Governor Dennis Daugaard got at least one Minneapolis reporter to come watch him conduct his publicity stunt in the Mall of America Monday. "Daugaard was there to pitch and persuade, not talk to the media," notes reporter Lee Schafer, who then reports on the folks Labor Secretary Pam Roberts made sure were available to talk to the media:
Daugaard stood just a few feet from the kiosk, as TV cameramen from Sioux Falls stations hovered nearby, greeting people who were rounded up by his staff. One by one, the governor made a personal pitch for each visitor to live and work in South Dakota.
...“This is one we really want to get back,” said Pam Roberts, cabinet secretary of the Department of Labor and Regulation, walking up to greet a young woman standing next to me. Before Roberts could introduce her, the woman stuck out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Nicole Stengle.”
Stengle does sound like a perfect Dakota Roots target. She grew up in Pierre, and has a degree in industrial engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her work experience includes positions at the 3M Co., and she has worked for the last 2 ½ years at Target.
Stengle had just a moment to talk before the governor was ready to see her, but I got a sense of her dilemma. She likes her career opportunities in places like the Twin Cities, with large, stable employers like Target. And she very much likes her home state.
Maybe Sioux Falls one day will have a good opportunity, she said, as “Sioux Falls is where most of my good friends have migrated to” [Lee Schafer, "S.D. Sends Governor Recruiting at the MOA," Star Tribune, 2013.05.15].
Stengle isn't dragging down Mines' graduate salary average cashiering at Target; she's a Compliance Business Partner, which sounds important. It's at least important enough that when she looks at our glittering bastion of business and culture, Sioux Falls, a place filled with most of her good friends, the best she can say is "Maybe... one day...."
Schafer likens the Governor's mall time to a visit from Santa Claus (note: the Governor stood the entire time, allowing no lap-sitting... which might have improved turnout). Like me, Schafer also wonders about the efficiency of the stunt:
With a $200,000 campaign and the cost of flying the state’s plane to Minnesota to have the governor chat up mall visitors, Dakota Roots would not appear to be paragon of government efficiency, but I decided not to bring that up with a governor who appeared to be so thoroughly enjoying his hour at a shopping mall [Schafer, 2013.05.15].
Come on, Lee! We like the Minnesota press for asking questions the South Dakota media doesn't. But you get half-credit for at least mentioning this apparently inefficient expenditure of South Dakota resources.
If Daugaard's trip was about getting big-city press, the presence of one Minneapolis reporter amidst the Sioux Falls camera crews suggests even that plan failed. Let's hope his corporate recruiting meetings produced more results.
I think it was a waste of time and money. South Dakota is going to have to start paying wages that a single person/family can live off. Quit giving all the breaks to businesses that relocate to SD, and increase incentives for employees to come to the state.
"Daugaard was there to pitch and persuade, not talk to the media"
What? I thought the entire idea was to talk to local media for all the free publicity our state would get in the Minnesota press.
So what would you have him do?
$200,000.00!?!?! So that's why I was cut-off from the respite care program after 8 and a half years getting this aid from the state because I care for my elderly mother full time. I had to pay for this junket. Gee, Governor, you could have at least told me why I was cut off. I did write you a nice letter thanking you for putting my mother, the grand daughter of Gov. Gunderson, and me on the main respite care program....but then got cut off when a DSS rep. lied to me. It was all to pay for your trip to the MOA. I understand now. I have no help to get out of this house and away from caring for mother even for a few hours a week, but now I know how important it was to go to the MOA to stand around looking silly on behalf of our state. So I fully understand why SD can't help me at all.
"So what would you have him do?"
For starters Michael get rid of the Righ to Work for less law
Right to work has nothing to do with low wages. Chances are it deals with education levels and the ability to be replaced. Simple as that. Even with the education, some fields can be replaced easily.
I have to disagree with you DB.
http://www.aflcio.org/Legislation-and-Politics/State-Legislative-Battles/Ongoing-State-Legislative-Attacks/Right-to-Work-for-Less
DB - So you are saying that if someone did not do well in school that they should not have the right to support their family in a reasonable way even if they are a very loyal worker. You say the company should give no loyalty back?
