District 35 faces a wide variety of issues

By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer | Saturday, October 28, 2006

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Editor’s note: This is another in a series of stories on ballot issues and candidates facing South Dakota voters in the Nov. 7 general election.

Despite differences in party and personal philosophies, candidates for the state House of Representatives from District 35 are focusing on many of the same key issues.

And abortion isn’t at the top of the list.

Republicans Mark Kirkeby and Jeff Haverly, independent John Buxcel and Democrat Laurie Wudtke agree that jobs, education, health care and taxes seem to rank higher on the list of priorities among District 35 voters than Referred Law 6, the controversial ballot issue that would ban most abortions in the state.

“It’s very touchy and emotional. And I’m certainly not going to discount the importance of that,” Kirkeby said. “But I think everybody is standing on the same key issues: education, health care, good, high-quality jobs with good benefits.”

At least that’s what the people of District 35 have been telling him since he began his campaign before the June 6 primary, Kirkeby said.

“I knocked on 1,700 doors in the primary, and I can count on one hand the number of times that issue was brought up by a voter,” he said.

Kirkeby, who calls himself a “pro-life conservative” but not a “right-wing extremist,” opposes the abortion ban because it doesn’t provide exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

“I look at my niece, my wife, my daughter, and I cannot believe the government will say: ‘Hell no, period. You are going to keep this life, even though it’s created out of hatred,’” he said.

The 46-year-old real-estate agent will leave his seat on the Pennington County commission if elected to the House. His focus in Pierre would be finding more support for public education and technical institutes and continued commitment to protecting private-property rights and gun ownership. He also supports an increase in the minimum wage.

Kirkeby is married to Rapid City School Board member Sheryl Kirkeby. They have three children.

Laurie Wudtke

Higher wages and lower taxes for low-income and middle-income wage earners are key points in Wudtke’s campaign.

The 56-year-old widow of a career Air Force man said the state Legislature hasn’t done enough to create an environment where families can earn a living wage. Low wages and the continuing rise in health-care costs are making it difficult for many families to make ends meet, Wudtke said.

“The biggest single response I’ve had in my district is about wages. Low wages and health-care coverage — a lot of people are going under because of that,” she said. “All this new technology is marvelous. But with that new technology, you’re paying a price.”

Many people simply don’t have the resources to pay that price, she said.

Wudtke grew up in a military family and lived in many states and foreign lands before coming to Rapid City during her senior year in high school. She quickly developed a connection to the area that would bring her back after a few years in other states.

“I love seeing new things, new places, but this has always been my home,” she said.

Despite her love for the Black Hills region, Wudtke said it’s far from perfect. Along with generally low wages, working-class families already struggling to pay the bills must absorb the unfair burden of a sales tax on food, Wudtke said.

As a state legislator, she would work to remove that tax.

“I think this is one thing we really ought to consider,” she said. “Food is the basis of life. If we can remove the tax and put a few more bucks back in people’s pockets, I think we should look for ways to do that.”

With four grown children and seven grandchildren, she has seen the value of proper childhood nutrition. But some low-income children are denied even the essentials for proper development, she said.

“That’s the most crucial time in a child’s life, when everything is forming,” Wudtke said. “We need to do more for those kids.”

Jeff Haverly

As an incumbent, Haverly would like to see less government in South Dakota.

Then, he would like to see less than that and still less than that.

“Government, in my eyes, can never be small enough. We need to continue to work to make sure that it doesn’t become large and overbearing,” said Haverly, a 47-year-old Wisconsin native who came to Rapid City 15 years ago with the U.S. Air Force. “That’s when you run into problems, when citizens can’t get anything done because of the built-up bureaucracy.”

After more than 17 years in the Air Force — mostly as a boom operator on a KC-135 air tanker flying out of Ellsworth Air Force Base — Haverly took early retirement from the military in 1995. Since then, he has worked with his wife, Terri, in their day-care business, which grew to four centers in Sioux Falls and Rapid City before they dropped the Sioux Falls centers.

Kids are central to Haverly’s life. He and his wife have three children and four grandchildren of their own.

Haverly earned a degree in history with a political-science minor from Black Hills State University, although he isn’t sure what to do with it.

He does know, however, that he wants to return to the state Legislature to work with other lawmakers on issues such as education and how to improve teachers’ pay.

“I do think we need to take a harder look at teacher’s pay,” he said. “I’m not saying throw more money at it but maybe take a look at administrative costs and things like that.”

Haverly expects capital punishment to be a prominent issue during the 2007 legislative session. Based on what he has heard in his district, Haverly believes there is widespread disappointment that confessed murderer Elijah Page wasn’t executed as scheduled in August.

Gov. Mike Rounds delayed the execution until at least next July because of a conflict between the state law and state Department of Corrections policy on the lethal-injection process. Rounds wants the state Legislature to fix that problem before Page faces death.

“I think there was big disappointment that the execution didn’t take place,” Haverly said. “That’s going to be an issue because it’s going to raise the whole death-penalty issue all over again. But for those of us who support the death penalty, I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with the way the law was.”

John Buxcel

With Election Day only three weeks away, Buxcel was in Colorado — far from the familiar campaign turf of District 35 in Rapid City.

He wasn’t ignoring his campaign; he was doing his job.

“Basically, what my job consists of is running heavy equipment. And in order for me to be able to get my health insurance and a pension, I have to go where the work’s at,” Buxcel said last week through a gravelly cell-phone connection. “Right now, I’m on a runway in Colorado Springs.”

The cell-phone signal died, but Buxcel called back a few minutes later for a brief interview and break from his work operating a pavement grinder on the runway job. But he didn’t have much time to talk, just as he hasn’t been able to spend many hours campaigning.

“I haven’t been able to get out and knock on doors like I wanted to, just due to work and things like that,” he said. “And obviously, I’m not financially set up so I can just quit work. My family comes before my campaign.”

Buxcel, a 36-year-old native of Okaton, is running for a House seat from District 35 as an independent candidate affiliated with the Democratic Party. A U.S. Navy veteran and member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, Buxcel grinds out a living by working on construction projects that often take him to other states for weeks at a time.

He travels the map to work because the pay and related benefits offered by a Minnesota-based construction company are better than he can find closer to his Rapid City home. That means extended periods of time away from his wife, Karen, and their three sons.

But it also means a more secure financial situation when he gets home.

“I would love to be able to stay around the area,” he said. “But most of the contractors around here don’t pay the wage or provide adequate health care.”

Those are issues that Buxcel hopes to elevate to a focal point of discussion if he gets elected. And the winter session of the state Legislature would come at a period of slack time in the construction business, allowing him to serve, he said.

“I think I can bring a perspective to the legislators who are there and kind of be the voice for the average person. That’s where I definitely have my pluses,” Buxcel said. “I’d like to present that to legislators to figure out ways to achieve the same benefits I get out here but be able stay home with my family.”

He could do some campaigning, too, although that might not happen right away.

“When we’re done here, we may be going over to the Denver airport,” Buxcel said. “Then, hopefully, I’ll be going back home.”

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