Governor candidates clash on S.D. budget

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PIERRE — South Dakota’s two candidates for governor traded some of the sharpest charges of their campaign Monday night in a televised debate that displayed their differing approaches to dealing with state budget problems, education and other issues.

Democratic nominee Scott Heidepriem repeatedly said Republican Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has failed to provide any details of his plans for dealing with the state budget and education funding.

“If you elect him, nothing’s going to change,” Heidepriem said. “Unlike the lieutenant governor, I’m not going to settle for things the way they are. I’m going to make some changes.”

Daugaard said he has proposed specific, detailed plans to improve South Dakota’s economy and its education system. But he said he wants to hear ideas from the heads of state agencies before deciding how the budget should be cut.

“As governor, I will cut our budget, make the hard choices and do what is necessary to make our budget whole,” Daugaard said.

The hourlong debate on KELO-TV was the final tele- vised debate of the gubernatorial campaign.

The winner of the race will replace Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, who is term-limited. Heidepriem, leader of the Democratic minority in the state Senate, has sought to tie Daugaard to Rounds’ policies over the past eight years.

Much of Monday night’s debate dealt with the state’s budget problems and other financial topics.

Heidepriem said he would seek a 2 percent to 3 percent across-the-board cut of state spending, excluding education and Medicaid; end no-bid state contracts; and eliminate a construction tax refund to a company planning to build a crude-oil pipeline across South Dakota. The savings would be used to increase state financial aid to school districts, he said.

Daugaard said he is open to an across-the-board spending cut. But he said he first wants to see the results of Rounds’ request that each state agency suggest ways to cut their budgets by 10 percent.

“Everything is on the table,” the lieutenant governor said in describing his approach to budget cutting.

Heidepriem complained that Rounds and the Republican-dominated Legislature have failed to use federal stimulus money to increase aid to school districts. The GOP instead has used the federal funds to shore up the overall state budget, he said.

State aid to schools has fallen from 39 percent of the state budget when Rounds took office to 31 percent now, Heidepriem said.

“In fact, they’ve dismantled K-12 education,” Heidepriem said.

Daugaard said state aid to school districts has grown by $80 million in the past eight years. Aid to schools fell as a percentage of the total budget because spending on Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care for low-income people, has increased by 68 percent during that period, he said.

Daugaard said he would propose that the school funding required by law be the first thing approved each year when the Legislature puts together the state budget. Any money left at the end of the budget process should also be added to school aid, he said.

The lieutenant governor said Heidepriem is irresponsible in proposing to use federal stimulus to support ongoing education spending. Once that money is gone, the state would have no way to support the increased spending, he said.

Heidepriem said as governor he would work to implement the new federal health care law. Parts of the law, such as preventing insurance companies from refusing to cover people with existing health problems, are good, he said.

The Democrat also said he believes South Dakota should drop out of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law.

Daugaard said he supports continuing the lawsuit. The health care law would add up to 50,000 people to the Medicaid program in South Dakota, he said.

“It’s something our state can’t afford. It’s something our country can’t afford,” the lieutenant governor said.

Daugaard, 57, was a banker for 10 years before working for nearly two decades as leader of the South Dakota Children’s Home Society, which provides services to troubled children. He was a state senator for six years before becoming lieutenant governor in 2003.

Heidepriem, 54, is a lawyer, working first in his hometown of Miller before moving to open a law practice in Sioux Falls. He was first elected to the South Dakota House in 1982 as a Republican and spent much of the next decade in the Legislature. He was elected to the state Senate in 2006 as a Democrat.

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