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Leadership South Dakota Apps Due Friday: Chance to Enhance Statewide Community?

[adapted from my latest South Dakota Magazine column!]

Back in March, I looked at Leadership South Dakota and wondered if the program might just be the power elites herding our future leaders into the proper good-old-boy pens.

Good old boy and Leadership South Dakota leader Rick Melmer recently gave me a shout. He said he's been asked if Leadership South Dakota is just a pro-Republican training camp. He says no way. Melmer has honest-to-goodness Democrats working on the project, like former DWU president and Janklow challenger Jim Beddow.

And Tom Oster, Melmer's co-leader on the project? Democrat. His grandpa Henry J. Oster served as a Democratic legislator from Davison County for 20 years. Tom Oster served on the County Commission in Democratic hotbed Brown County between 1986 and 1992.

[Bonus note for Rep. Stace Nelson: Governor Mike Rounds appointed Democrat Oster to be Secretary of Education... which in GOP primary land shows that Rounds doesn't want to abolish government control of education; he wants Democrats to run it! Aaaaahhhh!]

Oster tells me the goal of Leadership South Dakota is not to build better Republicans or Democrats but better leaders. Oster says that, given how hard it is to get people to run for office, he'd be happy if Leadership South Dakota produced a larger crop of candidates for school boards, city councils, and state legislature. But filling ballot slots is not the program's primary purpose. Oster hopes Leadership South Dakota builds a network of leaders in many fields, from many backgrounds, who develop a broader, shared understanding of South Dakota as one big community and who can use their new knowledge and connections to do good things for South Dakota. And everyone reading this blog wants good things for South Dakota (even Mr. Kurtz!).

We can still offer a valid power critique of this program. Check the schedule: students will hear from a lot of political and business leaders, but I don't know yet if their agenda will include much interaction with environmentalists, human rights activists, or other community organizers who might offer lessons in leadership from someplace other than the Chamber of Commerce banquet table. Leadership South Dakota participants will spend one of their seven sessions on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Kyle; program leaders should make sure participants have more opportunities to hear from the margins as well as the center of power.

Melmer tells me Leadership South Dakota still has some spots available. Apps are due this Friday, May 30, but the form is brief, just three pages, no long essays. Given what Melmer and Oster have told me about their intentions, I'm willing to encourage interested parties to pick up an app and take a shot at Leadership South Dakota.

I also encourage those interested parties to live-Tweet their Leadership South Dakota sessions and blog about the conversations they have with our leaders and each other so we all may learn with them and offer our input.

46 Comments

  1. cahl 2014.05.28

    interesting, i was notified that someone has submitted my name for this exact program. hhhhhmmmmm

  2. Steve Sibson 2014.05.28

    Melmer is working hand in hand with British Anglo-Saxon one-world imperialist Sir Michel Barger to implement Common Core. Again, both Democratic and GOP "leaders" are working together. The cat and dog fighting is just show.

    https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/tag/sir-michael-barber/

  3. Steve Sibson 2014.05.28

    Sorry, it is "Sir Michael Barber".

  4. larry kurtz 2014.05.28

    Clearly, cleavage is the best strategy, a little black dress with nosebleed heels look really nice together.

  5. What the hell, Larry?

    Cory...this looks lame ass. I'm sorry. $3,000 for a leadership conference that pays lip service to tribal economic development? State Ag? Oh, I bet they'd love to see a small farms leader from DRA at that table. More crony bullshit.

    True leadership is happening with the likes of young entrepreneurs like the guys at 9Clouds or Think29 or any of the other young professional development jazz.

    I haven't a thing against white guys trying to make money, except when they have their heads up their ass.

  6. larry kurtz 2014.05.28

    sorry, Tasi: channelling Annette Bosworth and Kristi Noem.

  7. For all their faults, I've never seen them dress other than professionally and typical of most professional South Dakota women. Not sure to what you're referring.

  8. larry kurtz 2014.05.28

    Tasi: Cory invoked me in his post maybe hoping I'd apply for the camp. A million years ago I went to Deadweird as a cigarette girl in a beard, a cocktail dress and nosebleed heels. At 6-2 in stilettos it made some local history.

  9. Bree S. 2014.05.28

    I was actually brainstorming tribal economic development the other day, and I got to thinking about freelancer.com. I wonder if you could rent out computer cubicles for cheap so that people could do website development, graphic design, that kind of thing. Then a person wouldn't even need to own a computer and it's an industry based on reviews and talent/experience, not university degrees.

  10. If you haven't grown up with computers, fat chance you're going to be able to use one for those sorts of things.

    Some folks have, to be sure, but it isn't simple. Sustainable Dakota does sustainable media, for sure, but we're also offer small biz marketing strategy, website development and training--and I struggle to find help.

