Governor Rounds

I first learned about Rounds when he was in the SD legislature during the Janklow regime. After I watched him a while it became clear he served as Janklow’s water boy a lot of the time. I am sure Rounds had great respect for Janklow. Unfortunately, he was serving one of the most corrupt, abusive, megalomaniacs in South Dakota.

Although he really won the primary by default, I was glad to see he survived. Rounds won, not because he was a strong candidate, but because he ran among too self-destructive lunatics.

When Rounds was running, I visited one of his offices and wanted to know if he was interested in a question my 14 year-old son asked me after he witnessed the abuse of power by the SDHP in the lobby of the Capitol. He got a response to me. I was hopeful. The question my son asked me was, “How can that much evil be in such a beautiful building?” I thought it was a great question. I began my quest of find the answer.

I happened to be in Sioux Falls when the Rounds/Abbot debate was going to be held. I was lucky enough to get the last ticket to the event.

The most important thing I enjoyed was Greg Belfrage from the local radio station. He is so funny. He is absolutely hung up on himself. He loves the sound of his own voice. That is pretty common for all “talk” people. He simply asked the same old questions the candidates had already answered before.

I thought the most important remark was made by Abbot. He explained that Rounds was not a leader. He proved to be definitely right about that. Round, the consensus builder, is totally inept at leadership. He simply refuses to recognize it.

I got a chance to talk to Rounds after the interview - not a debate. He again seemed genuinely interested in my problem. That was Rounds as a candidate.

But no matter what the candidates say, they undergo a metamorphosis as soon as they are elected. Unfortunately, Rounds did not become a beautiful butterfly as promised. Maybe a cloth-eating moth would be a better analogy.

When Rounds was elected and in office, I began to ask the important questions again. I got no response from his office. I wrote several times with no response. I went to check the records in the Lt. Governor’s office and my letters were in the file.

Having received no response, I decided to find him to confront him directly. The opportunity presented itself when Senator Daschle and Rounds spoke at the Pierre Indian Learning Center. I had received a personal invitation by Senator Daschle. Daschle and I had been having a long serious discussion to what need to be changed to remedy the problems in Indian education. I got along with Daschle very well. He always answered my letters personally.

I got there in time to hear Rounds give his talk. It was really pretty good. Unfortunately, he had the wrong solution to the problem. He said the state and tribal “leaders” needed to decide what to do. Compromise again. Compromise between to corrupt, incompetent organizations. No hope for the kids who suffer.

Rounds ended his speech and quickly headed for his car. I caught up with him when he was not quite there. I asked him if he read my letters. He said they didn’t come to mind. I told him if he had read them, they should stick in his head. Then he told me he only reads maybe 40% of the letters written to him. I believe Janklow read them all and answered as well. I got some myself and they are on this site. Janklow had some good points.

As I was leaving, I noticed a little protest group on the east side of the building. It was Charmaine White Face and a little group of older Indian women. I thought this would be a good chance to engage some critical thinking.

As I walked up and read their sign, I remarked, “The tribal leaders are no less corrupt than the state leaders. To their credit, they caught me unprepared. I love it when I lose honestly.

The group of older (and, may I say, wiser) women told me they needed “white teachers” on the rez. I walked away in awe of this little group which received no attention of importance.

Later, I again found myself in conflict with Governor Rounds. When I learned he was looking for a new leader for Secretary of Education, I wrote him explaining that the system was failing and he needed to find someone out of the education influence who understood systems analysis. I don’t know if he read the letter or not, but he hired Rick Melmer, a total insider, to lead our children’s future.

I decided to go to Melmer’s office to help him out and show how I led a successful Indian school. Our initial meeting was a very pleasant one. I said the problem with education is that there was little leadership. His reply was that there was no leadership. Unfortunately, that eventually included him.

I told Melmer that when they had meetings I would go and take on the prevailing failed ideas and he wouldn’t even have to take the blame. However, when such a meeting was held in Chamberlain, I was not invited. This led to a confrontation with Melmer who invited me out of his office and refused to respond to my correspondence.

I wrote to Rounds complaining about his bureaucrats holding themselves above hard questioning. I received receive another two sentence response basically telling me to get lost from none other than an appointed bureaucrat.

At this point I was still willing to give Rounds the benefit of the doubt. I decided to talk to him directly. The only opportunity I saw was when he was at the SD state fair in ’04.

I had asked about when he was to be on the grounds. The Republican organization told me when he would be there. Soon he appeared. I walked up to him and was immediately surrounded by three goons while I spoke to Rounds. I had no idea I rated this much concern. As I spoke to Rounds, one of the goons was copying down things I had written on an envelope. That was a waste of time because I gave the envelope to Rounds anyway. It was intended for him.

I tried to explain to Rounds that when citizens had a problem with the bureaucrats, he was the only one who could resolve the issue. That was his job.

I handed him the documents and asked for a response. I have yet to receive one, nor do I expect one because he is not a governor of the people. He is a protector of the bureaucrats. They serve him and he serves them.

Argument for failed leadership closed.