About
I was elected statewide to the Public Utilities Commission in November 2004, becoming the youngest utilities commissioner in the nation. I didn’t do it alone, of course. I had lots of help, and together we were able to beat an 18-year incumbent.
I’m currently serving as the commission’s chairman, a post I also held in 2007. Since joining the commission, I’ve worked hard to develop renewable energy resources, expand broadband and wireless phone capabilities, keep utility rates low and protect consumers.
I grew up in central South Dakota in a family of seven. We didn’t have much, but I learned plenty of lessons from those experiences and from my fun, diverse family. I went to college at the University of South Dakota where I met my wonderful wife Jacquelyn. We both attended graduate school at the University of Kansas. I’ve had jobs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., with local governments in the Kansas City area, and as a senior staffer to Governor Mike Rounds.
Dusty and his family.
I believe in being a leader in my church and my community. I am on the board of directors for the W.O. Farber Fund at USD and for the Abbott House (a residential treatment center for girls), and served on the Attorney General’s Open Government Task Force and as an adjunct professor at Dakota Wesleyan University. I am a former United Way board member, former chair of the South Dakota Rural Development Council, and run a political leadership camp for teenagers each summer in the Black Hills.
I have tried to be a strong voice for South Dakota ratepayers in Pierre and in Washington, D.C. I have testified before the U.S. Senate against the provisions of the cap-and-trade bill that are unfriendly to the Midwest and to consumers. I serve on the board of directors and the electricity committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and on the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Board. I have lobbied against policies that would cost ratepayers more, and I have fought for a common sense approach to energy development and energy policy. Every year I talk directly to hundreds of consumers, trying to help them resolve their concerns and complaints. They are my bosses, and I try not to forget it.
Jacquelyn and I have two sons, Maxwell (5 years) and Benjamin (2 years). When I get beat up at work or in the political arena, they always have a hug for me.