South Dakota’s next governor must possess the fiscal, strategic and political leadership needed to correct the state’s course, develop partnerships and assist communities with their challenges in job creation, education and health care, Scott Munsterman says.

The former Brookings mayor, a Republican candidate in the 2010 race, believes he is that person.

“I learned early on as the mayor of a community that we’re only as strong as our smallest community,” he said at a Beadle County Republican Party meet the candidates luncheon.

Based on the same premise, state government needs to develop a statewide strategic plan to guide it into the future, he said.

A native of Morris, Minn., Munsterman was a doctor of chiropractic in Brookings for 25 years. He was elected to the city council in 2001.

South Dakota can no longer afford a structural deficit that has taken $200 million out of reserves, he said.

“We have to stop that,” Munsterman said. “We have to get this state back to a position of financial strength.”

When he joined the Brookings City Council, he said the city was in a similar situation with a 10 percent structural deficit in the midst of a recession. For two years, Brookings had negative sales tax growth.

Munsterman was among a majority of council members voting to adopt two key policies – no longer would they use one-time money for ongoing expenses, and the rate of growth for city government would not exceed the consumer price index.

The tide was turned. In the last five years, Brookings has had significant surplus budgets, he said.

Munsterman also developed partnerships inside and outside of the community to expand the economic base. He has worked closely with South Dakota State University, nurturing a relationship that wasn’t always the best.

South Dakota also needs strategic leadership, he said. One third of the state’s communities are growing, while two thirds are in decline.

“It’s time that we set a strategy in place that reverses that trend,” Munsterman said.

As mayor, he learned that nearly 50 percent of his community’s sales tax revenue comes from people living outside of Brookings. Forty percent of the workforce lives in the small surrounding towns.

He gathered the mayors of the surrounding towns together to find out what Brookings could do to help them, and to develop a regional economic development plan. If they’re doing well, he believed, Brookings would do well.

In more than 140 towns he has visited so far in his campaign, Munsterman has found common ground. People are the most important asset, townsfolk have told him, and education – access and quality – is the biggest challenge.

South Dakota must ensure that its young people are ready for the future, he said. In a global and knowledge-based economy, they must be internationally competitive.

As mayor, Munsterman also launched an I-29 relationship with fellow mayors up and down the interstate. They raised $180,000 to help finance a study with a goal of figuring out the niches and strengths of the various communities and how to capitalize on them. A plan is expected to be released in March.

It’s also important to be up to speed on national issues such as climate change and health care, he said.

“It’s going to be very important for us to understand what is going on nationally because I believe our next governor is going to have to stand up for our state’s rights,” Munsterman said.

The 1,100-page health care bill recently passed by the House – a complicated document that took him more than two days to read – will be harmful to small businesses and rural hospitals with slim profit margins because so many of their patients are on Medicare.

“You begin to tinker with that and take away from that and we have a risk of losing our health care infrastructure in this state,” Munsterman said.



















For the complete article see the 11-25-2009 issue.

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