From the Rapid City Journal editorial section, the RCJ has endorsed Marty Jackley for Governor:
There is little distinction between the two candidates on the primary issues of a Republican race. They are both pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, pro-traditional family values, open to signing a transgender bathroom bill and support school districts that want to arm teachers, staff or volunteers in a bid to improve safety. They also believe the state needs to improve education, workforce development and health care, which includes mental health. Neither wants to raise taxes.
And…
The experience these candidates bring to the race is the critical difference. Noem has been a lawmaker for the past 12 years, including eight spent mostly in Washington, D.C., a place known for dysfunction and grandstanding. Jackley has been working with local officials and lawmakers for the past eight years in the minutiae of state government. He has managed two law enforcement offices and has more specific ideas on how to shore up the state’s performance in education, health care and economic development. He also is a Sturgis native who understands the particular needs of Western South Dakota.
Marty Jackley is the best Republican candidate for governor.
Interesting that they note all of the press releases/emails attacking Jackley that Noem’s sent out, and the only one that Jackley sent out it “Noem goes negative”. Did Brasell’s nastiness cost Noem the RCJ endorsement?
The RCJ has been pushing Jackley all along. They believe his scandals make him more vulnerable than Noem in the general election.
Hopefully SD voters reject her DC slime campaign and send them both packing.
The negative attacks are going to really increase from Team NOem! What next? Marty Jackley caught killing kittens and puppies?
How about standing behind his law-enforcement cronies Bryan Gortmaker and Gene Abdallah when they abuse young women?
When my original choice for Governor, Mark Mickelson, decided not to run I told everyone (in my various circles, many of whom were Jackley supporters) my initial preference was Kristi Noem. There are a lot of reasons for that preference but they aren’t important now as they are no longer critical data points.
My position changed when Kristi decided to denigrate the value of boards and commissions to the effective running of state government. At first, I gave her a slight pass as it was a minor campaign item given inadequate thought. When she got in office, she’d see the value of Boards and Commissions. But, she then sent out press releases, bought ads and stressed it at debate after debate.
I believe strongly formal citizen involvement is one of the best parts of government and its transparency for the following reasons:
1) Boards and Commissions are the most transparent part of state government. They advertise their meetings, publish their agenda, vote in public and their past meeting minutes are a matter of public record. Do you know of anywhere else in State Government more open with regard to setting of policies?
2) Running State Government is not the same as running the AG’s office or a Congressional Office. 99% of the decisions are made without input from the Governor. There are just too many decisions to be made. So, the Governor depends not only on their Cabinet but also the Division Directors and even career service employees to make day-to-day decisions.
3) But no matter how capable the Governor’s hires may be, as a former state employee, I know how isolating Pierre is from the rest of the state. Boards and Commissions bring citizen’s living somewhere else directly in to the process.
4) Citizen Board Members are people of talent and knowledge who leave their job, take vacation and usually drive to Pierre for gas money and meal money. They offer their talent and knowledge with a desire to help make government work better for our citizens. Nothing else. It is literally hundreds of experts a smart Governor would draw upon for information and input.
5) More importantly, citizen Board Members give a good executive the comfort other people are providing oversight. Only a person who has no sense of the magnitude of the job would dismiss these people and think they could handle it themselves.
Would love to hear Troy’s opinion on the claim that Tobias Ritesman never held a fundraiser for Jackley, and the claim that Jackley had “zero involvement” in the terms or negotiation of the Kaiser settlement.
Are we really supposed to elect a governor who reflexively lies because of his position on “Boards and Commissions”?
Troy – You and Team Jackley act as if she said she was going to do away with all Citizen boards. We all know the value of these boards and we also know how they are often used to gain political favor with supporter, by appointing them to some board.. There are currently over 130 boards. I would hope we can get things done within those boards. Furthermore, you make it sound like she is going to lock her office door and never talk to people. Isn’t it possible to gain input from the citizens of South Dakota without having a task force or a special board? Don’t we also have 105 legislators who are elected by their constituents to represent their legislative districts? Why do we also need all of these unelected individuals making policy and decision, supposedly representing the exact same constituents their legislators are elected to represent?
I apologize for posting twice in such a short time frame, but you sparked a response with your comments. And, for the record before someone says it, I am not a Noem staffer, but I do believe she will make an excellent Governor.
This is no surprise, the RC Journal has been in the tank for their hometown boy for months. It has been obvious by their coverage. The comment “Jackley has been working with local officials and lawmakers for the past eight years in the minutiae of state government” and Jackley’s continual “Washington” comments are ridiculous. They act like Noem is some carpetbagger who just came to SD to run for Governor. Kristi Noem has been working for the citizens and interest of South Dakota for the past 8 years. Through her efforts and the efforts of her state offices, she has been in daily contact with real citizens, listening to their real concerns and helping to solve their real problems. If you listen to Jackley, he is genuinely surprised at the things he is hearing about in his first real travels around SD. Kristi Noem has been traveling the state and listening to those people for years.
So now the Congresswoman’s people are attacking the Rapid City Journal? This is spinning out of control pretty quickly.
I’m not one of Noem’s people, but if Jackley won the primary, the Rapid City Journal would turn against him the next day.
