Press "Enter" to skip to content

Team Otten Wrong on All Counts about Daugaard Primary Endorsements

Republican Ernie Otten has not suffered the indignity of his Republican Governor and Republican Secretary of State endorsing his Republican opponent in his Republican primary race. (His campaign has enjoyed the indignity of out-district PACs sending flyers filled with lies about his opponent Gene Abdallah.)

But he and his wife Betty are part of the radical right-wing cabal that Governor Daugaard and Secretary Gant are working hard to throttle. Thus, Mrs. Otten is on the campaign trail decrying what she calls the improper involvement of key Republicans in picking favorites in the primary. First, Betty forwards to her friends an e-mail from South Dakota Republican Party political director Justin Rollins:

Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 21:30:12 -0500
Subject: Conference Call 5.17.12
From: justin@southdakotagop.com
To: tonypost@southdakotagop.com

Hello All,
This is just a reminder that we will be having a conference call tomorrow at 12:00 pm CST.
The Party does and will not take any active role in any primary elections and will abstain from any activities that will promote one republican candidate over the other.
We look forward to you upcoming participation....

Justin Rollins
Political Director
SD GOP

Then Betty fires off her own missives, first a May 22 fulmination to Rollins and SDGOP exec Tony Post (and Betty, tighten up that subject line):

From: Otten, Betty
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 1:27 PM
To: Tony Post (tonypost@southdakotagop.com); 'justin@southdakotagop.com'
Cc: 'Joel Arends'; 'Anne Nelson'
Subject: The Party does and will not take any active role in any primary elections and will abstain from any activities that will promote one republican candidate over the other...

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_fa1dcaf2-a3c6-11e1-8c87-001a4bcf887a.html

Tell me how the head of the South Dakota Republican party, Gov. Daugaard, can justify endorsing ANY primary candidate? Isn't this the exact same thing we're fighting on a national level... picking winners and losers &ndash and at what cost to our party? And I would dare say, this is also a basic premise of why our troops are fighting all over world...

We have a God-inspired system in place to remove those we believe are corrupting our form of government. Those that believe they can have a better South Dakota have put their lives, finances, and families on the line for the sole purpose of aligning South Dakota with our own Platform: free enterprise, pro family, smaller government... by directing a primary at an incumbent &ndash giving the voters the option of what type of government they want and who they want to represent them.

Do you really think this helps our Party? Is this appropriate? It is fair? In my humble opinion, the answer is "NO!" to all three questions.

This is certainly not the way to bring the party's various groups together to tackle the enormous problems that still lie ahead of us as a state; and I believe the Governor has severely hurt our party, and himself &ndash and that deeply saddens me.

In closing, I'll just provide your own email (below) that was sent to, I'm assuming, all the GOP chairs throughout the state each time a call was established. And I don't care about any spin, Governor Daugaard, in the article above, IS using his title as Governor, as head of the South Dakota Republican Party, to specifically endorse one primary candidate over the other...

...and then this message to Dusty Johnson, Jason Gant, and other high muckety-mucks mucking about in the primary muck Betty and Ernie want to keep to themselves:

From: Ernie or Betty Otten
Sent: 5/27/2012 2:14 PM
To: Dusty Johnson; Jason Gant....
Subject: GOP Party Primary Endorsements by Gov Daugaard and SOS Jason Gant

Daugaard picks favorites in handful of GOP primaries

After Gant Endorses, Questions Follow

These Primary endorsements of one Republican candidate over another are extremely disturbing, unprecedented, unfair, underhanded, & just plain wrong. Gov Daugaard's unprecedented Primary endorsements are clearly a violation of the GOP bylaws. Plus the candidates he's endorsed are blatantly pro-abortion and pro-ObamaCare.... clear violations of the GOP platform!

Now, Jason, you as our Secretary of State, the overseer of elections, has also endorsed TWO of the Governor's self-selected candidates (Rep Rausch in the article attached and Deb Peters in your earlier Argus Leader Letter to the Editor). Quoting this article, you said, "There are so many rules and laws and procedures regarding our elections — tampering with a ballot box is near impossible. There's no way that my endorsement could possibly do anything (improper)."

I vehemently disagree. The very hint of favoritism is improper, unfair, and unseemly for either the Governor or the Secretary of State!

