Shaw Watch

I've spoken with a couple of possible candidates for mayor recently and all of them think I'm all wet for suggesting former mayor Jim Shaw intends to run for the mayor's office.

I've suggested that Shaw is an unusual fellow to have sitting on the Journal's Editorial Board. He is currently employed by the Small Business Administration, a job that would seem to make him an unlikely candidate.

But in his recent column about David Lust's idea to study the possibility of privatizing the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Tech), Shaw declares that (unlike him) everyone who thought the idea was a bad one, lacked the IQ to be an "enlightened thinker."

I don't know how "enlightened" Mr. Shaw is, but he certainly showed a lack of "enlightenment" in his financing and management of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center ice arena project.

In a column that quotes Socrates and Einstein – as if he knew them personally – Shaw certainly seems to be positioning himself as a really bright guy...who appears to be running for mayor.