The news comes that Jim Burg died last night, at the age of 82. Burg spent 30 years in state elected office in South Dakota, earning him a place in this blog’s “Over 25 Club” of longest-serving elected officials in state history.
Burg, a Wessington Springs farmer, first entered the State House at the age of 33 in 1975. After ten years in the State House, he was elected to the State Senate in 1984. In 1986, Burg was the early favorite to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. House, seeking the at-large seat being vacated by incumbent Congressman Tom Daschle, who was running for U.S. Senate. Burg narrowly lost, though, to fellow State Senator Tim Johnson of Vermillion.
Burg instead accepted the Democratic nomination for Public Utilities Commission, serving three six-year terms from 1987-2005. He ran for Governor in 1994, losing the Democratic primary to Dakota Wesleyan University President Jim Beddow. Burg lost his bid for a fourth PUC term to Republican Dusty Johnson in 2004 and retired to Wessington Springs, where he lived until his death.
Burg’s passing comes about a month after the death of Kenneth Stofferahn, another Ag Democrat whose unsuccessful statewide runs led to three terms on the Public Utilities Commission.
Tom Lawrence wrote a nice tribute to Burg, saying that Burg, like Stofferahn, was “one of the last of a vanishing breed — a rural Democrat in South Dakota.”
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