Slow down everyone, November will come soon enough

My campaign is moving along at a pretty good clip, especially my campaign race car. Sounds like some of other candidates have their foot to the floorboard as well. Geesh. You know what I'm talking about…Kristi Noem is out front with twenty traffic violations and Scott Heidepriem (in the only race he's actually competitive) is right behind her with seventeen traffic violations.

It would seem like a pretty good week for Mrs. Sandlin in terms of her negative campaigning helping her catch up to Noem's notable and increasing lead. However, Mrs. Sandlin's smack talk about what this reveals about Noem's character might come back to haunt her now that Kevin Wooster is reporting Herseth's father Lars also has 17 tickets and two failures to appear. About that Pat Powers quips "Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones." [[I disagree with Mercer, this IS relevant to the race: since Sandlin is so quick to equate speeding tickets with flawed character, it is only a politically opportunistic comment unless Sandlin is willing to say "AND THAT INCLUDES MY DAD and MR HEIDEPRIEM and my CHIEF of STAFF." Until she says that, her self-righteous and pious comments will fall on deaf ears and be seen for what they are.]]

Mrs. Sandlin only having one ticket seems to reinforce the perception in South Dakota that she's been chauffeured since she was seventeen and left the state to live in Georgetown. The cartoonists in our state are having fun depicting Noem as speed racer. If I didn't have better things to do right now I'd take the time to do a cartoon of Mrs. Sandlin in the back of her limo, all aghast at the news of Noem's driving record, boasting through the little window to her driver how she doesn't have any traffic violations.

Here's what I think… Everyone needs to slow down, November will come soon enough.

Everyone needs to slow down and obey all the laws because, as we are seeing, it'll turn around and hurt the greater cause we represent. If we are going to be entrusted with much we need to be faithful with the little things. The Christian has a duty to obey all laws (unless they are immoral). There is no excuse, wiggle room or rationalizations and with the number of violations we are talking about here it's indefensible.  And that's why Kristi said… "Obviously, I'm not proud of my driving record but I been working hard to be a better example to young kids and young drivers out there." Many many people on both sides of the aisle have no room to talk. 

As a police chaplain here, I can tell you the law enforcement community isn't thinking this is funny. It's not. My dad was killed near his farm near Freeman, SD a few years ago by a driver going 67 mph in a 55 - he didn't see my dad standing in the road on one leg —the other leg was badly broken in a different accident just a few seconds earlier. So, you can see why I'm happy to tell people to obey the road laws, but Christians especially. Even more, with the whole Janklow thing in recent memory, respect for traffic laws and public safety is a very legitimate issue. And, now that it's out there, voters can sort it out how serious habitual speeding is to them and how much law breaking is tolerable to them.

A commenter named "Duh" on Dakota War College wrote today about some statistic that "the average person violates 5 laws per day" and that made me think everyone needs to be careful to cast the first stone…

This is stupid.  Speeding tickets yeah.  I know.  One shouldn't speed. 

I unfortunately have over 20 from different states.  Did I deserve them, most.  …Nonetheless, I broke the law and paid the fine.  Have I ever had a warrant out?  Yeah, forgot to pay the fine.  I forgot.  It's not the same as willful defiance of the law. I forgot.  Kristi probably forgot too you pinheads….

…Statistics state that the average person violates 5 laws per day.  Don't believe me?  Tomorrow, check our your jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, throwing cigarettes, wrappers out the window, passing traffic on the right on the interstate, speeding, illegal parking, shooting varmints in town, putting paint cans and chemical containers in your garbage, not coming to a full stop, changing lanes without signally, not shoveling your walks in time, Having one too many at a party, parking in the handicap spot, having a light out on your car, double parking, driving too fast for conditions, letting fido run loose, not fixing your mutts, licensing your mutts, riding your bike where you're not supposed to, it goes on and on.

Unless Mrs. Sandlin wants to draw her father and Mr. Heidpriem even more into this, I forecast she calls off the dogs. If she doesn't it's because she's that desperate. I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to go down the road of having the rap sheet of everyone around her make headlines.

In case you are curious, if memory serves me correctly I think I have three tickets in 20 years, two on the same day on the same road in SW Minnesota. The other was a speed trap (in early 2000's) on east 26th here in Sioux Falls where I was going six over. I'm curious how many Blake Curd has and Chris Nelson. Anyone know?

UPDATE: Looks like this will continue. Now we learn that Mrs. Sandlin's chief of staff was likely leaving Sandlin's house a couple days before the June 2010 primary way too drunk to drive. This from the new Noem v. Herseth-Sandlin website…

Does the Congresswoman want to come clean with the citizens of South Dakota and tell us whether her Chief of Staff was leaving the Herseth-Sandlin residence drunk on Saturday June 6…just days before the primary?  Did the Congresswoman know that her Chief of Staff was driving on the roadways under the influence?…

…Congresswoman Herseth-Sandlin: you should make just as a big a deal about your Chief of Staff endangering families by driving drunk on the roadways as you did about your opponent's minor speeding infractions.  It's unacceptable to employ a person in a position of great importance and trust who drives drunk on South Dakota's roads. 

You had the opportunity to show South Dakotans that you are serious about how drivers drive on the road and not just another political opportunist…unfortunately you failed us…your failure to hold your Chief of Staff to a high-level of conduct with serious consequences for dangerous activity shows South Dakotans that you are more political opportunist and less a person who gives a damn about safe roadways.