But you are right that educated people can be replaced easily also. My brother has a PhD in electronic engineering with eighteen patents to his name. And he is seeing engineering jobs being outsourced to India.
Some of you conservatives are only loyal to big money. That is not conducive to a good community, but just to a dictatorship.
And disagree you may. Those smart enough are pursuing the careers that pay the best in their areas. Not every job will pay the same in every state. Make yourself needed and you can set your price.
So-called 'right to work' red states: North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana kill more at the workplace than all the blue states combined. Acceptable losses to the reckless right.
South Dakota is 20 years behind the times in what we the public perceives a good salary to be. $20K a year jobs seem perfectly reasonable to us...until you try to go buy a car or fill up your grocery cart.
As a business owner, I might be able to pay anywhere from 8 to 11 dollars an hour for a certain position. If I was forced to pay lets say $15 which is a more livable wage, I am going to need more productivity from myself and the employee to pay for it all or just go without help or maybe close the doors. It's an interesting dance: productivity doesn't always improve with increased rates of pay but it will contribute mightily to your employee retention rate.
Roger - I'm saying loyalty goes both ways, and in my generation, I believe there is very little. Just depends on the job and the work. In some cases you can't find the people to fill the positions, while others you have 40 apps in a week for one job. Funny you mention India, I've taken outsourced jobs from there and brought them back in the country. Outsourcing to India is a beast of it's own, and if you aren't careful, you'll spend a lot of money getting something you didn't expect.
Also, I want to address this comment: "support their family in a reasonable way"
Your income dictates your lifestyle. Your lifestyle doesn't dictate your income. I think some people forget that before they make decisions. I watched a lot of my friends go down the path of having kids at a young age(early 20's) and they are regretting it now.
I'm afraid employers want employees to be loyal. At the place I used to work the work slowed down and they had layoffs (twice) and a couple of other times it slowed down enough to cut hours. The CEO begged us to stay and things will get better. They did get better and to show his loyalty to us he shipped our jobs to India. So yes loyalty works both ways.
My wife and I had our kids early and we struggled a long time. But we don't regret it. We love our children
If you delay having kids, you won't have them at all.
We're in pretty bad shape when the only way we can attract young workers to South Dakota is to convince them to hold off on starting a family.
Not really, people are taking on more debt than they once were. Living within your means is no longer interpreted the same way. Holding off on a family until you are financially stable is smart. When your kids are gone, it could mean the difference in living in your first home or living in your dream home. I'll take 10 years of investing at the beginning of my life before having kids, rather than trying to catch up 20 years down the road. I think anyone can do the math to figure out why.
It's not just SD either, it's a national trend as single parent families are on the rise along with welfare dependency. It goes hand in hand.
idiots at war toilet bragging about who's the biggest earth hater: what a bunch of losers.
South Dakota lacks the industrial, technological, and infrastructural power base that Minnesota has had for years. South Dakota is no close match to Minnesota.
Daugaard is jealous of powerful Minnesota.
Single parent families are rising faster in South Dakota than in other states; is that because we have higher welfare dependency? Single parent families are also on the rise along with Internet use. Correlation or causation?
South Dakota's total population (market for labor, or services or a product of any kind) is smaller than a small city - and it's spread out over vast open spaces. There-in lies the actual economic problem.
"South Dakota's total population (market for labor, or services or a product of any kind) is smaller than a small city - and it's spread out over vast open spaces. There-in lies the actual economic problem."
Richard, probably the truest statement on here right now. Adding to that problem is the fact that most of the jobs are on the I29 corridor and the problem is further exasperated. West of that corridor lies vast stretches of real estate that is the same as it was fifty years ago except for one thing. The buying power of the dollar is one seventh what it was then while the prices paid for commodities is almost the same.
At the same time the prices paid for rent in the city have gone up faster then the jobs can support, hence the people leaving the state for higher paying jobs where the cost of living is comparable to SD.
"Your income dictates your lifestyle. Your lifestyle doesn't dictate your income." DB before you can even have a lifestyle you have to have an income of some kind. If you are living below the poverty level you have no lifestyle just a life. Your talk of "a first home," let alone a dream home, shows how out of touch you are with what most people in this state are going through.
