Well on his way to visit all 311 cities and towns in South Dakota in his campaign for U.S. Senate, Rick Weiland stopped by the Journal recently to meet with the editorial board.
The Sioux Falls Democrat hopes that by shaking as many hands as possible and greeting as many voters as he can before November, he will keep the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tim Johnson in Democratic hands.
He notes that at least one member of South Dakota’s congressional delegation has been a Democrat since George McGovern was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962. “It’s a tradition in South Dakota to elect Democrats to Congress,” Weiland said.
Weiland has reason to be optimistic, despite the advantage Republicans have in registered voters, because of the open seat. Without an incumbent to fill up an overwhelming campaign war chest, the race could be considered wide open, even with five Republicans, including former Gov. Mike Rounds, in the race, along with former Republican Sen. Larry Pressler, running as an independent.
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Despite never having held statewide office, Weiland is no stranger to South Dakota politics. He worked for Tom Daschle when he was a member of the House of Representatives and was his West River director for several years in Rapid City. In 1996, Weiland ran for the open U.S. House seat against John Thune in a battle between political neophytes but lost by 20 points.
Since then, he has worked as regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, AARP and the International Code Council. He and his wife currently operate a successful restaurant in Sioux Falls.
Traveling across South Dakota and stopping in every town along the way is a campaign strategy Weiland learned from Daschle and McGovern, who preached that every voter counts come election day.
Weiland presented a populist message to the Journal editorial board that most of the country’s problems can be laid at the feet of the wealthy and big business that are preventing progress. “Big money has gotten in the way of getting things done,” he said.
Other examples of Weiland’s populism:
- Health care: The Affordable Care Act was poisoned by big insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Weiland proposes letting people choose to buy into the popular Medicare program. Private insurers would be forced to reduce premiums, mostly by cutting CEOs’ pay.
- Farm bill: Too much money goes to big producers.
- Energy: Policies are driven by big oil.
- Taxes: Businesses are not paying taxes, “meanwhile, we’re kicking kids off Head Start.”
- Campaign finance: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision is threatening our democracy by allowing large amounts of “dark money” (undisclosed donations) to influence elections.
- Free enterprise: Our economic system has been rigged by big money interests that create an “inequality of opportunity.”
The theme that a few hundred wealthy individuals and big corporations are the cause of all the country’s ills, and who use money and influence to prevent positive change fills a conversation with Weiland.
The back of Weiland’s business card even includes an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that he says he will introduce on his first day in Congress: "So that the votes of all, rather than the wealth of the few, shall direct the course of this Republic, Congress shall have the power to limit the raising and spending of money with respect to federal elections."
George McGovern was the original Prairie Populist. In Rick Weiland, we can see a reincarnation of the political philosophies that kept McGovern in Congress for 22 years.
