Shantel Krebs, Republican, was elected to serve District 10 in the State House in 2004.  She was then elected to her current seat in the South Dakota Senate for District 10 in 2010.  Shantel is the chairwoman of the Senate Agricultural and Natural Resources committee and also serves on the Health and Transportation committees.  She was chairwoman of the House Transportation committee in 2008-2010.  She was a majority whip in the House and is currently a majority whip in the South Dakota Senate.

Shantel lives with her husband Mitch on an acreage outside Sioux Falls.  She comes from four generations of farming in South Dakota as well as business owners in trucking and dealerships.  Shantel was previously employed in the healthcare industry. She owned and operated two retail stores in downtown Sioux Falls and now consults in the retail sector.

Senator Krebs graduated from Arlington High School in 1991 and has lived in South Dakota her entire life.  Shantel graduated from Dakota State University with a Business Administration degree.

Shantel has served on numerous boards and committees including the Xcel Energy Advisory board, DSU Foundation board, Southeast Council of Governments, Vice Chair of the State Republican Party, SD Symphony Orchestra board, Past President American Business Women’s Association, SD Voices for Children, Southeastern Behavioral Health Festival of Trees co-chair, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Leadership Sioux Falls.  Krebs also co-chaired the First Lutheran Church capital campaign.

Awards she has received include FFA State Farmer Award, American Business Women’s Association Woman of the Year, 2004 Southeastern Behavioral Health Donors of the Year, Dakota State University Distinguished Alumnus, 2011 Associated General Contractors Highway Champion, 2011 Association of Townships Friend of Local Government, 2012 South Dakota Farmer’s Union Distinguished Legislative Leader and 2012 SD State Fair Legislative Beef Showmanship.  Krebs has spoken at numerous events throughout the Midwest on various topics including women in business, business startup, agricultural issues and leadership development.  Krebs was also selected in 2012 as a national delegate for the American Council of Young Political Leaders to China and Taiwan.  Shantel particularly enjoys raising buffalo and horses, pheasant hunting and playing the saxophone.

My vision for South Dakota is one of economic prosperity with a high quality of life for all of our residents.  Successful economies are based on sound business practices, much like a thriving corporate culture.

South Dakota should be run like a business, with state departments and agencies all contributing to a healthy bottom line and held accountable; that provides the basic benefits to the stockholders; the people of South Dakota.

This bottom-up plan begins with our smallest communities.  South Dakota’s economy was once based on the strength of hundreds of small towns and not just a few large prosperous cities; it can be again.

Smaller communities won’t die if schools in rural areas pool their resources and partner with each other for education, extra-curricular activities and other programs that enrich the lives of our young people.

Small communities will grow if businesses partner with small schools by creating apprentice and internship programs to provide teens with part time jobs and training for the future.  Developing a strong local workforce and creating local opportunities can help stem the drift of residents from small towns to larger cities.

All towns should develop business plans to utilize the natural resources in their area.

All successful corporations have components set up to ensure the economic success for the greater good.  The most successful plans include a strong infrastructure, a ready and willing workforce, a robust production of goods and services and a visionary plan for the future that takes into consideration all opportunities and challenges.

Good roads, bridges and railways lead to economic success.  This investment leads to a better business climate, a higher level of satisfaction for users of highways and byways including our own residents and those who visit our state.

We must strive for the highest levels in quality of life; whether it be the best education or top notch health care.  It keeps home grown South Dakotans from searching for greener pastures, and lures people from other states who want to make a better life for themselves.

Research and development in different areas helps insulate our economy from the ups and downs that occur in today’s quickly changing financial environment.  We can’t afford to limit ourselves to one or two tried and true industries; a diversified set of successful businesses can weather any storm.  This includes an aggressive energy policy, and a strong regental system that trains the best and brightest minds to stay here.

None of this is achievable without a balanced budget.  We simply cannot afford to spend what we don’t have and we must live within our means.  Sure, it’s the law in our state, it’s also the responsible thing to do.

This plan won’t work unless it’s embraced by all; and that includes continual input and involvement in continually striving to make the plan better by considering all opinions from all people.

 

14 Thoughts on “Meet the Legislative Candidates: Shantel Krebs • Dist. 10 Senate

  1. Testor15 on October 11, 2012 at 8:24 am said:

    Wonderful sounding platitudes of a shallow candidate.