Cinder,
Unlike you, you have my name. You can verify I am not a staffer and not part of any Jackley group any more than I am in a Noem group. I can’t do the same for you so your inference is a knock on your credibility.
Regarding your assertion I am overstating it, her board position, in her own campaign materials, ads and debate statements is central to “transparency and reducing government.” I am just reading her own words and taking her at her own word. Are you saying I shouldn’t rely on her own words.
Anonymous, Ritesman is a good con man. And conned smart people besides Jackley. He will get what he deserves.
Making a bad decision isn’t a disqualifier by itself. A person who has never been conned doesn’t trust enough and is in practice a bad chief executive. In fact, our best growth comes from mistakes. Also, The Ritesman fraud has been known for months. The fact it was held to the 11th hour makes me quite comfortable, given time, the facts don’t incriminate Jackley. Instead, it is clearly just a last minute dirty trick.
But, bad major policy positions on governance, transparency, and citizen involvement are disqualifier.
I’m not criticizing Jackley for making a bad decision and being conned by Ritesman. I’m criticizing Jackley’s claim that Ritesman never held a fundraiser for him.
Would love to hear your opinion on that claim specifically.
Would also love to hear your opinion on Jackley’s claim that he had “zero involvement” in the terms or negotiation of the Kaiser settlement.
After a dozen exaggerated, out of context or out-right inaccurate assertions, if Ritesman held a fundraiser, I will believe Marty, if when confronted with the information, he says he didn’t realize it or remember it. The guy has held literally dozens of fundraisers with literally many dozens of hosts. So has Noem and I react exactly the same if the show was on the other foot. The issue itself (hosting) and answer are not material. I don’t expect people to remember every detail of their life. Do you?
This is being used via innuendo to slur Jackley and not an attempt to illuminate us on who would be a better Governor. Once the judgment was made, Risk Management took over. Its how it works. So parsing having a chance to review and comment and inferring it is somehow material is another example of Brazell trying to make a mountain over an ant hill. It is just another 11th hour dirty trick.
The reality is these two items were attempts by Noem’s campaign manager to effect how people vote. They only reinforced my movement to Jackley.
So your position is that Jackley had a chance to review and comment on the Kaiser settlement, but criticizing his bogus claim that he had “zero involvement” is a “dirty trick.”
Jackley didn’t say he didn’t “remember” Ritesman holding a fundraiser for him (which would have been bad enough). He said Ritesman never held a fundraiser for him, which directly implies that Noem was lying when in fact she was telling the truth.
Obviously the most liberally biased paper in the state would endorse Jackley. I wonder how much they intend to make off of him. I actually don’t see how their endorsement could be a positive to Conservatives, they’re the most biased paper. Just for example they mention Jackley’s entire resume and only bring mention to Kristi’s political career. What about her experience in our two biggest forms of industry? What about her insurance company? How does being from Sturgis help western South Dakotans when most of us are ranchers and only Kristi has actually been/is a rancher? Has Jackley ever passed a farm bill or even voted on one?? Having another lawyer in office doesn’t help the state, it just helps Marty’s friends. And how has he affected crime, it’s gone up 220% since he became AG and his career has been riddled with scandals. Not to mention he wants to add to our already countless task forces. So don’t expect any tax cuts under Marty. He literally has one job that he never tires to fail at and yet we think he’d be a good governor because he lives in or near our home town? Come on people have some common sense.
The RC Journal the most liberally-biased paper in the state? Now that is some funny stuff. I am a long time subscriber to the RCJ (supporting my local press ya know) and can tell you with a great deal of certainty that the RCJ is always to the far right of Genghis Khan. I am sure they had a very hard time deciding between these two very conservative candidates.
I’m voting for Noem. I believe newspaper endorsements need to go the way of the dinosaur. Might have been important years ago, when they were our only source of news/info. But today, not so much. I research this stuff on my own and if a newspaper endorses someone, it actually makes me question them more.
when my original choice for governor, Matt Michels, did not run, i decided to take a look at the top two republicans, and while i am not pleased at the negative tone of the marketing choices, i am still leaning toward mrs noem. i am loathe to bring up the word “establishment” as in the trump foray a year ago at the risk of setting off another tedious debate about ‘buildings’ and whatnot … but jackley is ‘establishment,’ in the political sense while noem isn’t so much since she’s bucking the trends with her candidacy. the s.d. establishment republicans have created a nearly irreparable schism with the state’s hard-right conservative cluster, they are accused rightly or wrongly of various forms of systemic cronyism and elitism, they are seen as covering for each other at the cost of transparency again and again. this is the era of disrupting the status quo, and i want to back the right disruptors and stop the wrong ones.
i’m having my fill of noems ads. my support is slipping, slipping i tell you
In the final analysis of who wins this race, the RCJ endorsement is a tiny, tiny input into the equation. What matters is how much TV you have up and how effective it is. Fairly or not (depends on your perspective) The Congresswoman is gutting Our Trusted Attorney General like a fish. Her TV spots are brutal and seem well-documented. Marty hasn’t responded with any paid media to defend himself. This thing is quickly spiraling out of control for the former US Attorney and track star. He needs to pound the table with the earned media and load up his paid media if he has any hope of winning. Even worse, the hour is getting extremely late.