RAPID CITY - MarGret "Rusty" Barney ended up voting for Sam Kooiker on Tuesday, despite the eleventh-hour campaign by Kooiker's opponents to label him as a right-wing extremist.

"It gave me pause," Barney said of the conservative-extremist question. "I really like Sam. And he's been so good at bringing things to public attention. I've never thought of him as extreme right."

Former Republican state Sen. Stan Adelstein and his philosophical ally, Democratic state Sen. Tom Katus, wrote e-mails recently expressing their concerns about Kooiker's conservative connections and seeking volunteers to help Alan Hanks, Kooiker's opponent in the mayor's race. Kooiker did receive public support from a number of conservatives, including Republican Sen. Bill Napoli, past state Rep. Elizabeth Kraus Munro and Elli Schwiesow, who beat Adelstein in the 2006 Republican Senate primary but lost to Katus in the general election.

Kooiker's conservative connections were enough to convince Tim Hatzenbuhler to vote for Hanks.

"Kooiker is too conservative. I couldn't vote for him," Hatzenbuhler said. "I think it (the conservative connection) hurts him. It certainly hurt him with me."

The last-minute push to paint Kooiker as an ultra-conservative included a mass-mailed brochure with cover artwork showing a metal nut with feathered wings. That implied that Kooiker is a "wing-nut," a derogatory term for political extremists.

Barney, a Democrat, said the criticism against Kooiker didn't alter her belief that he would be a mayor who puts constituent service before politics. Barney said Kooiker has shown those qualities as a city alderman with quick responses to fix a street light near her home and to install a traffic-control sign to slow speeders near her mother's home.

"I have his cell number and his home number on my refrigerator," Barney said. "He gave them to me easily. And he responds."

Like most of a dozen voters contacted Tuesday as they left polling places in the city, Barney said the choice was between two strong candidates. Voters generally said they had to balance Hanks' extensive resume, including past service on the city council, three sessions as a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives and extensive experience in private business, against Kooiker's down-to-earth style and non-establishment commitment to fiscal restraint and individual constituent service.

One Rapid City businessman who declined to give his name said he had supported Mayor Jim Shaw, who finished third in the June 5 mayoral election, and voted for Hanks in Tuesday's run-off election because he believed that Hanks' philosophies were closer to Shaw's.

A woman voter, who also declined to give her name, said that was exactly why she voted for Kooiker instead of Hanks.

"I voted for change," she said. "And I thought Hanks was too much like Shaw."

Kooiker, who often disagrees with Shaw and even other members of the city council, also represented a departure from the established political structure. Adelstein and other Kooiker critics tried to depict that as an illusion, claiming that Kooiker was actually imbedded with political extremism.

The involvement of both Napoli and Adelstein was troublesome to some voters, including retired architect Dick Pearson and his wife, Haze, both Hanks supporters. Despite her support for Hanks, Haze Pearson said she was put off by Adelstein's involvement in the mayor's race.

"That, I didn't care for," she said. "Nothing against Stan, but I think he needs to sit back."

Dick Pearson said he and his wife considered themselves to be conservatives but were worried about the possibility that Kooiker could be influenced by Napoli and his allies. Dick Pearson also said he preferred Hanks' more extensive resume in both government and private business.

"I guess I'm a little nervous about Kooiker's age and lack of experience," he said. "He's pretty young, pretty inexperienced."

Haze Pearson said she had the same concerns but said she had no doubt that Kooiker was "an honest man, a good man" who could also serve the city capably as mayor if elected.

Peggy Minter said her vote would remain "between God and me." Like other voters interviewed by the Journal, Minter didn't name specific issues that defined her vote. Rather, she looked at both candidates as individuals and decided both had the qualifications needed to serve the city as mayor. She was "a little disappointed with Hanks" for focusing so much on his more extensive work credentials.

"I don't think you should try to lord it over somebody," she said. "I think they were both good candidates."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com