Billie Sutton is running for Governor of South Dakota.

He is a Democrat.

People I know who have worked with him or know him say he is a nice man.  I believe them.  I don’t like what is being done to him in this campaign.  The politics of personal destruction have taken this campaign in a direction that could backfire.

It is certainly fair to point out the differences of your opposition in a political race.  The challenge, in my view, is to do it without getting nasty or personally maligning the “other guy”.  In this race for Governor, the line has been crossed.  The postcards and political ads against Sutton impress me as being mean and nasty.  I don’t like it.

I also don’t like it when someone portrays themselves as something they are not.  For instance, a pro-life “Conservative” would not support Hillary Clinton.

I won’t be voting for Billie Sutton.  I would be happy to have lunch with him.  We would find many things on which we could agree.  My reasons for not supporting him are simple.  He supported Hillary Clinton, and I suspect he also voted twice for Obama.   I deeply disagree with their political philosophies and policies.  That doesn’t mean I have to hate or disparage him.  It just means that at his core, he also supports political philosophies and policies that are very different from mine.

There isn’t any question that I have been guilty of crossing the line myself.  I will just say that I am trying to turn over a new leaf.  That may prove to be challenging in this politically divisive era, but I am moving away from those who can’t seem to be nice.  No one is perfect (no, not even me).

The America I pray for is one where the focus is on issues, honesty, morality and fairness.

In the race for South Dakota Governor, much of that seems to have been lost.

*** Gordon Howie *** is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media

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