  2. Was she asked the same questions as others, and chose not to answer them?

  3. scott – Yes, she received the same letter as the other candidates. She did send me her photo, bio, etc. in separate emails, so not sure if she didn’t answer the questions, or just didn’t send it to me. You will have to ask her I guess.

  4. I’m certain that since Ms. Krebs responded to southdacola’s request, she will be monitoring the comments…….

    Instead of dodging the questions, why not respond……

    If you had to choose between public education funding or tax breaks and refunds to corporations interested in doing business in South Dakota, which would you cut first?

    Do you support a one penny sales tax increase to fund education and Medicaid? If so, why or why not?

    Since the state has a surplus this year of $50 million, do you think they should start funding public education better, reduce taxes or allocate those funds to something else?

  5. Pathloss on October 11, 2012 at 2:16 pm said:

    Impressive background. Good airbrushed picture. I disagree that SD should be managed like a business. There should be more focus on people and jobs. The state should invest more grooming business instead of managing it. She doesn’t have much to say about education. We’re bottom scale in teacher pay and quality of curriculum. She’s upper class intent on using political status to further her asset growth.

  6. Alice15 on October 11, 2012 at 2:50 pm said:

    I may get hammered for this, but since Pathloss brought it up, I am going to comment. Yes – our teachers are not paid well, but guess what? SD also ranks as one of the worst paid states in general. There are MANY professions where people are grossly underpaid in this state – not just teachers. Do I think we should pay our teachers more? Absolutely, but they are one profession of many that is lacking in the pay scale.

    As far as Shantel or any of the other candidates that have been on here, I haven’t been overly impressed with any of their answers, but I also choose not to be a candidate myself, so I don’t bitch too much – I just vote.

  7. Badbenboyenemy on October 11, 2012 at 3:38 pm said:

    I could have swore that Glamor Shots went out of business years ago. Seriously, that’s a really terrible headshot.

  8. I really wish politicians would stop with all the “we need to save our small towns” claptrap. Yes, our small towns are getting smaller and dying off. You know why? Not many people actually want to live in Pukwana, SD, so they move away. You’re not going to convince an 18-23 y/o to stay in a back roads towns when they want to go out and experience things out in the world.

  9. Jackilope on October 11, 2012 at 8:58 pm said:

    I am no longer in Krebs’ district, she wouldn’t have had my vote anyway.

  10. Bad, I thought the same thing 🙂

  11. That picture doesn’t look like her at all.

  12. Testor15 on October 13, 2012 at 9:22 pm said:

    WOW, having never seen her personally a while back, I had to ask who the person was. She was so impolite and obnoxious plus did not look like her photo.

    The photo makes her as phony as she wa sin person.

  13. Ok I don’t know State Senator Krebs because I tend to focus on the members of my district, but I do have a few observations.

    Sure let’s talk about the photo being perhaps a bit too airbrushed and a bit too much like a Glamour Shot. Yes it looks like she should be selling real estate rather than running for political office. However I will give her credit for two things… (1) not feeling the desire to install a US flag lapel pin to show her ‘patriotism’ and (2) she didn’t feel the need to wear a red suit or scarf or other accessory to ensure everyone knew her political affiliation. (Had she been a Democrat, I would have used blue instead of red).

    That said – come on guys. There seems to be more discussion about her photo than about her. I’d rather focus on the issues and I honestly don’t care what a politician looks like. She may be an attractive woman or you may think the picture isn’t a fair representation but either way I don’t find that particularly relevant to her role.

    Truth be told, some of our worst politicians are considered “attractive” by society’s standards whereas some of the best are somewhere south of average. I’d name names on the latter, but I don’t want to offend anyone.

    We South Dakotans are very much to blame for electing people based upon looks as two of our three members of our Congressional delegation are more well known for appearing in the “hottest Congressional members” list each year than they are for getting anything meaningful done. So maybe instead of caring about a photo we could care about where Senator Krebs stands on the issues. Since her statements here are rather generic, perhaps a Google search or a visit to her website is in order.

    Either way I hope those residents of district 10 are doing more than merely looking at glossy photos that appear in their mailboxes.

  14. Craig – I would agree with your statement, but if you would have seen the high-rez version of this photo, you would be thinking differently. Apparently her face has no pores.

    I would agree not electing people based on looks, but SD female Republicans are famous for it. Take Noem for example, she had to use footage from her last election hoping no one would notice. I have often said that SHS would have beat Noem if Kristi was average looking.

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