  11. Bree S. 2014.05.28

    True. Access to the internet is a great equalizer though. There's lots of classes available online, I'm sure there has to be online programs to teach people graphic design/website development. Then you don't need infrastructure and computers aren't that expensive these days.

  12. I absolutely agree that it can be a great equalizer. I work everyday to those ends, but I think you underestimate some of the challenges.

  13. Bree S. 2014.05.28

    Need a job for a car, need a car for a job.. that's the old joke. Can't fix everything for someone starting from the bottom. But if there's no jobs at all and you don't have an education and someone provides you with the tools you need to make your own way.. maybe a person would be willing to walk.

  14. G-Man 2014.05.28

    In other words, he's working on building a new and improved and more sophisticated "Good Old Boys & Girls" club.

  15. Dr. Math 2014.05.28

    If you look at the news page, you will see that the development of Leadership South Dakota was in partnership with Dakota Educational Consulting, http://www.leadershipsouthdakota.com/news/. Guess who owns/runs Dakota Educational Consulting? Yes, Melmer and Oster.
    In fact, you may find it interesting that the BOR institutions are all being forced to go to a year of student teaching. Who started this idea of a year-long residency? Rick Melmer did while he was the Dean of Education at USD. Last summer he resigned the position as Dean at USD and is now consulting for the BOR on the year-long residency program. No, I am not kidding! South Dakota is one "good old boys club," and it is getting old.

  16. G-Man 2014.05.28

    Yep, Dr. Math, pretty much. Just more wool to pull over the itchy eyes! LOL And, you know, I really don't buy a lot of the stories on either blogsite, conservative or liberal. These blogs run to sell an agenda back and forth and continue to play political games with each other while the real folks, like us, actually have to work everyday to make ends meet. I'm not fooled by this crap anymore and certainly nobody's pawn (fool).

  17. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.05.28

    A year teacher internship? Yay! It's a great idea for better teachers. No longer will teachers have a couple months in a classroom before being dropped into a class by themselves.

    Yes indeed, one year internships is good for teachers.

  18. Dr. Math 2014.05.28

    Deb, I am not opposed to the idea of a year-long student teaching experience. However, I am opposed to it being forced on every BOR institution. In addition, the decision was made without input from classroom teachers, pre-service teachers, and school administrators. It is particularly hard for SDSU students where the students earn a content degree rather than an education degree and take a lot more credits in their content area.

  19. Bree S. 2014.05.28

    The BOR is the most corrupt institution in the state of South Dakota.

  20. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.05.29

    I'm not certain about your terms Dr. Math. I think you're saying that a history major, for example, takes more history classes than an education major. Right?

    It's been light years since I earned my BS in Education, with a major in PE, minor in social studies. (Yep, typical jock degree. I just wanted to be a coach.) It wasn't a lack of content knowledge that was the struggle. It was how to teach/manage/document/grade/discipline/etc., that I felt the least competent about. My first year buddies at that school felt the same.

    The internships would give the interns

  21. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.05.29

    [Damn!]

    time to learn those critical skills.

  22. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.05.29

    Bree, please say more about the BOR.

  23. mike from iowa 2014.05.29

    What was that they said about dog sleds-if your not the leader the view never changes. Sodak has had virtually the same "leaders" for forty years and one wonders why the view never changes.

  24. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.29

    Dr. Math, while I like the idea of student teachers having more time to practice in the classroom, I agree that a one-year internship increases the cost of entry into the field and makes it harder for undergrads to focus on their content degree—in other words, to graduate knowing as much as they can about the field of study they will pass on to their students.

  25. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.29

    Tasi, there is great potential for this program to become just another prop to the status quo, indoctrinating more good old boys to the club. That indoctrination may transcend the partisan divide and be more about worldview: upper-income white folks in suits (or Daugaard-approved pressed plaid shirts and jeans) absorbing the messages of people in power instead of interacting with and looking to empower those who aren't already at the table. Melmer and Oster's challenge is to look outside the soup in which they usually swim. I'm open to seeing if they are able to meet that challenge in their first year.

    But indeed, I don't have $3,000 to spend watching their efforts in person.

  26. Who does.

    I do wish them the best of luck, but I think I will definitely pass.

  27. Douglas Wiken 2014.05.29

    I won't mention names, but a worker in a store where one of them shopped was amazed that the woman regent was unable to calculate a 30% discount (or a 70% sale price).

    Too many years ago when I was in student government at SDSM&T we met with regents at the time. There were a couple who were intelligent and informed, but the majority were ignorant of facts and fierce in support of irrelevant ideology or hopelessly biased in which institutions and programs they would support. Student "rights" did not exist.

  28. Douglas Wiken 2014.05.29

    I looked at their propaganda. If those conferences go for $3000, the value of the dollar really has taken a tumble.

