Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of two stories featuring District 7 candidates for state Senate.
BROOKINGS – Brookings County Democrat chairwoman and retired journalism professor Mary Perpich hopes to be a part of a larger wave of change headed to Pierre after the Nov. 6 elections, demanding bipartisanship and legislation that works for the betterment of all residents.
Perpich is campaigning as an Independent after her campaign petition was successfully challenged late in March. She’s running against Republican V.J. Smith for a two-year term for District 7 in the state Senate.
A native of Marshall, Texas, Perpich comes from a family of blue-collar working Democrats, and their discussions of politics rubbed off on her as she grew up, and political activism became a big part of her life.
When she was 15, her family moved to Michigan, and she earned her undergraduate degree from Michigan State, working at the State Tribunal in Lansing at the same time.
When she was 18, she worked as the secretary of the Lansing, Michigan, Young Democrats. During her college years, she was inspired by and worked for George McGovern’s campaign in 1972.
After spending years in journalism and a brief stint in public relations, she felt it was time for a slight change. So, she went back to Michigan State for graduate school and taught there as a graduate assistant.
She taught at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s journalism department for five years and from there, Perpich moved to Brookings and to South Dakota State University to teach journalism in 1986. She retired in 2004.
That left her with more time to be a part of the political process, and she worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in South Dakota during the primaries for the 2008 election.
But it wasn’t until 2009 that she took up her post as the head of the Brookings County Democrats, at the urging of the outgoing leader.
“I said I think I’m better behind the scenes, but she persuaded me. I decided to do that, and I was chosen in 2009, and I’ve been running the party ever since. And, boy, has it been an incredibly good experience for me and I hope everyone else who is volunteering to be a Democrat,” Perpich said.
Motivating her run in District 7 for state Senate is her passion for politics and a desire to help people.
“That passion has stayed with me throughout all the political work that I’ve done, and the same is true this year. There’s so much negative legislation that harms people,” she said. “I just think enough is enough. We’ve got to start turning things around and supporting our citizens instead of passing hate legislation against them and passing legislation that restricts their rights.”
Although she’s always been a Democrat and had planned to run as one this year, Perpich believes her message for a change from the Republican status quo in Pierre has appeal with many independent-minded voters, especially in reaction to President Donald Trump.
She pointed to the many grassroots groups such as South Dakota Forward and LEAD South Dakota that have come up in recent years as evidence of this desire for a new direction nationally and within the state.
“When Donald Trump won, it really kind of galvanized the opposition. They look at him and they say this man isn’t going to do anything good for the country,” Perpich said.
And from her spot within state politics, things do seem to be changing, with many more candidates running as Independents and Democrats.
“We’ve recruited 103 for 105 spots in the Legislature, and 43 of those are women, 35 are American Indians and those are mostly women. We’ve never had that kind of recruiting in the past,” Perpich said.
As a former educator, helping educators within South Dakota is a big goal of hers.
Citing the Brookings School District’s failed opt out from this spring, Perpich said, “That opt out was necessary because education is not adequately funded in South Dakota. We have a half-cent sales tax that has brought up teacher salaries, and we finally did something about it, but it’s not enough.”
More also needs to be done to support teachers in smaller, more rural school districts and to better support teachers within high-demand fields such as math and science.
Another education priority is implementing a state pre-kindergarten program, as South Dakota is one of a handful of states not to have that.
She’d also like to ensure that the spirit of the Affordable Care Act remains in the state, saying that it helps people address medical problems while they’re still small.
“If we can just support preventative care, healthcare for people when they get ill, I think we’d be able to have a healthier workforce,” Perpich said.
She added, “We need to try to ensure that the people with pre-existing conditions in South Dakota who are now in danger of losing healthcare because they have a pre-existing condition – that will be based on the Supreme Court decision that our state has signed onto that would strip the ACA of pre-existing conditions and students who stay on their families’ plans until they’re 26. … That’ll leave a lot of people in South Dakota without insurance. We’ve got to make sure that that does not happen, or, if it does, we have to have a plan in place to make sure that those people are still covered.”
More funding is also needed to support mental health in the state, especially for youths.
“We only have 11 mental health centers in South Dakota, and obviously we can’t serve everyone who needs mental health care. We particularly need to focus on that group of young people, predominately 16-24-year-olds, who are committing suicide,” Perpich said.
That means providing funding for counselors in schools and for treatment centers so that mental health problems can be addressed early, quickly and the individual can return to a happier, productive life.
As for funding these priorities, she points to the yearly budget surpluses as one possible source.
“We put about between $10-17 million every year of surplus into the general fund. We always underestimate sales tax revenues, and at the end of the year, we always have a large surplus. Instead of using that to better fund education, healthcare, other things that we need, they put that into a slush fund for the governor and Republicans to use for one-time-only projects. That doesn’t help us. And they’re not education projects,” Perpich said.
And then there’s the new revenue source from collecting online sales taxes, amounting to an estimated $50 million in annual revenue.
“The next Legislature will decide how to spend that revenue. We need a different mix of people in the Legislature if we’re going to use any of that revenue for crucial state projects in mental health and addiction counseling and education,” Perpich said.
Making good use of those two sources could go a long ways to improving things in South Dakota, she said.
In the end, she said people should consider voting for her because she has what it takes to bring about meaningful change from Pierre.
“People should vote for me because I have the best plan for helping people in South Dakota and District 7. I have leadership experience in a number of different ways, both when I was teaching and now that I’m out doing volunteer work. … I have a plan where I can help all District 7 residents have better lives, and that’s why they should vote for me. I have experience, I have leadership skills and I know the issues and how to prioritize.”
Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.
