Bordewyk whines about lack of open government in gloomy Pierre

There is an exodus of journalists leaving the profession for public relations jobs as media in South Dakota lurch to drive the message to the extreme white. I quit following the South Dakota Newspaper Association on twitter because its feed reads like a bulletin from the South Dakota Republican Party.

In a presentation at the District 22 Democratic Forum SDNA Executive Director Dave Bordewyk whined about the Republican opacity in Pierre.

The biggest challenge that Bordewyk predicts will be overcome at some point is access to government correspondence, such as emails, official letters and communications from government officials. Government correspondence is a public record in almost every state, but not in South Dakota. While some would argue it’s because of one-party domination in Pierre, Bordewyk thinks the bigger issue is that South Dakota too often has a “trust me” attitude. [Huron Plainsman]

Bill Janklow's idea of public broadcasting can't cover Pierre effectively because its funding is reliant on the South Dakota Republican Party, the Associated Press can't do it because they've been neutered so have the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and Rapid City Journal. Bob Mercer and South Dakota's teevee stations are bound to Republican advertisers and nobody reads college publications.

Many newspaper editors in South Dakota and North Dakota sort of shrink back into themselves when it comes to discussing the race relations between Indians and whites in their respective states. The newspaper associations are no different. Talking about race seems to be a frightening topic to the leadership of the SDNA and that is too bad because they have had the opportunity to be the media leaders in improving race relations but instead have chosen to hide in the weeds. The director of SDNA, Dave Bordewyk, is still young and he can still make it a key part of his administration to address racial prejudice and racial ignorance in a state that can never lay claim to greatness until it solves its racial issues. [excerpt, editorial, Native Sun News, posted at Indianz]

A week of sunlight can't possibly penetrate the other 25.5 fortnights of gloom in Pierre.

Fact is: in South Dakota Republicans go to Pierre for the lobbyist-provided hookers while Democrats go to Pierre because they are the hookers.

Jackson County clerks refused to give Lisa the case number, saying the case is a public record but they didn't want to give her access to the records. Lisa got the # after pointing out that you can't deny public records just because you don't want the public to know about a case! https://t.co/QXvhCnMBA6

— Arielle Zionts (@Ajzionts) September 20, 2019