The pair filled in for the gubernatorial debate, which was deleted from the program when Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard dropped out due to the death of a close friend.

The secretary of state candidates are colleagues in the state Senate and are seeking the office of current Secretary Chris Nelson, who will be term-limited out of office at the end of this year.

Gant attacked Nesselhuf’s endorsement from the Secretary of State Project. The organization’s website says it “supports reform-minded Secretary of State candidates and incumbents in key battleground states.”

Gant claimed the group does not favor the use of photo identification, which would confirm a voter’s identity.

Nesselhuf said that whatever the group’s specific positions, its overall aim appears reasonable. “This is quite a conspiracy that I’m the evil genius of,” he said with intended sarcasm.

Nesselhuf said he envisions a more active role for the secretary of state’s office in distributing business information on corporate filings. He pitched it as an “economic development” idea.

Gant said the secretary of state’s office isn’t meant to delve into economic development, and that as the state’s chief election officer, he would continue to protect the integrity of the election process.

By: Ross Dolan, The Daily Republic

Jason Gant, a Republican, and Democrat Ben Nesselhuf were contacted Thursday and accepted invitations to attend The Daily Republic-Corn Palace Festival Debate, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Corn Palace. The newspaper reached out to the candidates after canceling the gubernatorial debate planned for Saturday.

Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard contacted The Daily Republic late Wednesday afternoon and informed the newspaper that he cannot attend Saturday, due to the funeral of his longtime friend, Steven Hainje. Daugaard, a Republican, was set to debate Democrat Scott Heidepriem.

The U.S. House debate between Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and her Republican challenger, Kristi Noem, will be held as planned, beginning at noon Saturday.

Gant is a resident of Sioux Falls and Nesselhuf is from Vermillion. Also in the race is Constitution Party candidate Lori Stacey, of Sioux Falls. The Daily Republic did not extend an invitation to Stacey.

The debates are free to the public. Those unable to attend can watch the debates live on The Daily Republic’s website, www.mitchellrepublic.com.

Nesselhuf, 34, is the Democratic candidate for South Dakota secretary of state. He made campaign appearances in Mitchell Wednesday, including a stop at The Daily Republic.

Nesselhuf said he is running on three issues: campaign finance reform, economic development and voter integrity.

Since the secretary of state is involved in those issues, he said the race just made sense. “It was a very natural fit for me,” Nesselhuf said.

He said since the Secretary of State’s Office collects corporate filings daily, he feels it should work with businesses, cities and local chambers of commerce to encourage communication and promote development.

As the business atmosphere evolves, people need to find new ways to work together, he said. Nesselhuf said he thinks many cities and chambers don’t even know how many businesses there are in their towns.

“We have businesses starting in kitchens, garages and online,” he said.

Since the secretary of state is the “first point of contact” for businesses, it could use that information in a positive way for cities, counties and the state as well as for businesses.

Nesselhuf said he also favors a more open system on campaign finance. Right now, South Dakota keeps far too much information private on who’s paying for campaigns, he said.

The state is the “wild west of campaign finance,” Nesselhuf said.

The state and other entities should use paper ballots to provide a clear record of elections, he said. And Nesselhuf said he also favors checking signatures on petitions to ensure valid voters have signed them.

He favors term limits for constitutional officers. That’s why Secretary of State Chris Nelson, a Republican, isn’t running for a third term.

Nesselhuf said while he didn’t want to attack Nelson, he felt the two-term secretary of state has had a poor track record with election opinions. “I can’t think of a case he has won,” he said.

Nesselhuf, a Rapid City native who lived in Chamberlain before making his home in Vermillion, is opposed by state Sen. Jason Gant, of Sioux Falls, the Republican candidate, and Lori Stacey, of Sioux Falls, the sole statewide candidate for the Constitution Party.

He said he is friends with Gant and they sit beside each other during state Senate Commerce Committee meetings. “I don’t have anything bad to say about the guy,” Nesselhuf said.

But he said Gant would continue doing business as Republicans have for years in Pierre. He and other Democrats are gambling that South Dakota voters are ready for a change.

Nesselhuf said while Gant received the Eagle Award from the South Dakota Newspaper Association — an award given for efforts on behalf of government openness — he feels he would be a stronger advocate for open government and access to public information.

“I think Jason took a very good stance in what he did — for a Republican,” he said.

Nesselhuf said he believes almost everything in state records should be open to the public.

Nesselhuf is in his third term as a state senator representing District 17. He previously served two terms in the state House from the same district.

No Democrat has been elected secretary of state since 1974, when Lorna Herseth won the last of her two terms. That doesn’t intimidate Nesselhuf, he said.

He won his first election to the Legislature just after he turned 25, defeating a well-known Republican opponent.

“We weren’t supposed to win that one, either,” Nesselhuf said.

Democrats have faced uphill runs in South Dakota in the past 30 years, but Nesselhuf said he feels they have run strong races and presented credible candidates. The “breaks” went against them, he said.

