Candidate Jim Holbeck. A shimmering tower of Jello.

If you recall, about a month ago I spent a little time picking on District 6 GOP State Senate candidate Jim Holbeck who held himself out as "a moderate" to distinguish himself in the race against State Senator Brock Greenfield. My point was that Brock was going to kick his silly butt, because staking out "the moderate territory" in that district in a Republican primary was just stupidity, among other things.

But today, Holbeck managed to demonstrate to the voters the kind of public policy material he's made of.
Holbeck, the Superintendent of the Clark County School District was there as his School Board took a vote on whether or not they intended to participate in the lawsuit against the State of South Dakota to increase educational funding.

As the discussion progressed, Holbeck himself was asked for his opinion on whether the school district should proceed with participating in a lawsuit against the State of South Dakota. And here's where he showed his mettle:

Yes, "Supt. Holbeck sat back and stated neutrality." Is he kidding anyone? He's stating neutrality on a lawsuit over whether or not "the state's constitution says it is the duty of the state to educate children and adequately fund education?"

Compare that to where he was on the issue of educational funding in January 2005 as he appeared on KELO:

Jim Holbeck, Clark Superintendent, said, "More than half of the schools are gonna find themselves having less money to spend next year than they have this year, so if he calls it 2.9% increase, we call it a 1.1% increase, the truth is most schools are gonna find that they can't pay the bills next year with this increase."

Clark is one of those schools. In a school that's use to graduating over sixty students per class, in two years Clark will only have 11 students in kindergarten, which means they'll lose thousands of dollars in state aid.

Holbeck said, "And you find that your offering less services, and that's kind of ironic cause we're in a time where no child left behind tells us we have to up the stakes and do a better job, and we're saying here in South Dakota we're gonna have to do that and we're not going to give you the money to get it done."

Holbeck wants politicians to put their money where their mouth is.

It seems to me like he's singing a different tune than he was a year ago. What a difference a year makes. Except the only difference between now and January 2005 is that he's running for office.

And with a year's time, apparently anything but "stating neutrality" and being "a moderate Republican" is just too difficult for him to defend. It's like he's a tower of Jello in the form of a man.

Unfortunately for Holbeck during the legislative session legislators are expected to vote. Vote it up or vote it down. You can't express neutrality during session, because it always comes down to a yes or no vote. Good or bad, you're expected to make a vote and be able to defend your position.

At the start of this election, Holbeck stated in his press announcement that "he's long been a staunch supporter of increasing state aid to schools, so it is no surprise that he intends to make it one of his signature issues in the primary."

And after tonight, that signature reads Jim "stated neutrality" Holbeck.

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Just about every time we have an election in the state of South Dakota, you'll find that politicians will tell you education is their top priority, they get elected on that word.

- Jim Holbeck, KELO, 1/28/05