Now there are plenty of Republicans and even some Dems scratching their heads and wondering why Gerry would want to bother. He served in the Legislature for seven terms, then got turned out pretty handily last time. Why not just sit back and enjoy retirement and his huge family?
Let Gerry himself answer that question:
Feb. 20, 2008 WHY I’M RUNNING AGAIN FOR THE HOUSE
by Gerry Lange
The fact that the Rounds Administration orchestrated a thirty-thousand dollar campaign to “shut me up” last election tells me that my sixteen-year crusade for tax reform and better education funding, must have gotten to them. Like the problems left unsolved, I’m not going away either!
Here are three quick reasons why I’m “resurrecting from the dead.” School funding; open government; and economic development.
Even the Sioux Falls Chamber now agrees that we’ve got find a way to boost education. So why is the Rounds Administration asking for over three million dollars to fight the schools’ law suit? Secondly, what has the Governor to hide that makes him so nervous about allowing the press to see public documents? Third, why did Arctic Cat leave Madison; and why did Daktronics expand in Minnesota? Why are we so slow in developing wind energy?
After thirty years of one-party rule, isn’t it time to hold the party in power responsible? The problem is best summed up by Julian Bond’s observation after the Democrats lost in 2002. “When the shameless compete with the spineless, the shameless always win.” It seems to me that most Democrats in South Dakota today are “spineless” preferring to “solve” funding issues by spending one-time money out of the various reserve “trust’ accounts or slimming down “big government” in Pierre. The funding shift can’t happen without at least a two-thirds majority vote, so it just won’t happen, yet it makes for good talking points. Right now, only a couple of other states try to get by without some form of income tax. Here, it can be done without scaring the “W-2” employees. People with investment profits could help support education through a tax on the federal 1099 form. As in most other states, corporations in South Dakota could also add another100 million to education with a modest 6% tax. Following other states, with enlightened leadership in Pierre, we could move off “dead last in everything!”
If Gerry ever wants to have any clout in Pierre, he's going to have to switch to Republican. His ideas aren't all off course, but there are no ears in Pierre for members of the other party. Make the switch, Gerry, and your ideas will blossom. Otherwise, it is a waste of a good legislative seat and two more years of BLA-BLA-BLA.
ReplyDeleteI did a little research as to the somewhat-outrageous clam made by Mr. Lange that a "consipracy theory" was afoot to boot him out of office.
ReplyDelete(And if you doubt the accuracy of my figures, you're welcome to verify them at the South Dakota Secratary of State's website: http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/campaignfinance_2006lcfr.shtm)
Mr. Olson raised $31,680 in last year's campaign. Of that amount, 52% or $15,771 came from individual donations. 26%, or $7750, came from PAC and Party funds. So when over half of your funds are coming from indidviuals and not the party, it shoots some howitzer-sized holes in the argument of a "conspiracy" theory.
Just out of curiosity, I also took a look at who raised MORE than Mr. Olson. I counted 11 candidates that collected more than Olson's $31,680 during the 2006 election. Of that 11, 6 were Democrats and 5 were Republicans, pretty much right down the line. Also, two of the candidates were incumbents and NINE were non-incumbents (first-time candidates or going from one house to another).
Now granted that some of these candidates were from larger cities (Sioux Falls, Rapid City). But considering that the top campaign revenues were pretty much even, it seems that the Democrats are dishing out the dough as much as the Republicans.
(If you're curious, the top revenue was Democrat Scott Heidepriem, who raised $133,839. Republican Dick Kelly was second with $116,161. That's a lot of money for a $6,000 a year job!)
And if I draw a little flak for this, big deal. I'm not easily amused by conspiracy theories... unless it has something to do with Elvis in a UFO!
Jackrabit1 -- outstanding research! You must be bucking for the KJAM news director job. ;-) Now if only we could get a breakdown on how many of those individual donors got calls from the Governor or his close pals "encouraging" them to donate to the Olson campaign....
ReplyDeleteNo thank you, Cory... I'm not a morning person! Besides, I'm having too much fun with sports!
ReplyDeletePolitics, sports -- sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. And Gerry's run should be great sport... ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood grief, are you saying that people had to be convinced by the Gov to donate to Russ Olson. Just maybe people had had enough of an admittedly nice guy who got nothing done in the legislature year after year except advocating uselessly for an income tax. Maybe in the words of the now great Obama, it was just time for a CHANGE.
ReplyDeleteGerry Lange is free to run again, but I don't think he has much chance on his present platform. And based on the research and findings by Jackrabbit1, Mr. Lange had better start with a withdrawal of his first assertion that the Gov spent $30,000 ousting him and print the actual facts.
I can't give Mr. Lange much credit anymore after he accused the Bush administration of orchestrating the Anthrax attacks in '02 as a means of taking out Daschle while talking to my American Government class a couple of years ago, that's just looney.
ReplyDeleteHere's the rub. Let's say Republican Rep. Russ Olson decides he wants to run for Dan Sutton's soon-to-be-term-limited Senate seat, taking on newcomer Democrat Scott Parsley. Unless Dan decides to run for a House seat along with Dave Gassman, there is a chance Gerry could slide in under the radar. If Dan and Dave run for House seats, Gerry doesn't stand a chance, but if Russ doesn't go after Sutton's Senate seat, and decides to run again for his House seat, he opens the door for an easy election for Parsley in the Senate. Is Gerry Lange banking on the idea that Rounds wants Russ to grab that Senate seat, hoping to slither unnoticed into the House? Makes for interesting scenarios. We need another Republican candidate for either Senate or House.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, where has Lange's money come from in the elections he has run? He has run many times, and that amounts to a whole lot of money. I know he did a lot of footwork for each one, but it still takes a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that Gerry Lange also claimed that 911 was our fault too. Better believe that will be brought up too. Interesting that he thinks the antrax attacks were also done by us. Seems like he has more than one conspiracy theory in his mind.
Good question on Gerry's finances. For those of you who are interested, all of that information is on file with Secretary of State Chris Nelson. If you don't mind downloading PDFs, here are Gerry's post-general election reports for 2006, 2004, and 2002.
ReplyDelete