By Ed Randazzo
A standing-room-only crowd greeted our state legislators at the first Crackerbarrel of the 2011 season.
There was great anticipation and a crackling excitement in the room at SDSM&T on Saturday in a year that promises to be tough on our citizen-legislators.
Majority Leader Representative David Lust was the first to address the group and, despite a clear explanation and definition of his proposal to study the feasibility of the privatization of SDSM&T, seemed to incur harsh criticism by some who believed that he was introducing a bill to privatize it now. He is not.
One more time, Representative Lust merely wishes to examine the pros and cons of the the privatization of the state school which I believe is a reasonable and prudent undertaking.
The session certainly provided the legislators with a sense of the heightened interest of the public in this years legislative session.
I appreciate the dedication of our citizen-legislators in South Dakota and applaud their willingness to make themselves available to their constituents at these Crackerbarrels. They are not the enemy folks. Let’s resolve to stay involved in the political process but not to consider them our adversaries. Let’s express our opinions to them in a civil manner, oppose them when we disagree and encourage and support them when we agree.
Thank you to all the legislators who participated on Saturday. God Bless them all.
Senators Stanford Adelstein, Jeff Haverly, Elizabeth Kraus, Bruce Rampelberg and Craig Tieszen.
Representatives Kristen Conzet, Dan Dryden, Brian Gosch, Phil Jensen, Mark Kirkeby, Don Kopp, David Lust, Lance Russell, Jacqueline Sly and Mike Verchio.
