- Jan
4
2013
Governor Dennis Daugaard has appointed Rob Skjonsberg to the South Dakota Board of Economic Development. Skjonsberg is an econ grad from SDSU. He's worked in banking and at Poet Ethanol. So what could be wrong with having a smart guy like Skjonsberg handing out state government checks to needy corporate socialists?
Do you believe in coincidences? The man running Gov. Mike Rounds’ campaign for US Senate just got appointed by Governor Daugaard to help dole out state tax dollars for economic development. Whose interest is being served here? It’s just another ongoing example of Republicans leaders in Pierre using state tax dollars to support Republicans running for office [Ben Nesselhuf, South Dakota Democratic Party press release, 2012.01.03].
Oh, that.
The Governor says pish posh:
I appointed Rob Skjonsberg to the Board of Economic Development because I have appreciation for his high intelligence and clear communications skills and his business sense.... That’s why I appointed him. I wish we had more people with his kind of skills [Gov. Dennis Daugaard, quoted by David Montgomery, "Daugaard Taps Skjonsberg for Board (updated)," Political Smokeout, 2012.01.03].
I agree with the Governor: I wish we had more people with such skills as well. As it is, in our tiny state, the talent pool is far too in-bred and beholden to the Republican power structure to expect any appointee of our Republican Governor to have more than one degree of separation from our Chavezian one-party power structure.
Speaking of which, Skjonsberg takes the seat of Mark Mickelson, son and grandson of former Republican governors, who heads for Pierre next week as one of District 13's new Republican representatives.
p.s.: I'll withdraw all complaints if we can start writing all these names with Scandinavian accent marks. Daugård Taps Skjønsberg!
8 Responses to “Crony Capitalism Squared: Daugaard Gives Rounds Campaign Honcho Pull”
"Chavezian". Good adjective. How do you make those Scandinavian accent marks on the computer?
Crony corporate socialism indeed. Let's cut medical care for poor people and hand out the savings as gifts to wealthy corporations.
hmmm..... maybe we should do a knock off on the "Six Degrees of Separation of Kevin Bacon", regarding South Dakota politics/politicians.
Sadly, I don't think we would get beyond 3 or 4 degrees......
Wow. Daugaard doesn't even attempt to hide the corruption anymore. Thank goodness we didn't pass his slush fund, it would have become the Mike Rounds for Senate fund. As if our general fund isn't already, now doobad just needs to run it by his rubber stamp legislature first.
Whoopee! Can we get 90x on our donation money with this guy, too?
"'I appointed Rob Skjonsberg to the Board of Economic Development because I have appreciation for his high intelligence and clear communications skills and his business sense.... That’s why I appointed him. I wish we had more people with his kind of skills' [Gov. Dennis Daugaard, quoted by David Montgomery, "Daugaard Taps Skjonsberg for Board (updated)," Political Smokeout, 2012.01.03]."
The governor forgot the part that said, "and Mike told me to as part of the deal we made in 2010." So, now we have a man who was a significant member of the Rounds team who left us with enough budget woes to cause DD's massive cuts in 2011 weighing in on economic development?? Oh, joy...
Daugaard, at Rounds' encouragement, began milking donors and setting up a victory plan three years before the 2010 election, while Daugaard had the title lt. governor. As hmr59 implies, this is how Mike and Dennis play the inside power game using state government and the lobbying clout in Pierre to fill their pockets and destroy their opponents long before it's time to file candidacy petitions.
Clearly, the Skjonsberg appointment to the state economic development board, where they hand out charity (your taxes) to businesses, is a scheme to put the Rounds campaign at the door of wealthy corporate leaders for campaign contributions. It is plain as daylight.
The GOED is an ATM for the Rounds/Daugaard alliance. Previous administrations made some effort to cloak the graft. Now it's in your face, South Dakota.
Dana is on to something!
I would guess that Rob would want the GOED to prove their worth based on an independent audit (forensic audit?) of their successes.
I was really hoping that would have happened during the debate that never happened during the election. That might be why the measure was defeated, due to lack of trust rather than an objection to spending.
The fact that the Governor pledged money he didn't have, vis-a-vis GOED, probably doesn't help with their credibility.
Until they make a full accounting of their spending and the complete background and success of the companies that they have backed, their operation will always be held in suspicion.
Rob's appointment may end up being a distraction for the Rounds campaign if people put a microscope on the operations of the GOED over the last 10 years. Of course, the people who will back an opposition candidate are already looking at that as a liability for the former governor.
Then again, maybe Rob was appointed to make sure the dead stay buried.
Of course with the Ron Paul/Hubble/Gordie/Krazy wing of the party taking control of the counties...that could all change ;-)
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