There’s a supposition that Democrats struggle to win or even compete, Nesselhuf said, adding “I don’t buy it for a minute.”

Nesselhuf said he plans to mount a strong challenge by raising money, having a strong campaign team and going door-to-door to meet voters, explaining what the secretary of state does and proving that even though he’s a Democrat, he doesn’t have “horns or a tail.”

“We go to the doorsteps,” he said.

Oh, and about that car. Nesselhuf said he’s amazed the attention his 2008 Chevrolet HHR has received since he started running.

Some have speculated he’s driving a red car because red is associated with Republicans and this has long been a GOP state. Nesselhuf said that just makes him laugh, since he just added the campaign logo on the side of the vehicle.

“That’s the color of the car,” he said.

Last October, the Democrat filed his petition to run for secretary of state.

When Nesselhuf was elected a decade ago as a representative for Clay and Turner counties, he was the youngest individual ever sworn in at the capitol.

Visiting the Press & Dakotan offices this week, the District 17 senator said he wants to continue serving the public. Its something that was instilled in him from a young age, as his parents, Ed and Diane, both founded nonprofit organizations in which he has been involved.

“This is a continuation of growing up in that mindset of giving back to the community,” he said. “This is how I’m able to give back and serve. I believe in the servant part of public servant, and I think I’ve proven that in my 10 years in the Legislature.”

In November, Nesselhuf will face off with Republican Jason M. Gant of Sioux Falls and Constitution Party candidate Lori Stacey of Sioux Falls for the position.

Nesselhuf said he believes the secretary of state’s office is important in ways that many people don’t really consider. One area he believes the department has a role to play is economic development.

“The first point of contact for any new business coming to South Dakota is the secretary of state’s office, because it is in charge of corporate filings,” Nesselhuf said.

The department now collects that information but it doesn’t make it available in ways that could truly help economic development entities, he stated. A database can be searched using the name of a company, but you cannot search by location. That’s something Nesselhuf would like to change.

“We don’t start businesses the way we used to,” he said. “Very seldom does a business come onto Main Street and open up a storefront. Now, we have businesses starting in kitchens, garages and online. I had a gentleman tell me, ‘We have businesses that start, operate for a couple of years and fail before I ever know they existed.’”

Nesselhuf said he would be willing to send out a report at regular intervals to economic development entities to inform them what new businesses have located there.

“The response to that has been overwhelming,” he stated. “(Economic developers) can’t figure out why that hasn’t happened yet.”

Making it so businesses can do their corporate filings entirely over the Internet will be another priority.

If Nesselhuf has one criticism of the way the office was run during the past eight years under Chris Nelson, it’s that it didn’t always err on the side of the public.

“Basically, when you see a gray area, you err on the side of enfranchising people rather than disenfranchising them,” Nesselhuf said. “I think Chris has largely been on the other side of that. He has said the rules are the rules.”

One recent case Nesselhuf pointed to was when Nelson disallowed petition signatures to refer the smoking ban to a vote because notaries public listed incorrect information on their notary seal expiration dates on petitions.

Nesselhuf said he would also like to make campaign finance information more readily available to the public and would continue the office’s good track record on customer service.

“It’s an incredibly important office,” he said. “I’ve served in the Legislature for 10 years now. In that time, I’ve discovered that a lot of the issues I’m passionate about: campaign finance reform, elections protection and economic development … are either caused by or can be resolved by the secretary of state.”

State Sens. Julie Bartling of Burke and Ben Nesselhuf of Vermillion are frustrated that too much vital information about government operations has been veiled in secrecy for too many years.

Bartling is seeking the Democratic nomination for state auditor, while Nesselhuf is a candidate for secretary of state. The two spoke Thursday at the Beadle County Democratic Forum in Huron.

Bartling, who served as Gregory County auditor for 18 years prior to her election to the state House in 2000, said it is difficult to get a handle on the variety of government accounts, where they are deposited and what they are being used for.

Former state Treasurer Dick Butler attempted to shine a light on how some state funds were being handled and was muzzled by the Legislature, she said.

“We introduced a bill this year to expand the authority of the state auditor and state treasurer to monitor public funds in local bank accounts,” Bartling said. “The bill (HB 1221) was killed on a party-line vote.”

Nesselhuf said the problems arising from lack of transparency in state government stem from decades of one-party domination. “The same crowd has been running things for too long,” he said.

“They are not necessarily evil. They just don’t know that there is a better way to do things,” he said.

A graduate of the University of South Dakota, Nesselhuf expressed a particular concern for the integrity of the election process in South Dakota. He said there is “absolutely no evidence” of voter fraud in South Dakota.

“What does concern me is that the false issue of voter fraud has been used to deny citizens access to the ballot,” Nesselhuf said. “Everyone who is eligible to vote should be able to cast their ballot on an equal basis.”

If elected secretary of state, Nesselhuf said he would use $130,000 in federal funds provided under the “Help America Vote Act: to extend the right of early voting to all counties in South Dakota. Currently, early voting is possible in all counties except Shannon and Todd.

