SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

Legendary Dallas County Sheriff, Bill Decker, when asked why Dallas had so many murders, said that Dallas can get hot in the Summer and when that happens, people can get pretty irritated.

Sidebar - Bill Decker during his career as either Dallas County Chief Deputy Sheriff or Sheriff (a period of 35 years) housed among his guests in the Dallas County Hoosegow, both Clyde Barrow and Jack Ruby.

While Pam may not be ready to shoot anybody, the Minnehaha County Treasurer is hot (at least under the collar) and clearly irritated.

Her interview on Friday with KELOland TV is titled County Treasurer Fed Up With New System and that is an understatement.

View Pam telling us how the cow ate the cabbage!   (click on Keloland News On Demad Viewer)

Pam goes overboard perhaps thinking she is back in the State Senate warring with then Senate Leader Mike Rounds (is there an element of payback at work here?) saying:

              “I am fed up.”

              “I have never seen anything in the history of South Dakota that equals this mess.”

              “I can’t imagine anything that could come out this bad.”

Pam Nelson is rightfully frustrated that the system is not working, that her patrons are made to stand in line, that her staff is stressed, and that she is not getting at least in her opinion adequate answers from Pierre.

That does not excuse her blowing up on camera. Part of me sees her genuine frustration but another part on me sees the Old Pol and Battler in Pam Nelson taking the political opportunity to exploit State Government’s apparent mishandling of the license plate issue.  Is this about fixing the problem or sticking it in the Gov's Ear?

The political fallout will happen without the mild TV tantrum but the high road would have been better to work at finding an administrative solution while the computer system is being fixed or at a minimum trying to minimize Citizen Frustrations rather than inflaming them.

Having this kind of interview was certainly not the way to persuade the Governor and State Government to fix the problem. Was she expecting help by saying in effect, this is the biggest mess I have ever seen.

Pam Nelson needs to cool off.

The Pam Nelson File

Pam Nelson was elected and served several terms on the Sioux Falls School Board. Then she was elected to the State Legislature where she served two years in the House of Representatives and eight years in the State Senate. In the Senate she served in Democrat Party Leadership, one term as Minority Whip, one term as Majority Whip, and one term as Assistant Minority Leader.

In 1996 she filed to again serve in the State Senate from her western Sioux Falls District but when Republicans recruited Assistant Sioux Falls Fire Chief, Dick Hainje (Hainje went on in 2001 to become Mike Rounds’ Assistant Senate Majority Leader and now is President Bush’s Regional Director of FEMA in Kansas City) as her opponent, Nelson decided that perhaps a better outcome would be to find another Office and she secured the Democrat nomination to the Public Utilities Commission. It was an open seat due to the retirement of Ken Stofferehan. Nelson defeated Republican Roy Letellier in a close election (48.2% to 46.8%).

In her 2002 PUC reelect as the incumbent Commissioner she found herself again facing another formidable opponent, just term limited Sioux Falls Mayor Gary Hanson. She had built up over her six year term a sizeable Campaign War Chest (if my memory serves of about $80,000). Rather than actively contest Hanson she employed her assets to assist Curt Johnson who was running against Bob Sahr for the four year term created by the death of Laska Schoenfelder. It was believed in political circles that if the Democrats could maintain a Commission Majority, Commissioner Jim Burg and Curt Johnson when elected would appoint Nelson (whom it was assumed would lose to Hanson)  as the PUC Executive Director.

During her time in Pierre, Nelson became the Democrats strongest Political Activist in the Statehouse and during the 2002 election cycle was de facto running the State Democrat Party.

Sahr’s defeat of Johnson caused Nelson to return to Sioux Falls. In 2004 she ran for County Treasurer against Sara Menjares. This November she is running for her second term without opposition, the Minnehaha County Republicans failing to recruit a candidate to this well paying ministry position.