South Dakota Lawmakers No Match For Young Political Activist

WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) — Hadley Gjerde is not your typical political activist.

To start with, she’s extremely shy. When she speaks, she looks down at her lap, grins nervously, and plays with her fingers, her soft little voice barely audible.

But sometimes she makes her point as clearly and concisely as old Abe Lincoln, himself.

In fact, her quiet-but-direct manner of delivery is so persuasive that her recent bill suggested to the South Dakota Senate passed overwhelmingly. 68-0.

But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Hadley isn’t so sure about talking to the media without her entourage present. This entourage includes her parents, sister Sena, and brothers Aksel and Torger. They, she says, have been her most fervent supporters.

Hadley actually doesn’t spend a lot of time in the political arena. She’d rather be at home with her family and her dog — the world’s most friendly golden retriever — on a farm just outside of tiny Willow Lake, South Dakota, where she attends school.

She has a great teacher, she says.

“Ms. Staumbaugh is very nice,” she told the Public Opinion, recently — playing nervously with her fingers, “We do art, and I love kindergarten.”

Yes, kindergarten. Hadley Gjerde, you see, is just 6 years old.

Lately, Hadley — who is, of course, a very, very good girl — had been struggling a little bit to accept authority over one particular matter that is very dear to her heart.

“I wanted to shoot fireworks with my cousins, but Mom and Dad said I couldn’t because it wasn’t the Fourth of July,” she explained with a slight sigh. “And I just didn’t think that was very fair of the law, because sometimes they can’t be here for that day.”

So, Hadley’s dad, Roy, explained to her that sometimes — if you are exceptionally persuasive — the law can be changed.

Hadley figured it was worth a shot.

This is where Sen. Brock Greenfield came in. Roy took Hadley to discuss her problem with Greenfield, who sponsored her bill — SB 161. SB 161 argues for the year-round legalization of nonflying or nonexploding fireworks. Greenfield helped Hadley take her request right up to the House Local Government Committee.

Greenfield didn’t make it to the committee meeting in time to speak on the bill, however. Not that it mattered, because Hadley did.

Standing barely higher than most of the House members’ knees, she took her place at the microphone and delivered a compelling speech, which got off to a shaky start because nobody could hear her soft voice.

“Then they said to push the green button,” she explains, “and then everyone could hear me better.”

And, like a rocket’s red flare, off she went.

“I like to chase parachutes,” she opened, outlining a relatable, bipartisan interest to draw attention to the heart of her matter.

Then she presented a good persuasive argument: “Fireworks are great for birthdays and anniversaries, too.”

Next, she stirred up some emotion with, “My cousins sometimes don’t come in July.”

Finally, once everyone was listening, she really laid the hammer down.

“Fireworks are just fun.”

“Thank you for coming to the Capitol today,” Rep. Kristin Conzet of Rapid City, chairwoman of the committee, told her at the close of argument. “That’s the most convincing testimony I’ve ever heard.”

Boom. Game, set and match.

When asked if she was nervous delivering her bill, she shrugged and said, “Not really scary. Not really calm, though. Just in the middle. I just told them my feelings.”

No big deal, obviously. Except that it was.

The bill passed 12-0 in the House committee and, later in the week, was presented to the full House. There, it initially passed at 67-1.

Rep. Thomas Holmes of Sioux Falls had voted against it, but not for long.

Upon hearing the 67-1 final tally, the House chamber filled with groans and Holmes, forced to reconsider his stance, opted to change his vote to aye.

68-0. Pretty good for a 6-year-old.

“I’m going to ask him why he at first said no if I see him again,” Hadley said. “He might have had a bad day.”

Hadley’s personal records of her legislative bill include crayon drawings on recipe cards. Greenfield and her parents, she says, helped out with the more complicated paperwork.

Not all of it, though, says Mom, Sara. “She’s been handwriting some thank you notes this week,” she recently said. “And she wrote a letter to Gov. Daugaard explaining that she would appreciate it if he would sign the bill now that it’s passed.”

Daugaard signed the bill March 13.

“I’m happy because they (legislators) listened to me,” Hadley says, “and that makes me proud.”

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Information from: Watertown Public Opinion,