SOUTH DAKOTA CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS-INCUMBENTS AND CHALLENGERS AND WHERE THEY STAND BY RUTH KING
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/south-dakota-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball
Primary: June 3, 2014
To see the actual voting records of all incumbents on other issues such as Foreign Policy, Second Amendment Issues, Homeland Security, and other issues as well as their rankings by special interest groups please use the links followed by two stars (**).
U.S. Senate
John Thune (R)Next Election in 2016.
Tim Johnson (D) Retiring in 2014
Rick Weiland (D) Challenger
Mike Rounds (R) Challenger
Former Governor 2003-2011 https://roundsforsenate.com/
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Endorses Rounds for U.S. Senate – Posted 5.15.14 – Pierre, SD May 13, 2014- Gov. Mike Rounds announced today that he has received an endorsement letter from the U. S. Chamber of Commerce supporting his bid to become South Dakota’s next U.S. Senator. “The U.S. Chamber is pleased to endorse Mike Rounds for his record of support on pro-business issues,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber. “Round’s election to the U.S. Senate will help encourage economic growth and get our country back on track.”
“Mike Rounds is the kind of leader South Dakota needs, one who will fight for free enterprise in Washington and who has a proven record promoting hiring and removing barriers to growth here in the state,” said Dan Kirby, president of Kirby Financial and member of the U.S. Chamber’s Political Affairs Committee. “We are proud to highlight his experience as Governor working for the interests of job creators and fighting for South Dakota jobs.” “Supporting and developing successful businesses in South Dakota has always been a top priority for me”, said Gov. Rounds. “I look forward to working with the U.S. Chamber to promote South Dakota’s business interests to help boost the nation’s economy”
Larry Pressler (I) Challenger
Ex-US Senator, 1979 to 1997 Ex-Congressman, 1975 to 1979
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Larry_Pressler_SenateMatch.htm**
Q: You’ve been out politics since you were defeated in the 1996 Senate race. Why are you running now as an independent?
A: This is a somewhat of an audacious idea, but I am doing this out of idealism, trying to make a contribution and break the poisonous deadlock that we have in Washington between Democrats and Republicans. If we have a closely divided Senate between Republicans and Democrats, I can be an ingredient for both sides to work for a bipartisan agreement. So, I can be a more powerful senator as an independent. I am also running because I am so upset with the direction the country is going with our growing deficit, with the inability to make decisions in Congress. I would also be able to vote my conscience and not be locked into a party caucus.
Q: Some of your opponents are casting you as a liberal who will have little impact in the general election. How do you respond to that and how will you get the people who voted for you two decades ago to support you this fall?
A: Well, that’s a little misleading. I would predict that I will be fiscally the most conservative person in this race. I have been a member of the fix-the-debt group. Where they are calling me a liberal is that I believe in addition to cutting spending we need to enhance revenues by ending some of the corporate deductions. Some people call those tax increases. I also believe we need to increase taxes on the very wealthy and on large estates. So that is why they call me a liberal, but I think that is more conservative. I consider cutting the deficit my top priority and that’s a conservative position. But we can’t seem to get a budgetary agreement in Washington.
Q: The U.S. Senate defeated a bill last week to raise the $7.25 hourly minimum wage to $10.10 over 30 months and then provide automatic annual increases to account for inflation. How would you have voted on that bill and why?
A: I would vote ‘no’ but support an increase in the minimum wage, and it may seem like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth here. But I would support a bill with a wage of about $8.50 an hour and would provide a training wage. I would not provide an automatic increase for inflation, but we do need to raise the minimum wage.
Q: Do you agree with those who believe that Congress should dismantle the Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare?
A: I would have voted against Obamacare if I had been in Congress. In any event, here is my problem with the typical Republican position on this. It is true that we would like to repeal it, but we can’t repeal it. It is in place and the president of the United States is going to be in office for two more years. If both houses of Congress voted to repeal it, he would veto it. So, now we need to repair it. One way we can repair it in South Dakota is to have health care delivered by cooperatives, locally controlled cooperatives. But this debate about Obamacare illustrates why I am running as an independent. Everybody trashes Obama and Obamacare – all the Republicans do, and the Democrats do the opposite. We need something to take care of the health-care needs of our people. You just can’t say repeal it. We need something. I am a personal friend of Obama’s and I don’t want to make too much of it, but I think I could work with Obama and bring him the South Dakota input. I think Obamacare is here to stay and I want to help fix it.
