Meet the Candidate: Mark Mowry
Mowry faces incumbents Scott Odenbach and Mary Fitzgerald in bid for House seat
Mark Mowry is seeking his first-term in the South Dakota state House to District 31. The district consists of Lawrence County, with the major population center being Spearfish.
Mowry made a long shot bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022, losing to Sen. John Thune.
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: 67
City of residence: Spearfish
Profession: Musician/Educator
Public service/community service experience: This has usually been through my church- including volunteering/being trained to serve with crisis pregnancy situations, hosting a “Be My Guest” free lunch each Sunday. My family has also served in a third-world nation for many years.
Family information: Married to Paula for 43 years. We have four wonderful adult children and four beautiful grandchildren.
1) What's the government's role in facilitating economic development in South Dakota?
Government has taken a prominent role in South Dakota’s economic development to a greater extent than is appropriate, in my opinion. Rural communities keep shrinking and too many new start-ups fail. I’ve been around long enough to remember when the Governor’s new Office of Economic Development was formed; its first director, Roland Dolly, was a Presho native, as am I.
In the years since, the only consistent development that comes to my mind is legalized gambling in Deadwood and statewide video lottery, each of which have failed and forsaken its original intent and mission (historic preservation and public school funding).
Government involvement in economic development is actually detrimental to business. It is at odds with capitalistic enterprise. However, we have allowed it to take such a commanding position in our society that most of the public is convinced that without governmental assistance there is no chance for success.
2) If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I choose to have dinner with my wife because she loves it when I take her out to dinner.
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?
Eminent domain for private use is a mislabel and a glaring abuse by the courts. No, it does not ‘strike a balance’. It is blatant overreach by the Biden administration in the name of climate change.
It rewards a choice few - the carbon sequestration entities, landowners who apparently can’t make a living raising livestock and crops, and bureaucrats and politicians who are shameless enough to grift from an expensive, globalist-initiated hoax.
Voters should get a say in November when they vote. Meanwhile how many Republicans in South Dakota are willing to publicly state that they are adherents to climate change as ‘the eminent threat to our democracy?’ Only if they are in agreement with John Kerry, Joe Biden, and AOC should they be backing a carbon pipeline to North Dakota.
