Meet the Candidate: Lee Qualm

Former lawmaker seeking return to old chamber

Former House lawmaker Lee Qualm is seeking a return to the district he once represented in District 21. Until 2021, he served in leadership in the House, before making an unsuccessful bid for the state Senate. Also running in the race is Rep. Marty Overweg and Jim Halverson.

Ditrict 21 includes the communities of Winner, Platte and Gregory in it.

The Dakota Scout sent a series of questions to all legislative candidates running in contested races for the state House and Senate in the June 4 primary election. Candidates were asked to limit their responses to each question to 150 words or less.

Age: 70
City of residence: West of Platte
Profession: I am a 4th generation farmer and continue to manage and operate the family-owned farm in a cash grain business. In 2021 we built, own and manage God’s Country Campground 13 miles west of Platte along with rental storage units we built last year.
Public service/community service experience: perience: I recently served eight years in the House of Representative with four of those as House Majority Leader. In the past three years off from legislature, I was actively involved in the organization Citizens Against Gregory Pump Storage serving as Vice President and held frequent meetings in our event center at the campground. We were organized to put as many road blocks as possible in place to stop the project from moving forward and we succeeded, for now. I am also Chairman of the Charles Mix County Republican Party. I was a Founding Board Member of the SD Corn Growers and served as President. I have served as President of church, was a youth group leader for over 15 years, played baseball, plus coached baseball and women’s softball.  
Family information: I am married to Trudy; we have four married children and 12 grandchildren.

1) What's the government's role in facilitating economic development in South Dakota?

The best government is a small government, one that keeps rules and regulations at a minimum so that businesses can come into the state and make the decisions that are best for the business and their customers.  I believe that each profession and business should be regulated by their boards, which should be staffed and managed by experienced professionals in their industry that understand the profession inside and out.  I do not believe that SD government should remove boards and regulatory systems that are in place but should work to enhance the protections in place so that new industries coming in are protected and safe.  I also believe that SD’s largest industry of Agriculture should have a separate and fully staffed Department of Ag with someone from the agriculture industry serving as Secretary of Ag.

2) If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

I would love to have one more dinner with my Grandpa John Qualm who passed away at the age of 94. I would like to really talk to him about what it was like growing up with two world wars, the depression, the tough times and also hear about what they considered the “good times”. I would ask him in detail about our heritage and why my Great Grandpa came from Norway and Great Grandma from Sweden.  I would love to hear about their trip here, why they picked Platte, SD to settle at and start farming the land.  My Father passed away in 2021 at the age of 98 and told us several months before passing that his parents took him on a trip to the black hills and they watched President Washington being carved onto Mt Rushmore. Amazing!  They saw such great changes in the 90+ years of living!

3) Does the "Landowner Bill of Rights" -- adopted by the Legislature amid opposition to carbon pipeline companies using eminent domain -- strike the right balance between the interests of property owners, counties and the ag industry - and should voters get a say when they head to the polls in November?

The” Landowner Bill of Rights”, (SB 201 “renamed” for support), does just the opposite by taking rights away from landowners!  It does not strike a balance because it takes all control away from landowners & counties giving it to the state and the Ag industry will suffer because of this.  I believe in Ethanol!  When I was a founding member of the SD Corn Growers, we promoted Ethanol all over the nation.  True science shows that carbon is natures finest fertilizer. It is bogus science promoting the “green energy” restrictions that started this conversation to pipe carbon to another state.  This bill was not only designed for “carbon pipelines” but has taken protections away from landowners by big companies wanting their land.  I believe the voters should have a say in this, either by a Ballot Measure or electing people to SD legislature that vote and believe in property rights.