Last updated on 2012.08.17
Public Utilities Commission candidate Matt McGovern has more expertise on energy policy issues than his opponent Commissioner Kristie Fiegen did when Governor Dennis Daugaard handed her the job in 2011. Now McGovern may have discovered a non-energy wedge issue that may give him a leg up on Fiegen.
Democratic PUC candidate Matt McGovern (left) receives the endorsement of farmer Ray Martinmaas at a press conference in Sioux Falls, 2012.04.26. Photo from SD Democratic Party.Yesterday Ray Martinmaas publicly endorsed McGovern for PUC. Martinmaas farms near Orient in Faulk County. He's a Republican. And he's mad at the Republicans on the PUC and in Pierre who let the Anderson Seed Company set up shop in Redfield and post a meager $100,000 bond before going belly up and costing him and dozens of his fellow farmers.
Anderson Seed got going in part thanks to funding assistance from Pierre. One of Governor Dennis Daugaard's first official acts was to cut the ribbon at Anderson Seed's official opening in January 2011. The sunflower seed processor may already have been in financial distress at that time. Anderson Seed went out of business two months ago, leaving Martinmaas out $47,000. His losses are part of $2.6 million Anderson owes to numerous area farmers. The PUC considered trying to seize the company's remaining assets but backed off, declaring that the company has no grain left to seize and that seizing any other property would be complicated by Anderson's sale to another company and by potential environmental problems at the Redfield facility. Now the PUC is limiting its efforts to recovering Anderson's $100,000 bond, which clearly wasn't enough to cover the risk it posed to South Dakota farmers.
Martinmaas thinks the PUC didn't do enough to protect farmers from Anderson Seed's failure:
"If Kristie Fiegen and the other commissioners had been doing their job, this would not have happened. We need new commissioners who will protect farmers and consumers, and I'm happy to endorse Matt McGovern," Martinmaas said. "We've got to clean house."
..."I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, an Independent or a member of the Tea Party, we need new commissioners on the PUC," Martinmaas said. Matt McGovern will be an independent voice on the commission, Martinmaas said, because he doesn't accept campaign contributions from lobbyists or the utilities the PUC regulates ["Republican Farmer Ray Martinmaas Endorses Matt McGovern for South Dakota Public Utilities Commission," South Dakota Democratic Party, press release, 2012.04.26].
McGovern has an interesting and perhaps unexpected issue here. Martinmaas himself has questioned why the Public Utilities Commission is involved in regulating grain elevators in the first place. But operations like Anderson Seed are indeed part of the PUC portfolio. The failure of Anderson Seed opens the door for McGovern and his supporters to expand the PUC campaign from the usual arcanities of electricity and telecom regulation to the broader issue of crony capitalism of the Daugaard administration.
Incumbent Fiegen will now have to rise to the challenge of defending her failure to protect South Dakota farmers like Martinmaas from the bad business practices of a company given privileges from her boss and benefactor in Pierre.
Here in Central SD the Anderson Seed Company fiasco is a big deal. I know Ray Martinmaas and his family, they are good people and loosing $47,000 of profit off your bottom line is a hell of a hard hit to take. My future son-in-law is a grain marketer for Midwest Cooperatives and they took a big hit also (>$1,000,000). Since Midwest is a member owned Cooperative all their patrons will see a hit also even though they might not have actually done direct business with Anderson Seed.
Fiegan is an incompetent. I was amazed when DD appointed her to this important position. It smacks of cronyism at its worst. She was without a doubt the most worthless legislator to serve during the time I served in the SD House.
The SD GOP's own Solyndra fiasco will have legs in November for Matt McGovern. It won't be the only issue he will have on his side either.
Pardon me for my ignorance.... is anyone keeping track of all these little fiascos? Anyone have a list? It sure would be interesting to see all of the companies "we" have given incentives, tax breaks, etc. who have taken the money and ran. Seems like we have alot of foxes guarding the hen houses.
Given the state of open government in our state I doubt that all the information is even available for inspection.
If Varilek wants to defeat Kristie Fiegen all he has to do is have someone video tape her giving a speech. It is bad. Truly aweful. At least not at all like a knowledgable PUC official.
Wrong race, Mike... or wrong Kristi? :-)
Sorry. I meant Matt McGovern. My bad. I can't keep those two apart. But I've only met McGovern.
But I have the right Kristie.
Noem is better at the podium. If someone filmed Noem they could get her saying absolutly nothing but she would still say it very well...
Q and A is where Noem comes off as bad...
The PUC is an obviously important government agency, requiring specialized expertise. Maybe South Dakota would be better served if constitutional and statutory changes were made to make it nonpartisan. Crony capitalism is very good for the cronies and very bad for the public interest.
"The SD GOP’s own Solyndra fiasco"
Don't forget that Solyndra was yet-another Bush Administration screw-up.
Cory, if you are going to link to my web site, can you use the correct terms. It is not "crony capitalism", it is "crony corporate socialism". Too many are confusing capitalism with free markets.
SD's own Solyndra? I like the sound of that.
Steve, I decline to let you set the standards for defining terms. If I adopt your definitions, you're the only person who will understand what I'm saying.
What passes for economic development in the chemical toilet? "...a chemical that cannot be used in its home country but whose use is so prevalent here in the United States that it can be detected in our rain:" NRDC.
Fundraiser: McGovern for PUC.
https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraiser/29381