Did Ernie Otten just blame Mike Rounds for All the Budget Woes?

One of the more interesting things that came out of the legislative coffee in Lennox with Representative Herman Otten and Senator Ernie Otten (since Representative Isaac Latterrel was a no show) was a comment about why we need to be really tight with the purse strings and why we had to do so much cutting after Rounds left.  The reason in part offered by Ernie Otten; because "the previous administration ran budget increases of 6%"  before Daugaard stepped in.   This prompted one member in the audience to say, "So Mike Rounds is to blame for the budget mess." So are you saying there are better alternatives to Mike Rounds' approach out there?" (Thanks Richard for the correction!) 

This brought some uncomfortable chuckles, and Herman Otten offered a half-hearted defense of the former Governor along the lines that he has been asked that question and he simply can't say why Rounds made the choices he did.  He wasn't there when certain economic forecasts were given and no one could have expected the recession that hit America and the length of it.  Ernie Otten did not come out and specifically attack Mr. Rounds, but I think it would be safe to say that he did not think highly of the choices made by the former Governor.  Certainly neither Otten gave a ringing endorsement of candidate Mike Rounds's ability to handle the state's finances.