Just Plain Dave Munson, S.D.'s "Comeback Kid"
If you would have told me two months ago that Just Plain Dave Munson would be re-elected mayor of River City, I would have told you to seek the help of a mental health professional.
Dave was hammered. He looked shell shocked. He had just been put on the rack with his non-reported big November 2002 fundraiser to retire a non-existent campaign debt. He got caught spending money the city didn't have on Phillips to the Falls. Even his friends and supporters said he needed a chief of staff to help him find his way. He dropped out of the race then back in. Several of his opponents actually raised more election cash than he did.
Now, he is still the mayor of Sioux Falls.
It is probably the biggest political comeback I've witnessed in South Dakota political history. He is our very own Comeback Kid.
Why did this happen?
Well, first, JPD has the perception of being a nice guy. Second, the city is actually rolling along economically. Third, his opponents, including the one I helped, never got tough on Dave's abysmal record and stood out. All the candidates acted like typical small town Midwesterners and decided to be "nice." Well, Dave could out "nice" all of them. And did. His goofy "a good man and a good mayor" TV ads were effective. Whether they were true, that's open to debate. But they worked.
With everything Mayor Dave has been through the past year plus, he is now pretty much bullet-proof. Short of killing someone while he is in office, he's The Man now and for the next four years. He has more power now than he did just a day ago. He is our fair city's version of Superman (or at least AboveAverageMan). And no one had the Kryptonite to bring him down. To Dave's opponents over the next four years, good luck. You'll need it.
Todd Epp
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Reader Comments (6)
Epp, for weeks you've been pounding Munson and any other mayoral candidate not named Smith. In the two weeks between your guy getting smoked and yesterday's runoff, you have posted at least five articles critical of (or at least unbecoming of) Munson. Now that he's the only one left standing, you hold him up like he's the second coming of Rocky.
That's B.S. Anyone with half a brain and the ability to objectively analyze this contest knew that Munson was the favorite the minute he re-entered the race.
If certain members of the council were intent on bringing Munson down, which is clearly the perception, if not the case, they made a supremely stupid tactical error when they dropped the campaign finance investigation of Munson as soon as he announced he was not seeking re-election. In doing so, they played right into his hands.
Munson, who has always been popular with the electorate (he's never lost an election, and I have no idea how many he has won), had the sympathy of a city that was prepared to forge ahead without him. When the investigation was dropped by the council, people came to understand that the motive of the finance charges was for nothing more than the political gain of a single candidate. Their action screamed to the public that the council didn't give a damn if a law had been broken, it only cared that Munson was broken.
If you guys had been able to get past your snickering and giddiness, you'd have heard what people were saying. Munson never lost the momentum, because people like him, and they viewed him as the victim of a smear campaign, the architect of which was not going to get their support.
People also remember the way he won re-election to the council two years ago. What he did to Noonan was legally correct, but morally, ethically, and most importantly, perceptionally wrong. When you keep screwing with people that way, you get burned.
I'm an ardent Democrat, but I will not support a Dem who operates like that. In a way it makes me sad that a young Dem with the potential for a bright future got greedy and got burned. Maybe it's better this way.
Bottom line: the right man won the race.
Frankly, I thought it was a lousy election. None of the candidates said or did anything to distinguish themselves from the pack. When it came down to two qualified nice guys, I think the voters just picked the guy they were familiar with.
I'm heartened that Munson has already made some moves towards fixing City Hall. He's announced a new Public Works director search, etc. He made a huge mistake four years ago by not firing all the old Hansen people and bringing in his own. Looks like he won't make that mistake again. Get a new PW director, new Finance Officer and make Rowenhorst his Chief of Staff in charge of kicking butts. He'll roll the next four years if he does.
In South Dakota political it is a great record that JPD‘s has come again as the mayor of Sioux Falls. The main reason of come back to the political was that he was a nice person and the city is basically rolling along economically.
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aslinsibel
South Dakota Drug Addiction
Just days before Iowa's presidential caucuses, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama holds a small but significant edge over other leading Democratic contenders, according to a new poll released Monday night. The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll, a widely respected measure of sentiment in first-in-the-nation caucus state, shows the Illinois Democrat with support of 32 percent of likely caucus participants.
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jennifertom
South Dakota Alcohol Addiction Treatment