  29. G-Man 2014.05.29

    One way to enhance your community: BE YOURSELF & THINK FOR YOURSELF. You don't need to affiliate with either political party or have a party label. You don't have to be a pawn in their games. I don't care about Democrat versus Republican and I don't care that more people are moving away from them. That's GREAT news. More Independent registration means voters have less concern about political parties and that means LESS influence from these political parties. Sounds good to me.

  30. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.30

    I live by those words, G. I've never been a great joiner.

    That said, we still need some sort of organization to help good people spread their message and get elected. In South Dakota, the Republican machine won't fall apart by itself. We need a counter-machine. We can hope that really smart Independents will jump into every election, organize their own machines de novo, and manage to grab and hold onto seats long enough to create enduring change. But that enduring change is more likely to happen if we either grab an existing machine (the Democratic party) and use it for our purposes or if we create a whole new machine (Green Party? Prairie Populists?) that can provide some continuity and ongoing support.

  31. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.30

    It's a lot more than tuition for a single undergraduate class... and with seven meetings, this program would be maybe one or two credits. Maybe that's a way individuals should look at the course: will they develop more knowledge of South Dakota business, politics, and social issues by spending $3,000 on this one course or on the dollar equivalent of courses at SDSU or USD?

  32. G-Man 2014.05.30

    I'm not "grabbing on" to the "Democratic Party Machine," I can tell you that much. If your party fails...it's not my problem and not my concern.

  33. G-Man 2014.05.30

    and vice versa with the stupid "Republican Machine." lol

  34. larry kurtz 2014.05.30

    Hey, G: where you at on the Cascadia movement?

  35. G-Man 2014.05.30

    Hey Larry, I thought you didn't care about Oregon Politics. I remember you saying not so long ago, you were going to "unsubscribe" from the Madville Times because you said this was a site for South Dakota politics. Now, you're all of sudden interested in "Cascadia?" Well, if you're interested then read what I've said before. I'm not going reiterate and debate with you when you haven't been interested until this point. Bye.

  36. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.30

    (G, that was Lanny, not Larry!)

  37. larry kurtz 2014.05.30

    I'm looking at property near Newport. Cory and i had a come to Barack moment. My daughters live in Rapid City at risk to the GOP and the Anthropocene. Simple, really.

  38. Kal Lis 2014.05.30

    Isn't South Dakota is a little too far east to be considered part of Cascadia?

  39. G-Man 2014.05.30

    It was Lanny and not Larry who said that?

  40. G-Man 2014.05.30

    Larry, I'm the wrong person to talk with about supporting Democrats because I do not anymore. I do not support Republicans either. I support candidates who run on their own merits regardless of their party affiliation and it varies. If I choose to vote this year...AND THAT IS A BIG IF...depending on how I feel, it will be a MIX TICKET. The Democrats in Oregon have royally screwed up.

  41. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.05.30

    Lanny Stricherz got tired of his inbox filling with comments about Oregon politics. Lanny.

  42. G-Man 2014.05.30

    The ruling Democrats in Oregon are as bad or worse as the ruling Republicans in South Dakota.

  43. G-Man 2014.05.30

    Ya, I don't care what Lanny thinks. I get sick of my inbox filling up with his comments, too.

  44. Lanny V Stricherz 2014.05.30

    Well G-man since you dragged me into the conversation, I think you better go back and check, I never said that I was going to quit Madville, I just said that I didn't think that we should drag Oregon politics into a constant conversation on Madville which is primarily about SD politics.

    But as far as being independent, I agree with you, but in SD, and probably in other states, one is disenfranchised in the primary if not registered in a particular party. In SD that is the Republican party, which also has the most contests in the primaries. So even though I have been registered Democrat and Independent in the past, I have been registered Republican for the past few cycles to try to get the least offensive candidates on the ticket in the fall. Does that mean I will vote for the Republican in the fall, if it is the one that I voted for in the primary and happened to win the primary? No, not necessarily, but I may, if I still consider that person to be the best candidate to the job for which we are voting them to do.

    Until political parties are banned or until they have the power, which they have usurped taken from them, I will continue to register as I see fit.

  45. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.05.30

    I believe there is something to gain from looking at the political practices of other states. We can learn a great deal about what works and what doesn't work. SD governments on all levels work best when they are not isolationist. There is an uncountable number of ways to be government. One of SD's struggles is being open to ideas from other states.

    "That won't work in SD."
    "We don't do it that way in SD."

    You've all heard, and perhaps even said those or similar words. They usually come quickly and dismissively, without thorough examination. That's not good for anyone, singly or collectively, any time or anywhere.

  46. Lynn 2014.05.30

    G-man are there any serious 3rd or other political parties in Oregon besides the Dems and Republicans? I voted for Nader years ago and believe in the long term we need a multi-party system to create more competition.

Comments are closed.