If you are paying a living wage only, that means just getting by. If not you are living below the poverty level no matter where you live. Its really very simple. If you give more people more money to do their jobs those same people will spend some of that money in the stores and the money will roll over many times. In tern it will help to keep those people off of the welfare rolls and ease the states draw on their money coffers.
"Not really, people are taking on more debt than they once were. Living within your means is no longer interpreted the same way. " Again because the power of the dollar is one seventh what it was. The only thing keeping Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota from being in the same boat as SD are their vast fossil reserves, nothing else. They even have reservations.
"It's not just SD either, it's a national trend as single parent families are on the rise along with welfare dependency. It goes hand in hand." Yup, sure does along with total population of the country, and a lot of other trends.
And finally this."Those smart enough are pursuing the careers that pay the best in their areas. Not every job will pay the same in every state. Make yourself needed and you can set your price."
What the hell are you talking about? The three statements don't even support each other. The only one that makes sense is "Not every job will pay the same in every state."The other two have no relevance in a real discussion about South Dakota.
Why do people leave the state? It would be a different answer for everyone, but it all boils down to the lyrics from " For Me And My Gal" by Sam M. Lewis, and Joe Young. ""How 'Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm? After They've Seen Paree."
Just substitute South Dakota for farm, and the Twin Cities for Paree and you have your answer. Until you can make the farm more like Paree nothing will change in this state.
Did the governor waist our money. It sure looks like it to me. He could have gone west and found workers instate but is making a show of trying to get those back that left in the first place. Whose loyalty are you looking for Governor?
The Blindman
Two things:
1. "What would you have him do?" is a supremely lame response.
2. "If you delay having kids, you won't have them at all" erroneously supposes that (a) all people want kids, and (b) that everyone having kids is always, unquestionably a good thing.
I don't mean to pick on any one commenter, but those things stuck out at me. Then again, it's late. Maybe it's just me needing sleep.
SD has less population than Minnesota's largest city of Minneapolis. Like I said before, SD is no match in terms of power compared to its eastern neighbor.
" If you are living below the poverty level you have no lifestyle just a life. Your talk of "a first home," let alone a dream home, shows how out of touch you are with what most people in this state are going through."
Really? Here I thought owning a home was part of the American dream. Housing and building sales are up in the area. "Most People".....more like some. I think you may be confusing Detroit with SD. It isn't bad here at all.
"Again because the power of the dollar is one seventh what it was."
Yeah, and printing more money and artificially propping up the economy will only help that situation. Next, people will whine because interest rates will be similar to the levels in the 80's and we are entitled to something better.....or at least people will think they are entitled to lower rates.
"Yup, sure does along with total population of the country, and a lot of other trends."
Yeah, because as the population increases, so should the percentage of those dependent on welfare. Really? Your attempt to downplay my obvious connection makes no sense whatsoever.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
I guess the next time I am west river I can let them know I found some bigger whiners than corn farmers. It amazes me how unambitious people are and how they expect things to just fall into place no matter where they are located. The poor me mentality continues, as if it is entirely out of their control. Cry me a river Bill.
Cory, I feel single parent families are just one of the causes for increased welfare dependency.
Gman-
It's actually much worse than just being behind Minnesota and other surrounding states. If you compare the investment rate in long term growth areas like education, infrastructure, etc. of SD vs the surrounding states you'd find that SD is vastly behind.
So, if we just maintain our current efforts indefinitely we're going to keep falling further behind.
The question isn't how to best reallocate current resources, but is are we forward looking enough to substantially increase investment rates.
Tony, you're on to something. What do you think was one of the many reasons I left the Rushmore State for the Beaver State?
I've said it a hundred times before. All one has to do is look at who's been running SD for the last 30+ years and it becomes easy to see why we're perennially in dead last place in most everything.
It's hard to believe Daugaard would be stupid enough to go to a union friendly, labor friendly, FAR better paying state to see if at least some people would be stupid enough to come to a state that's well known for its vehemently anti union, anti-labor and anti- worker's rights outlook. The Right To Work For Table Scraps law isn't going to attract anyone but the desperate and the stupid. What rational person is going to leave an excellent paying job with great benefits in MN to come to this backwater and work for next to nothing in an anti-everything atmosphere? Republicans what you to believe that working like a slave for slave wages and no benefits is a good thing, while demanding anything better is a mortal sin. It's NOT.