At-Large
Kristi Noem (R) Incumbent
http://www.kristiforcongress.com/ http://noem.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Kristi_Noem.htm**
Rated -2 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
HEALTHCARE Repealing and Replacing the President’s Health Care Law With the Supreme Court upholding President Obama’s healthcare law, it’s more important than ever for Congress to repeal and replace this ill-conceived law. Sadly, my opponent doesn’t agree. He has promised to protect the President’s healthcare law, which gives Washington too much control and patients too little. The President’s healthcare law need to be replaced with a patient centered approach will make sure that the only people making healthcare choices for you are you and your doctor. We should put patients in control and force insurance companies to compete for their business. If we can purchase TV’s and books across state lines, then why can’t we do the same with health insurance? I’m proud to co-sponsor legislation that would allow just that – creating more competition between insurance companies, which means better rates for you and me.
ECONOMY AND JOBS As we’ve seen in the recent unemployment reports, our economy is struggling. In some ways, our economy has never truly recovered from the 2008 economic crisis. Four years later, millions of Americans who are looking for work still can’t find it. This is unprecedented, unacceptable and unsustainable. Unfortunately, the policies coming from some of our leaders in Washington have failed to create a society where hard work is rewarded and every American has the opportunity to succeed. If we’re going to breathe new life into our economy, we need real solutions and real growth to create real jobs.
Creating Certainty for Job Creators Small businesses and the hardworking Americans that make them go are the heart, soul, and strength of this country. One of the most frequent comments I get from these job creators is that the uncertainty over tax increases is preventing them from hiring and expanding. To give them the certainty they need, we need to overhaul our entire tax code and bring it into the 21st century. Let’s lower the rates so that we can compete in the global marketplace, broaden the tax base, and eliminate the special interest loopholes that benefit Wall Street at our expense.
Repealing Job Killing Regulations Washington has too many regulations that increase costs on families and stand in the way of job creation – just ask our farmers and ranchers. Last year, the Obama Administration decided that some farms and ranches are too dusty and began considering a ban on so-called “fugitive dust.” You don’t have to be an agriculture expert to know that farms and ranches can get, well, a little dusty. That’s why I wrote a bill – which passed the House of Representatives – that prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing this absurd ban.
Another proposed regulation that would’ve had a profound impact on South Dakota was a rule put forth by the Obama Administration’s Labor Department that would have severely curtailed the chores that children could do on farms. These chores are an essential way for today’s farmers and ranchers to pass their knowledge onto the next generation of farmers. Fortunately, the public outcry was too much for the Labor Department to take, and they quickly withdrew the rule after hearing from angry farm families across the country. There certainly are some needed government regulations, but banning children from farm chores or banning farm dust aren’t among them. Let’s strictly enforce the necessary regulations and streamline the rest.
ENERGY Our nation needs an American energy policy that will reduce our reliance on foreign oil and lower energy costs. I support an all-of-the-above approach to our nation’s energy portfolio that emphasizes the production of ethanol, natural gas, clean coal, domestic oil, nuclear, wind and other renewable energy sources. Using our American energy resources will create jobs at home and reduce energy costs. South Dakota has taken advantage of our wind energy resources and today, more than 20% of our state’s energy is produced from wind. I have led efforts to extend the Production Tax Credit for wind energy so the industry can continue to build on its success.
I have also supported several bills to create jobs and expand American energy production. America has been blessed with abundant resources. It is common sense to develop those resources in our efforts to become energy independent. I also support construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Building the pipeline would help decrease our dependence on unstable sources of energy from the Middle East and will create up to 20,000 new American jobs. This project has received strong bipartisan support and there is no reason why Washington should stand in the way of making this project a reality. I will continue to work towards an all-of-the-above American energy policy with my assignment to the Natural Resources committee.
Corinna Robinson (D) Challenger
I think we all agree that South Dakotans want compromise, commonsense solutions and public servants who actually serve. We don’t need a representative who is part of the problem: We need solutions. We don’t need our government shut down or politicians who are willing, even eager, to damage our economy and our credibility abroad in order to make a moot point. We have had enough dysfunction: We need a farm bill. We don’t need obstruction: We need leadership that understands the everyday struggles of middle class families who face rising costs and stagnant wages. It’s time that your representative put the good people of South Dakota and of our country first.
I believe I am the public servant who can best serve your interests. Born and raised in Rapid City and a third generation South Dakotan, at 17 and right out of high school, I joined the Army and worked my way up to Sergeant First Class. Then at the urging of my superiors, I attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned an officer in the Military Police Corps. Immediately after 9/11 my command responsibilities included the paratroopers who provided Pentagon security. Soon after that, I answered the call to go to war in Iraq while my sons responsibly transitioned through high school to college. I retired after 25 years in the Army, but my public service continued. Upon returning to Washington, DC, I led the Anti-Terrorism Force Protection Directorate, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, and was responsible for helping safeguard the Pentagon, and other Federal offices in the DC Metro Area. As part of the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce program, I again accepted assignment with the office of the Commander, United States Forces-Iraq. Working at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, I was privileged to work with many congressional delegations, assist in Department of Defense communications with Congressional members, and supported negotiations between Iraqi and international diplomats.
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