South Dakota Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Open Government

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The South Dakota Newspaper Association invited gubernatorial candidates to a free-wheeling discussion on open government, with several of the challengers to incumbent Mike Rounds ranking the state at the bottom of the 50 states and Rounds saying he is “receptive” to new legislation calling for greater transparency. Said Democrat Jack Billion, whose party hasn’t held the governor’s job since the 1970s, “”I think whenever you have a one-party system in a state that functions for a great period of a time, they kind of lose that drive to have that openness.” (9/5/06)