Munsterman says state needs leadership

Democrats who are thinking about running for governor on a platform of change, take note: You might have some competition from a Republican.

Scott Munsterman, mayor of Brookings, is taking an unorthodox approach to his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. He’s calling for a change from some of the policies of current Republican Gov. Mike Rounds and the Republican legislative majority.

When asked how he would differ from Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who also is seeking the Republican nomination, Munsterman said “No. 1 would be fiscal leadership, because that’s not being practiced by the current administration.” He tagged the state’s structural deficit — its use of reserves to balance the budget — as a prime example.

“If you look back at the last seven years, we have taken money out of reserves almost all seven of those years,” he said. “Personally, I can’t go seven years doing that out of my personal budget.”

Munsterman became the first of the 2010 gubernatorial candidates to visit The Daily Republic when he stopped last week at the newspaper’s Mitchell office. He and his wife, Mary Jeanne, were in the midst of a three-week, 113-community tour of the state. They were traveling in an SUV with a pull-type camper, a rig that was easily identified by its “Munsterman for Governor” decals.

The Republican gubernatorial primary election is still about 13 months away, but Munsterman may need an early start. So far, he faces two opponents who are better funded and arguably better known because of their positions in state government.

One opponent is Daugaard, who’s been lieutenant governor since 2003 and was a state senator for six years prior to that. On his most recent campaign finance report in January, he listed $811,582.99 on hand.

Another is Dave Knudson, an eightyear veteran of the state Senate and its current majority leader. He listed $168,471.56 on hand in January.

Munsterman, who served two years on the Brookings City Council before serving the last six years as mayor, reported having $14,490.70 on hand in January. He also reported a debt of $50,000 from a one-year loan of that amount from a Brookings bank.

Munsterman’s early underdog status makes him comparable to Rounds. The current governor was the lesser-known, lesser-funded underdog in a 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary that featured then-Attorney General Mark Barnett and former lieutenant governor Steve Kirby as the early favorites. Rounds, who had spent 10 years in the state Senate, proved with his win that more money and better name recognition are not always guarantees of success.

Like Rounds did in 2002, Munsterman is trying to position himself as a viable alternative to the presumed frontrunners. Besides heading out on his tour of the state, he has an elaborate campaign Web site and has authored a book titled “A Vision for South Dakota.” Promotional information says the book — which is being edited and will be published soon — outlines Munsterman’s policies on health care, education, the environment “and much more.”

During the early stages of the campaign, Munsterman, 48, plans to continue working part-time in the Brookings chiropractic practice that he started in 1984. He is a native of Morris, Minn., and a graduate of the University of Morris and the Northwestern College of Chiropractic. He and his wife have five daughters, a son-in-law and two grandchildren.

His lack of experience in a statewide elected office is something that Munsterman views as a strength rather than a handicap. He said a mayor is exactly what the state needs in its next governor.

“An executive leader, we need tremendously,” he said. “I’ve served that role in my business, in my practice, and I’ve served it in other leadership positions, but especially as mayor in a community that’s had to make the hard decisions.”

As mayor of Brookings, Munsterman presided over a budget of about $30 million. Taxable sales for the Brookings ZIP code grew 51 percent from the time of his election in 2003 through the 2008 calendar year, which was greater than the statewide increase of 36.2 percent. Brookings’ growth in taxable sales during that period caused it to supplant Mitchell as the state’s fifth-largest sales economy.

Munsterman wants to bring his brand of economic development to bear on the rest of the state, which he said has entered a new, 50-year economic cycle brought on by emerging technologies.

“If you’d have told me 35 years ago that I’d be burning corn in my Suburban parked out here pulling my camper, I probably would have told you you’re nuts,” he said. “So there is a whole opportunity to be able to value-add on top of what we have as a resource in this state, and our No. 1 resource is agriculture. We should be running to that.”

A hallmark of Munsterman’s mayoral administration has been an attempt at disseminating more information to the public. Unlike many similarly sized South Dakota cities, Brookings’ Web site includes the city budget, Munsterman’s most recent state-of-the-city address, historical election results, videos of city council meetings and city council minutes and agendas.

Another Munsterman hallmark is strategic planning. The Brookings city Web site contains his presentation “Establishing a Vision for Brookings,” and he hopes to set a similar tone with his “A Vision for South Dakota” book.

As mayor, Munsterman said, he led an effort to include smaller towns around Brookings in the planning of that area’s economic future. He thinks a similar, community-based planning effort should be instituted statewide. And as the only mayor in the race so far, he thinks he’s the perfect guy to implement such a plan.

“The only one that will have a heart for that plan and a passion to serve that plan and make sure it goes from point A to point B,” he said, “will be a mayor.”

Tags: scott munsterman, election 2010, 2010 gubernatorial race, news, governor, state