We have 3 separate branches of government for a reason... so let me remind all of you, the Legislative Branch is NOT an extension of the Executive Branch, no matter the polices they want to implement.

This is unacceptable and something must be done. We worked extremely hard for both the Governor and you Jason, to be elected. I'm ashamed I voted for either of you, much less, talked so many other voters into doing the same.

Anyone on this email has my express permission to forward and share with as many people as possible.

Betty Otten
Republican
Lincoln County GOP Vice Chair
Lincoln County GOP Precinct Committeewoman

With her constant conflation of the troops and God and incorrect interpretations of the meaning of the constitutional separation of powers, it can be hard to keep track of the substance of what Betty is saying. Really her rants boil down to simple frustration that her and her husband's radical right-wingery remain fringe positions that gain no traction with the majority of even her own party.

Betty Otten claims that Governor Daugaard's endorsements clearly violate the state GOP By-Laws. They do not. The GOP by-laws say nothing about primary season endorsements. The state Dem by-laws do, but as I was reminded by able readers, that prohibition applies only to the party and its committees as a whole, not individual members of the party exercising their First Amendment rights.

Betty Otten claims that the folks Governor Daugaard has endorsed are pro-abortion and pro-ObamaCare. They are not. The Daugaard Republicans have done nothing to make abortion easier to obtain in South Dakota and much to make it harder. Instead of falling for the hyperbolic lies and calls for choosing the nullification and civil war that Otten and her ilk favor, the Daugaard Republicans have passed minimal compliance with federal law while pursuing the legal routes available to challenge the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Betty Otten claims that Governor Daugaard has "severely hurt" the GOP by picking favorites. I will grant that the Governor's advocacy may create some hard feelings, not to mention awkward working relationships in Pierre if some the non-Daugaard Republicans win (like current legislators Begalka and Jensen). But aren't the Ottens and the other wingnuts doing just as much damage to the party by challenging so many established party members in primaries... and challenging them with such wild, unrealistic rhetoric that they alienate more voters from the party? The Otten wing of the party is the group spreading lies about a wide swath of Republicans, including the most fundamental lie that Daugaard and other Republicans who disagree with their purity tests aren't really Republicans. As long as Otten et al. are trying to hijack the Republican Party, the Republican Party leadership, including the Governor, are entitled to defend themselves and fight to keep control of the party out of the hijackers' hands.

The only thing Betty Otten gets 100% right is that Secretary Gant's endorsements stink. The Secretary of State occupies a unique place in government as overseer of elections. He must take extra precautions, as his predecessors did, to avoid damaging public trust in the honesty and fairness of our elections.

I would welcome the primary victory of Ernie Otten and other such radical wingnuts for only one reason: their muddle-headed prattle about rules and tyranny that don't exist would drive most voters, either by tedium or hilarity, to seek refuge in the only practical, reality-based party left, the South Dakota Democratic Party.

4 Comments

  1. LK 2012.06.03

    Otten writes, "We have a God-inspired system in place to remove those we believe are corrupting our form of government"

    I get confused easily, but doesn't Romans 13:1 imply that all government systems are "God-inspired"? "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

    Doesn't Daniel 2:21 state that God decides which leaders should be removed? "He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."

    Maybe I missed an email.

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2012.06.03

    Hmm... and since Dennis Daugaard is an authority that exists, he must have been established by God. And since Dennis says "Vote for Peters, Rausch, Nelson, Rampelberg, and Buckingham,"... well, the conclusion seems frighteningly clear.

    Advantage #26 of being an atheist: not having to vote for the people someone else's God tells you to. Ernie, Betty, quick! Convert!

  3. LK 2012.06.03

    I was kinda going for the idea that Otten et al should view this spat as political not a religious, but I can see where one could take your point of view

    As a Protestant, I don't believe in gubernatorial infallibility, so we're probably going to come to similar conclusions on this intra-party disagreement: it's fun to watch so stock up on popcorn.

  4. Troy Jones 2012.06.03

    There is crazy and there is stupid. And when they are in the same person, you appreciate your mother for not mating with a chimp.

    The thing is when they get married, you examine your views on sterilkzation.

Comments are closed.