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Mayoral win would mean statehouse opening
Rep. Alan Hanks says Gov. likely won't pick Schweisow or Adelstein to fill any vacancy.
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FarkRAPID CITY -- One question directed to Rep. Alan Hanks, R-Rapid City, during Thursday’s downtown association meeting asked who Gov. Mike Rounds would appoint to the state legislature Hanks is elected Rapid City mayor and resigns his District 32 seat.
Hanks said he can’t speak for Rounds but said the governor would probably not appoint Elli Schwiesow or Stan Adelstein, who squared off in the District 32 Republican state senate primary a year ago.
Schwiesow narrowly defeated Adelstein in that race but lost to Democrat Tom Katus in November’s general election, in which Adelstein endorsed and campaigned for Katus.
“My thoughts were the primary was so close, I don’t think it would be proper to appoint either one of them, but I would suggest finding someone else that has an interest in the legislature and has an interest in running the following year,” Hanks said.
Hanks said later that was essentially his advice and was more his opinion than it was the governor’s. He said the decision would be entirely the governor’s to appoint whomever he believes is appropriate.
“Quite honestly, it’s not a big issue because we’re talking about a hypothetical here. We’re talking about ‘if’ I win, and I don’t like to talk about hypotheticals,” he said. “But the question was asked of me, and I gave the most honest answer I could.”
Hanks will face the top vote-getter in the June 5 municipal election, Rapid City Alderman Sam Kooiker, in the runoff election June 26.
Mitch Krebs, Rounds’ press secretary, said the governor would not consider replacements until a seat is actually vacant.
“The governor would appoint someone, but how quickly that would happen is hard to say. It would be the proper amount of time to look over potential candidates and pick the right person,” Krebs said.
At this point, the governor does not have a list of names under consideration and wouldn’t consider potential appointees until it became necessary, he said.
“The governor won’t do anything like that until it’s time, and we know for sure that there’s a need to. Right now, there’s not a vacancy in that seat. Until that happens, we won’t talk about anything,” Krebs said.
When contacted Friday, Adelstein unequivocally said he is “absolutely not” interested in being appointed to fill Hanks’ seat if it becomes open.
“I wouldn’t take it if it were offered, and, to be very straightforward, I’ve actually told the governor, so no one would misunderstand that I have any intention of accepting even if it were offered,” he said.
Adelstein said he intends to run again for the District 32 senate seat now held by Katus.
Attempts to reach Schwiesow were unsuccessful.
Technically, if Hanks wins the runoff, he is not required to resign from the legislature. But Hanks reiterated Thursday that he will leave the legislature if elected mayor.
“The position of mayor of Rapid City is not only a full time job, it’s a 60 to 80 hour a week job, and I don’t think that I could do the job properly if I spent two months in Pierre,” he said.
Hanks told the downtown association that although he loves being in Pierre, he loves Rapid City more and believes he can have a greater impact as mayor.
“Local government has more impact on your daily lives than Pierre or Washington,” he said. “The state legislature is important, but as mayor, you basically are CEO of the city. In Pierre, you’re one of 105 legislators.”
Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com
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