SD Dist 33 State House Gen Election: Howard, Johnson, Marsland, and Hadd

South Dakota legislative District 33 has  a general election for State Representative. District 33 appears to go west from the west side of the Rapid City metro and includes Ashland Heights, Blackhawk, Box Elder, Colonial Pine Hills, Johnson Siding and Summerset.

Term-limited Republican incumbent Rep Jacqueline Sly (R, Dist 33) unsuccessfully tried for the Senate seat and Republican incumbent Rep Scott Craig (R, Dist 33) is not seeking reelection. The Republicans had a three-way primary between  Taffy Howard, David Johnson and Mike Buckingham. Howard and Johnson won that election. The Democrats have Jim Hadd and Ethan Marsland seeking these vacated seats.

Here is a brief look at all four candidates.  The candidates below are listed in the order they will appear on the general election ballot. I’ve also included the links I could find to help voters learn more about each candidate. For candidates with a legislative history I look at a few pieces of legislation prime sponsored. For candidates with no legislative history I look at the issues I find for them online.

*** It should be noted this is NOT a scorecard. This post only looks at some of the legislative priorities of these candidates. These legislative priorities may or may not have any bearing on how the candidates actually vote on legislation.

Taffy Howard

Taffy Howard (R)
Website – Facebook – Ballotpedia – VoteSmart – SoDakLiberty

Taffy Howard has a website and Facebook page available for voters to learn about her. Since Howard was in the primary election I will copy/paste what I wrote about her into this post:

Howard has an issues page on her website. It is split into Gun Rights, Family Values, Open Government, Limited Government, Taxes and Medicaid Expansion.

Howard’s open government section has a section that has many parents upset:

 Will Rogers said, “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.”  We should not live in fear that every time our legislators meet they are going to raise our taxes.  The hard working people of South Dakota deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money and enjoy the freedom that entails.

Until now, the state of South Dakota has chosen not to participate in the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.  The pressure to expand has not let up though and it is an issue still being debated.  I am going to focus this article on the three main reasons why I am opposed to the current proposal to expand Medicaid in the state of South Dakota.  Two of the reasons are the same ones that Gov. Daugaard gave when he opposed it in 2012.  First, the expansion will be entirely of able-bodied adults.  Second, the federal government is notoriously untrustworthy when it comes to paying its bills.  The third reason is that since I, like everyone else, am a federal taxpayer as well as a state taxpayer, the shifting of financial responsibility from the state to the federal government benefits me in no way.

David Johnson

David Johnson (R)
Website – Facebook – Ballotpedia – VoteSmart – SoDakLiberty
SDPB Audio: 2016

David Johnson doesn’t have any activity on his campaign Facebook since the primary. But he does have a website with issues listed. Here is a copy/paste of what I wrote about Johnson for the primary election:

Johnson was a candidate for State Senate in the 2014 election. He just barely lost the primary election against Sen Phil Jensen (R, Dist 33). Now he is seeking the House seat. Johnson does have an issues page on his website. They are just a series of one-line stances and he doesn’t expand upon them. Here is the stances listed:

• Responsible, Reduced Taxation
• Limited, Accountable Government
• 100 % Pro-Life and Traditional Family Values
• Defend Gun Rights and Preserve the 2nd Amendment
• Protection and Defense of our Constitution
• Locally-Controlled, Quality Education
• 100% Support of our State and National Military

On the same page he calls himself a Reagan Conservative Republican. On a different part of his website Johnson does expand a little bit:

I feel my history in the military and my experiences and education in our great South Dakota college institutions gives me some very specific insight on what it means to be a leader and the importance of high-quality, locally-controlled education at the K-12 levels.

Johnson seems to be running on pretty standard Republican stances to win the primary.

Ethan Marsland

Ethan Marsland (D)
Facebook – Ballotpedia – VoteSmart – SoDakLiberty
SDPB Audio: 2016

Ethan Marsland doesn’t offer a lot about his issues or legislative priorities on his campaign website. But he does have an SDPB interview available. For this post I will focus on what he says in that interview.

In the interview Marsland said District 33 is one of the “worse gerrymandered districts in the state”. When asked about a legislative priority Marsland noted he is a big fan of redistricting ballot question Amendment T. He notes that because of how North Rapid City is gerrymandered people are represented by elected officials that are not part of their community.

Jobs, infrastructure and education are what Marsland noted as the three biggest obligations for government.  Marsland says education is often addressed in Pierre, but in a sub-par manner. In particular Marsland said the 1/2 cent sales tax increase should have been a full cent increase; while also dropping the sales tax on food.

Marsland says the roads and bridges need a lot of work. He says this is mostly because of mismanagement of money “by the party in power”.

Finally, Marlsand called out the governor for economic development programs that simply don’t work to create jobs. He believes small business and farmers should not have such a large burden through property taxes. He believes that should be shifted to large corporations.

Jim Hadd

Jim Hadd (D)
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Ballotpedia – VoteSmart –SoDakLiberty
SDPB Audio: 2016

Jim Hadd has a press release from back in April which includes hints of what his legislative priorities are. In that press release he says:

Those vast wind-swept stretches of prairie, with rich history of ranching and farming serve as inspiration for Hadd, who looks to the tech industry as a compass for South Dakota — wind power, solar energy, and new infrastructure that supports a future sure to utilize the Internet and burgeoning technologies in these industries, as well as in the mainstays of ranching and agriculture.

“We have space, sun, and wind! Let’s build an infrastructure that captures this energy,” Hadd says. “We have enormous potential to move South Dakota forward as a leader in agricultural technology and with the ranching industry.”

An interesting part of Hadd’s website is that he “identifies with fiscally conservative Democrats, and supports responsible gun ownership.” Further down in the release Hadd says this:

“As a father,” Hadd explains. “I want to demonstrate to my sons that inclusiveness is the future; as a business owner, I am concerned and frustrated that tax dollars continue to fund dead-end legislation. This is a failure of leadership,” he says. “The decisions, or lack of decisions our legislators make cost actual tax dollars – your money and my money. We should be working together on legislation that benefits South Dakota taxpayers.”

Perhaps if elected he will explain further what he means about dead-end legislation.

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