Toby Doeden a problem-creator, not a problem-solver
The Republican runoff election for governor is Tuesday, July 28.
ALL taxpayers are paying for an election over 200,000 voters can’t participate in. Outrageous.
I drafted the letter below to Toby Doeden. Not going to send it via snail mail. Based on current postal service performance he might not get it until August.
Dear Toby,
We have never met. I have not been in the same room with you. Yet I feel I know you.
When you started campaigning, I thought you were interesting. Glib. Mouthy. A “tell-it-like-it-is” guy.
After reading and hearing quotes attributed to you from reliable print and electronic media sources, talking to people who have been in the room with you, and hearing from folks I know in Brown County, you have gone from interesting to, “You have got to be kidding me.”
You got 31% of the vote in the Republican primary. 31%. Pretty good for a newcomer.
However, 70 percent of Republican voters didn’t want you.
You have mocked the current governor, insulted the two other candidates, referring to Dusty Johnson as “evil.”
Your proposal on replacing local property taxes is at best pandering without offering sound replacement revenue.
Your adoration of Trump is misplaced. He has done harm to people in South Dakota. He doesn’t care about farmers. He doesn’t like women or minorities.
Toby, you do NOT sound like a statesman, you do NOT sound like a politician, you DO sound like what is commonly called a “political hack.”
Yes, you have plenty of supporters. Some people are drawn to your type of behavior.
However, the 70 percent who didn’t vote for you are probably not going to vote for you July 28. Too many insults, no actual plans to deal with running our state, except you say, “I’m going to fix it.”
Your language is NOT going to lead to victory, even in your own party.
I know many people who have now registered Republican. Not to support you, but to vote for your opponent. They don’t want your type of politics leading our state.
I don’t know what your childhood was like. Were you bullied? Or were you the bully?
You can’t change what happened to you or what you did. You can change what you do.
So far, all I have seen is aggressive, punitive, mean-spirited behavior. The behavior of a bully.
That is not going to work in South Dakota.
There is a saying that seems to fit. “All hat, no cattle.” Others have said worse about you.
I don’t want anything bad to happen to you personally.
Toby, you do not sound like a problem-solver. You sound like a problem-creator.
South Dakotans deserve much more than that.
The independent Rick Knobe is a former Sioux Falls mayor and a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard.
Photo: John Tsitrian
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