Race Is on to Replace Janklow

In the weeks before Christmas, attorney Stephanie Herseth was practically glued to her telephone. She checked in with family. She rang up friends. She hailed her neighbors, her clients, her students at South Dakota State University -- even the occasional stranger -- with holiday greetings. And with talk of politics.

In the wake of Republican Rep. William J. Janklow’s manslaughter conviction last month and his subsequent resignation from Congress, more than a dozen candidates in this rural state have been campaigning for South Dakota’s only House seat.

Herseth is one. Her competition includes a farmer, an accountant, a utilities commissioner, a mayor, a state senator and even a retired U.S. congressman.

While the number of candidates is small in comparison to the more than 125 who obtained enough signatures to be on California’s recall ballot, it’s still a lot for a state that has fewer than half a million registered voters.

“I’m not taking anything for granted,” said Herseth, a Democrat who lost the 2002 U.S. House race to Janklow by a few thousand votes. “When I decided to run, I made that decision regardless of who else ran. But the political landscape here is totally different because of what happened last August.”

On a hot summer day, on a back road just south of Jank- low’s hometown of Flandreau, S.D., the politician ran a stop sign at an estimated 70 mph, striking and killing a 55-year-old motorcyclist.

Janklow, who was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter and three lesser charges, is facing up to 11 years in prison, an $11,000 fine and the end of his political career. His resignation is effective Jan. 20, the day of his sentencing hearing at the Moody County Circuit Courthouse in Flandreau.

However, Janklow’s attorney recently filed a motion asking for either a new trial or an acquittal on the manslaughter charge. The document claims prosecutors did not present enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Janklow was guilty of the felony charge.

The congressman and his attorney, Ed Evans, declined to comment on the matter.

Few political figures in this state have bothered to distance themselves from Janklow since his legal troubles began. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who was subpoenaed by the defense and testified in the manslaughter case, repeatedly has praised Janklow for the good he accomplished during his tenure as state attorney general and a four-term governor.

“In public life, I would hope that a person is remembered not for the last thing he did, but for the best thing,” Daschle said in a statement after the guilty verdict. “I believe that Bill Janklow has done a lot of ‘best things.’ ”

Janklow’s departure, however, will leave the state without its only vote in the House until a special election is held June 1. South Dakota law requires that a special election be held within 90 days after a U.S. House member resigns -- unless, as is the case with Janklow, that date is within six months of a previously scheduled election.

Voters will decide two issues June 1: The open special election will determine who will serve out Janklow’s term. And the state primary that day will determine the Republican and Democratic candidates who will be among those vying for a two-year term that begins in January 2005.

Whoever wins the June special election will be considered the incumbent in the November general election. However, it is possible that the candidate who serves out Janklow’s term still could lose on the primary ballot.

State Republican officials say they want to avoid a split in the party at all costs. Back in 1962, the last time South Dakota had a special election, Republican Sen. Francis Case won the party’s nomination but died before the general election. The state party was split over who would replace Case, and Democrat George S. McGovern beat the Republicans and won the Senate seat.

Herseth is widely seen as the leading contender for the Democratic special election nomination, which the party is expected to announce by the end of January. The Republican slot -- as well as the possibility of a slew of independent candidates -- appears to be wide open.

Jeff Partridge, a city councilman in Rapid City, S.D., elected just this year, has begun touting his “conservative approach” to local newspapers. Friends have been talking to Steve Kirby, a former state lieutenant governor, to convince him to run for Congress -- and he has started analyzing the competition.

Larry Diedrich, a Republican state senator from Elkton, said he had already started outlining potential campaign stops and budgets.

“It’s going to be an odd election,” Diedrich said. “This is our California campaign craziness, I suppose.”

Regardless of who wins in June, much of South Dakota’s political establishment is uneasy about the circumstances that have led to the election.

“It does feel, at times, that we’re dancing on graves,” said Jason Schulte, executive director for the state Democratic Party. “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t feel bad about the fact that a man lost his life, and another man may lose his freedom, for this special election to happen.”