Let’s do the Toby Doeden jitterbug. He’s got all the moves.

Toby Doeden has been fast-talking around the issues for months now. So quickly and deftly does he change positions that listening to him talk is like watching the lady above jitterbugging her way around a dance floor.

Here are some of his position changes on the topics he raised earlier in the campaign.:

• Eliminating property taxes.  Last December he said he wants to completely eliminate property taxes. He said, “farmers, ranchers, small business owners are being crippled by property taxes . . . we have to get in line and start the process to completely eliminate  property taxes.” Nowhere in his discussion did he indicate that property taxes would be selectively eliminated and that only some property taxpayers would be singled out for the elimination process.

  But now that his plan to “completely eliminate property taxes” has been ridiculed as “magical thinking,” Doeden is jitterbugging his way into what he’s pretending is a clarification. Now he’s saying property tax elimination is only for homeowners. If that’s the case, why was his original plan developed to help “farmers, ranchers and small business owners?” He was either scamming those folks into thinking they’d get a break on taxes, or somebody gave him an education on how South Dakota’s tax system actually operates. 

• Taxing trusts that operate in South Dakota. In a South Dakota Public Broadcasting interview last year, Doeden said, “South Dakota is the friendliest place for the richest people in the world to park their money. We have the most money sitting in blind trusts of any state in the country. You know who number two is? Nevada ... if we just raised our fees to be tied for the lowest in the country, we would generate massive amounts of money. I’m talking tens of millions of dollars.” 

  Since then, Doeden’s plan was hit with a broadside of criticism, coming from experts in The Dakota Scout,  Dakota War College, and here at The Standard. The prospect of South Dakota losing out on the revenues generated by trusts leaving the state because of a surcharge finally dawned on Doeden and his campaign. Following that barrage of reality, Doeden this week told SDPB, “why would I get rid of trusts? Trusts are one of the greatest things for South Dakotans.”  

  This walkback is a jitterbug with some boogie-woogie thrown in.

• Touting a poll when it showed him leading then slamming the same pollsters when they showed him behind. When results from the widely followed Emerson College poll  showed Doeden ahead last May, he couldn’t contain his delight, even boasting that “our internal polling looks even better.”

  Then last week when the same pollsters showed him trailing incumbent Larry Rhoden, he blasted the outfit, saying that “the paid-off media is  attempting to influence the outcome of this election with a very fake poll.”

Doeden’s inconsistency makes for some of the poorest message management I’ve seen. It creates the sense of a “let’s make it up as we go along” campaign and confuses voters. Watching him water down some of his strongest rhetoric regarding property taxes and trust funds makes for a fascinating look at a strong-willed, shoot-from-the-lip candidate who hasn’t grasped the value of coherence.  

Dancing around the issues with a jitterbugging style may well lead to his political undoing, a not altogether terrible outcome.

Let’s boogie!

John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.    

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons

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