Rounds reflects on eight years as S.D. governor

• Mike Rounds

Then-South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds talks to reporters in 2010 at the Capitol in Pierre about his eight years in office. (Chris Huber/Republic Photo)

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PIERRE — Outgoing Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said Thursday that he hopes historians remember his eight years in the office as a time South Dakota successfully dealt with tough problems.

South Dakota farmers and ranchers faced a severe drought during Rounds’ first years as governor, while during the last years, the state’s economy has performed better than the national average in the wake of the recession. And the nation was at war during the entire time Rounds was in office, meaning like other states, South Dakota was consistently sending military personnel to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I guess what I kind of thought was if I just did my job and focused on what we needed to do right now . . . I thought history would probably say I made the right decisions as we moved through this time,” Rounds, who could not seek re-election because of term limits, said during a Thursday news conference.

Rounds was elected governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. He leaves office Jan. 8 when his successor, Dennis Daugaard, is sworn in.

The governor said he was most proud of his work to promote economic development and research to reduce the number of young people leaving South Dakota to go to college or find jobs.

“I think the area I feel best about is the opportunities that are now available for young people to stay in South Dakota,” Rounds said.

He cited as evidence the achievements of his 2010 Initiative, an effort started in 2003 to boost South Dakota’s economy.

The goal of increasing South Dakota’s gross domestic product by $10 billion was reached two years ahead of schedule, and the sum of all goods and services produced in the state has now grown by $14 billion in the past eight years, he said. The effort to double visitor spending to $1.2 billion a year fell short, but reached a high of $967 million in 2008, he said.

Rounds said South Dakota also has increased its research capacity in state universities, while the effort to locate a national underground science laboratory at the former Homestake mine in the Black Hills should draw more scientists to the state.

As for disappointments, Rounds said his biggest is the delay in a program aimed at getting people to pay a premium for South Dakota beef that carries information on where and when a calf was born and how it was fed.

But he said he expects the program eventually will succeed.

House Democratic Leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton has disagreed with Rounds on many issues, but gave the governor good marks for promoting tourism, working with local communities to start and expand businesses and seeking to establish the national science lab.

“I would say certainly no state had a more amiable governor or a governor who loved his state more. He’s put a good face on South Dakota,” Hunhoff said.

However, Hunhoff said the state has not done enough to increase state aid to school districts during Rounds’ time in office.

Rounds has proposed a 5 percent cut in state aid to schools next year to help balance the budget, but he said state aid to school districts is now $108 million a year more than when he took office.

Rounds said the most difficult aspect of his job has been attending and speaking at funerals for military personnel killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He said he has tried to express the state’s respect for the soldier’s sacrifice and support for the soldier’s family.

“You always wonder whether or not you do that justice and whether you could have done more,” he said.

The 56-year-old said he plans to return to work in his insurance and real estate business in Pierre two days after leaving office. Rounds said he wants to immerse himself in his business to regain a sense of how private businesses are affected by government.

He has no future political plans, but said he has not ruled it out.

“If the opportunity arises in the future, I may very well look at public service again,” he said. “But I don’t have any plans right now.”

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