the right reasons.
Why not leave these positions open and let the next election decide. There are plenty in the legislature already. It might also make these office holders think about their commitment to the voters before running for the office and before resigning after elected.
Really?
I don’t begrudge Mr. Hickey one little bit, I’m happy for him. He was offered a once in a life time opportunity to follow his dreams. I hope he find everything he is looking for.
With Mr. Hickey resigning that leaves district 9 with one less representative. Our constitution allows the Governor to appoint a replacement. This way the people of any district is not left without representation. It is not their fault that their representative(s) are unable to complete term.
Instead just appointing just anyone, our Governor has requested input from the public. Several people have suggested I put my name in, and some people told me they have even contacted the Governor’s office.
That tells me that they want to be represented. When I ask them about Mr. Hickey, almost all them are happy that going off to study in Scotland, and they hope he returns a better man.
Go Mike.
It’s time to start having special elections for these vacancies. Governor’s a great guy — that’s not the point — the point is the local party faithful should be able to pick their nominees, and then the local voters should have a vote. A number of states have a process for this.
http://ballotpedia.org/How_vacancies_are_filled_in_state_legislatures
I’m not opposed to holding special elections to fill open seats.
What I am opposed to is the party picking the candidates for such elections. The party can support someone. but they don’t get to pick who runs and who doesn’t.
If we are going to have a special election then we need to go through the entire process.
collecting signatures, filing reports, etc. the whole shooting match.
The current process allows the Governor to appoint someone quickly, to step in keep the legislate process going. With out have to go through an election process