Governor’s race nears the finish line

Talk about it

More...

• Daugaard has big lead in fundraising

PIERRE — Democrat Scott Heidepriem tells voters if they want a change in state government, they should elect him as South Dakota’s next governor. Republican Dennis Daugaard counters that he offers a wide range of experience and a steady hand.

The race between Heidepriem, leader of the Democratic minority in the state Senate, and Daugaard, the lieutenant governor for the past eight years, has focused mainly on the state’s budget problems and what each candidate proposes to do about it.

The South Dakota Legislature and Gov. Mike Rounds have balanced the state budget in the past three years with the help of federal stimulus money. Another $47 million in federal stimulus funds will be help in the budget year beginning next July, but the new governor will face a sizable gap between ongoing revenue and expenses.

Heidepriem, 54, a Sioux Falls lawyer, has criticized Rounds and Daugaard for allowing state government to grow too much since 2003, which he said has prevented the state from giving enough financial aid to school districts.

“What we need to do is shrink the size of government, eliminate the deficit and balance the budget without raising taxes so we can reinvest in kids and schools and roads and bridges,” Heidepriem said. “That’s my entire campaign in one sentence.”

Daugaard, 57, who ran an organization that helps troubled children for nearly two decades, said he too is ready to cut state spending to balance the next budget. But in the long run, South Dakota must attract more businesses and jobs, which will bring in more tax revenue without raising taxes, he said.

“The economy and job creation — that has to be the No. 1 priority of the next governor,” Daugaard said.

Elizabeth Smith, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota, said Heidepriem faces a tough challenge because South Dakota elects very few Democrats as governor. The last Democratic governor left office 32 years ago. While 25 governors have been Republican, only five have been Democrats.

Republicans outnumber Democrats among registered voters in South Dakota. And Smith said independent voters tend to support Republicans for state offices.

Heidepriem also could have a hard time persuading voters to elect him because most South Dakotans do not worry much about state government’s budget problems, Smith said. The state’s economy has fared better than most states during the recession, with unemployment much lower than the national average, she said.

“There’s not a sense that anything is in crisis, and normally people vote for change when there’s something really dramatically wrong,” Smith said.

Heidepriem’s own polling has showed him trailing Daugaard by a large margin, but the Democrat said recently he’s encouraged because he is gaining.

Heidepriem has argued that Rounds has allowed state government to grow by about 1,500 employees in the past eight years. He said that has prevented the state from adequately funding aid to school districts, which he said has fallen from 39 percent of the budget eight years ago to just 31 percent now.

Daugaard has chastised Heidepriem, saying twothirds of the new employees are in higher education because university enrollments continue to grow. State aid to schools has increased since 2003, but has decreased as a percentage of overall state spending because Medicaid costs have risen rapidly during the recession, he said.

Heidepriem said he would limit most state agencies to an annual spending growth of 2 or 3 percent, sell state airplanes, get rid of the state’s lobbyist in Washington, eliminate construction tax refunds to a crude oil pipeline and stop giving state agencies funding for unfilled job positions.

Daugaard said he would seek to balance the budget by cutting spending, but it’s too early to decide what would be cut. “I think everything is on the table.”

The lieutenant governor also said if it looks as if the economy is recovering and the budget will be balanced in a year or so, he might look at using some reserve funds to bridge the gap.

Daugaard noted that his parents faced financial problems on their farm, he worked a variety of jobs to pay his own way through college, and he made spending cuts to restore financial health to the Children’s Home Society. He said he’s also learned a lot from his six years in the state Senate and eight years as lieutenant governor.

Daugaard claims Heidepriem sought to increase state spending as a state senator in recent years, but Heidepriem said that’s not true. The Democrat said he has consistently sought to limit the growth of most state agencies so more money could be spent on schools.

Heidepriem said Daugaard is reluctant to embrace new ideas or specify how he would cut state spending.

“If my opponent is elected, we’ll have four more years of a caretaker administration. It’s time for action in South Dakota, and that requires strong leadership and hard decisions,” Heidepriem said.

In contrast with South Dakota’s congressional race, the contest for governor has been civil. Daugaard and Heidepriem have known each other since they both were students at the University of South Dakota more than three decades ago.

Tags: election 2010, scott heidepriem, dennis daugaard, news, state, politics, fccnetwork