District 28 legislators travel far to meet constituents

For many South Dakota legislators, attending weekend crackerbarrel meetings with their constituents is as simple as driving across town.

But the rubber really meets the road for lawmakers in large West River districts, where constituent gatherings can mean driving 100 miles or more on often-unfriendly winter highways.

Sen. Ryan Maher, D-Isabel, and Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City, put some gas in that reality on Feb. 9 with a one-day, four-stop crackerbarrel series across sprawling District 28 in northwest South Dakota. It started at Isabel, went on to Dupree and Faith and ended at Bison.

“I drove about 200 miles,” Maher said. “It’s the only way we can do it. We’ve got so many miles to cover.”

District 28 is the state’s largest legislative district, an example of local politics writ large - geographically speaking. The district covers all of Harding, Perkins, Corson, Ziebach and Dewey counties, most of Butte, and a small part of southeast Meade.

The population of each legislative district is drawn to include about 21,500 people. It takes lots of rural real estate in the lonesome northwest to corral that many people.

“It’s a lot of land and not very many people,” South Dakota Legislative Research Council director Jim Frey said of District 28.

As a senator, Maher is responsible for all of it. As a representative in one of the two split House districts in South Dakota, Olson of District 28B is responsible for “only” half of the district. But half is huge in 28.

“Even my half of the district goes from the Montana line to the Missouri River,” she said. “We cover a lot of territory. We have to.”

Olson drove from her ranch about 10 miles north of Reva in Harding County to begin the crackerbarrels tour in Maher’s hometown of Isabel. At the end of the tour in Bison, she had a relatively short drive back to the ranch, but Maher had a longer pull home to Isabel.

Two days later, they drove to Union Center in Meade County, for a Sunday crackerbarrel in the basement of the church that included District 29 Sen. Ken McNenny of Sturgis and Reps. Larry Rhoden of Union Center and Tom Brunner of Nisland.

After the crackerbarrel, Maher and Olson drove to Pierre for another week of the session. Olson said long drives are essential to stay close to the people.

“Well, they’re the ones who sent us to Pierre,” she said. “The crackerbarrels give us a chance to keep in touch with everybody out here. And we’ve got a pretty aware bunch of people in our district.”

Olson said local high-school government classes and their teachers brought some heady questions to the four-stop crackerbarrel tour, which met in local cafes. Constituents don’t hesitate to drive to meet their elected representatives, Maher said.

Last Friday, he and Olson had a crackerbarrel at the Coal Springs Church at the junction of Highways 73 and 20, on the prairie between Meadow, Usta and Glad Valley. Forty to 50 people turned out.

“It was packed,” Olson said. “We had (legislative) session that day, so they held it at 5:30 that afternoon. And we drove straight there from Pierre.”

There’s more driving to come. This Saturday, she’ll be in Belle Fourche for a 12:30 p.m. crackerbarrel, followed by a drive to Lemmon for a 7 p.m. gathering. Olson said she is prepared for another day on the road.

 “I just got new tires on my car today,” she said. “So I’m ready.”

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com