SD has to stop being stupid. Until voters smarten up and rid Pierre of the Republican rats infesting the place, it's never going to change here. You'd think people would wise up after so long. There are almost no worker rights in SD, and the GOP is hell bent on destroying all unions, all collective bargaining, and all gains made in the workplace over the last 100 years.
WISE UP, SD! Working for next to nothing all your life and retiring with the same thing isn't something to be proud of. I don't what your Great Grandaddy told you. It's no crime to make a GOOD living and being able to put food on your table, and it's no crime to unionize in order to loosen the purse strings of SD's cheapskate employers. Companies come here for two things. They can pay workers peanuts and exploit them in any manner they care to. It's time it STOPPED.
Grow a backbone, voters. Get rid of the GOP in SD. Let's move the state out of the pockets of the filthy rich and give it back to the middle class. Always being in last place, no matter what the idiots in Pierre want you to believe, is NOT a good thing.
SD is a nice place to live, I agree, but ONLY if you don't have to make a living. If you're retired, it's not bad at all. If you can afford to live in the Black Hills, even better. But to have to struggle all your working life isn't a badge of honor.
Ken's right.
Ken is exactly right.
DB I stand behind my post, lets see if you can do the same. You said this. " Funny you mention India, I've taken outsourced jobs from there and brought them back in the country. "
Were you talking about SD or just the country? Tell us exactly what those jobs were and where they were located. I have a feeling that we are talking about two different things here. You are talking about jobs that pay higher then a living wage, and I'm talking about SD. After all the post was about SD.
Nope not Whining at all. I've had a good life here on Pass Creek. I had a very successful dog business. I got to hunt my whole life for a living and not many people can say that. At the same time I took care of an uncle that died from cancer, and a mom with congestive heart failure and I still had time to pay the taxes that meant that someone else's kids could go to school. That's not to damn bad for a blind man. I'm willing to bet a good some of money that you couldn't do that in your wildest dreams.
Pay close attention to what I have to say here. Most of the people that you are belittling can work you under the table doing manual labor. If you don't believe it come on out, I have some post holes that need to be dug in some places that a mounted digger cant get to.
Of course you could always hire someone else to do it for you, I suspect that is the way you do things anyway.
Well that's enough for now. Disrespect intended DB.
The Blindman
" Most of the people that you are belittling can work you under the table doing manual labor. "
First off, don't confuse the truth with belittling. If someone works for minimum wage as an adult, they made some pretty crappy decisions in life. Pointing out jobs require very little intelligence or showing anyone with a working body could do them is not belittling. I did those jobs at times and if someone told me that, I'd agree. Speaking of manual labor jobs, most anyone can run a shovel. Grunt work, something I did all through college working landscaping and construction($15-$24/hr). Damn good money for a college kid. And no, I don't pay anyone to do my grunt work for me. Drive by my place and see the retaining walls and landscaping I have done in the past week. I may be book smart, but I can handle manual labor just like the rest.
Now, to counter in this dick measuring contest.
Manual labor, low wage grunt work.....that's what drove me to build my business and put software in hospitals and assisted living facilities all over the Midwest. And yes, I've brought jobs back from Pune, India to little ol Madison SD.
"Disrespect intended DB"
I come to expect that from the clowns around here. You guys take everything so damn personal and seem to think differing opinions warrant name-calling and personal attacks. Pointing out that low wage jobs will always exist and that not everyone can have their own home or a big family and kids doesn't warrant this type of response. The reality of life isn't pretty and I'm not one to sugarcoat it.
The state is financed by video loottery, alcoholism and the federal government all the while holding water for ransom. Yippee.
"Manual labor, low wage grunt work.....that's what drove me to build my business and put software in hospitals and assisted living facilities all over the Midwest. And yes, I've brought jobs back from Pune, India to little ol Madison SD. "
Yes and I asked for specifics. What jobs would those be exactly?
