Democrats visit winery for Heidepriem

In an effort to raise money for 2010 gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Scott Heidepriem, D-Sioux Falls, George McGovern, the Democratic Party’s 1972 presidential candidate from South Dakota, and former South Dakota Congressman James Abourezk spoke to Vermillion residents Saturday at Valiant Vineyards Winery about the importance of a balanced two-party political system.

Abourezk, the first Arab-American elected to the United States Senate, said the Republican Party has had control of the South Dakota political system for too long.

“Because they’ve been in power too long, they are ruining (South Dakota’s) reputation for clean government,” he said. “There is so much corruption in this one party system.”

Abourezk said a democrat in the governor’s mansion would go a long way toward evening the score.

Heidepriem, the senate minority leader in the state legislature, is hoping to become the first Democrat to serve as South Dakota governor since 1978.

McGovern, an Avon, S.D., native, said a balance of power in Pierre would benefit all South Dakotans, not just the party that stands to gain.

Because Heidepriem was once a Republican and because he is well respected, McGovern said the lawyer from Sioux Falls has a good shot at winning in November 2010.

“If we can’t elect a man like Scott, I fear for the future of this state,” he said.

Matt McGovern, the grandson of the former presidential candidate, was also in attendance. Matt McGovern is an active member of the South Dakota Democratic Party and the state director of Repower America, an environmental group seeking to “repower” America with clean energy.

Despite an unrelenting hold on the state legislature by the republicans and the potential inability to get a Republican legislature to support the ideas of a governor from another party, the younger McGovern said a Democratic governor is what South Dakota needs.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” he said. “Even if I was living in a state where the roles were turned, I’d want a balance of power.”

Reach reporter Joe Sneve at Joe.Sneve@usd.edu.
 

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