Nesselhuf also indicated concern regarding the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.

“We need to have a secretary of state committed to limiting the power of corporations,” he said. “We need to do everything possible to assure that South Dakotans know who is trying to influence their votes.”

The South Dakota Democratic Party held their annual McGovern Day dinner in Rapid City over the weekend. The event drew over 300 Democrats from across the state.

In a change from previous years, the party recommended for nomination the constitutional candidates at the Pre Convention Caucus. While candidates for constitutional offices will not be officially nominated until the state party convention at the end of June, this approach allows them to begin organizing and fundraising earlier.

The Pre-Convention Delegates, who were elected through their County Democratic Parties, cast their votes for three statewide candidates. The votes resulted in the following endorsements:

State Auditor – Julie Bartling

Secretary of State: Ben Nesselhuf

PUC – Doyle Karpen

Current candidates benefited from trainings and speeches during the day and everyone came together for the big celebration dinner at night. Sen. Tim Johnson, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Heidepriem gave speeches that excited the crowd encouraged our party members from all across the state!

The winners of this year’s McGovern Day awards are:

Kneip Young Leader’s Award – Paula Schmidt, Custer

McGovern Grassroots Award – Bill Thompson, Sioux Falls

Goldie Wells Memorial Award – KO & Tootie Kauth, Huron

Listen to the full broadcast of Ben’s interview.

The Senate was busy this week taking final action on all remaining Senate bills as Tuesday was cross-over day, the day all bills must pass the house of origin. With only two weeks left in the 2010 legislative session, the budget has become the major priority of the Legislature and the debate over the budget is beginning to intensify.

The first week of the legislative session, the Democratic caucus released its plan for handling the state’s budget problems. The plan included capping state spending at 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. County governments and school boards in the state are currently confined to this spending cap, but the state government is not.

The plan also included across-the-board cuts to state agencies and departments. Another priority was stopping the growth of full-time state employees. I am very bothered by an attempt to hide some full-time equivalents (FTEs) through HB1052. This bill would exempt students that work for a state institution in some capacity other than work study from the count of FTEs.

The Democratic caucus’s budget proposal also included consolidation of state departments, specifically the office of State Treasure and the Commissioner of School and Public Lands. Yet, this proposal was killed by the majority party, as were nearly all others we offered.

With only two weeks left in the session, we still have heard no solid plans on how the majority plans to handle the budget. I have a lot of affection and respect, both personally and professionally, for the leadership of the Republican Party. I try hard to stay away from partisan politics, both in Pierre and in my articles, but this is absolutely irresponsible. Year after year, budget issues get pushed to the last few weeks of the legislative session. In difficult financial times like these, the Legislature should not be waiting until the last minute to formulate a plan for the state’s budget.

Determining the state’s budget is one of the most important tasks of the Legislature. The next few weeks will be filled with intense debate over how the taxpayers’ dollars should be spent. When dealing with your money, it is important that the Legislature take the time needed to make responsible spending decision. I will attempt to do just that in the next few weeks.

The Legislature just finished its sixth week of the 2010 legislative session. The Legislature has begun to consider more bills that have the potential to greatly impact the lives of the people of South Dakota.

As always, education has become a top priority of mine this Legislative session. As a member of the Senate Education Committee, I have had the opportunity to consider a variety of bills that will affect our state’s educational system. One bill in particular greatly impacts our state’s funding for K-12 education and will be a major improvement to our state’s education system.

I have long been a proponent of changing the funding formula for our state’s K-12 education. The current system does not adequately provide the funding needed to offer the students of our state the education they deserve. These young students are the future leaders of our state and giving them the education they need to succeed is essential to the future success of South Dakota.

SB 124, a bill sponsored by Sen. Dave Knudson of Sioux Falls, will change the funding formula for our state’s K-12 schools by linking educational funding to the projected change in state general fund revenue. The bill passed the Senate Education Committee and the full Senate Chamber with my support. The bill has now moved to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Currently, education is funded at a rate of 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. SB 124 would increases funding to 4 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is higher, and links the state’s revenues to educational funding. Had the education funding formula in this bill been in place in prior years, education in South Dakota would have received much more funding.

However, the downfall of the bill is that in years state revenue does not increase, funding for education will not increase. Therefore, next year the increase for educational funding will be 0 percent. Sen. Sandy Jerstad of Sioux Falls offered an amendment in committee and on the floor of the Senate that would provide a 1.2 percent increase for educational funding next year. The amendment received my support but failed in the Senate by one vote.

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Even though the bill does not provide for an increase in education funding for next year, the bill is an improvement to the funding formula that is currently in place. In tough economic times like these, we must all be fiscally responsible including the state’s Legislature. However, educational funding must always remain a priority to ensure a bright future for our state.

I look forward to continuing to serve you and the people of District 17 as the legislative session begins to wind down. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or concerns. I can be reached at sen.nesselhuf@state.sd.us or at 605-624-6178, my home phone.