By Dan Bechtold, Editor
Tim Bjorkman, Democratic candidate for South Dakota’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was in Winner last Wednesday visiting with voters.
He had been in Platte before coming to Winner and then was headed to Martin and on to Rapid City to speak with the stockgrowers.
Bjorkman took time for an interview with the Winner Advocate.
He says the right way to win is not taking money from special interest political action committees. If elected, he says he believes in term limits for members of Congress.
“Bjorkman is a former circuit court judge in the First Judicial Circuit where he served for 10 ½ years.
“If a judge would take money from one side of the case and decided the outcome, we would be rightfully appalled,” said Bjorkman. “We have members of Congress who take hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interests. It’s something we should not tolerate as people.”
The candidate says there is a need for a strong independent voice for South Dakota. The candidate says he is a person who brings a more non partisan approach to Congress. Every day as a judge I was required to do the right thing without regard to the parties involved,” he said.
The candidate has conducted town hall meetings across South Dakota and has been in debates with the Republican candidate Dusty Johnson. Other debates with Johnson are planned prior to the Nov. 6 election.
Bjorkman says one of the big issue is health care reform.
He says the affordable care act is flawed and the current Congress promised better and cheaper health care. “It was a dismal failure,” he said.
Bjorkman says if elected he is committed to working across the aisle to help come up with common sense solutions.
“We need to light a fire under our congressmen and give them a sense that they are there to do the people’s work. We need to have people with a heart of service who go, serve their time and then return home.”
Bjorkman noted that tariffs are another big issue. He noted that the framers of the constitution gave Congress the sole authority to impose tariffs.
The candidate noted the tariff on soybeans has driven the price of soybeans down which will be a huge loss for South Dakota.
Bjorkman says he is big supporter of country of origin labeling. “I want to eat American steak and I want to know where our meat comes from,” he said.
The candidate says he has taken a position of several issues. “We will continue to press our case,” he said.
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