You were talking about west river being a bunch of whiners. Now you moved the subject matter to Madison, which side of the river do you want to talk about first? And where west river can you find jobs that pay what you made in construction?
"Now, to counter in this dick measuring contest."
Sorry I'm not into that kind of thing. What I am into is finding jobs that pay a living wage for people that want to work here in the west end of the state.
"Pointing out that low wage jobs will always exist and that not everyone can have their own home or a big family and kids doesn't warrant this type of response."
Yes it does. You seem to like life the way it is now with cheap labor and a life style for you and only you. I'm looking at something else, a chance to live a comfortable life for the majority of the people that reside in this state. Right now that isn't a possibility.
" I don't pay anyone to do my grunt work for me. Drive by my place and see the retaining walls and landscaping I have done in the past week."
Please don't confuse a little landscaping with actual hard work. You could stop and rest any time you wanted to. Most that work hard for someone else don't get that opportunity. Try ranching sometime for a decade or two and then get back to me.
The Blindman
"Yes and I asked for specifics. What jobs would those be exactly?"
Really, it's none of your business, but I worked with a team of 12 engineers from a company in India, which I worked to get dropped and brought on a couple designers, marketers, and a few programmers. There wasn't a job for less than 50k. I simply mentioned west river because those guys love to give corn farmers a hard time. I've done the farm/ranch thing growing up. I used to clean bins out after they were unloaded and made a killing. Just don't touch the walls on a hot day or you'll fry. And yes, your continual attempts to deny my skills at working hard or manual labor by one-upping me is called a dick measuring contest. Loiseau Construction out of Flandreau gave me my first construction job in SD and I started at $22/hr, $33/hr for overtime. I was 19 and helped build the Redfield ethanol plant, Huron Walmart, and I-29 from the Clear Lake exit to Watertown. I know how to do manual labor and I've done plenty of it, but I'd rather work smarter than harder. I pay my workers and contractors more than a fair wage. The idea that I want low wage jobs and cheap labor is complete bullshit. I just know we can't pay grunt workers the same as those that take some intelligence. There will always be a hierarchy with those at the top and bottom. That is not insulting to point out.
"grunt workers"....I find that demeaning and disgusting. I was a teacher for 30 years. For most of those years I made LESS than $20,000 a year. It's a career that was a "calling" not a climb the ladder to a million dollar pension job. DB you worked for $22 and hour....in the area of SD I live, almost nobody makes that kind of money. That's how much SD values its teachers and the education of children. Reading the comments here was akin to watching the dog chase its own tail. The only one that makes any sense and is looking to move down a road to improving things in this State is Ken Atwood....but the Republicans run such smear/scare tactics campaigns in this State with an ungodly amount of money that they scare the voters into voting for them. We don't even need to question where that money comes from. I just shook my head in dismay when Governor Do-No-Good went to the MOA to act like an idiot. I wonder how come the local SD press didn't say "What the hell?" Maybe because they're afraid of the Republican Party, too.
If it's none of our business, DB, don't raise it as an unsubstantiable argument in an attempt to support your argument.
Carrie, you appear to have identified a key problem with the South Dakota media. The power structure—the leaders in law, policy, media, business, etc.—are so in-bred that we can't count on them to act as independent watchdogs or checks on each others' power.
If Dakota Roots worked the way it should, it could help shake up that in-bred culture. Bringing more immigrants would shake up the power-gene pool. But I worry that our economic development efforts serve only to bring more people who will support the existing power structure. They come because of the ideological points South Dakota sells: low taxes, low wages, low regulation. I'm just speculating and would love to see some in-depth demographic surveys of the folks who come thanks to the efforts of Dakota Roots and other GOED recruitment efforts, but I fear they lean Republican. And how can they not when they say, "Wow! We moved to South Dakota, and Dennis Daugaard handed us a big tax rebate! We can't go against him!" Where immigration should stir the pot, perhaps the immigration into South Dakota only dilutes political dissent further.
If you want to change the balance of power in Pierre, then candidates are going to have to run in contests where the Republican runs unopposed for office.
Indeed, Michael, and my concern is that our current recruitment efforts are not drawing the kind of people who would run for office to change the balance of power.