The Rapid City Journal has an article today on Republican U.S. House candidate Chris Lien from Rapid City.
The article is primarily about some of the things Lien has seen and heard from people as he's traveled South Dakota recently, and about his upcoming trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
It also brings out an important difference between Lien and his opponent, Democratic incumbent Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
The 2004 election which saw the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle at the hands of John Thune. One of the factors which contributed to Daschle's defeat was that people saw him as not connected to South Dakota anymore.
Daschle had been gone from South Dakota for many years, except for his famous summer drives across the state. Then word got out that Daschle drove a high-priced Jaguar. Word also got out about his $3 million dollar mansion in Washington. And for the third strike, people also found out that for a tax incentive Daschle was claiming to be a D.C. resident.
A D.C. resident isn't a South Dakota resident. Can a District of Columbia resident represent the interests of the residents of South Dakota? It seems South Dakotans didn't think so.
Consider Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's background. She was born and raised here in South Dakota. But she moved away after school and went to college at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. After graduating from college, she worked primarily in Washington.
Lien, on the other hand, has spent most of his time close to home here in South Dakota. He's worked as a leader in the family business, Pete Lien and Sons, here in Rapid City and other area companies. He's served on the Ellsworth Task Force, the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and even on the Worker’s Compensation Advisory Council. He knows what life is like in South Dakota.
As Lien put it in the Journal article
"My family is here and my future is here," Lien said. "If I'm elected and I make it to Washington, D.C., which I will do, I promise I will never forget that."
Will that make a difference to voters this November?
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"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security".
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