Dennis Daugaard Quotation of the Day (Manpower)

Dennis Daugaard has come up with some wonderful plans that have completely flopped in his four years.  One such plan was to pay an out of state company to find workers to come to South Dakota.  Instead of using the money to support developing workers here in South Dakota through stronger education funding, Daugaard went with a plan he claimed would bring in a thousand workers...

An initiative by Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard that was intended to draw 1,000 workers to the state has come up far short. 

Daugaard announced the New South Dakotans initiative in January 2012 and predicted the effect would be “enormous,” the Argus Leader reported. 

“Those 1,000 families will add more than $120 million to our gross state product, put hundreds of children into our schools, and pay millions of dollars in state taxes,” Daugaard said in the State of the State address at the time. 

Daugaard told lawmakers this week that he would sharply scale back the program after only about 100 employees had come to South Dakota – at a cost to taxpayers of about $1 million.

The effect was "enormous" Mr. Daugaard.   An "enormous" waste of money.  I wonder what impact that money could have had as small business loans or increasing funding for high school tech programs or in affordable housing so that South Dakota workers could afford to find a place to live.  Just a thought.