Russell Olson Censors Input and Criticism, Fails to Keep Promise to Update Voters

Earlier this month Senate Majority Leader Russell Olson (R-8/Wentworth) got mad and told his constituents to shut up, at least on his Facebook page, about the really bad education reforms that he was supporting. He shut off his Facebook comments, and he deleted the comments that I had left on his page criticizing HB 1234 and his own rejection of public discourse.

He justified his silencing and censoring of public Facebook debate thus:

I use this page solely to keep my constituents, and any other followers, updated on my events at the Capitol.... This page is not for public debate, it is to keep my followers updated [Senator Russell Olson, Facebook status, 2012.02.10].

Apparently the most petty Senator in Pierre finds simple updates almost as burdensome as honest public debate. Since his snit-fit, while the Senator has found time to delete and block my comments, he has posted just four updates, 55 words. Only one of those updates directly mention policy, Senator Olson's SB 77, a tech school scholarship program that requires recipients to maintain a measly 2.5 GPA to get our money. (A slack GPA requirement like that could only come from the academically challenged Senator Olson, who found a 3.0 GPA hard to maintain.)

Senator Olson's other "updates":

1. A brown-nosing thank-you to USD President Abbott;
2. A thank-you to the third term pages and his niece Tessa;
3. A note that it was "Great to have Representative Kristi Noem in caucus today," along with a picture of Noem not wearing her cowgirl boots.

#3 may be fashion news, but it's not a substantive policy update that helps the voters understand what's happening in Pierre. Oh, wait, perhaps it does: Senator Olson isn't nearly as interested in telling us what's happening as in distracting us from his arrogant one-party rule with cutesy blurbs and pictures of nice people.

District 8, you already have one strong Democratic candidate, Roy Lindsay, circulating petitions to run for House. I hear there may be a second District 8 Dem in the chute. Update 07:58 MST: I hear right! Scott Parsley has filed petitions for House! Get ready to rumble!

Now is the right time to go for the trifecta and find a third Dem who believes in public discourse and good policy to send the whiny Russell Olson back to his cushy Heartland office for good.