Meet the Candidate: Bethany Soye

Soye seeking third term in South Dakota House

Rep. Bethany Soye is running for re-election in South Dakota House District 9. Also running is Tesa Schwans, Kristi Golden, and Daryl Christensen.

The district is west of Sioux Falls and includes Hartford and Wall Lake within its boundaries.

The Dakota Scout sent a series of questions to all legislative candidates running in contested races for the state House and Senate in the June 4 primary election. Candidates were asked to limit their responses to each question to 150 words or less.

Age: 32
City of residence: Sioux Falls
Profession: Full-Time Mom, Attorney
Public service/community service experience: State Representative for 4 years, Precinct Committeewoman, Youth Softball Coach, America Reads Tutor, AWANA Leader
Family information: Husband, three-year-old and 10-month old sons

1) What's the government's role in facilitating economic development in South Dakota?

The term “economic development” gets thrown around in Pierre whenever someone wants the government to spend money on a pet project. But we need to ask ourselves what the term really means. I do not believe the government should be picking winners and losers in the private sector. The government’s role in this area is to keep taxes low and reduce the regulatory burden. The state should also protect our Constitutional rights and founding principles. If this happens, people will vote with their feet and move to South Dakota. Businesses will choose a state where their employees can have a great quality of life and can actually afford to live. The government does not need to create special tax carve outs for businesses to come here and they should not be spending your tax dollars on projects that favor certain companies in the name of “economic development.”

2) If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

I would have dinner with Margaret Thatcher, the first female and longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was a great female leader but not a feminist. She simply worked hard, held to her principles, and believed the best person for the job would win. One of my favorite quotes from Mrs. Thatcher is “Being a leader is like being a lady. If you have to remind people that you are, you aren’t.” A person is not a leader because of a title or a group of followers. A leader is someone who conducts herself with integrity and grace. Someone who sees work that needs to be done and takes action. I would love to learn from her personal experiences and vast knowledge.

3) Does the "Landowner Bill of Rights" -- adopted by the Legislature amid opposition to carbon pipeline companies using eminent domain -- strike the right balance between the interests of property owners, counties and the ag industry - and should voters get a say when they head to the polls in November?

I voted no on SB 201 because I do not believe it protects the rights of the people unlike the title claims. While landowners are thrown a few bones, the bill completely removes local control from counties and moves that power to the state level. I also strongly object to the way this bill was crafted. We are constitutionally required to stick to a single subject in each bill. SB 201 does not do this; it covers multiple different subjects and yet puts them all to a single vote. Our Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Amendment A violated the constitution and SB 201 has the same problem. This is the way that Washington, D.C. operates and is a very dangerous precedent to set in South Dakota. Each individual issue should rise and fall on its own merits. I hope the voters will get a say on SB 201 in November and will reject this logrolling approach.