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I am a fiscal conservative and I believe that state government should not spend more than it takes in. During the past two sessions of the legislature, I voted with the majority of both houses to pass balanced budgets that did not raise taxes or dip into reserves. This has preserved more options as we recover from the world-wide recession.

I further believe that all branches of state government, along with the department and agency heads, need to continue to work together to find efficiencies so that services can be maintained, but at a savings.

By comparison, we in South Dakota stayed somewhat insulated, but definitely not immune to the devastating effects of the recession. Many of our sister states have budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions … or billions … of dollars, while we have been fortunate to keep our financial problems manageable.

Our state is not experiencing a robust recovery as promised by the federal aid handed down by Congress. As a result, we must continue to be frugal and prudent in our dealings with the financial situation of the State of South Dakota.

My wife and I are graduates of Lead High School, class of '76 and '75 respectively, as are our children, class of '01, '02, and '04. Our oldest grandson will begin pre-school this fall in this same school system, and I believe that he will receive a first class education, just as his grandparents, mother and uncles did before him.

I feel that we must continue to work hard at helping the educational systems in our state. Although the past sessions of the legislature could not move more dollars toward the state aid to education formula, we continued to support schools without cutting back. In addition, we must maintain the course of giving more local control to the school boards and allow them budget flexibility in tough times.

I am also an advocate of the creation of certified technology parks or sites to enhance knowledge and tech-based economic development.

Despite the tough budget situation, it is important to continue to provide a sales and property tax refund program for elderly and disabled. Along those lines, I would like to see the continuation of property tax exemptions for certain disabled veterans or their surviving spouse.

As 2009 began, and the recession got worse, Governor Mike Rounds needed to re-do his budget proposal for FY10. The economy had taken a toll on South Dakota and the Governor was looking not only for cuts, but also where he could find additional revenue. Unfortunately for Deadwood, he looked to the Gaming Business.

He proposed to increase the annual, per device fee of $2000 to $3000. This could have and would have crippled the Deadwood industry.

As a rookie legislature, I was able to sit down with the Governor's staff and reach a compromise of Deadwood providing $1M, instead of the $4M he had looked for. We did this by doing away with the increase in license fees and instead placing an additional 1% tax on gaming revenue. In addition, this allowed for the gaming businesses to pay as you go, instead of placing a heavy fee on the businesses each July 1.

The past legislature changed wind energy easements and wind energy leases to facilitate future growth in the wind energy industry while protecting landowner rights and I would like to see this continued and enhanced. In addition, the increased opportunity to utilize renewable fuels through the South Dakota Blender Pump Program, which offers funds to fueling stations that helps defray the cost of installing ethanol blender pumps, must also be continued and enhanced.

In addition to playing a role in the ongoing development of the underground laboratory,I helped insure that the project continued with necessary funding after being threatened at the legislative level.

After the House Democrats TWICE voted to kill the funding that insured that the Sanford Lab would continue until the National Science Foundation is ready to take over in 2011, I led the fight to save it. On the last day of the regular legislative session, I led the testimony before Joint Appropriations Committee that placed an amendment on the general budget. This was the ONLY action taken by the Committee before recess and made certain those funds remained available to the project.

Recent legislation and new laws have done a great deal to make government more accessible to everyone. Not only do minutes and agendas need to be provided to the public, but all handouts and action-materials must be available as well. In addition, most sub-committees of all levels of government throughout the state need to abide by these stipulations. It is now much easier to find and understand state contracts and bidding and will continue to advocate openness when needed, while still protecting certain necessary areas of confidentiality.

When I took the helm as Mayor, the City of Lead was just beginning to feel the effects of closing the Homestake Gold Mine. Sales and Excise taxes were extremely low and almost the entire budget of the City was funded thru a hefty property tax…almost 19 mils. Today, the mil levy is half of what is was 8 years ago, while the city's general fund budget has remained the same.

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