Stan versus Elli just went to defcon 1

Wow - the District 32 primary contest between Stan Adelstein and Elli Schwiesow has quit simmering and is now boiling over in Rapid City. Check out this morning's article in the Rapid City Journal by Kevin Woster. I have to give him credit - this is one of the most insightful articles I've seen to date on this race:

Don’t expect them to be friends when it’s over.

They aren’t friends now, after all, despite — or maybe because of — their party affiliation.

And the District 32 primary battle — the second in two years — between incumbent state Sen. Stan Adelstein and challenger Elli Schwiesow threatens to expand the already spacious divide between the two prominent Republicans.

The Stan-and-Elli story is marked by profound differences in religion, personal style and philosophical beliefs weighty enough to send riffles across the normally calm waters of Republican unity in Rapid City. They might also reflect the larger chasm in the state Legislature and South Dakota society about matters, such as abortion, that mix the heart, the soul and the law.

The enmity expected in the GOP primary for the Senate seat in District 32, which covers most of south-central Rapid City, began to show its teeth this week. A campaign advertisement by Adelstein labeled Schiesow a conservative extremist, and letters to the Journal editorial page by Schiesow’s supporters painted Adelstein as a far-left liberal.

The split showed up during a Republican candidate forum Thursday when Adelstein, after stiffly accepting a handshake from Schwiesow, indirectly blasted his opponent for distorting his record, even though she hadn’t yet spoken at the event.

And even Schwiesow, an effusive 58-year-old vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party known for her personable demeanor, had to struggle to be nice when asked if she would vote for Adelstein in the general election, should he defeat her in the primary.

“Well, he’s the Republican,” she said, after a deep breath. “I’ll vote for the Republican.”

Adelstein, a less-effusive 74-year-old Rapid City businessman and community benefactor, couldn’t quite reach that level of diplomacy on the same question.

“I probably wouldn’t vote,” he said. “She’s not a nice person.”

Adelstein said that as Schwiesow smiles, she also directs supporters to attack him through “grossly dishonest” editorial letters and comments. He also said Schwiesow takes unfair advantage of her position with the Republican Party in the primary.

It’s wrong for a party official to challenge an incumbent in her own party, Adelstein said.

“I think it’s grossly inappropriate that she do this,” he said. “It’s grossly inappropriate to have her campaign headquarters in with the county Republican office.”

Schwiesow has her GOP office and a separate campaign office in the same building as the Pennington County Republican office at 837 E. St. Patrick St. She said she carefully keeps her state-party work separate from her campaign. And there is no party rule against a GOP official running in a party primary, she said.

“He didn’t give up his title of senator to run. I didn’t have to give up my title to run. The two are separate,” she said.

Schwiesow said she encourages her supporters to be factual and polite in addressing Adelstein’s record. She was surprised to hear Adelstein said she wasn’t a nice person.

“I don’t think anybody has ever said that about me,” she said.

You can't miss this article - so read it here. The above is just a snippet, and the article goes in depth about Stan funding Republican primary candidates across the state.

Speaking of which, I hear there's lots going on behind the scenes between Stan and his fellow Republican Senators. The start of it was the letter which appeared in last week's Rapid City Journal about Stan as penned by Senator Jerry Apa.

I hear that from there it's taken on a life of it's own with Stan demanding an apology for the letter - I'm working on trying to get copies of all this because from what I heard this is some of the best stuff I've seen in years . The latest of it, is that Stan was being told to jump in the lake.

Just as a point of clarification, despite Stan's protestations, I defy anyone to point out an instance of Elli not being a nice person. Certainly, not everyone might agree with her views. But as far as Stan calling her "not nice" - it's a low blow. Elli is one of those people that exhibits a personal grace and basic human kindness that's often lacking in today's society. AND I don't think there's a Pennington County Republican that would disagree. Stan didn't win any points with the voters by making that statement.

Stay tuned.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If I were Elli I would not worry. When the you know what hits the you know what with Stan and Planned Parenthood there may not be any pieces to pick up.
Stan just went 900 steps too far.
Anonymous said…
"...not a nice person."
there goes stan projecting again.
Anonymous said…
How could anyone say that Elli is not nice??? It is very obvious that Sen. Adelstein is running scared and he knows this time he is going to lose....
Anonymous said…
"grossly inappropriate"
Are you kidding me Stan? You can use that term about someone else? What you have done in terms of explaining to the people of South Dakota what Jews view of abortion is was "grossly inappropriate". Please!
That will come back to at the end of the day so to speak.
Anonymous said…
Elli clearly has support, as you can tell from all the people she has writing into the Journal.

Wasn't this debate at the Republican Women's forum? Hmm... Elli might have stacked the deck a bit there, hasn't she.

She is also a one-issue candidate. She's running on her religion, on abortion. We don't need another FAR RIGHT WINGER in Pierre, do we?

Seriously, people. Why can't we work on electing people that will unite the populous rather than divide it.

I don't know if Stan's the guy. But, I know Elli's positions won't help. The state will be worse off if Elli gets in.
Anonymous said…
anon 6:44
Stan is a master at backroom deals and that is NEVER good for the State. Look at the damage he has already done at Planned Parenthood.
Anonymous said…
At least this is out in the open. The corruption that hides from the public is what bothers me. J.P. Duniphan screwed the entire personnel process and installed her buddy Dave Shaughnessy into a phony job somewhere in Rapid City. Small change compared to the job stacking Rounds have been doing. DOT got a couple of cronies who are getting big bucks have no appoicable skills. The staff was advised to find something to make it look like they had something to do. For some real fun start asking questions about viewing the roster of jobs filled since Rounds took office. you will see a very sad abuse of power.
Anonymous said…
Yes, District 32 pays more taxes because their assessments are going up.

But, you might want to ask the school district that serves district 32 whether they think it would be a good idea.

Also, do some research into other states that have capped assessments. When it went through in Colorado, the market recessed and they couldn't get it back. It was such a bad situation, that the regental system had serious discussions about privatizing the entire university system.

I really dislike these initiatives that mislead the populace.

Just recessing assessments back to 2003 is going to cause a 7-figure displacement to school capital outlays. I suppose solving that overcrowing problem at Central just got harder.
Anonymous said…
How can Adelstein state that the Legislature is using religion to advance the abortion ban and then proxy the jewish faith as an argument against it. The hypocrisy
is amazing.
Anonymous said…
Mr. 8:28 Anon is really on to something that should be seriously brought to light. Also in the Dept of Ag. ,Rounds refused to get rid of some bad apples still rotting from the Janklow Admin that have no business being there, other than cronyism.
Anonymous said…
Bad apples? If there were only a few more Rounds' we would have every post filled.
Anonymous said…
anon 1:49

On the contrary. Keep an eye on Planned Parenthood and what they will do for Stan as payback for the abortion issues.
A deal is a deal and Stan is expecting big support from Planned Parenthood in Nov.
Anonymous said…
Obviously everything will only get worse with stan. I'm voting for Elli!
Adelstein is a cad!
Anonymous said…
Stan claims Elli is not a nice person, from what I read in the article Elli was very gracious and Stan, being Stan, was very mean spirited.
Anonymous said…
At least Elli doesn't accept awards from Organizations that that use them as payback for lobby asistance.
Anonymous said…
58? i thought she looked 30ish on her signs!

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