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The pirate saint
by Cara Hetland, Minnesota Public Radio
by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio
January 21, 2004

Bill Janklow was quietly generous to a variety of causes and organizations in South Dakota. (Photo courtesy of the Argus Leader)

Sioux Falls, S.D. — Janklow supporters insist the allegations were not true. But voters didn't seem to care one way or the other. Janklow beat Hunhoff by 32 percentage points.

In fact, Janklow lost only one election in his life, a primary race for U.S. Senate. Political scientist Alan Clem of the University of South Dakota says voters liked Janklow because he was a sort of pirate saint.

	Janklow was a "pirate saint"

"He's a kind of a scamp or a rascal ... And just kind of an affectionate character," says Clem.

Janklow won all of his governor races by double-digit margins, including one by 42 percentage points. Old friend Jeremiah Murphy says voters recognized Janklow worked hard for them.

"I've heard him tell subordinates, when they were going out to have a hearing, 'Now you give those people a good listening to, even if you have to be there till 1 in the morning.' In other words, let the people know you care. Joe six-pack and Bill Janklow are one," Murphy says.

Janklow reached out to regular South Dakotans. He was a populist who made things happen. But he also was a very personal saint, too. Minnestoa Public Radio talked to many who say they were directly helped by Janklow -- though again, even they refused to be interviewed. Former law partner Dick Gregorson had a role in one Janklow good deed.

	Former law partner

"One Christmas he called me and said he was in California, and he said, 'I always take $500 cash to this particular priest for some poor people. And I don't want them to know where the money comes from, these people. I forgot to take the money over,' he said. 'Would you do that, would you run over with the $500 cash, give it to father, and I'll pay you back when I get back,'" Gregorson recalls.

Janklow was active in the Make a Wish Foundation, which helps dying children fulfill some of their dreams. He shared his love of rock and roll by playing music at fundraising events -- he was known as BJ the DJ.

Dave Rowe also volunteers for Make a Wish. He remembers how Janklow bid generously, but anonymously, at a Make a Wish auction.

"He went back in a corner, sat with somebody he knew. That other person starting doing the bidding. Bill was tapping him if he wanted to bid. He outbid everybody in the place through this other guy's voice," Rowe says. "That's just Bill Janklow."

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