Last updated on 2014.04.21
...um, actually...
Democratic candidate Joe Lowe has released a video summarizing his leadership experience (hey: is Susan Wismer on YouTube yet?). His top three points are reasonably impressive: mayor of a city of a hundred thousand, first state fire chief in 2001, and incident commander from Yankton to Dakota Dunes during the 2011 Missouri River floods. He spends a minute describing his leadership role in building the big Dakota Dunes levee:
I was an incident commander. I was very fortunate to be picked as an incident commander for one of the 33 teams in the nation that goes to incidents of national significance. And when we look at that, I'll frame it for you, that's like the general [chuckles] on an incident. And at that point I managed, I'll give you an example, we managed 80 miles of flooding, the river, from Yankton to Dakota Dunes, five branches. I was very proud of my team, and those were your sons and daughters that we led into that flood fight. That river was flowing 165,000 cubic feet per second, greater than Niagara Falls, and we beat the river. We beat the river. We built a levee my team, this team, and with those guys, they built a levee six miles long, eleven feet tall, in eight days [Joe Lowe, campaign speech, posted to YouTube, 2014.02.25 ].
Lowe's central role in the 2011 Missouri flood response is well-documented. The press went to him regularly for progress reports. He did good, hard work that protected a lot of property.
But since he's a Democrat, talking about good things he's done makes him a jerk, says Republican blog Dakota War College:
Is it just me that finds that statement a little arrogant? Especially when it’s being made in a political context?
I think there were a lot of people who contributed, including the National Guard, and private contractors hired to do so. And last I recalled, Governor Daugaard led a lot of that process [Pat Powers, "Joe Lowe Taking Credit for Building Flood Levees," Dakota War College, 2014.03.02].
Pat tries to manufacture controversy where there is none. In his speech, Joe Lowe gives an accurate statement of his work as incident commander on the Missouri in 2011. He said his team, which included the folks Pat mentions, built the levees. He gives due credit to "your sons and daughters," but he commanded the daily operations that built the Dakota Dunes levee. Under his leadership, the project succeeded.
It ain't arrogance when it's the truth.
But ... but ... but ... Matt Michels was there too. He should get the credit b'cuz he's the Lt. Governor. He's a hospital lawyer so he was in charge of building the levies. He used his hospital lawyer skills to bill the he!! out of the flood waters and flat out scared the water away from SD. And Gov. Daugaard, he "led a lot of that process." How'd he lead? By putting Joe Lowe in charge. SD should put Joe Lowe in charge.
Naturally, we'd like to point out to Pat on his Dakota Narcissist College blog when he just flat out lies about a person or event -- he does it quite often. There is no correcting him, however. He simply blocks any comments that contain the truth. Thanks, Cory, for always striving to tell us the truth, for providing corrections when you've learned you may have misinformed readers, and for giving those who value honest reporting of political events an opportunity to express themselves.
Makes one shudder to think that someone with Pat Powers' mindset and lack of values at one time worked for us in Pierre.
Make no mistake, Dave: Pierre is home to hundreds of liars like Powers.
Joe and Susan-we are all for you but this is the biggie and how the right will respond.
The Republican Governors Association released an ad Monday criticizing South Carolina Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vincent Sheheen for supporting Obamacare's Medicaid expansion -- even though several of the association's members, including its chair, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), adopted the expansion in their states.
Sheheen is running to unseat South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), who turned down the expansion.
The RGA is dropping $200,000 on the ad, titled "Even More Obamacare."
"Remember this guy, Sheheen?" the ad asks. "Well first, Sheheen supported much of Obamacare. But then he refused to support the lawsuit to stop it. Now, Vincent Sheheen wants to use Obamacare for a $2 billion expansion of Medicaid in South Carolina."
The group's choice of attack is notable given that Christie chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as did seven other Republican governors: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Haley bested Sheheen in a close race for the governorship in 2010.
It is estimated that an expansion of Medicaid in South Carolina would have provided coverage to an additional 333,000 people living in the state.
sorry, the above citation is
The Huffington Post | by Samantha Lachman
Posted: 03/03/2014 10:45 am EST Updated: 03/03/2014 12:03 pm EST
Print Article
Larry is right. Powers is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to two generations worth of entrenched government bureaucrats in Pierre. They would rather lie and misrepresent the truth than see one of their buddies called out for malfeasance or give credit to a Democrat where credit is due.
And, if the levees were ineffective or faulty, who would Powers be blaming?